14 ms·

I went to cardiologists for a mild burning sensation in my chest area, post recovery of my first & only covid infection, in early 2022. They dismissed my concer

I went to cardiologists for a mild burning sensation in my chest area, post recovery of my first & only covid infection, in early 2022. They dismissed my concerns. A year after recovery, I resumed my routine strenuous exercises, and I noticed I had elevated resting and walking heart-rate and my apple watch would alert me of abnormal heart rates. I went to cardiologists again and they dismissed my concerns again. Both times, they did all the usual battery of tests (Echo, TMT/EKG, cholesterol, blood markers etc) and they all came "normal". They basically told me stop googling things and to throw away my smart watch. Anyway, another thing my watch was telling was that I wasn't getting enough sleep and I focused on fixing that. A few months after that, my resting heart rate started to trend down and has come back to pre-covid levels. I don't know what to make of it all. One expensive doctor explained it to me this way – historically medical community don't have enough data about how post-infection recovery has been in large populations w.r.t heart rates. Only recently, with smart watches etc such data is available. Until that smart wearable data is scientifically studied, analyzed and concluded, the doctors won't change their diagnostics and treatment protocols, for good reason. While I understand that, I felt that their current protocols are for suited for well-advanced and well-presenting cardiac diseases that occur in old people.

enqk 3y ago
In my experience (in my non-US country) doctors don't make much use of heart rate for diagnosis at all. We check things with a pulse oximeter when feeling unwell and quite often we see elevated heart basal rates associated with infections, uncorrelated with body temperature. These tends to correlate quite fell with feelings of tiredness/uncomfort. I found it interesting that doctors most of the times feel entirely uninterested with this.
Lord-Jobo 3y ago
>One expensive doctor explained it to me this way – historically medical community don't have enough data about how post-infection recovery has been in large populations w.r.t heart rates. Only recently, with smart watches etc such data is available. This is absolutely true and one part of the root problem. The other aspect of this is that most of the heart tracking devices we use live on the wrist and the data is of questionable quality and application. Many cardiologists know this and dismiss the devices and its uses wholesale, but that approach is wrong. The data isnt 'wholesale bad' its just bad at many things (hilariously, particularly bad at the things they advertise on the most). One of the things its GOOD at doing is noting when your heart is behaving differently from your baselines, which is why its generally pretty good at noting AFIB or pre-AFIB characteristics, for example. This level of complexity on the issue, coupled with the relative lack of understanding with post-infection behavior/detailed immunoresponse, is definitely leading to some less than ideal approaches to patient care. and obviously the nature of COVID, being the first generally uniform viral infection of the entire population since 1918, being a huge wrench. source: I am not a doctor in any way, my dad has a 30 year history of complex heart problems and i get to speak with his specialists a lot. like, 12 of them by this point. I work in tech and play with many types of health tracker devices regularly so it comes up in conversation.
kirse 3y ago
historically medical community don't have enough data about how post-infection recovery has been in large populations w.r.t heart rates I'd agree here. Most doctors have not really caught up to the giant data science revolution we have going on. A couple years ago I bought one of these [1] while trying to diagnose some general health/fatigue issues and after a year of data logging and life experiences it was pretty cool to watch how my HR/O2 numbers changed in response to various events - long bike rides, strength training, getting a cold, being on antibiotics, etc. The nice thing about this device was 1) it's much more accurate than smart watches and 2) provides raw time-series data vs some abstract fancy marketing UI. At this point I now do comprehensive bloodwork panels at least quarterly and while I don't use the O2 device anymore I still have the baseline data saved. I'd recommend to anyone to start recording this type of data while you subjectively "feel good". It'll make it much easier to diagnose + press doctors on health issues if you can point to data associated with a time you felt well. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Wellue-O2Ring-Wearable-Sleep-Monitor/dp/B08HDGBF7P https://www.amazon.com/Wellue-O2Ring-Wearable-Sleep-Monitor/...
- jandrese 3y ago
  Big data work on healthcare is stymied not only by inconsistent collection, but also healthcare privacy laws and a lack of standardization across the industry. So many medical device manufacturers are holed up in their little silos and have no interest in contributing to the general knowledge. They are in it to make money, not to advance the science.
  - plagiarist 3y ago
