Heart Rate Question

[BrookeBird310]

Hello all. I'm going to see a cardiologist next week but wanted to get some opinions first.  For a few years now, I get super dizzy when standing, to the point that my vision briefly goes black nearly every time I stand. This seems to recently be worsening/increasing in frequency.  I've always been very athletic and exercise frequently, so my resting heart rate tends to be in the 50s. I've noticed recently though that it will feel as though my heart is racing even when my Fitbit says my HR is 50s/60s while sitting. In other words, I become hyper aware of my heartbeat racing even if it's at my typical resting HR.  I've also noticed that my HR will spike to 100-110 or so just from standing up and walking across the room or even just doing normal daily activities like folding laundry. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it normal for my HR to spike to over 100 just from walking 20-30 feet or so? Thanks in advance for any and all input!

[JohnnyRow]

As you may already know, dizziness or lightheadedness when standing suddenly is called orthostatic (or postural) hypotension (low blood pressure).  You can look it up.  It's just blood pressure taking a while to rise in your brain.  It is easy to look up possible causes and solutions - many not serious.  Just getting up slowly, and holding onto something, helps.

As far as racing heart, one thing I would check is when you say you feel it racing but Fitbit says it is 50/60s bpm, check it manually with your finger on wrist looking at a clock with second hand and don't just automatically trust Fitbit, to see if heart really is racing.  It might not happen in doc's office and don't want to necessarily tell them that heart rate is normal when feels racing just off of Fitbit saying so without verifying it manually yourself.

You will probably get a multi-lead ecg that will give much more info than the basic 2-lead ecg some fitbit watches give.

I wish you well.  A cardiologist will know just what to do and your exercising and being in good shape will make your outcome much better.

[BrookeBird310]

Thanks for the reply! Usually when it feels like my heart is racing, I do
take my own heart rate (usually at my wrist) and it is much slower than it
actually feels, if that makes sense. When I take my own heart rate, it's
pretty close to what my Fitbit says it is. Since this has been happening
more and more frequently, I've definitely made sure to not solely rely on
my Fitbit numbers.

[JohnnyRow]

Sounds like you're on top of it.  Probably I shouldn't even be suggesting any possibilities since I am far from a medical professional, but since you asked, one possibility is that you have an arrhythmia such that one chamber of your heart gets beating faster but not the chamber that pumps out the blood, so you feel the racing, but it is not reflected in the pumped blood flow beat.

But that doesn't address your hear rate rising more than expected from from just walking across the room, so you see I really don't know what I'm talking about.

I'd be curious to hear what you find out, even in a PM if you don't want to post it for everyone to see.

[Cale_H]

Yo sorry this is like 1.5 years later but I do actually have this problem? Like I am looking at my fitbit right now and it has my typical resting HR on it while I'm sitting, but my pulse is going ~135. Even when I stand up and walk around, it registers a resting HR. The only time it seems to be accurate is when it knows I'm exercising, and then it seems to match the intensity of my exercise. But my heart definitely races/skips beats sometimes for unknown reasons, and the fitbit doesn't register it.

This has been normal my whole life but yeah I was going to see a cardiologist just in case. But my fitbit registers something completely inaccurate? I can't figure out why, and I think this is why it never registers any irregular rhythms when I am clearly having them. I got this fitbit specifically because it can record irregular heart rhythms, and it just doesn't recognize them. So that's disappointing?

[RiekoC]

Hello @Cale_H 

You may find the information on this Fitbit page helpful: How do Fitbit Irregular Rhythms check for Afib? (<-- click link)

Most importantly:

Fitbit doesn’t analyze your data in real time. If you receive a notification, it means we saw signs of an irregular rhythm that may be AFib in the last 24 hours (with regular device syncing).

Since Fitbits don't analyze data in real time, you can consider doing an ECG reading (if your Fitbit device has that option) when you feel like your heart is racing or skipping beats. The ECG app does provide real time data and you can export the PDF file to share with your healthcare provider.

You might also want to consider setting heart rate thresholds in the Fitbit app. This page provides instructions on how to do that: How do I track heart rate with my Fitbit? (<-- click link)

The most important thing is that you intend to see a cardiologist. Heart issues are best diagnosed and monitored by a healthcare professional.

[Cale_H]

Hello, and thank you for the reply! I don't know if I made this clear, but I'm talking about the heart rate that shows on the fitbit itself. I am assuming this is recorded in real time. If I look at the app, I understand that this has to sync to the Fitbit and it won't be in real time. But the heart rate that shows on the fitbit screen is inaccurate, and I just checked the information synced to the app from earlier in the day and that also looks inaccurate. So that's what I was talking about. It just never recorded the heart rate spike from earlier today.

And yeah I have irregular heart rhythm notifications turned on, it says "on and checking" and I've never received any notification. I click on View History and it looks like it breaks the app? It just loads a blank screen and I can't go back, I have to swipe the app closed and re-open it. So idk what's up with that!

The app also records Heart Rate Variability, and mine says No Recent Data for that health metric even though when I click on it there is history shown in the graph for the current week, recorded on random days and left blank for others. My sleep stats also seem to be weird, and as I understand it that is also affected by heart rate. So all of these issues combined made me think maybe there's something up with the way the fitbit senses heart rate, and I was wondering if this is common.

I'm not really worried about my health because I can just go to a doctor, but also I'd like my equipment to function correctly because otherwise why do I even have it, you know?

I have an Inspire 2 with the most recent firmware, and my fitbit app is fully updated. I've read that placement on the wrist can affect heart rate detection, and I tried moving it to different places but the only effect that has is whether it detects anything at all, or nothing. So if there's something else I can check, I'm all ears?