Living with a Tacky Heart: How My Tachycardia Diagnosis Changed My Life

The heart is arguably one of the most important organs in the body. Along with keeping you alive, the heart can communicate what you’re feeling, sometimes before you have the chance to figure it out. This can be measured with your pulse, which reflects your heart rate.

 

Your heart rate might speed up when you’re about to give a speech or presentation in class; when you’re watching a thriller movie and the tension begins to build up; or when you spot your crush at the opposite end of the hallway. Regardless of whether you’re nervous, scared or excited, it’s totally normal for your heart rate to occasionally be fast.

 

However, too fast of a heart rate can be dangerous. In honor of Heart Health Awareness Month this February, I wanted to share my story of having a minor heart condition and how it changed my perspective on my health.

For as long as I can remember, my pulse has always been quick no matter what I was doing. I could be listening to music, walking up a flight of stairs, or simply talking to someone, and I’d find myself needing to take a deep breath or two in order to slow down my heart rate. I thought it was normal for some reason, and I decided it probably wasn’t that big of a deal… I was wrong.

One day during my freshman year of high school, my math teacher had us complete an exercise where we stepped on and off our desk chairs for a minute and then counted the number of beats in our pulse for a minute afterward. Once we had our own values written down, she asked us to share our numbers aloud so we could calculate the average active heart rate for the class.

As my classmates began taking turns telling their values, I noticed that mine was significantly higher than everyone else’s. I was near the bottom of the alphabetical class list, which, luckily, gave me enough time to make up a number that was closer to the other values before mine. Even though I’d lied about what my actual heart rate was, I still thought it was normal—or, at the very least, that I had made some sort of error.

It became more apparent that I hadn’t made a mistake with that calculation and my heart rate was, in fact, faster than it should be when I joined the color guard section of my high school’s marching band. I was an active performer throughout both my sophomore and junior years, and part of our training included running long distances around the parking lots and school building. Although I’d always find the motivation to push myself until I reached the end, I was usually very out of breath and exhausted. Sometimes I was embarrassed by how long it would take me to get my heart rate under control before moving on to our next team exercises.

The issue wasn’t formally addressed until halfway through my senior year. I’d succumbed to my seasonal bronchitis around October and my mom had to take me to urgent care one night. When I was called into the office, the nurse took my pulse as part of their standard procedure. As she was about to enter the number into the computer system, however, she frowned and said, “I’m going to do this again real quick.”

I didn’t think twice about it and let her redo the reading. She had the same look on her face, though, after the gadget squeezing my forefinger beeped with the new value. “Your heart rate’s pretty high,” she replied. I felt my cheeks go pink. The hallway was no more than three-yards’-worth of a walk, so what I’d thought wasn’t that big of a deal all this time was proven by technology to be just that.

I eventually told the nurse that my heart rate had always been fast, but I’d thought it was normal. She suggested that I visit a cardiologist to look further into the problem and then proceeded to treat my cough. My mom and I made an appointment with a heart specialist for Feb. 23, which just so happened to be my mom’s birthday.

Before officially seeing me, my cardiologist had me wear a Holter monitor, which is a portable recording device with multiple wires connected to it. Each wire had a patch called an electrode at the end, and each patch was placed directly onto my chest in different positions. I was ordered to wear it for 48 hours and record any times I felt out of breath by clicking a button on the device.

I turned in the monitor after I’d worn it to school for two days, and following the completion of multiple tests—including an Electrocardiogram (EKG), Echocardiogram, and a blood workup—my cardiologist diagnosed me with an iron deficiency and an acute form of tachycardia. 

Translation: fast heartbeat. I couldn’t believe it.

To be told that I had a minor heart condition was all it took for me to open my eyes and look into changing how I took care of myself. I learned that in some severe cases, tachycardia could lead to complications and result in heart attack, stroke or even heart failure. Although these fall under the “worst case scenario” category, I didn’t want to ever experience them.

With the help of my new Fitbit watch to monitor my heart rate, I’ve begun the journey of regularly exercising—mostly walking, but some running, too—and focusing on what I put into my body. I now opt for water, try to eat spinach salads to help with my iron levels, and spread out my caffeine intake throughout the week.

What my diagnosis has ultimately taught me is that I should focus more on how I feel. To be healthy is to feel healthy!

Make sure to show some appreciation for your heart this month, because not only is it one of the most vital organs in your body, but also it might be telling you something about yourself that’s more important than you think!

• february
• heart health
• Winona