Most of the day, my heart rate is over 100bpm. My normal resting heart rate has always been ~62bpm. This all started last November. I thought it was anxiety attacks b/c of the stress of school.But it s gotten to the point that this increased hear rate is almost constant instead of intermittently throughout the day. In the last 1.5 months, I ve tried taking Xanax 0.5 mg & it seemed to help a few times but doesn t anymore. Then I was switched to Lorazepam 2.5 & it doesn t help either. I m not able to exercise right now b/c I had my rotator cuff repaired just 8 weeks ago. Could this be a more serious cond n & not just anxiety? I don t smoke. I don t drink caffeine. I m not on any decongestants. And I DO drink A LOT of water. My daily medications are Levothyroxin 0.5mg, Nexium, Effexor XR 75mg/day, Concerta 27mg bid, & now the Lorazepam. It is very difficult for me to sleep (as well as study, for that matter) when my heart rate is so high so I have one rum & Sprite before bed just to calm down & sleep. I often wake up in the middle of the night b/c my heart is suddenly racing. Here is some background information that you may/may not find helpful. when I was ~20 years old, my mom noticed that after walking up a set of stairs, or even just walking up a small hill, I would be VERY short of breath & my heart rate got up to 160 bpm at a time. This continued when I was in college & working out on a daily basis & healthy. My workout would consist of at least 30 min. on an elliptical & never had to stop b/c I was short of breath or my heart was racing. I went to a Cardiologist & he did the stress test, echocardiogram, etc. . . . He then referred me to an electrophysiologist who performed a table tilt test & throughout all this testing, I think I wore a Holter monitor at least 4 times. The Dr. said that yes, my heart rate does tend to race during very little activity but it also came down very quickly too so he wasn t worried about it. He said that if this continued on into my late 20 s, he would want to go in & burn a portion of my SA node. I wasn t too keen on that. I was put on Atenolol & it worked GREAT. The problem COMPLETELY went away. But then I had to start taking allergy injections & apparently Atenolol & allergy injections don t mix. So, now not only do I have the racing heart rate/shortness of breath problem that i ve had for ~16 years but I can also just be sitting on my couch & suddenly my heart rate is well over 100bpm. Earlier while I was studying, it got up to 128bpm. I ve been on Concerta for ~1 year now & I know one of the side effects can be an increased heart rate. I m also well aware that there is a problem w/overdiagnosis of ADHD. BUT, I m DEFINITELY NOT one of those ppl. I can t tell you how much it helps me study & it s my understanding that 54mg/day isn t a very high dose. Thank you for your time & any suggestions you have.