    Healthcare privacy laws are not a hindrance in the US. Basically all one needs is a business agreement with a HIPAA-compliant entity and one can send PHI data. And certainly so if the patient opts in. So I would say it is 100% due to the siloing and proprietary enshittification endemic to the industry. They don't want to help science, they want vendor lock-in.
- huijzer 3y ago
  > I'd agree here. Most doctors have not really caught up to the giant data science revolution we have going on. Well, compared to psychology researchers, the medical researchers are doing pretty well on data science. I‘m not joking. In psychology, data science just doesn’t exist yet. P-values still rule the day and overfitting is a term they have never heard of.
steve_adams_86 3y ago
I had a very similar experience. I did measure my heart rate previously though, and the high resting heart rate notifications were new. I was very worried at first because one of my personally prioritized indicators of fitness was how quickly I could go from say, zone 3 to 50bpm. This was quite low, then suddenly I was having 70-90bpm around 30m after exercising. Yet it gradually went away and I never actually experienced discomfort or anything like it. I haven’t seen a high restating rate in around 6 months. I’d say it lasted around a year, in total. I can see why this condition could kill people with pre-existing heart issues or generally poor cardiovascular health. Having your heart working nearly double time at rest is a huge task when you’re already struggling. It was a great eye opener; I really don’t want to have this again and have it be the final straw that causes a heart attack.
thenerdhead 3y ago
I went to a cardiologist in 2021 and told them I am concerned that I have lingering health issues due to a covid infection months earlier prior to vaccines being available to the public. Heart pain, unexpected palpitations, racing heart rate, etc. Was previously training for a marathon. That cardiologist told me that covid has no effect on the cardiovascular system and the heart cannot feel pain and discharged me to a PCP after running a handful of tests to rule out anything (Echo, EKG, labs, etc) Now here we are in 2023, I have had long covid for almost 3 years and cardiologists are now admitting they are wrong. This article is pretty telling on the dismissive behavior and the truth catching up to them.
- ejb999 3y ago
  >>cardiologists are now admitting they are wrong. Not a surprise - almost everything initially said about covid was wrong; maybe next time people saying things should be so absolutely definitive about things they clear don't know enough about (yet). I would rather doctors hedged their advice/proclamations a bit, then to be definitive when they shouldn't be.
  - waihtis 3y ago
    The ridiculous truth is that we got zealous COVID absolutists as an counteraction to Donald Trump. It was purely a political phenomena.
    - downWidOutaFite 3y ago
      The "it's just a cold" crowd was also a political reaction and they didn't come out look any better.
      - waihtis 3y ago
        For me it wasnt even a cold, i had no symptomps whatsoever
  - dimator 3y ago
    > I would rather doctors hedged their advice/proclamations a bit, then to be definitive when they shouldn't be. Then we'd be complaining that they're telling us two wholely different opinions. Medicine, like science, is based on available data. I have no problem with them admitting they were wrong based on new data.
wutwutwat 3y ago
DISCLAIMER: this is my opinion, obviously I am not saying "this is what is definitely happening". I assumed that was a given but the world is full of surprises. > I wasn't getting enough sleep and I focused on fixing that. A few months after that, my resting heart rate started to trend down and has come back to pre-covid levels. I don't know what to make of it all Of course you know what to make of it all. You were obsessing over the metrics available to you, as many have done as well (myself included), and increased your overall stress levels, bumping your heart rate and making it erratic, and messing up your sleep, which only served to compound it all. You took a year off from strenuous exercise you said, of course it takes time to get your resting rate back down to levels before you were sick and when actively exercising. Imo there is no mystery here. Focusing on your sleep calmed your mind and your body followed suite, combined with the exercise having time to improve circulation and make you more tired to give you better sleep, which helps to lower your overall stress levels, which lowers heart rate, etc, etc. The true question is, did the heart rate elevation cause you any physical issues, or was the issue only that you had visibility into the number. Or put another way, had it not been for 24/7 readings of your heart rate, and notifications from your watch, would it ever have manifested itself physically and been something you felt, and noticed. Based on everything starting out with "my watch would alert me" or similar, I'm gonna say if you're honest with yourself, had you not had a watch the issue might have come and gone and never been noticed. Edit: here come the downvotes for the crime of claiming some things can be self inflicted esp when it comes to fitbit/apple watches. I've watched countless friends and family members fall victim to the obsession of metrics, freaking out about their heart rates all the time, etc. I used to do it myself. It's not a bad thing, but it is a thing, and people need to acknowledge it.
