Heart palpitations after booster jab

[crapatthis1]

Hi guys

Has anyone else had this? I've experienced this every night without fail since my booster on Tuesday. (Had AstraZeneca the other times)

I do have a recent history with heart palpitations a year ago after a traumatic experience but what I've felt the last few days feels different. Like my heart is stopping or swelling , then feels really hot and only when I'm literally about to fall asleep. Before it was just mild heart fluttering here and there (scary in itself).
I went to A&E last night after calling 111 as it was really quite scary, like my heart was stopping and I couldn't sleep. They did an ECG which seemed normal. I do have a 24 hour ECG booked in January.

Just wondered if anyone has had this?

I've been getting very prominent heartbeats, they're regular but I really notice when getting into bed and sometimes in the night when I wake up, it feels like my heart is pounding because I'm anxious but I'm not. I kept a record but the doctors don't seem to be very interested. I also had palpitations investigated about six years ago, but they were completely different and irregular and went when I took HRT. I've booked my booster and cancelled it, then booked again for next week, but I'm nervous.

Very strange. I had the same thing over the summer. I had two astra zeneca vaccines. I'm not an anxious person and don't have much caffeine and none after 2pm. It was just at the moment I was falling asleep my heart raced and I felt dizzy and like I couldn't breathe. Just at that point of falling asleep. It happened about 6-8 times. It was very scary. I saw the GP and had an ECG and 24hour blood pressure and all came back normal. I haven't had it since the summer and recently had pfizer booster but no side effects other than sore arm. I'm also in menopause and a friend said it can be linked to that too. It's interesting there's quite a few of us who have experienced this. Hope it stops for you soon as it really is a scary feeling

This is interesting
My heart beat is normally around 80 85
My resting HB around 65
I had my Modena jab yesterday and it’s been a lot higher
I’ve been in bed for the past 2hrs Reading so doing nothing and according to my Apple Watch my HB is 102 right now and my RHB is 80 and it’s been like that all day as I haven’t done much
I feel ok apart from a sore arm and a bit aching under my armpit

Does an ecg even pick up something like myocarditis/pericarditis? I’m not sure it does. I thought it was usually be x-ray and blood tests checking for high troponin. I don’t have any medical training, but remember an article about some lady a few years ago who went to A&E several times over a few months and kept being told she was fine and ecg’s were fine. It was only when she collapsed jogging that myocarditis was finally diagnosed and was so bad by that point that she needed an urgent heart transplant. I’m just surprised (although don’t know why considering past experience) that they are not more vigilant about thoroughly checking out any symptoms like this after a vaccine when myocarditis/pericarditis are known complications.

People who have had palpitations or a pounding heart after COVID or a vaccine, how long did it take to stop or is it still ongoing? Healthy DD (age 13) has had this since her jab and still ongoing 😔

Thanks for this. It's definitely mainly a thing that happens when my body is totally relaxed and I'm about to fall asleep. It jolts me awake and I'm okay once I sit up. So weird and after my 24 hour ECG I will defo keep on them if it continues.

Mine would come in at any time, when sat, stood, walking around and even when asleep. There seemed to be no specific trigger.
I tried to explain how my incidents started but it's hard for someone who didn't have that feeling to understand.

Mine felt like a little bubble in my chest and then my heart would race incredibly fast. My heart would be well over 250bpm when registered at the doctors/hospital though my smart watch can only record to 210bpm. The smart watch ecg function showed the ectopic beats quite clearly.

If the 24 hour ecg doesn't work there are longer ones you can have. This is useful if it's not a daily thing. You are normally given a diary sheet to complete too to record any incidents and what/where etc you were doing at the exact time, My longest one was 3 or 4 days iirr,

There are also ones they can do whilst you are exercising in a hospital gym type thing - on a treadmill at different sleeps, walking up/down hill and other such things.

And yes, other tests to investigate ought to be done too - echogram, mri, blood tests, chest X-rays, etc can all be used to get a better picture of what's going on.

@CherryMaple

People who have had palpitations or a pounding heart after COVID or a vaccine, how long did it take to stop or is it still ongoing? Healthy DD (age 13) has had this since her jab and still ongoing 😔

I had my booster about six weeks' ago and I've not noticed them for a few days now. However I don't know if mine was in relation to the booster or have just come back as part of peri menopause (although not experienced them with peri palpitations for a couple of years now.

