Resting heart rate sudden rise over 3 months

[ToughTitty]

At the start of August I had a resting heart rate of 48 (which is normal for me, last year's was between 50-55). I was fit and healthy. I then caught a virus which has left me feeling very tired and fatigued. I am slowly, v slowly recovering but the pace of recovery is slow. Doctor ran blood tests and nothing was out of ordinary.

My resting heart rate, in those 3 months, has risen from 48 to 72 and is rising every single day. Yesterday it was 68, today it is 72 and i have no doubt tomorrow it will be higher.

Nothing shows up in my blood and at the moment, this is still within normal range so no one seems remotely worried but given my RHR has risen 50% in 3 months and is still rising, is there anything I can do or should be doing that will help it go back to normal? At what point will this be an issue that the doctors will be interested in?

Does anyone have an idea?

All I can say really is that having a virus can do this to your heart rate. Clearly the increase for you is a lot, but in terms of what is considered to be an acceptably normal heart rate then you are well within the bounds of normal. Your HR would have to reach 120 plus to start to flag up problems.

Try not to be anxious about it, that won't help. Easy to say, I know. Hopefully in time with rest and good nutrition it will start to come down again.

Thanks @CrunchyCarrot

I'm not anxious about my health at all but this is the first time something has lingered around so long and not got better and it just feels weird waking up to a pounding heart when it's normally so peaceful!

Wow that is a massive rise! Mine varies between about 58 and 70 but it will only go as high as 70 when I’m unwell or if I have had way too much alcohol. It used to be much lower when I did more exercise overall but to go from 48 to 70 in three months does seem quite significant.

Are you much less active due to the fatigue? I think mine is higher now as I am “resting” a lot more as I am at a desk rather than being on my feet and on the go so there are many more hours to take into account as a RHR if that makes sense.

Yes I am definitely a lot less active. I was running 2-3x a week and walking the dog most days. This virus, whatever it was, totally floored me.At one stage, I thought I was going to have to give up work! I could barely stay awake for more than a few hours and I couldn't even manage to walk the dog round the block let along a proper walk.

But I am just about back on my feet now. I am back at work, I can walk around 20-30 mins a day (but still not much more). I'm gradually improving every day. It is very very slow though. I have never really been this ill before so it's all come as quite a shock!

I had this after covid.

it took almost a year to get back down.
had ecg, holter, stress test because it's unusual for me.
I felt fine, but my blood pressure also was slightly higher and I felt dizzy when getting up at a normal pace too fast.

Let alone walk the dog

The weird thing was that the virus wasn't that bad. Like a coldy thing. It just completely wiped me out.

Alcohol also makes mine high but I've stopped drinking totally while I recover.

What changes your lifestyle - is it a different job?

@greenacrylicpaint sorry to hear tbat. Has it gone back to normal now? Yes I did wonder if this was a post Covid thing

yes all back to normal

took a while though and was scary at the time.
I had to learn not to do too much when I felt it wasn't good for me.
that's actually quite liberating.

Yes that's exactly what I'm having to learn. It was very difficult at first because I'm used to doing so much!

Glad to hear you're better now :)

I also had this after covid. Pre covid my heartrate averaged high 50’s (around 58 ish), during covid (I only had it mildly) it went up to about 78. Came down a bit afterwards, but then settled in at around 68. Its never gone back down to what it was. I have no idea why!

I find if I let exercise slip then my rhr will rise, from in the high 40s up to 60s. Even worse if I'm travelling and/or drinking. I wouldn't worry, it will take time to come back down but 70 is still well within the normal range.

Mine went up after covid, too. It's come down again to under 60 (usually in fifties due to exercise) over the course of about eight months.

That said, I guess with any potential heart issue it always pays to see a doctor in person. And never mention the words "worry" or "anxiety" as a woman consulting about potential heart issues.

When you are back to full health and back to pre illness exercise it should return to your normal range. If it doesn’t, that would be the point the dr should check things more thoroughly. But just now your body is not responding the same in several ways and will have lost muscle mass in other muscles too from illness. So take your time and regain your strength and hopefully you will see it go down again.

It will come back down when your fitness returns.

Once you are running, particularly if you do long distance, it will reduce.

Don't worry about it, it's how bodies react.

When will Drs be interested? Probably never but you might need a pacemaker as you age if it stays low.

Thanks all - doctor said he thought it would take about 6 months for me to feel 'normal' considering it's taken about 3 months to show some small improvement

He said they are seeing a lot of people, generally fit and healthy, who are taking a lot longer to get better from seemingly innocuous viruses

Just feels very odd but maybe it's a sign I should be slowing down a bit anyway! (I'm in my 50s)

Probably your virus was COVID, which is not an innocuous virus. This is why testing is important.

There is a lot of evidence that COVID affects the heart. The British Heart Foundation has some useful info.

Look up POTS, it doesn't sound like you have that since it's your resting heart rate, but it's important to be aware, if it keeps rising.

If you've got plenty of money to spare (and I know some on Mumsnet are very wealthy) I guess you could see a private cardiologist and get an in-depth assessment/M.O.T. A renowned cardiologist in my area offers this, there's lots of retirees here so it's probably very popular.

I honestly have no idea if this is advisable or not, it's just something I considered when this happened to me (I'm not wealthy at all though, actually poor!).

BTW you mention blood tests but did your GP not order an ECG (unsure if this is the right name, where they stick wires on your chest)? Mine did right away.

no, but when I went to see him, though I was concerned about it, at that point it hadn't gone up as much as it had done now so I was more concerned about the fatigue/slow recovery

he did all the normal blood tests like thyroid/anaemia/kidney/liver etc. and all were fine

I have a referral to a sort of specialist doctor in December if I haven't fully recovered by then - I'm just hoping it doesn't hit 100 before that point because I guess at that point, I've got a problem and do need to get it looked at. It went up again today and is now in the 70s though on the other hand, I am starting to feel more recovered overall.

I always get a rise in heart rate with a virus. Mine is usually around 60 but went up to 80 for a week and I didn’t even feel that ill. Took a few weeks to get back down to its normal state again.
I don’t think it was covid cos I’d only had that a few weeks prior and this was more GI related.
i don’t think Drs worry unless over 100.