I had the same problem for a while. My resting heart rate has just recently started going back down and is in the 80s again. It didn't start improving until I started exercising regularly. My BP was always really low when my HR was high like that too.

Hi Danielle - I haven't had the particular problem with rapid heart rate but there are a few in this forum that did and could chime in. I believe that rapid heart rate is something that can happen after a PE . Hopefully the folks that have had this occur will offer their stories and support. Btw did the ER order an echocardiogram?

I know of pretty many people who had this problem, and I did too after PE. For some if not most the problem eventually goes away, for others it seems to stay high, although I don't know that having only a rapid heart rate would normally be considered 'heart damage' either. Were you in the ER for chest pain or something else related to PE, or were you there for something completely different and just happened to notice that your HR was highish? Also, don't underestimate the power of stress to change increase your HR, and at least for most of us, being in the ER is stressful in itself even aside from the anxiety of whatever problem took us there in the first place. 100 is still considered within normal range even if it seems high for you, and 120 considering the likely anxiety that goes along with being in the ER isn't really so high either, so that's probably why the medical personnel didn't react too much to it.

I just noticed that on your profile you are also in the pulmonary hypertension group as well. Have you been diagnosed with chronic pulmonary hypertension and are dealing with that as well, or were you just told you had PH immediately after the PE? Because again, almost everyone who had any kind of significant PE has PH for a time, but as things clear up in our lungs that usually goes back to normal. If you're dealing with chronic PH, then the HR thing may be related to that, although if your clots were somewhere close in time to when you joined this site, I would find it hard to believe you'd already been diagnosed with chronic PH. Again, most of this stuff will go away on its own as the clots clear up.

I don't think it's necessarily indicative of permanent damage to your heart. But you should consult with your doc if you're concerned about it.

I did have heart damage from my PE, but it resolved itself within a year of my PE. I too have a higher heart rate now since the PE, but it's not related specifically to the damage. Since my PE, my heart rate is now always between 85ish-110, but my BP is in the low range of normal. My cardiologist did say that's not unusual after a PE. I exercise and it's fine. I feel good.

I actually think when we are so hyper focused on everything, which is completely normal after such a crazy event as a PE, anxiety and stress play a role, so you have to factor that in. I'm not saying that is the sole cause, but it's quite plausible there are a combination of things going on that would cause that.

When I had my PEs, my heart rate was very erratic, so much so that they were talking clot busting therapy. The large ventricle was larger than the left and they did talk about possible permanent damage. That's why I worry so much about it.

Where PH is concerned, I was simply investing that possibility. I did have extensive PEs: both lungs were full and there was a very large clot.

I'm a little frustrated, because doctors are just saying heart is OK, though nurses ARE concerned by my HR. GRRR

Sometimes the nurses are just looking at the heart rate and not your specific situation that would cause the high heart rate.

When I was in the hospital for my PE (I also had a DVT), I was first in the ICU, and then in the Cardiac unit for 4 days. There was this crazy (I'm not joking) medical assistant that would see me slowly walking down the unit hallway (my doc wanted me walking as much as I could manage) with my IV pole and my gown and I looked really unwell you know. So, she can see that I'm sick, but she's hyper focused on my DVT leg which is red and swollen and she's yelling (literally) at me how I need to be concerned about my leg and mention it to my doc immediately. She just assumed I was in the the hospital for a heart issue with no background on my PE diagnosis, or the fact that I was already diagnosed with a DVT. My point: they don't always have the background OR they aren't looking at the big picture.

My understanding is that most heart damage from an enlarged ventricle resolves itself. I had tPA in the ER because my clots were so large and I was critical, and they suspected heart damage. An echocardiogram, once I was stable, confirmed this. I had to have period echos for a year after my PE to make sure it was improving. Within a year, it completely corrected itself.

Have you had an echocardiogram? If not, might be something to explore, if you feel like you want to pursue it.

meant PERIODIC echos.

I find that interesting that the nurses are concerned - that's exactly the polar opposite of my experience. I have been diagnosed with heart damage and because I had yet another DVT right after that diagnosis, I was in the hospital and saw a whole bevy of doctors, who all agreed with the conclusions of my cardiologist, so in total about six doctors who said yes, from what they can see I have heart damage. Nurses, on the other hand, seem to always believe they know better than the doctors, and I have on several occasions had run-ins with nurses who insist to me that I have digestion problems, not heart problems, to the point of injecting me with anti-nausea medicine instead of nitroglycerin when what I had was actually severe angina. So personally, I don't put a lot of stock in nurses. I mean, there are good ones for sure, but in general as a group, they are making guesses and your doctors have all of your information.

However, I don't want you to think I'm dismissing your concerns either. I understand why this is a concern for you. I'm proof that it can happen, even if it's not considered very common. Most any heart related issues clear up on their own as you get better. The fact that you have been exploring PH is interesting to me, because it was something which I had researched also when I felt that my recovery wasn't quite as it should be. I had a lot of the same symptoms that people with PH, but it didn't really make much sense in terms of the normal reason for PH, which when related to PE it's that the pulmonary vessels thicken and narrow as a result of the PEs. That didn't make sense for me because I did have clot busters and my clots were dissolved before I ever left the hospital.