- macintux 3y ago
  There's a difference between claiming "some things can be self-inflicted" vs "your thing I'm diagnosing from your description is definitely self-inflicted". I'd upvote the former, downvote the latter.
  - wutwutwat 3y ago
    You must have missed the "Imo there is no mystery here" smack dab in the middle of my comment, but I added a big disclaimer at the top just now to be sure
epc 3y ago
Was it a shallow pain, like almost in the surface or lining of the chest wall? Might have been something called costochondritis. I had had it off and on since the 1990s, usually for a day or two. But, after each Covid infection I had it for several days, the worst lasting a couple of weeks. Burning sensation in the breast plate, physically hot to the the touch where the ribs connected to the sternum.
kelnos 3y ago
Even if we don't have enough data for a causal link, from the information you've provided, it sounds like the elevated heart rates were more correlated with your poor sleep schedule than with your COVID infection. Also consider that taking on strenuous exercise when you haven't done it in a while is going to cause elevated heart rates, beyond what your previous normal heart rate was during that exercise. Regular exercise will also eventually lower your resting heart rate. I think "starting a new strenuous exercise regimen" (because yes, after a year's break, that counts as "new") would also be unsurprisingly linked to elevated heart rates, even resting. Certainly the burning sensation in your chest area is concerning, but did you rule out the more simple and common cause: acid reflux? I agree that it's unfortunate that there hasn't been enough research on consumer health monitoring data, but I don't think your story says much about the cardiologists' diagnostic process. But I also expect that, with the general lack of understanding of the long-term effects of COVID, many doctors are not equipped to diagnose lingering health issues stemming from an infection. But IANAD(octor), so what do I know.
- thirdsun 3y ago
  > Also consider that taking on strenuous exercise when you haven't done it in a while is going to cause elevated heart rates, beyond what your previous normal heart rate was during that exercise. Regular exercise will also eventually lower your resting heart rate. I think "starting a new strenuous exercise regimen" (because yes, after a year's break, that counts as "new") would also be unsurprisingly linked to elevated heart rates, even resting. Yes, that was my first thought too while reading the comment. A lower heartrate during exercise and resting is a strong fitness indicator. And pausing your exercises for a year significantly reduces your fitness. Of course you will see elevated heart rates.
callalex 3y ago
> they did all the usual battery of tests (Echo, TMT/EKG, cholesterol, blood markers etc) That doesn’t sound like they ignored your concerns at all. It’s odd that you present it as such.
bastardoperator 3y ago
I've lost a lot of faith in medical professionals recently to the point I almost don't want to waste time with them unless I really have to. I was having issues with severe pain and tension in all of my movements. My doctor shrugged it off twice, the third time my wife came and she read him the riot act for not taking me seriously. I did a blood test same day and my rheumatoid factors were so off the charts(doctors words) he was surprised I wasn't more vocal. Dude, I came to see you two times before, I need to cause a scene in your office to get real care? Then my wife went for hip surgery. We were told it was routine, everything is going to be great, less pain, better range of motion. My wife came out of the ER with the inability to move her leg, drop foot, nerve damage. She went in able and came out disabled. 3 big surgeries later, she can walk again. UCSF doesn't want to hear us out on anything related to that botched surgery and the surgeon has since moved to New York. Dealing with medical professionals is like dealing with toddlers. You have to push them on everything or they simply do not care.
- yetanotherloss 3y ago
  They're being squeezed by patient demand and administrations simultaneously, the whole system in the US has seemed on the brink of collapse since 2020. I get all my care done in Taiwan and everything is fine and the doctors all seem to be mostly happy with their jobs, and a few regular nurses like me because I look like a famous actor, so they're always pretty chatty and seem to be mostly ok with life.
  - sergiotapia 3y ago
    Would you care to share more on how you do this? Do you just fly out and pay out of pocket? How do you find specialists? Curious about this for my mother.
    - yetanotherloss 3y ago
