Constantly aware of heart beating

[xanaxed]

Hello there my problem is that I am constantly feeling my heart beating, its not necessarily beating fast, (although it does pretty often) , but it beats hard and it's very uncomfortable!  Throughout the day when im occupied is about the only time i don't notice it.  Its at its worst when I try to sleep (night or day) I almost always wake up a hour or less into my sleep, with a raging heartbeat and a feeling of terror (like i might die, i dont know its hard to describe...)    I was wondering if any of you out there have similar symptoms, if so what could i do to help. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[willow76]

Death is inevitable, our day is coming, when? we don't know. Tonight, tommorrow or years from now, it will come. My comfort is in preparing for it. No, I don't obsess over death. I just understand it will come, one day your heart will beat its last. My comfort is in acknowledging my creator and believing that there is hope for us in Jesus Christ. Now, you may be offended and say that religion is not a cure. Well, I am not religous, I just beleive that there is more to life than the 70 or 80 years we get,if we are fortunate, here on earth. Let's wake up and quit being distracted with fear and anxiety, a great man once said, "once you realize and accept that your life here on earth has to end one day, then you can truly live." Enjoy the days you have, be thankful to God you are alive and breathing and able to read this small testimony. Go out and Live for Christ.

[dustyre]

I was actually searching for this on google.  I have found that if I drink and do anything I can hear my heart beat and it is not that it is fast as much as that it is a hard beat.  Then when I go to bed I almost always wake up about 3 to 4 hours later with major anxiety and I really feel my heart beating hard. I also get like an extreme hot flash and sometimes get sweaty.  this did not always happen though.  If anyone knows of any reason this might happen that is not anxiety I would like to know.  Thanks.

[Mozartcowgirl]

Years ago..I had the same thing.. and even now. if i concentrate on it.. i can feel it.. and hear it.. when I lie down at night.. i can feel it.. it used to drive me NUTS>. to me.. its scary.. because i can feel and hear every beat.. every rythmn..  every pound.. every strange sensation.. i used to  get full blown panic from it... sometimes i can feel it in my toes.. my fingers.. heck.. anywhere .. i trained my self to do it a long long time ago.. why?? i have no clue. i think it was something i just honed in on..  how did i stop doing it? well.. i embraced it.. its normal to feel it. its normal to hear it.. its not a negative thing.. it means you are alive.  I depend on it now.. i even talk to my heart alot now..lol.. while I still have anxiety at times.. and sometimes.. massive panic.. i just constantly remind myself that its my heart.. its beating.. and.. it will go on.  there are times.. however.. that i find myself going off the deep end and freaking out.. thats normal.. after all.. it doesn mean.. that you are alive.  i hope that you feel better soon!! its best to find a coping method that works best for you..

[DBorz]

I also have the feeling and wake up unable to return to sleep. I do not believe I am anxious or stressed. Just want to go back to sleep….

[crazyheart123]

I have the rapid and hard heart beating and sometimes find myself gasping for air.  I did notice that no one here mentioned that they were diagnosed with MVP (Mitro Valve Proplaps) Every time I would go out and drink, I would come home go to bed and wake up hours later with my heart beating so fast it felt like it was going to fly out of my chest.  Also sometimes my heart would skip beats to a degree that I would almost black out.. that only happened two times when I was really stressed.  

I find that if I have a glass of wine I have to have a lot of water afterward and it helps to prevent this waking up with a fast and hard heart beating.  

I went to the doctor and the only thing he found wrong with me after running several test is that I had the MVP (mitro valve proplaspe) when I read about people that have the same heart thing going on most of them have MVP.  The doctors have no idea why this happens and don't associate it with the MVP but I think I do cause so many people experience the same thing have been diagnosed with MVP ..

I have pretty much learned to just calm myself down when this happens but it's still very frightening when it does happen and it totally runs my life :(   I feel for all of you .. it's a very scary thing to live with.

[Autumnx1003]

I'm right there with all of you.  I can feel my heart beating...fast usually...and sometimes ahrd...and it makes me anxious, tense, scared, you name it!  Sometimes I even get out of breath a little. And oftentimes this happens when I am supposed to be relaxing.  So...I knwo it is anxiety and I try to deal with it.  But I also know that having this problem makes life a bit harder to deal with at times.  It's no fun...it really really isnt...

[Fanierosg9]

Ive had anxiety disorder and panic disorder for almost 5 years .. I had panic attacks every 3  4 hours .. time.where i would shake so hard from fear .. hear that i have every thing wrong with me from heart to brain this has destroyed my life .. every night my brain doesnt let me relax its constantly in fear i hope I can manage to remove this  from my life :////

[Paxiled]

If you're new here, this post is 9 years old.  If you make a new post and say in more detail what kind of help you're looking for you might get some new ideas.  Or not.

