Not because I was exercising. Not because I was anxious about something specific. But because my heart would suddenly start racing while I was sitting on the couch… or lying in bed… or standing in the kitchen doing absolutely nothing.

It felt like my body was revving an engine it couldn’t shut off.

And every time I tried to explain it, I was told the same thing:

“Your heart looks fine.”

The Palpitations Didn’t Feel Like Anxiety — Until Everyone Called Them That

These episodes didn’t start as panic.

They started as physical surges — a sudden thump in my chest, a flutter, a pounding rhythm that felt louder than it should have been. Sometimes my heart would skip, sometimes it would sprint.

And the strangest part?

My mind was calm.

This wasn’t emotional anxiety first. The body reaction came before any fear.

When your body activates stress before your mind does, it’s often because the nervous system — not your thoughts — is driving the response.

What Was Actually Happening Inside My Body

Mold exposure doesn’t just irritate lungs or sinuses. In sensitive people, it can dysregulate the autonomic nervous system — the system that controls heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, temperature, and stress response.

In my case, my body was stuck in a near-constant state of sympathetic overdrive.

That meant:

• Adrenaline spikes without triggers
• Heart rate increases at rest
• Palpitations when lying down
• Difficulty transitioning into sleep
• Feeling “wired but exhausted”

This wasn’t my heart failing.

It was my nervous system refusing to stand down.

A racing heart doesn’t always mean a heart problem — sometimes it means your body no longer trusts its environment.

Why This Symptom Gets Missed So Often

Heart palpitations trigger cardiac workups — EKGs, Holter monitors, blood tests.

When those come back normal, the conclusion is usually anxiety.

But what rarely gets explored is why the body is producing adrenaline in the first place.

In mold-exposed homes, the nervous system is constantly detecting threat — not consciously, but biologically.

Every breath, every particle, every invisible exposure keeps the stress loop active.

No amount of reassurance can override that signal.

You can’t think your way out of a body that feels under attack.

The Pattern I Didn’t Recognize Until Later

Looking back, the palpitations followed patterns I didn’t notice in real time:

• They were worse at night and early morning
• They flared after being home for extended periods
• They eased when I left the house — sometimes within hours
• They worsened alongside dehydration, dizziness, and fatigue

At the time, I thought each symptom was separate.

They weren’t.

They were all part of the same dysregulated system.

If this resonates, you may also recognize pieces of what I wrote about in
my experience with low blood pressure
or
the exhaustion that never improved with rest.

What Helped — And What Didn’t

What didn’t help:

• Breathing exercises while still living in exposure
• Reassurance that “everything looks normal”
• Pushing myself through symptoms

What helped:

• Reducing time in the contaminated environment
• Supporting hydration and electrolytes
• Lowering overall nervous system load
• Recognizing that this was a body-based response, not a mental failure

The biggest shift came when I stopped trying to calm my heart — and started asking why my body felt unsafe.

Healing didn’t begin when my heart slowed down — it began when I stopped blaming myself for the symptoms.

A Calm Question to Sit With

If your heart races when you rest…
If your body feels perpetually “on” despite exhaustion…
If tests say you’re fine but your body insists otherwise…

It may be worth asking whether your nervous system is responding to an environment it no longer tolerates.

That question changed everything for me.