      I have permanent residency in Taiwan so it's easy for me, although before that it was still easier than anything in the US, just not next to free without their national insurance. I don't necessarily encourage medical tourism but simply fly to Taipei, find a doctor you want to see, and sign up for an appointment. It will be a little more work without the NHI card but still probably less than whatever you're dealing with. If you get medical scans, almost everyone can print a CD with them in a day or two if you ask. Getting care even without insurance was cheaper than just my US insurance premiums. Having someone fluent in Chinese is important enough I'd say it was required but if you restrict yourself to a smaller sunset of hospitals and clinics that serve foreigners around like Tianmu you may be able to get by with a translator app. People outside NHI are uncommon and their medical system isn't really set up to support it. You may want to consider actual medical tourism facilities of which I've heard of several in Mexico or Costa Rica. You and your mother may also want to consider rioting, because the US system is deliberately and almost uniquely stupid.
manojlds 3y ago
I am in exactly same situation. Completely stopping coffee and sleeping better has helped.
francisofascii 3y ago
> elevated resting and walking heart-rate and my apple watch Glad you recovered. If you have an Apple watch be sure to also track your overnight HRV. (I have a Garmin). While many blood tests fail to be illuminating, RHR and HRV at least can indicate something is wrong. A high HRV/Low RHR is good, Low HRV/High HR is bad. And yeah, cardiologists are the worst when it comes to unexplained heart issues that are not picked up by an ECHO.
mrtesthah 3y ago
> Anyway, another thing my watch was telling was that I wasn't getting enough sleep and I focused on fixing that. A few months after that, my resting heart rate started to trend down and has come back to pre-covid levels. There’s solid research causally linking lack of sleep to high blood pressure the next day.
brvsft 3y ago
> I wasn't getting enough sleep and I focused on fixing that. Gotta ask, what did you do for this?
- tnguy3n 3y ago
  Not the person you're replying to, but I am someone who actively is trying to get more sleep due to problems with high blood pressure. Good sleep comes with good habits. No liquid consumption near bedtime. Caffeine intake reduction and cutoff at least 6 hours before bedtime. Having a wind down routine instead of waiting on my body to tell me to sleep. (Use phone in bed instead of a computer mainly) I was averaging less than 6 hours of sleep a night. Nodding off at work was common, and I would compensate with caffeine. I still don't feel energetic, but I'm less tired now, and looking to increase my nightly sleep to 7.5 hours. It just sucks sometimes to get home at 7 PM and try to sleep at 10 PM.
- nradov 3y ago
  Alcohol has a huge negative impact on sleep quality, especially when consumed late in the day. If you have a smart watch with sleep tracking then you'll probably notice a very obvious impact from even two drinks at dinner.
wredue 3y ago
I mean. A year between strenuous exercise is a lot. It only takes several days without strenuous exercise before the body begins realigning and fitness is lost. Interestingly, I have an irregular heartbeat just normally, and have inner ear problems that cause my heart rate to change for doing nothing at all, and my watch has never made any warning about it.
steve76 3y ago
[dead]
Tolotoo 3y ago
A doctor tried to subscripe 'medication' which came from a company in the same city and had one study regarding inflamation reduction. One! The researcher is dead, the amount in the pill is 100x less than what he tried in the research paper. The pills would have been 100$ for a month. The other doctor has a magnetic resonanz device (doesn't work...) and suggested to me homeopathy with the sentence 'i know people say it doesn't work but it works for my patients' (come on srsly? textbook stupidity...) Since i know how broad the spectrum is in my field of expertise (its huge and i work in it obviously) i just have to assume the spectrum is still wide enough for doctors too. I hate this. I hope/wish for an AI doctor
r3trohack3r 3y ago
You are your own advocate and are ultimately responsible for you. Don't delegate the most important parts of your life. Doctors will kill you. Police will show up too late. Lawyers will miss important details and defenses, and you'll be stuck with the consequences. Accountants and financial advisors will squander your wealth. Know how to defend yourself against violence. Read and understand legal documents before you sign them. Understand your investments. Ask questions. And reject anyone who gets defensive when you exercise your right to control your own life. Fire your doctor if they are offended when you advocate for yourself. Fire your financial advisor if they get irritated when you sit and read the 40 page contract they ask you to sign. Fire your accountant if they write you off when you ask them questions about your books or taxes. These are your support systems, you want experts in your corner you can rely on. You want people you can delegate "sticking to the plan" to. But, ultimately, your life and freedom is yours. Do not delegate them.
- sgtnoodle 3y ago
  I tried to pay different tax accountants twice, and get free advice from a friend that does taxes for billionaires. I'm 0/3 for having a professional get my taxes right. Luckily I've avoided any penalties over the years, though. On the other hand, I asked my wife to give me a back massage, so she booked an appointment for me at the spa down the road. I wasn't expecting her to delegate that, but it was still nice...

