Couldn't Feel Pulse Today

[yogini]

I went up some stairs in the store (on my phone and didn't remember to go slow), which triggered a POTS episode; an episode like this is pretty rare for me these days. I took my pulse and it felt very fast (though I didn't count, probably around 140-150). I decided to finish my errand and there were three or 4 times during the 10 mins that I couldn't feel a pulse at all. It was freaky and of course happened at the worst moment. Has this happened to any of you before? This is a first for me in 10 years of having POTS and obsessively checking my pulse for the first 2.

[Poohbear]

Sounds scary. Is there a specific reason why you felt you needed to check your pulse at that point? If you were feeling faint then it might be that your heart rate and blood pressure dropped quickly. I wouldn't worry about it too much if you are feeling reasonably ok. I hope tomorrow is a better day for you!

[Katybug]

This happens to me. I always wondered what was meant by a "thready pulse". Apparently this is it..when you have a hard time finding/feeling your pulse. It always freaks me out because I almost always feel my heart beating pretty hard in my chest but I can't feel the pulse in my neck or wrist. When the docs try to do a poor man's ttt on me, they have to use manual bp cuff and manually take my pulse because I often become so thready that I error out the automated ones.

[SarahA33]

Yogini,

Are you taking any meds that cause your hr to lower?

sounds scary.. I've gone low a few times and find myself pacing around to pick it back up. It's horrible to go through that

Was your HR irregular when it picked back up? "Shaky" or "quivering" or anything?

Sarah

[Chaos]

Have had this happen where it's felt "thready" but also have had it happen where literally a pulse couldn't be felt for quite awhile. When I had an episode in cardiac rehab one time, I remember the nurse telling the doctor that he had hadn't been able to feel my pulse the whole time they were getting me back to a room so he thought I had been "pretty hypotensive".

Did you have other symptoms?

[MightyMouse]

Happens to me all the time especially if I try to get a pulse from my wrists... rather, when that happens, I can only get it via my carotid artery. One of my PT's has commented how hard it is to find my pulse.

[Freaked]

This happens to me, in my wrists in particular. Also, I discovered that sometimes when you're having a POTS episode, you can't actually feel your pulse sometimes, but other people can. One time I pushed myself too hard and my heart was going about 150, felt like I couldn't breathe, the usual, and I couldn't feel my pulse at all. But when my friend tried, she could feel it easily. The nerves in my hands were obviously messed up at the time from my breathing or adrenaline or whatever, and I don't have neuropathy or anything.

[yogini]

Thanks everyone. I think my pulse was too fast/light for me to feel, not too slow. Low HR is not an issue for me, lol!!

I was checking both wrists. I had better luck with the right wrist, but still wasn't getting a consistent pulse. I tried my neck too, but have never checked my pulse that way before (heard it can make you pass out), so didn't know where to look lol. I think I was just panicking which made things worse. (But don't get me wrong, I have had much worse episodes; I knew I still had a pulse, but just freaked out about not being able to measure.)

[Freaked]

It is very scary. Last time it happened to me I was in the car with my friends up the mountains, totally freaking out cos I was going numb and couldn't tell at all how fast my heart was going. Majorly freaked out. Turned out I had a temperature, typically.