[mitchs]

Wow. I thought I was done for. I have always had anxiety, but the past few weeks it has made me miss my classes and I am in my last semester of college. I know I'm not feeling that way because of school. I enjoy it and it don't stress me out. It is just really bad timing to feel like my heart is a rebel to my body and brain. I think i'm just scared about what's in the near future finacially, socially health wise. I need to be strong somehow. I need a muse. That's what I used in that past not to cure my anxiety, but to use it to be creative and make my life interesting. I read every comment here and I think tomorrow will be a better day because of you guys. Thank you.

[baddpat]

i get electric shocks  just when i go to bed its like some one is flicking a  switch on and off  thats how fast it happens  shocks the whole body i just seconds . it freaks me out even my hearing goes . anybody had that thanks bad pat

[tealady362]

I live with this also!!  It is a very scary thing.  I do not drink or smoke. No young kids, they are all grown and gone.  I am married with no marrage problems.  And I seem to have a great life and enjoying it.  Anxiety?  I wonder why I am having this...... It seems to be 90% of the time while I am sleeping or getting ready to fall asleep.  I hate it!!  Now I just start relaxing as much as I can when it happens, take an asprin (for blood flow to the heart)... cause it does feel like you are going to have a heart attack and die!  I feel for you as I know how it is.  I did not know it was anxiety......... I actually thought I was having heart problems.  But all of this sounds like me too.  You are right, I haven't kicked the bucket yet..... so the best thing I see is what cowgirl said, just try to relax ....... take deep breaths too!!

[Neesh240]

Reading all of these makes me feel so much better. I went to the doctor and had an EKG done and he sent me to the cardiologist. They said that it was perfect. I was having pains in my left chest. More recently, I have been extremely aware of my heart beating especially when I am just sitting doing nothing. Basically relaxing. When I start to feel it I get nervous and it makes it beat faster and I can't seem to slow it down unless I just try to think of something else. Now that I read some of these postings, I can see that some of you have had these problems for years and haven't kicked the bucket yet lol. I guess it is just all anxiety. Thanks Again

[sunset555]

Hi Erin,

Thank you so much for your reply. You seem to mirror a lot of my feelings at the moment. You also make an awful lot of sense which is very comforting. I also like you, need to use the bathroom a lot during the night and am not sleeping that well at the moment because I am nervous of the outcome of all of these tests.

Anyhow, I will keep in touch with you and let you know what is happening.

You say that you have two children 8 and 10 they are really nice ages, ours are age 6 and 8 a boy and a girl.

Talk soon and have a nice day!!

Sunset

[eronski]

It really is tough to get yourself to relax and to slow your heart beat.  I will be honest with you, I had so much trouble with this and really haven't conquered it because it was never my main issue.  For breathing I would breath slowly in my nose to the count of 4 and then out to the count of 4.  It was so hard to do this at first I would end up just gasping and sometimes crying.  I would force myself to keep going for 5 mins and after a while it would get easier.  I would fight it thinking, I shouldn't have to  try to breath, it should come naturally--my husband showed me example after example in health books of how the healthiest people regularly concentrate on their breathing, that you need to LEARN to do it the correct way.

As far as my heart beat, yes, when I would get anxious it would race but I was always more focused on my breathing.  I hated the rapid heart beat though. When I get up in the night to go to the bathroom (sometimes 4-6 times, it's ridiculous!) I would walk super slow and get back in bed in slow motion so that my heart rate wouldn't go up because if it did it would bring on anxiety.  I could never tell which came first the anxiety or the rapid breathing and heart????  There's something about the quiet of the night, there is nothing to distract you and everyone around you is asleep, it can be such a lonely feeling.  I have a fan right next to my bed and I listen to that and it calms me.  Also, my husband has a radio with a little speaker that goes under his pillow and he listens to talk radio when he can't sleep.  Sometimes I use it and it's a nice distraction.

Drinking the beers....Well one thing you know for sure is that can't hurt you, you have done it before and been OK.  You might want to think of it as an experiment that you will learn something from.  One of the main ways to treat anxiety and panic is to force yourself to do that which makes you nervous or scared.  Just be kind and gentle to yourself.  