enqk 3y ago

In my experience (in my non-US country) doctors don't make much use of heart rate for diagnosis at all. We check things with a pulse oximeter when feeling unwell and quite often we see elevated heart basal rates associated with infections, uncorrelated with body temperature. These tends to correlate quite fell with feelings of tiredness/uncomfort. I found it interesting that doctors most of the times feel entirely uninterested with this.

Lord-Jobo 3y ago

>One expensive doctor explained it to me this way – historically medical community don't have enough data about how post-infection recovery has been in large populations w.r.t heart rates. Only recently, with smart watches etc such data is available. This is absolutely true and one part of the root problem. The other aspect of this is that most of the heart tracking devices we use live on the wrist and the data is of questionable quality and application. Many cardiologists know this and dismiss the devices and its uses wholesale, but that approach is wrong. The data isnt 'wholesale bad' its just bad at many things (hilariously, particularly bad at the things they advertise on the most). One of the things its GOOD at doing is noting when your heart is behaving differently from your baselines, which is why its generally pretty good at noting AFIB or pre-AFIB characteristics, for example. This level of complexity on the issue, coupled with the relative lack of understanding with post-infection behavior/detailed immunoresponse, is definitely leading to some less than ideal approaches to patient care. and obviously the nature of COVID, being the first generally uniform viral infection of the entire population since 1918, being a huge wrench. source: I am not a doctor in any way, my dad has a 30 year history of complex heart problems and i get to speak with his specialists a lot. like, 12 of them by this point. I work in tech and play with many types of health tracker devices regularly so it comes up in conversation.

kirse 3y ago

historically medical community don't have enough data about how post-infection recovery has been in large populations w.r.t heart rates I'd agree here. Most doctors have not really caught up to the giant data science revolution we have going on. A couple years ago I bought one of these [1] while trying to diagnose some general health/fatigue issues and after a year of data logging and life experiences it was pretty cool to watch how my HR/O2 numbers changed in response to various events - long bike rides, strength training, getting a cold, being on antibiotics, etc. The nice thing about this device was 1) it's much more accurate than smart watches and 2) provides raw time-series data vs some abstract fancy marketing UI. At this point I now do comprehensive bloodwork panels at least quarterly and while I don't use the O2 device anymore I still have the baseline data saved. I'd recommend to anyone to start recording this type of data while you subjectively "feel good". It'll make it much easier to diagnose + press doctors on health issues if you can point to data associated with a time you felt well. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Wellue-O2Ring-Wearable-Sleep-Monitor/dp/B08HDGBF7P https://www.amazon.com/Wellue-O2Ring-Wearable-Sleep-Monitor/...

jandrese 3y ago
Big data work on healthcare is stymied not only by inconsistent collection, but also healthcare privacy laws and a lack of standardization across the industry. So many medical device manufacturers are holed up in their little silos and have no interest in contributing to the general knowledge. They are in it to make money, not to advance the science.
- plagiarist 3y ago
  Healthcare privacy laws are not a hindrance in the US. Basically all one needs is a business agreement with a HIPAA-compliant entity and one can send PHI data. And certainly so if the patient opts in. So I would say it is 100% due to the siloing and proprietary enshittification endemic to the industry. They don't want to help science, they want vendor lock-in.
huijzer 3y ago
> I'd agree here. Most doctors have not really caught up to the giant data science revolution we have going on. Well, compared to psychology researchers, the medical researchers are doing pretty well on data science. I‘m not joking. In psychology, data science just doesn’t exist yet. P-values still rule the day and overfitting is a term they have never heard of.

