# Constant awareness of heartbeat? **URL:** \ **Category:** VM/MAV\ **Created:** [October 23, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://mvertigo.org/t/constant-awareness-of-heartbeat/3367 "2011-10-23T23:47:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DizzyBAT](https://mvertigo.org/user_avatar/mvertigo.org/dizzybat/32/9_2.png) [@DizzyBAT](https://mvertigo.org/u/DizzyBAT)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://mvertigo.org/t/constant-awareness-of-heartbeat/3367/1 "2011-10-23T23:47:58Z")
I was curious how many of you have what I experience. I can constantly feel heartbeat. I mean, If I’m distracted doing things then I’m not paying attention to it, but anytime I want, I can feel my heart beat. (It’s not beating fast or fluttering.) I’m wondering if this is a common symptom with MAV. Brian ---
**Author:** ![maryalice](https://mvertigo.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@maryalice](https://mvertigo.org/u/maryalice)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://mvertigo.org/t/constant-awareness-of-heartbeat/3367/2 "2011-10-24T00:53:22Z")
I thought I was the only one! Haven’t seen it mentioned before. When I first started having dizzy spells, I went to my primary care doc. When I mentioned this symptom, he did an EKG in his office (normal, of course) and since my first bad dizzy spell also included a tunnel vision aura - which to me was a signal that I was about to pass out (I didn’t recognize it as aura at the time) - he sent me for an echo stress test! They told me to tell them if I felt at all dizzy when I was on the treadmill - well, I was going along for what seemed like about 10 minutes when I felt some mild dizziness come on so I told them. I guess that’s what triggered the holter monitor that I had to wear for the next 24 hours. Well, my heart had a couple extra beats here and there but they said that wasn’t too unusual at my age so it was nothing that required treatment or follow up. I thought being aware of my heartbeat was bizarre. It wasn’t a sensation of palpitations because I understood that to mean your heart was racing - it wasn’t anything like that, I just started to be aware of my heartbeat (it wasn’t beating fast) and I hadn’t been aware of it before. It took another bad dizzy spell/tunnel vision event and subsequent feeling too exhausted to go to work the next day that got me to go to urgent care. I got a CT scan (normal) and fortunately, a referral to the neurotologist who diagnosed me. Then I was on my way - now that I’m on Topamax, I no longer have the awareness of my heartbeat. But Brian, you’re not the only one! ---
**Author:** ![beechleaf](https://mvertigo.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@beechleaf](https://mvertigo.org/u/beechleaf)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 10:45am UTC](https://mvertigo.org/t/constant-awareness-of-heartbeat/3367/3 "2011-10-24T10:45:30Z")
Hi Brian, Yes, I have this too. I could always tell what my heartrate was, without needing to feel my pulse, as I can just tell when my heart is beating. I’m not sure this is related to my MAV. I also have something called pulsatile oscillopsia, which means my vision flickers up and down slightly with my heartbeat. I don’t notice it all that much, although the eye thing is much more noticeable when I am tired, or during a migraine. But this definitely developed with MAV/BPPV so I think it must be related to either inner ear damage or migraine. ---
**Author:** ![david\_shapiro](https://mvertigo.org/user_avatar/mvertigo.org/david_shapiro/32/13_2.png) [@david\_shapiro](https://mvertigo.org/u/david_shapiro)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://mvertigo.org/t/constant-awareness-of-heartbeat/3367/4 "2011-10-25T22:14:04Z")
I used to be able to hear/feel my heartbeat, but this was years before any MAV symptoms. I had always assumed it had to do with being quiet, and relatively sensitive to my body. This was also the time when I used to be able to do a breath meditation where I’d send the breath’s thoracic expansion along my back so I felt each vertebra, in order. Ah, well. ---
**Author:** ![janquinn](https://mvertigo.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@janquinn](https://mvertigo.org/u/janquinn)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://mvertigo.org/t/constant-awareness-of-heartbeat/3367/5 "2011-10-26T21:32:12Z")
_— Begin quote from **“DizzyBAT”** _ I was curious how many of you have what I experience. I can constantly feel heartbeat. I mean, If I’m distracted doing things then I’m not paying attention to it, but anytime I want, I can feel my heart beat. (It’s not beating fast or fluttering.) I’m wondering if this is a common symptom with MAV. Brian _— End quote_ I too can feel my heart beat some of the time. THink it must be something to do with MAV. Have only been suffering 3 weeks and thats when it started. ---