There are few things that wind me up more than people who don't understand or minimise health inequality and lack of access to health care and instead try to make out people just aren't trying hard enough.

One of the issues here is a power imbalance where patients are made to feel stupid or wasting time.
If they have a history of anxiety they usually lack confidence and the necessary support to take things forward further because thats the very nature of anxiety.
Add in barriers of gate keeping - where there are a lack of alternatives to your registered GP or you cannot get an appointment with your GP (it being a pandemic and all that especially with the current booster campaign) and you have something of an issue.
If you cannot demonstrate something isn't right then you get belittled even more.
Even if you do get through all that you are deemed the lowest priority of all and are the very bottom of extremely low waiting lists.
Meanwhile the world is moving on, there is pressure to get the next booster and the fear of the next wave.

That doesn't leave you with many options, but i do recommend getting a heartrate wrist watch...

@Staffy1

Does an ecg even pick up something like myocarditis/pericarditis? I’m not sure it does. I thought it was usually be x-ray and blood tests checking for high troponin. I don’t have any medical training, but remember an article about some lady a few years ago who went to A&E several times over a few months and kept being told she was fine and ecg’s were fine. It was only when she collapsed jogging that myocarditis was finally diagnosed and was so bad by that point that she needed an urgent heart transplant. I’m just surprised (although don’t know why considering past experience) that they are not more vigilant about thoroughly checking out any symptoms like this after a vaccine when myocarditis/pericarditis are known complications.

I've online accounts of people struggling with this where its not being picked up on ecg but a problem has been eventually picked up with other tests. It seems its extremely difficult for some to get taken seriously enough to be referred further unfortunately.

Hamstersarse
This really frightened me, I have massive health anxiety and fought with the decision to get the vaccine for a while ultimately deciding to have it (had my booster at the weekend)
I now can't stop worrying about possible heart related side effects and worry myself to the point of feeling sick about going to bed and having a heart attack in my sleep.
I can't think straight it's all I'm thinking about and it's ruining my mental health.
Have you any context on the people who side after heart attacks please?

Redtoothbrush

I hope you don't think that's what my posts were doing. I wasn't minimising the OP's issues or telling them they weren't trying hard enough.

I was simply showing that my own experience was that I had to keep pushing, pushing and pushing to be seen properly. It took me years, and that was without any diagnosis of anxiety, etc, I understand the frustration.

I just thought by addressing some of the points made previously it could be useful to the op.

Yes I absoluetely thought your comment completely misses a lot of the problems here.

I had my booster of Moderna today (two previous shots were also Moderna) and about 40 mins after I started getting palpations ( around one every minute). Like you I had a previous history of palpitations that came on suddenly at the beginning of October and persisted for about month before settling down. I was lucky enough to get it investigated at the time (echocardiogram, holter, bloods) and it was just put down as begnign premature ventricular contractions.

So when these started straight after the booster it was rather scary and also made me question if the original spell was a result of my previous shots (although the echocardiogram i had showed no sign of myocarditis/pericarditis). Please report it as others have said on the yellow card website coronavirus-yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk

^ my palpitations seemed completely random, did not relate to any external factors (caffeine/alcohol/exercise/stress) and felt like my heart missed a beat with the following beat thumping really hard that would sometimes make me recoil at the force of it.

I had this for a week after my first Pfizer and a month after my second, at which point I had ECG, echo, X-ray and blood tests (went private) and it got better. Cardiologist said it was "probably some mild myocarditis from the vaccination" which leaves me wondering what to do about booster.

@RedToothBrush

Yes I absoluetely thought your comment completely misses a lot of the problems here.

The OP, who it was addressed to, fond the post useful.

As said, I totally understand how frustrating the not being taken seriously and the constant push backs are. It was entirely my experience for a long long time. More than 40 years of palpations later before I got proper treatment.

And whilst you may not appreciate the comment re needing to keep pushing, I am afraid, in my experience, that very much was the only way I could get seen and sorted.

Otherwise, what is the alternative?

