What causes rapid heart rate and fatigue?
Patient: Hi, my heart rate has been incredibly high lately. Movement causes it to spike but it s relatively normal at rest. I m incredibly fatigued lately almost always and have no appetite, and trouble sleeping at night. I m also having headaches and general muscle aches all over my body. I m not sure if it s related but my hands have been shaking and I have muscle twitches from time to time since my symptoms have begun. I m 26 years old, Male, and weigh 200lbs, and 6 2 . I ve been exercising lately and have always been in pretty normal shape, but looking to lose some fat and gain muscle. The heart thing is freaking me out though. I don t have health insurance currently and can t go to my doctor unless it s absolutely urgent, and even then it ll be putting me in debt to go to the ER without insurance so I m really hoping to avoid it altogether. Doctor: Hello and Welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service.  I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.  Your symptoms could be related to a metabolic disorder: chronic anemia, vitamin D deficiency, thyroid gland dysfunction, etc. For this reason, I would recommend consulting with your attending physician for a physical exam and some tests:  - A resting ECG - A chest X-ray study - Complete blood count for anemia - Thyroid hormone levels for thyroid gland dysfunction - Blood electrolytes - Vitamin D plasma levels for possible deficiency.  In the meantime, I would recommend you to closely monitor your blood pressure values. An ambulatory 24 to 48 hours ECG monitoring would help examine your heart rhythm trends and investigate for possible cardiac arrhythmia, if all the above tests result normal. You should discuss with your doctor on the above tests.   Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. Iliri