steve_adams_86 3y ago

I had a very similar experience. I did measure my heart rate previously though, and the high resting heart rate notifications were new. I was very worried at first because one of my personally prioritized indicators of fitness was how quickly I could go from say, zone 3 to 50bpm. This was quite low, then suddenly I was having 70-90bpm around 30m after exercising. Yet it gradually went away and I never actually experienced discomfort or anything like it. I haven’t seen a high restating rate in around 6 months. I’d say it lasted around a year, in total. I can see why this condition could kill people with pre-existing heart issues or generally poor cardiovascular health. Having your heart working nearly double time at rest is a huge task when you’re already struggling. It was a great eye opener; I really don’t want to have this again and have it be the final straw that causes a heart attack.

thenerdhead 3y ago

I went to a cardiologist in 2021 and told them I am concerned that I have lingering health issues due to a covid infection months earlier prior to vaccines being available to the public. Heart pain, unexpected palpitations, racing heart rate, etc. Was previously training for a marathon. That cardiologist told me that covid has no effect on the cardiovascular system and the heart cannot feel pain and discharged me to a PCP after running a handful of tests to rule out anything (Echo, EKG, labs, etc) Now here we are in 2023, I have had long covid for almost 3 years and cardiologists are now admitting they are wrong. This article is pretty telling on the dismissive behavior and the truth catching up to them.

ejb999 3y ago
>>cardiologists are now admitting they are wrong. Not a surprise - almost everything initially said about covid was wrong; maybe next time people saying things should be so absolutely definitive about things they clear don't know enough about (yet). I would rather doctors hedged their advice/proclamations a bit, then to be definitive when they shouldn't be.
- waihtis 3y ago
  The ridiculous truth is that we got zealous COVID absolutists as an counteraction to Donald Trump. It was purely a political phenomena.
  - downWidOutaFite 3y ago
    The "it's just a cold" crowd was also a political reaction and they didn't come out look any better.
    - waihtis 3y ago
      For me it wasnt even a cold, i had no symptomps whatsoever
- dimator 3y ago
  > I would rather doctors hedged their advice/proclamations a bit, then to be definitive when they shouldn't be. Then we'd be complaining that they're telling us two wholely different opinions. Medicine, like science, is based on available data. I have no problem with them admitting they were wrong based on new data.

wutwutwat 3y ago

DISCLAIMER: this is my opinion, obviously I am not saying "this is what is definitely happening". I assumed that was a given but the world is full of surprises. > I wasn't getting enough sleep and I focused on fixing that. A few months after that, my resting heart rate started to trend down and has come back to pre-covid levels. I don't know what to make of it all Of course you know what to make of it all. You were obsessing over the metrics available to you, as many have done as well (myself included), and increased your overall stress levels, bumping your heart rate and making it erratic, and messing up your sleep, which only served to compound it all. You took a year off from strenuous exercise you said, of course it takes time to get your resting rate back down to levels before you were sick and when actively exercising. Imo there is no mystery here. Focusing on your sleep calmed your mind and your body followed suite, combined with the exercise having time to improve circulation and make you more tired to give you better sleep, which helps to lower your overall stress levels, which lowers heart rate, etc, etc. The true question is, did the heart rate elevation cause you any physical issues, or was the issue only that you had visibility into the number. Or put another way, had it not been for 24/7 readings of your heart rate, and notifications from your watch, would it ever have manifested itself physically and been something you felt, and noticed. Based on everything starting out with "my watch would alert me" or similar, I'm gonna say if you're honest with yourself, had you not had a watch the issue might have come and gone and never been noticed. Edit: here come the downvotes for the crime of claiming some things can be self inflicted esp when it comes to fitbit/apple watches. I've watched countless friends and family members fall victim to the obsession of metrics, freaking out about their heart rates all the time, etc. I used to do it myself. It's not a bad thing, but it is a thing, and people need to acknowledge it.

