Heart Palpitations, shortness of breath while sleeping

If you find the whole gasping, heart pounding sensation, it may be sleep apnea. I have always snored a little. "Girl snores" as it were, but I didn't know anything about apnea, it wasn't until a bad flu caused me to stopped me from being able to breathe at night that I finally developed narcolepsy and hallucinations. It made it impossible to drive. So I sought medical treatment-it turned out to be sleep apnea! The heart racing/pounding is because your throat closes & you stop breathing. It sends a panic message to the brain to force your airway open, so your blood pressure heart rate-everything ramps up until your body jolts you awake to breath. It built up slowly over years so I never knew. But when I finally got my sleep study done-I woke up 90 times an hour! I couldn't get a minute's worth of sleep without my body having to force me awake. I had thought the 8 hours of sleep I was getting was good and my fatigue, mental confusion, sluggishness etc were signs of just getting older. Now when I look back I can see years worth of problems that were basically signs of sleep deprivation. The doctor said that folks who were as afflicted as I was he usually only sees at the grave site. If you have the racing/pounding heart and gasping etc when you wake up from sleeping-ask for a sleep study. It could save your life!

Jasonjason, ever diagnose your issue? I

I too being in decent shape and having my heart cleared with a stress echo am being jarred awake the moment I close my eyes and start to dose off while lying down. Upright during the day, I feel the shortness of breath, but it is consistant, and does not increase or decrease while being active during the day or excercising for example. Plan to see a lung specialist as I have treated this for lung asthma with steriods ( no change) and throat has always been clear. Once asleep with the sadness of having to take sleeping pillls (ambien) now every evening i stay asleep so apnea or weight issues as well as anxiety are not very likely here.

mesh7 wrote:

mtch_h wrote:

I suffered the same symptoms you've explained; heart palpitations and a jolting feeling through my chest when trying to sleep at night. By day I would feel like I was in a fog and quite light-headed. Sometimes I would feel like I was about to pass out. I felt a pressure pain in the center of my chest both day and night. These symptoms just hit me out of the blue. I'm in great physical shape so these symptoms really scared me.

After seeing my GP, a neurologist and an ENT all of whom carried out a full cardo workup, blood workup, urinalysis, head/neck MRI, and ENG/VNG testing, my GP diagnosed anxiety and prescribed Xanex and Lexapro. After about a month it was apparent that anxiety wasn't my problem because my symptoms didn't change. I didn't think that was it to begin with.

I went to a Cardiologist a couple of weeks ago and he administered a tilt table test. Well I failed the test. I've been diagnosed with Neuro Cardiogenic Syncope. Basically, there's a problem somewhere with receptors in my heart that send signals to my brain about my blood pressure. My blood pressure is dropping when it shouldn't (light headedness) and my heart is responding inappropriately (palpitations). I was prescribed the beta-blocker Zebeta which is used to treat high blood pressure. It's just about eliminated all my symptoms. I feel much better. My Cardiologist believes it to be a transient condition that will likely correct itself after about 6 months of treatment with the beta blocker.

Search the web for "Neurocardiogenic Syncope" and "tilt table testing". Then you may want to talk to a cardiologist about this.

I hope this helps you guys and many others. Not being able to find an answer to symptoms that mimic heart attack and heart failure is emotionally exhausting.

Good luck.

....I can't believe I'm actually seeing this post, This EXACTLY what I've been going through for the past year. I'm 30yo male, and have always been in very good shape, and last month I got blood work (thyroid/ekg/basic initial stuff) all neg. and my doc prescribed xanax/ambien, nothing works, just got a sleep apnea test done but I could tell apnea wasn't the problem, they didn't even test me with the CPAP mask or anything. I'm waiting for the results.

My question is to you mtch_h (you're a godsend btw!) I'm assuming that beta blocker helped you with those palps that came when you got to sleep, but I also have the exact same palps right when i get UP from sleep which is always only after about 4 hours of sleep which is my biggest problem. Did you have these symptoms too? And also, what dosage are you on with that beta blocker, does it half a long active half life? Thx so much again I've been suffering for so long with only 4 hours sleep / day. ....

Mesh7

Any luck diagnosing your isusue, I am in the same club exactly

Precab at aol.

