While I cannot say for certain, I have a feeling that my pulse has been too high for most of my life. I remember when going into doctor's offices, they would check the vital signs. My pulse was high, but it would be attributed to the anxiety I faced just seeing a doctor. My anxiety levels were always very high. The high pulse rate would be brushed aside as something normal when in fact, it was anything but normal.
The WAKE UP CALL
Back in October at a session I had with
Dr. Canali, he checked my pulse with the
Finger Pulse Oximeter and noticed that my pulse was running around 99 beats per minute (bpm). It was a shock to both of us because up until that point we had not checked it, and I did not realize it was high. If you want to have a big scare in your life that indicates there is something wrong in your heart and circulatory system, this will do it. It scared the daylights out of me and I'm glad it did. I was most likely a walking poster boy for serious potential heart problems.
One of the first things that I did when I got home was purchase the exact same Finger Pulse Oximeter that Dr. Canali was using sold by Clinical Guard. However, I have found one that seems to be just as good and for much less on Amazon (check out this Finger Pulse Oximeter). When I started to check myself on a daily basis, I noticed that my pulse was all over the place. There were times I was up to 125 and 130, but most of the time, I was around 99. These were resting pulse rates! I would take my pulse meter to the fitness center when I worked out, and noticed that while my pulse would go up a little when I exercised vigorously, it was not necessarily into the optimal range according to the exercise equipment. I took it in with me when I did Yoga and while sometimes it would come down slightly from the 99 range, many times my pulse continued to be high. For a long time, it seemed like no matter what I did, my pulse would stay high.
The reason I use this pulse meter is that it tells me in real time what my pulse is, and how the wave forms of my pulse appear. It gives me some very good and helpful information. Hope And Possibility Through Trauma - Don Shetterly
How High Should My Pulse Be?
According to Wikipedia, Tachycardia is when the heart rate exceeds the normal range for a resting heart rate. Resting heart rate is the heart rate in an inactive or sleeping individual. When the heart beats rapidly, the heart pumps less efficiently and provides less blood flow to the rest of the body, including the heart itself. The increased heart rate also leads to increased work and oxygen demand for the heart, which can cause a heart attack if it persists. This occurs because decreased flow of necessary oxygen to the heart causes myocardial cells to begin to die off. Acutely, this leads to angina, and chronically to ischemic heart disease.
A normal resting heart rate in beats per minute is normally stated between 60 and 100 and of course tachycardia is around 100 bpm for an adult according to the Mayo Clinic Website. In comparison, a well trained athlete can have a pulse rate of 40-60 bpm.
Also keep in mind that the pulse rate can be influenced by the following:
- Activity level
- Fitness level
- Air temperature
- Body position (standing up or lying down, for example)
- Emotions
- Body size
- Medication use
How Did I Lower My Pulse Level?
While I could have taken medications, and had all kinds of test and procedures, I chose not to take this route. For you see, my belief is that when you introduce medications to the body, you might give the appearance that you are helping the situation when in fact, you are just masking a much bigger problem. Any time you try to suppress one system of the body, you impact another system. I'm not saying that there is never a need for medication, and that is something that you need to decide on with your doctor. I'm just trying to propose another way to look at how to treat the body.
My route that I took to deal with this involved getting work done by Dr. Canali. If our bodies are overloaded with stress, trauma, and other influences, it will have a biological impact upon us. This influences how the body takes care of itself and how it works to keep us in balance. So any major impact will throw our entire body system off, including our autonomic nervous system. It prevents the master healing system within us to take over and make corrections within our body. In my case though, I was not even aware for most of my life that my pulse was high. The pains we face, the high pulse rates, or other health measurements we check are an indication of what is going on within the body and often times, it is the way the body is trying to get our attention. The body sends us messages all the time but all too often, we do not pay attention to them.
The work I did with Dr. Canali involves going deep into one's self and becoming aware of all that is there. As you become aware of it and allow your body to release all of the long held trauma, stress, anxiety, and fears, the body then has a capacity to begin regulating entire systems in a much healthier way. It is healing that comes from within, not necessarily from other sources that are introduced to the body. Sometimes the change is immediate and other times it takes some work to get there.
In my last session with Dr. Canali in March, we saw that my pulse was down in the mid 70's. The best part of this is that it was staying more steady and not jumping and spiking like it once did. I'm sure I still reach some moments where I spike up to the 99 or 100 bpm, range but I've been checking it, and it is staying around the 74 bpm range. No longer am I living each day in the tachycardia range, which is a major change in me physically and biologically. My days can still be stressful but I'm finding I have much more capacity to deal with the stress, and not hold all of it in. That is a big shift in me.
Other things that I did to help myself with this was that I continued my Yoga at the fitness center, did a lot of deep breathing exercises in myself, and tried to spend time frequently allowing myself to relax. Through the work of Dr. Canali, I've learned how to go in and discharge and release some of the emotions and fear that are coming up within myself. Listening to relaxing music (by Don Shetterly) or music by Steven Cravis, has helped me greatly to just let go of the stress and relax.
The Finger Pulse Oximeter
At one time I was recommending the Clinical Guard product, but since they have stopped working with me without explanation, you can find other products on Amazon for much less money. Here is one that I see that looks similar in comparison. I have not tested it so I cannot fully state how good it is.
I became an affiliate for Clinical Guard (where you can purchase the Finger Pulse Oximeter) and earn a commission on sales, because this pulse meter helped save my life. Without having the pulse meter available to me and without being able to monitor myself, I would have continued through life not knowing that this was a problem until most likely it would have been too late. The best part about this particular Pulse Meter is that you can see the pulse, the oxygen level of your blood, and the wave forms of your pulse. It truly gives you a lot of information in a very quick way. The beginning point though is to give yourself information, and through the use of the pulse meter, you will be learning so much about yourself. It will help you begin to take corrective action that will truly make a difference in your life.
I'm not a medical doctor, of course, so any information I've presented here is from my own experience and what I can find searching the internet. You need to always check things out, and do your own research as well as make informed decisions with appropriate medical providers.
Closing Thought
While all of us are conditioned to seek out drugs and tests first, our bodies are very good at healing themselves, if we allow that to happen. However, many of us have gone through life dragging our baggage from the past with us. We may feel like we have dealt with it only to truly find that we are just suppressing it. Suppression is not dealing with things. Going into the fears and the pains that we have, and giving them a safe way to release is where the healing begins. It is like Dr. Canali has often said to me, "If you have a closet that is full and you want to put more stuff into it, you cannot do this until you first take something out". It is the same in the body. If you have so much stuff within you (including emotional, mental, toxic substances), than there is no way to give yourself deep peace or to bring in that which is good for yourself. Yes, you can have peaceful moments to some degree, but to truly find that deep peace and source of strength within yourself, you must remove all that is cluttering the way of its expression.
Further Information:
1) Finger Pulse Oximeter
2) Wikipedia - Article on Tachycardia
3) Mayoclinic.com - Heart Rate: What's Normal?
4) Dr. Paul Canali at Evolutionary Healing Institute
5) Ansar Group - Heart Rate Variability
5) Don Shetterly - Relaxing Piano Music
6) Steven Cravis - Healing Meditation Music
Other Blog Posts
1) My Pulse Is Too High Follow Up
2) My Pulse Is Too High
3) Finger Pulse Oximeter
*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog
Podcast Version on iTunes: Interview With Fear