macintux 3y ago
There's a difference between claiming "some things can be self-inflicted" vs "your thing I'm diagnosing from your description is definitely self-inflicted". I'd upvote the former, downvote the latter.
- wutwutwat 3y ago
  You must have missed the "Imo there is no mystery here" smack dab in the middle of my comment, but I added a big disclaimer at the top just now to be sure

epc 3y ago

Was it a shallow pain, like almost in the surface or lining of the chest wall? Might have been something called costochondritis. I had had it off and on since the 1990s, usually for a day or two. But, after each Covid infection I had it for several days, the worst lasting a couple of weeks. Burning sensation in the breast plate, physically hot to the the touch where the ribs connected to the sternum.

kelnos 3y ago

Even if we don't have enough data for a causal link, from the information you've provided, it sounds like the elevated heart rates were more correlated with your poor sleep schedule than with your COVID infection. Also consider that taking on strenuous exercise when you haven't done it in a while is going to cause elevated heart rates, beyond what your previous normal heart rate was during that exercise. Regular exercise will also eventually lower your resting heart rate. I think "starting a new strenuous exercise regimen" (because yes, after a year's break, that counts as "new") would also be unsurprisingly linked to elevated heart rates, even resting. Certainly the burning sensation in your chest area is concerning, but did you rule out the more simple and common cause: acid reflux? I agree that it's unfortunate that there hasn't been enough research on consumer health monitoring data, but I don't think your story says much about the cardiologists' diagnostic process. But I also expect that, with the general lack of understanding of the long-term effects of COVID, many doctors are not equipped to diagnose lingering health issues stemming from an infection. But IANAD(octor), so what do I know.

thirdsun 3y ago
> Also consider that taking on strenuous exercise when you haven't done it in a while is going to cause elevated heart rates, beyond what your previous normal heart rate was during that exercise. Regular exercise will also eventually lower your resting heart rate. I think "starting a new strenuous exercise regimen" (because yes, after a year's break, that counts as "new") would also be unsurprisingly linked to elevated heart rates, even resting. Yes, that was my first thought too while reading the comment. A lower heartrate during exercise and resting is a strong fitness indicator. And pausing your exercises for a year significantly reduces your fitness. Of course you will see elevated heart rates.

callalex 3y ago

> they did all the usual battery of tests (Echo, TMT/EKG, cholesterol, blood markers etc) That doesn’t sound like they ignored your concerns at all. It’s odd that you present it as such.

bastardoperator 3y ago

I've lost a lot of faith in medical professionals recently to the point I almost don't want to waste time with them unless I really have to. I was having issues with severe pain and tension in all of my movements. My doctor shrugged it off twice, the third time my wife came and she read him the riot act for not taking me seriously. I did a blood test same day and my rheumatoid factors were so off the charts(doctors words) he was surprised I wasn't more vocal. Dude, I came to see you two times before, I need to cause a scene in your office to get real care? Then my wife went for hip surgery. We were told it was routine, everything is going to be great, less pain, better range of motion. My wife came out of the ER with the inability to move her leg, drop foot, nerve damage. She went in able and came out disabled. 3 big surgeries later, she can walk again. UCSF doesn't want to hear us out on anything related to that botched surgery and the surgeon has since moved to New York. Dealing with medical professionals is like dealing with toddlers. You have to push them on everything or they simply do not care.

yetanotherloss 3y ago
They're being squeezed by patient demand and administrations simultaneously, the whole system in the US has seemed on the brink of collapse since 2020. I get all my care done in Taiwan and everything is fine and the doctors all seem to be mostly happy with their jobs, and a few regular nurses like me because I look like a famous actor, so they're always pretty chatty and seem to be mostly ok with life.
- sergiotapia 3y ago
  Would you care to share more on how you do this? Do you just fly out and pay out of pocket? How do you find specialists? Curious about this for my mother.
  - yetanotherloss 3y ago
    I have permanent residency in Taiwan so it's easy for me, although before that it was still easier than anything in the US, just not next to free without their national insurance. I don't necessarily encourage medical tourism but simply fly to Taipei, find a doctor you want to see, and sign up for an appointment. It will be a little more work without the NHI card but still probably less than whatever you're dealing with. If you get medical scans, almost everyone can print a CD with them in a day or two if you ask. Getting care even without insurance was cheaper than just my US insurance premiums. Having someone fluent in Chinese is important enough I'd say it was required but if you restrict yourself to a smaller sunset of hospitals and clinics that serve foreigners around like Tianmu you may be able to get by with a translator app. People outside NHI are uncommon and their medical system isn't really set up to support it. You may want to consider actual medical tourism facilities of which I've heard of several in Mexico or Costa Rica. You and your mother may also want to consider rioting, because the US system is deliberately and almost uniquely stupid.