I've only just in the last couple of days put two and two together and realised that the abnormal heart rhythm that was causing me so much bother before Christmas was very likely linked to the Pfizer booster jab that I had on 25th November.
DH and I both had our boosters on the same day and we both experienced a massive increase in ectopic heartbeats from the end of November through to the end of December.
They happened mostly in the evening and at night and it was quite severe, in that every 3rd or 4th heartbeat was missing.
I found it very debilitating: it made me cough constantly and kept me awake at night. I had to sleep sitting up because my heart went crazy when I lay down.
An ecg at the GP surgery on 14th December didn't show anything untoward. But we continued to have the irregular beats for the next couple of weeks until they began to diminish about a week after Christmas.

I haven't had any ectopic beats for over a week now.

When I spoke to the Dr in December I said I'd been having these irregular beats on and off for about a year. I didn't stop to think at the time that they could all have been related to the vaccinations I had in February, May and November. Interesting.

I had this after my second astra zeneca in april. It was horrendous and went on for about 6 months. Tried to speak to GP about it, but that was imposisble, so in the end I just put up with it.
I had moderna booster (reluctantly) in Dec , but then caught covid 2 days later. Have had similar, but much less severe since having covid, although seem to now be resolving, although my resting heart rate is still around 10 beats higher than previously.

I had allergy, inflammation and cardiac symptoms with my first two jabs.

I trusted it was for the greater good and that side effects would be taken seriously on an individual basis. They havent been. I am now pregnant and though repeating multiple times my reactions, it is still no where on my records.

So I decided a number of weeks back I am not taking the booster.

I was nervous about that obviously with all the news, but also nervous of another reaction. But just found out I had/have COVID - looking back suspected starting Saturday as I had insane pregnancy cravings for the first time in a long time of all different kinds of fruits - like Broccoli, Beetroots, Blueberries, Pomegranate, Lemons, as well as every juice on the planet - Orange, Apple, Pear & Peach Juice etc.

Thankfully I think its Omicron because although knackered for Sat and Sun, now I feel absolutely dandy. No inflammation anywhere, no coughing, no cardiac stuff, no lethargy etc.

So from now on I will not be having another of these jabs. I am young and it was a gamble, but thankfully for me it paid off and I feel I have made the right decision.

People know their own bodies. I think its so important we allow people to listen to them.

@LemonSwan

I had allergy, inflammation and cardiac symptoms with my first two jabs.

I trusted it was for the greater good and that side effects would be taken seriously on an individual basis. They havent been. I am now pregnant and though repeating multiple times my reactions, it is still no where on my records.

So I decided a number of weeks back I am not taking the booster.

I was nervous about that obviously with all the news, but also nervous of another reaction. But just found out I had/have COVID - looking back suspected starting Saturday as I had insane pregnancy cravings for the first time in a long time of all different kinds of fruits - like Broccoli, Beetroots, Blueberries, Pomegranate, Lemons, as well as every juice on the planet - Orange, Apple, Pear & Peach Juice etc.

Thankfully I think its Omicron because although knackered for Sat and Sun, now I feel absolutely dandy. No inflammation anywhere, no coughing, no cardiac stuff, no lethargy etc.

So from now on I will not be having another of these jabs. I am young and it was a gamble, but thankfully for me it paid off and I feel I have made the right decision.

People know their own bodies. I think its so important we allow people to listen to them.

I agree, people should make their decisions based on their own bodies and by weighing up all the evidence. I also didnt want to have the booster. Unfortunately I work for the NHS so wont have a choice in the matter, as I can't afford to lose my job (and wouldnt want to as I have trained for many, many years to get where I am now and love what I do)

That's heartbreaking @Ecosralayce 😔 After how hard NHA and care home staff worked at the height of all this, to be treated so dismissively and so appallingly without justification. It's criminal.

I had two AZ jabs and have reported palpitations, recurrent chest pains and also period issues to the yellow card scheme since. Absolutely not a hope in hell I'd have a booster and even less likely will my teenagers be having any. I wish to god I'd not had any.

NHS

@Arkenstones

I dont think you need to have the booster do you?

'Fully vaccinated' for social care is still only two jabs.

Does this change in April?

I was going to start a thread about this but don't want to put people off so this seems a good place ! DD has asthma and often gets heart palpitations . She had her first vaccine last week and had the worst heart palpitations she's had, for several hours , it was a bit scary. I can't decide really whether to get her the second, are they worse the more jabs you have? If her asthma is controlled by then I may take her - her asthma was triggered by covid and has been bad since so she can't win really .