Lightheaded and foggy... but little or no tachycardia?

[Ana]

Hey there!

 

I'm new to the forum. I got diagnosed in 2020 after I had COVID-19 as it exacerbated all my symptoms. Lately I have been noticing that I will stand and walk and I will feel foggy and lightheaded but when I check my fitbit, it says my HR is not even over 100? It will be around 90-98, or barely over a 100, between 105-115 and yet I will be lightheaded and foggy? It has been quite humid lately but still, I'm kind of confused about having symptoms when my HR is so... normal? Does anyone else experience this? Usually I have had symptoms starting when I'm over 120-130, depending on the day, and definitely anytime I go over 140. But this is new and odd to me. Am I just weird or is does anyone else relate to that as well?

 

Thanks in advance!

Ana

[Sushi]

5 hours ago, Ana said:

Lately I have been noticing that I will stand and walk and I will feel foggy and lightheaded but when I check my fitbit, it says my HR is not even over 100? 

Have you checked your BP? My heart rate does not rise when I am upright but my blood pressure falls giving me pre-syncope. This is quite common for some patients. For me, it isn’t POTS but rather neurally mediated hypotension. Some have both I believe.

[MikeO]

I can do get both but the nOH is most of the time.

[Pistol]

@Ana welcome to the forum! Yes, I can become lightheaded and experience brain fog with HR in the low 100's, and even lower! The fact that your HR is elevated at all is a sign that your body is working really hard to pump blood to all organs and the brain but circulation is just not adequate. That is why we become symptomatic. 

Are you on any medications? I am on a beta blocker, which has significantly improved tachycardia and palpitations but lightheadedness can still occur. 

@Sushi is right - it would be good to check your BP when you feel symptoms, in addition to measuring your HR. Often a rise in HR follows a drop in BP and if the body can find a happy medium between the two numbers it will maintain the level there. 

[Ana]

@Pistol I have a heart arrythmia, PACs, that gives me palpitations and I used to take medication for that, Flecainide, but I stopped it a few months ago because my husband and I want to try to get pregnant later this year and my cardiologist told me I can't take it because it's not safe and she wanted to make sure I stopped it a few months we started trying to be extra safe. So I'm just riding out the heart palpitations and arrythmia when they happen. 

@Sushi Unfortunately it has been happening when I'm most active, which is at work, and I'm a teacher, so I can't really stop to take my blood pressure while in class. But that would make sense. It's just odd because it never used to happen like that. I would only get symptoms whenever my HR was higher and so far I have never struggled with BP being low. I help out in the library for one class period and I noticed it the most when I crouch to arange books and then I stand back up, then it hits me with the fogginess and lightheadedness and my HR is usually between 98-112.

[Sushi]

3 hours ago, Ana said:

I have a heart arrythmia, PACs, that gives me palpitations and I used to take medication for that, Flecainide, but I stopped it a few months ago because my husband and I want to try to get pregnant later this year and my cardiologist told me I can't take it because it's not safe and she wanted to make sure I stopped it a few months we started trying to be extra safe. So I'm just riding out the heart palpitations and arrythmia when they happen. 

I have Afib and took Flecainide for years until it caused a very serious side-effect and I switched to Multaq. But all the antiarrhythmic medications have side effects and some of them are serious so your doctor is certainly right to have you stop Flecainide  before trying to get pregnant. Another option for PACs is triple magnesium—Magnesium Taurate, Magnesium Malate, and Magnesium Glycerinate. Some find this really helps with PACs.