manojlds 3y ago

I am in exactly same situation. Completely stopping coffee and sleeping better has helped.

francisofascii 3y ago

> elevated resting and walking heart-rate and my apple watch Glad you recovered. If you have an Apple watch be sure to also track your overnight HRV. (I have a Garmin). While many blood tests fail to be illuminating, RHR and HRV at least can indicate something is wrong. A high HRV/Low RHR is good, Low HRV/High HR is bad. And yeah, cardiologists are the worst when it comes to unexplained heart issues that are not picked up by an ECHO.

mrtesthah 3y ago

> Anyway, another thing my watch was telling was that I wasn't getting enough sleep and I focused on fixing that. A few months after that, my resting heart rate started to trend down and has come back to pre-covid levels. There’s solid research causally linking lack of sleep to high blood pressure the next day.

brvsft 3y ago

> I wasn't getting enough sleep and I focused on fixing that. Gotta ask, what did you do for this?

tnguy3n 3y ago
Not the person you're replying to, but I am someone who actively is trying to get more sleep due to problems with high blood pressure. Good sleep comes with good habits. No liquid consumption near bedtime. Caffeine intake reduction and cutoff at least 6 hours before bedtime. Having a wind down routine instead of waiting on my body to tell me to sleep. (Use phone in bed instead of a computer mainly) I was averaging less than 6 hours of sleep a night. Nodding off at work was common, and I would compensate with caffeine. I still don't feel energetic, but I'm less tired now, and looking to increase my nightly sleep to 7.5 hours. It just sucks sometimes to get home at 7 PM and try to sleep at 10 PM.
nradov 3y ago
Alcohol has a huge negative impact on sleep quality, especially when consumed late in the day. If you have a smart watch with sleep tracking then you'll probably notice a very obvious impact from even two drinks at dinner.

wredue 3y ago

I mean. A year between strenuous exercise is a lot. It only takes several days without strenuous exercise before the body begins realigning and fitness is lost. Interestingly, I have an irregular heartbeat just normally, and have inner ear problems that cause my heart rate to change for doing nothing at all, and my watch has never made any warning about it.

steve76 3y ago

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Tolotoo 3y ago

A doctor tried to subscripe 'medication' which came from a company in the same city and had one study regarding inflamation reduction. One! The researcher is dead, the amount in the pill is 100x less than what he tried in the research paper. The pills would have been 100$ for a month. The other doctor has a magnetic resonanz device (doesn't work...) and suggested to me homeopathy with the sentence 'i know people say it doesn't work but it works for my patients' (come on srsly? textbook stupidity...) Since i know how broad the spectrum is in my field of expertise (its huge and i work in it obviously) i just have to assume the spectrum is still wide enough for doctors too. I hate this. I hope/wish for an AI doctor

r3trohack3r 3y ago

You are your own advocate and are ultimately responsible for you. Don't delegate the most important parts of your life. Doctors will kill you. Police will show up too late. Lawyers will miss important details and defenses, and you'll be stuck with the consequences. Accountants and financial advisors will squander your wealth. Know how to defend yourself against violence. Read and understand legal documents before you sign them. Understand your investments. Ask questions. And reject anyone who gets defensive when you exercise your right to control your own life. Fire your doctor if they are offended when you advocate for yourself. Fire your financial advisor if they get irritated when you sit and read the 40 page contract they ask you to sign. Fire your accountant if they write you off when you ask them questions about your books or taxes. These are your support systems, you want experts in your corner you can rely on. You want people you can delegate "sticking to the plan" to. But, ultimately, your life and freedom is yours. Do not delegate them.

sgtnoodle 3y ago
I tried to pay different tax accountants twice, and get free advice from a friend that does taxes for billionaires. I'm 0/3 for having a professional get my taxes right. Luckily I've avoided any penalties over the years, though. On the other hand, I asked my wife to give me a back massage, so she booked an appointment for me at the spa down the road. I wasn't expecting her to delegate that, but it was still nice...