Dear patient,

Thanks for your health concerns.

Sinus rhythm is the normal rhythm of the heart. And to XXXXXXX the demands of the body during stress, exercise, infection, etc., the body increases the heart rate to generate sinus tachycardia; usually this change is transient and the person goes back to sinus rhythm with heart rates between 60 and 100. There are very rare reports of patients developing weak heart muscle (tachycardia induced cardiomyopathy) with sustained sinus tachycardia for prolonged periods of time, so it is not always benign.

My best advise would be to see a cardiologist who can verify an ekg, decide if there are other potential causes for sinus tachycardia (for example excess thyroid hormone) and determine if this is happening only during anxiety periods, in which case a multimodal approach to relieve anxiety ( medications, cognitive therapy, etc) might be needed.

Hope this is helpful. Let me know if you need clarifications.

Wish you the best health

Dr Brenes Salazar MD
Cardiovascular Diseases
Mayo Clinic MN

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