How specifically have you talked to your GP about the problems you're having? I'll be honest, at your stage of recovery, and I'm guessing you're somewhere around 6 months, you may have trouble getting a doctor to pay too much attention. PE recovery takes so long as it is, and I still think a lot of problems resolve between the 6 month-1 year mark in terms of how we feel, so you're probably still going to feel better in several months compared to how you feel now. The best thing I can recommend doing is seeing your GP and being really clear about your specific symptoms which concern you. He may not doing anything right away, and if he doesn't try not to get too worked up about it. He may send you to a cardiologist right away, and all the better if he does, but I think at least you kind of want to get 'on record' that you're having these complaints. If you don't get set up with a cardio you may have to bide a little more time, and if you do try not to be too anxious. I can speak from experience that anxiety is the very worst thing you can do to yourself. In the meantime, try doing what you reasonably can in terms of getting back to 'normal' life, even exercising some, and see how your body responds to that, but listen to it. If you're seeing your HR is way too high during exercise or you feel sick after doing it, then your body is trying to tell you something. Then these are all things you can go back to your doctor with, giving him more information to work with.

My first GP after having PE listened to my complaints about continuing problems, recognized that it was outside of the norm, but did nothing more than do some breathing tests (continued SOB was one of my problems). Basically, he was unwilling to send me to a cardio or to do any further testing to see what was going on and just gave me a generic 'it's permanent, non-treatable damage from your PE.' He agreed that my symptoms matched cardiac symptoms, but he said the PEs didn't put me at any higher risk of heart attack. So basically, his conclusion was that I shouldn't worry because the pain wouldn't kill me and there was nothing to be done anyway. I had been in the ER for chest pain, and it was always classified 'non-cardiac', so I even just kind of shrugged my shoulders and thought, well what else can I do? Mind you, at this point, I'm talking about being well over a year into recovery from PE.

A couple of years later I moved, got new doctors who were basically appalled that I didn't have more extensive testing after the PE. Still, the chest pain issue was initially not any major red flags. But the pain started getting considerably worse, more painful and more frequent and eventually, finally, I had an 'abnormal' EKG which was enough to look further into what's going on. Off to the cardiologist, a mess of tests later, and finally I know what's going on. I'm not sure without that EKG that I would have any answers still, so it's hard to say what it might take for you to get some kind of definitive answers.

My initial cardiologist who treated me for the PE actually told me from the beginning that I'd have permanent heart damage, but even at that my GP wasn't concerned. I'm just telling you this to say it may be a bit of an uphill battle for you to get some answers. And likely any doctor will still want you to wait longer before doing any extensive testing. I wasn't diagnosed until about 4 years after my PE. I think personally that's too long too, but if you're still having trouble after a year into recovery I would push for further investigation. In the meantime, there's really no sense in worrying about whether you have damage or not because worrying accomplishes nothing at best, and can hurt at worst. Worrying can make you feel worse than you actually physically should feel. In the meantime, start looking for patterns. Other than your heart rate being high (which again a lot of people have but it settles down after awhile), what other symptoms are you experiencing, and when? If you get pain, then how does it feel and where does it hurt? The more information you have, the more the doctor has to work with.

Oh, and by the way, what my initial GP said was both right and wrong. My current cardio agrees that it's damage from the PE's, but it's not untreatable. Now that I have medications I do feel much, much better. Also, some types of 'permanent heart damage' aren't necessarily very significant in the end. Like one thing I have is an AV block, it's a disruption of electrical current down the normal pathway into my right ventricle, again the logical assumption is that when that part of my heart was enlarged during PE it crushed that electrical path. Which sounds horrid, but in the end it's like no big deal, because the right ventricle just gets its electricity from the left ventricle. My heart beats a little different than everyone else's is all. I've decided it's actually kind of poetic, not to mention a rather apt description of me anyway.

Yeah, that's good advice about having a sit down with your GP and going over specific concerns. And like Shilosmommy said, I'm not dismissing your concerns. I think it's just hard to sort out at this point in your recovery what's what because so much is normal recovery from a PE, particularly PEs that were so large. I'd be mroe concerned if you heart rate was that high and your BP was high as well but sheesh, what do I know. How hard is it with your coverage in Canada to get a Cardiologist referral?

After re-reading what you wrote, if you were diagnosed with an enlarged ventricle, and that they were concerned about permanent damage, or even temporary damage, it's odd to me that there weren't any instructions about follow up testing to see see where you landed with that. Do you have a copy of your medical records to see if that was recommended? Discuss it with your doc for sure.

I have/had the same problem. I'm a year out now, and for the most part my heartrate is considerably lower than before, but it is still higher than my old "normal" and it takes a much larger jump when I stand than it used to. When I have a head-cold and feel like I'm having a hard time breathing, my HR is always higher. Anxiety really messes with my heart rate, which is probably why I still have an occasionally high heart rate. I had a flu shot yesterday and freaked out after I walked out of the building... my HR went through the roof. You would think after all the lovenox injections a flu shot would be no big deal, but my brain makes odd connections these days!

The nurses were actually great and knew my history: same hospital, same ER.

My GP is such harehead sometimes and not very cooperative. She's the type who will be told about an issue write it off and, months later, when it's brought up again, will ask why I didn't mention it GRRR.

They didn't do a heart echo this time. However, heart issues are rampant on my father's side of the family. In fact, he had a heart transplant in 1990. That's why it concerns me so much.

I will continue to monitor it closely. And it's true that the mix of the pain and stress could have affected my HR in such a dramatic way. It was just very disconcerting hearing the monitor beep away every time I sat up, let alone got up and walked!!

Have you considered switching doctors? A lot of us do post PE since we find our current docs just aren't cutting it any longer.

I have, but it's not a possibility: I'm in Canada, in a region where there is a HUGE shortage on doctors. When you have a GP, you can't get on a list for another one GRRR.

Sounds like a great system, sigh.

Are you able to go to specialist without a referral from your primary care doc?