Don't Mind Me if I Pass Out

Several months ago I was at the doctor and my heart rate was rather high.  Enough that he said "wow, that's pretty high".  But that was also a time when I was in a great deal of pain and about to start on medications to manage my fibromyalgia.  So we decided the rapid pulse was due to pain and would take the "wait and see" approach.

We tried managing the pain (which is probably 70% managed.) but my heart rate is still resembling an excitable bunny rabbit. 

I'm tired of it.

My blood pressure, normally nice and low, has been having episodes of ridiculously low.  92/fifty-something just doesn't feel very good.  

The combination means that neither can be easily treated!  Treating my high heart rate (usually between 110 and 120) would be bad for my low blood pressure.  Treating my low blood pressure would be bad for my high heart rate!  So then we were going to wait and see if the infection I had at that point was the cause of them.

I decided to try a few studies on my own: is it the fault of allergy medications? caffeine intake? sugar intake?

Well, I haven't taken any allergy medication of any sort for weeks now.  I don't know how that may have affected my blood pressure (I don't have a cuff/scope) but my heart rate is still high.

I do drink Dr Pepper several times a week.  On Livestrong.com it reports that 

Normal [caffeine] consumption levels of a few coffees or sodas, about 250 mg a day, is considered safe and doesn't usually cause problems beyond jitteriness, restlessness and irritability.

32 ounces of Dr Pepper (more than I drink most days) contains about 112 mg of caffeine.  I do also love chocolate, be even a full Hershey's Special  Dark 31 mg. of caffeine.  Compared to a regular Hershey's Milk Chocolate bar which contains only 9 mg.  I hardly eat a whole chocolate bar every day.  Therefore on the HIGH end I MIGHT take in as much as 143 mg. of caffeine each day.  WELL below "normal consumption" levels.

I decided to track my heart rate for a day to see if I'm having spikes after eating or drinking certain things.  I even took an anxiety pill last night, in case anxiety issues were interfering.  I use an app on my phone to track my BP.  Looking over the timeline and notes, I have hit nearly 130 bpm a couple of times during the last 24 hours.  Once was at 2:30 am when I woke up for a short time in the night.  My lowest point was barely under 100bpm when I very first woke up this morning, before getting out of bed.  A banana split didn't cause a spike in heart rate.  32 oz. of Dr Pepper did not cause a spike.  As usual, my heart rate has mostly varied between 110-120.

Last week was a fun and busy week, and Saturday evening I was in a lot of pain and extremely cold.  I took a lortab, and got in a warm bath while drinking some Dr Pepper.  The combination of narcotics, temperature change, and soda did push me up just over 130.  Yes, I get periods of moderate to extreme diziness.  Yes, I get very tired (though I have so many triggers for fatigue who would I ever know?!?!?!).  Yes, I sometimes feel short of breath.  But what's a girl to do?