JR

Thank you tonight was the first time i felt fhis feeling... and reading about people suffering from it really makes me feel better :)
:):)

I agree with the second to last posting. It's because you have mitral valve prolapse, which is a condition where one of the left heart valves sticks upon closing and actually leaks a little bit. This hole can be from the size of a pin to the size of a pencil eraser based on the sevarity of each person. I have all these symtoms, and didn't know why I was feeling this way til I went to a doctor. This condition is both premature in the fact that you can be born with it, yet some people develop it from use of strong pain killers, uppers(cocaine,meth) and last but not least steroids. So if your having these issues see a doctor. Luckily, you can live a peaceful life with no complications with mitral valve prolapse, except for extreme cases (pencil size hole) where surgery is needed. Hope that helps!

Im having about the same issues as everyone else.

excuse me sir i also have something quite similar but not breathing problems,it is also during my sleep, its like a miracle or what ,we all know when we sleep we dream ,of course i also do dream but this is,
it feels like everything is real i even could feel objects like hands,water and more i still didn't meet a doctor but i'm scared to see one

I had these exact symptoms, and turns out my iron levels were super low. Low iron causes your heart to have to work super-hard to circulate oxygen! I had the palpitations lying down, restlessness, all the above. I started taking an iron supplement and feel better now!

I just ran across this thread and I can't believe it. I have the exact same symptoms (vtac, jolts in chest...etc) I got all the tests done and everything came back normal. I now just drink a beer or two before bed and sleep like a baby. This may work well but I'm worried that It may mask the problem and I will pay for it later. I'm not sure what to do

Ive had the same symptoms, Happy to hear Im not alone.



It all started during some complications in my life but nothing too big, this led me to believe it was stress or anxiety. But once past this the symptoms have continued.



Usually happens at night but more often it happens at daytime too. I feel dizzy, empty inside as if I was about to leave my body, feel out of breath and the need to breath deeply consciously. I sometimes get a tingling feeling as If my extremities and body are numbing. And the heart has an irregular beat, sometimes it races like hell and some other times its like its going to stop.



Its all very scary, Im a 30 year old male, and have not done sport for the past 6 years but im not fat, just 3kg over weight. I try to eat healthy and take vitamin supplements now and then on an irregular basis, When I was young I used to take protein shakes but only once a week at the gym. I thought it was something caused by an electric shock I suffered some time ago but reading this post it seems this affects people from all walks of life.



I hope to see somebody come up with a cause for this c**p, I really hate is, sometimes I get scared of going to bed just because of the probability of it happening..



Thanks for sharing

I am intrigued that you are worried about your westernised life style (overweight/smoking) causing this...have you altered your lifestyle to see if things improve, or would you like your GP just to give you expensive medication so that you can continue the likely causative factor.

PLAN: cut out caffeine, get early nights sleep, avoid eating after 6pm, get some exercise.

Cheaper and more effective than masking it with 'medicalising poor lifestyle choices'.

If you chose to continue being overweight, eating the wrong foods/or too much food, dont exercise,, smoke, drink etc, then expect your symptoms to stay, and then learn to live with it.

I have a 6 year son, every night when he's asleep he holds his breath. Like you said, his throat does closes and his body jolts as he gasp for air. Is that something that I should seek medical attention for ASAP? Because I'm afraid to fall asleep and wake up to a lifeless body.

I've been jolted awake for about 2 months now but no other symptoms. I read the post on possible thyroid connection. Last night I took an iodine pill and had no problem. I'll give it a few more days and let you know if this does it.

...Sound like Sleep Apnea. I have been going thru all those symptoms that you describe. In addition, my studies on anxiety has found that Sleep Apnea creates, causes and maintain high levels of anxiety. Also, sounds like you have hypnic Sleep Jerks, were the body jolts moments after fallin asleep.

I had the same symtoms as this. Doctor did extensive blood tests and told me I was suffering from stress. I was pressured to return to doctor by my family and he sent me for an ECG which fortunately picked up the palpitations, they admitted me there and then and I have been diagnosed with atrial tachacardia. Apparently this is a condition that gets worse with age, I am 55 but until this last year have been running,kick boxing and circuit training regularly and saw myself as very fit.. There is a cure for it it is a cardiac ablation , doctors try to make do with drugs to treat it but I am now down for the procedure which takes 3 hours and has a 99 percent success rate. Don't give up! GOOD LUCK