9 replies to this topic

[slowmo]

Hello all,

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has taken SSRIs for extended periods, especially Effexor and/or Cymbalta, on whether you experienced an elevated heart rate. I should emphasize that I'm not seeking medical advice here. Rather, this is an issue I'm discussing with my prescribing doctor and as background information I'd like to get a feel for how common it is among runners who are (notoriously) conscious of their resting heart rate. In my own case the effect is substantial and unpleasant.

slowmo

[slowmo]

Many thanks to those who have replied privately to my query with very helpful info.  

I'd still appreciate hearing from others, include anyone who has not noticed any HR effect from these medications.

cheers
slowmo

[slowmo]

A brief update...

In consultation with GP and Shrink I'm now experimenting with a reduced dosage of medication. After the first week, my resting heart rate has fallen from the 75-80 bpm that has been typical of the last several years down to 55-60 bpm. I'm hoping that this will translate into feeling better on long runs, ie. less physically stressed.

All the usual caveats apply to this of course: especially that it is an uncontrolled experiment of n=1, and that anyone with similar concerns should talk to their own doctor before doing anything else.

slowmo

[SlimDJ]

Hi,

I spent about 6 months on Cymbalta and didn't notice any changes in my heart rate - it had a few other side effects that were not significant.

I'd guess that I'd pay attention to my resting heart rate on a fairly regular basis and has hovered in the 48-52 range for the last few years with noticable change when I was on the Cymbalta.

During this period I was running 50 - 70km a week and was quite active.

[slowmo]

Thanks SlimDJ - I appreciate the reply. I'm guessing there are many other people who also notice no such effect.

It's difficult to get any precise figures on the proportion of people taking these medications who experience an elevated heart rate. It could be just a tiny minority. For Cymbalta itself, my doctor did find clinical trial data on heart palpitations (which I don't experience) but that was all. And, of course, this and other side-effects can be related to dosage, time on the medication, prior vulnerability and a dog's dinner of other factors.

Meanwhile, despite being advised that an elevated heart rate didn't represent a health risk in itself, I feel a lot happier with my slower heart beat

slowmo

[RunningMom]

slowmo, on 05 July 2011 - 03:31 PM, said:

Hello all,

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has taken SSRIs for extended periods, especially Effexor and/or Cymbalta, on whether you experienced an elevated heart rate. I should emphasize that I'm not seeking medical advice here. Rather, this is an issue I'm discussing with my prescribing doctor and as background information I'd like to get a feel for how common it is among runners who are (notoriously) conscious of their resting heart rate. In my own case the effect is substantial and unpleasant.

slowmo

Hi

I am not a medico, nor am I offering any medical advice.  I am only forwarding a paper that may be of interest to you and your doctor:

Kemp, A.H., Quintana, D.S., Felmingham, K.L., Gray, M.A., Brown, K., Gatt, J.M. (in press). Impact of depression and antidepressant treatment on heart rate variability: a review and meta-analysis. Biological Psychiatry. 2010 Feb 5. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 20138254.

In the Abstract, it is stated:
"...Critically, a variety of antidepressant treatments do not resolve these decreases despite resolution of symptoms, highlighting that antidepressant medications might not have HRV-mediated cardioprotective effects..."

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20138254

Running Mom

[RunningTall]

Efexor and cymbalta are not SSRI medication

[Bellthorpe]

Nor (RunningMom) are 'elevated heart rate' (the original question) and 'heart rate variability' (subject of cited paper) the same thing.

[slowmo]

RunningTall, on 25 September 2011 - 11:42 AM, said:

Efexor and cymbalta are not SSRI medication

You are quite right - they are in the SNRI group.  In conversation I've found that SNRI is a less well-known term generally than SSRI, hence my sloppy usage. However I think it's good that you pick me up on it because it might cause confusion.  For the record, I have previously been prescribed SSRIs (Zoloft and Lexapro) and do not recall any effect on HR with those, but I was only just starting regular running at the time and don't think I would have noticed a moderate effect as readily as now.

slowmo

[slowmo]

RunningMom, on 25 September 2011 - 09:49 AM, said:

Kemp, A.H., Quintana, D.S., Felmingham, K.L., Gray, M.A., Brown, K., Gatt, J.M. (in press). Impact of depression and antidepressant treatment on heart rate variability: a review and meta-analysis. Biological Psychiatry. 2010 Feb 5. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 20138254.

Bellthorpe, on 25 September 2011 - 01:27 PM, said:

Nor (RunningMom) are 'elevated heart rate' (the original question) and 'heart rate variability' (subject of cited paper) the same thing.

Yes that's right, my concern is with increased heart rate and not variability. In my own case the increase has been very consistent over time, e.g. day to day, as well as consistent across activities, ie. both my resting and my running heart rate were substantially elevated when medication dosage was above some (poorly defined) threshold.

That said, I appreciate you posting the reference Running Mom and I'll chase it up because although it's looking at a different effect, it might still contain some material or references that are relevant. To date, I've found casting a wide net to be the best approach with the research and clinical literature although of course you also haul in more contradictory information that way

slowmo