**Author:** ![Pharmgirl](https://mvertigo.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Pharmgirl](https://mvertigo.org/u/Pharmgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://mvertigo.org/t/constant-awareness-of-heartbeat/3367/6 "2011-10-27T01:09:23Z")
I have had bad anxiety for almost ten years and have had this awareness of my heart beat the whole time, so for me I don’t think it’s related to my mav, but the mav has worsened my anxiety… ---
**Author:** ![DizzyBAT](https://mvertigo.org/user_avatar/mvertigo.org/dizzybat/32/9_2.png) [@DizzyBAT](https://mvertigo.org/u/DizzyBAT)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://mvertigo.org/t/constant-awareness-of-heartbeat/3367/7 "2011-11-02T20:46:49Z")
Thanks for all your relies! The most apparent conclusion, however, from the limited responses (only 5), would be that awareness of heart beat is NOT a common symptom of MAV. (Also about half of you said your awareness of pulse is probably unrelated to your MAV.) Mary Alice, I find it interesting that Topamx took it away. I would try Topamax, but ny neurotologist doesn’t want to put me on it because it’s too sedating/dulling (she calls it “Dopamax”). What is your experience on it? Thanks again, Brian ---
**Author:** ![maryalice](https://mvertigo.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@maryalice](https://mvertigo.org/u/maryalice)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://mvertigo.org/t/constant-awareness-of-heartbeat/3367/8 "2011-11-03T04:45:36Z")
Brian - I lost some weight that I needed to lose when I first got on it (though recently, due to some extra stress in my life, I found some of it creeping back on), and it helped me quit the Pepsi habit I’d been wanting to shake for years (it has made fizzy drinks taste “off” though I know it doesn’t do that to everyone). So not all side effects are necessarily bad. But the “Dopamax” thing has been true for me - less now than at the beginning, but I still have some occasional word finding difficulty, mainly with regard to words I use infrequently. If I did public speaking or acting for a living, this could be a real deal breaker. I find I don’t think as fast as I used to in general, but if I get fired up about something (a real interesting discussion or something I feel strongly about) I think I’m just about as sharp as I was before. Other side effects in the beginning were constipation (but I’m prone to that - it just made my tendency worse), tingling in my fingertips and sometimes my lips (I hardly ever get that now), and ghostly visual trails that only happened in the morning when I first woke up when the light was kind of dim. The big problems came when I told my doc that I had stopped having the daily wobbliness, major dizzy spells, and tunnel vision auras - all good news - but was having some breakthrough mild episodes of dizziness and some mild to moderate headaches; he suggested I work my way up from the previous target of 100 mg to 200 mg. Not only did my husband think I was mentally more dull (I know I was worse, but he thinks I was WAY worse) - I could no longer have orgasms at 200 mg. I am willing to deal with breakthrough mild episodes of dizziness and some headaches! I’m now at 150 mg - didn’t have to go all the way back down to 100 to fix the main problem. I will say that at 200 mg I had fabulous symptom control, but I wasn’t willing to pay that price. I have pretty darn good symptom control now. By the way - I don’t know if the awareness of heartbeat is in any way related to tinnitus, but I also had some strange percussive thumping episodes that also went away with Topamax; these were much more pronounced than the subtle tinnitus I have still (kind of like a distant power line buzz/whine sound). These episodes were short, loud, and in one ear only; they even started slow and increased in speed (really bizarre), and it felt more like a spasm in my eardrum and not at all like a pulse. I thought they might be a kind of tinnitus, but maybe they were a kind of aura. As with all things, we weigh the costs and benefits. I was having such severe dizzy spells with tunnel vision auras that I was afraid I might have to give up driving, so trying Topamax even with all its possible side effects was a no-brainer for me.