I can't remember.....do you have something to take in case your panic gets real bad, like Xanax or Klonopin??  I have had a prescription for years I don't take many, maybe 5-10 a year but just knowing I can get quick relief can sometimes wards off the anxiety with out even having to take anything, if that makes any sense.  I am pretty lucky my anxiety has always come on fast and left pretty fast.  This last time it was bad for about 2 weeks and I thought that I would try some meds, like you I have two children 10 & 8  and I needed to be there for them.  I absolutely wasn't going to let it get out of hand, and I feel much better and you will too, it doesn't last forever.  Take Care, Erin

[sunset555]

Hi Erin,

Just received your reply, thank you so much for all of your kind words, it means a lot. I am just quite scared at the moment that is all. I just need to get to the bottom of this, because I will not feel comfortable until I do. At the back of my mind, I really do believe that I am anxious, but on the other hand I just have to focus in on the unknown, just to rule out everything. There is quite a bit happening in my life at present, all good, had stress in the recent past, but now a lot less, things are really looking up, now this black cloud appears out of absolutely knowhere and spoils it all for us all. The doctor wants for me to try and have a few beers the night that I have the monitor attached just to see whether or not it is alcohol induced or not, just to rule it out, and although I am terrified of the effect it will have on me, I will do it just to get to the bottom of this mess. The only thing is I don't really know how to stop the rapid heartbeat when or if it happens again, as I have tried abdominal breathing, relaxation, etc. Just wondering what your opinion is on this, do you think it wise for me to have the beers or not?? Like yourself Erin, I also suffer with anxiety, and have had awful panic attacks over the last several years, I also hyperventilated like you, and also I also cannot handle a lot of alcohol very often as the hangovers give me panic attacks for days afterwards and we have two small children so I cannot afford to have a hangover in the first place.  Thanks again, and yes I will keep in touch with you.

Sunsett555

[DPM111]

I wanted to add my agreement with some others about the value of Cognative Behavioral Therapy.  Lexapro did a good job of stopping my anxiety, but it was better when I learned cope without drugs.  Hope you feel better soon.

[eronski]

Well, I'm not sure but you are doing what you should by seeing your doctor and getting the tests run.  I don't believe anxiety is "all in your head", it is very, very real and not something you simply bring on yourself.  I believe we make it worse than it is with worry absolutely, but the physical sensations are very real- a very scary.  Consider yourself lucky that you can go to a doctor and get all these amazing tests run it can do nothing but good - if you find something, then you treat it, if not, then it's anxiety causing your heart to race and you treat that, either way you will take care of it.

I am a casual smoker, maybe 5 a month and when I smoke instantly I feel anxious, it makes my heart race for sure.  Drinking, I am not much of a drinker, I like to, but after a couple I am sloshed and I get terrible hangovers.  I have a bit of difficulty sleeping with some medication I am on so once in a while I will have a glass of wine to relax me at bed time.  My brother-in-law is a Neurologist and he told me not to do this, he said initially it relaxes you but a later it has the opposite effect.  You may need to take a little break from these two things until you get through this phase of anxiety - if that's what it is.  I know what it's like to be scared for your health, when my breathing episodes were bad I went to the emergency room, I was scared I had asthma or lung cancer something awful.  The funny thing is that I have had anxiety all my life so inside I was pretty sure that's what it was but I needed to have someone take a look at me to calm my worries.

You will get through the tests honey, and if you get anxiety you will get through that too, it always passes and it can't kill you.  Just don't give up, cover all your bases and if it ends up being anxiety like with me and so many others it's very treatable.  Please keep in touch, Erin

[sunset555]

Hi again,

I was just wondering could this all just be in my head and just be anxiety or could it actually be my heart I am so scared.

Sunset555

[sunset555]

Hi eronski,

Thanks so much for your comment. I just have an update. I visited my doctor about my third eposode, as I was so frightened because it happened out of the blue in bed whilst I was sleeping my heart was rapidly beating and no matter what I did, including breathing excercises it just would not slow down for ages. The doctor says now that I have to go into hospital to have a SVT Test using a Holter Monitor, and have a chest exray and also an ECG or an EKG Im not too familiar with most of these, I have also to use the Holder Monitor for 24 hrs. He reckons that it could be alcohol induced so he actually has asked me to have 3 or 4 beers on the night that I have to wear the monitor to see if it will happen again, so that they can detect it. I am too scared to do this because I dont know how to stop the heart beating so fast when it goes out of control. Please help with any comments you may have. I also gave up cigerettes 2 yrs ago and now occasionally at the weekend have a couple with a beer, wondering would this have anything to do with it?
Sunset555

[eronski]

It's so hard when your anxiety manifests itself in your natural rhythm, like breathing and our beating hearts.  Mine can be in my breathing and sometimes my heart beating.  I would feel like if I didn't think about it I would stop breathing and it would over take me, then I would over breath, therefore hyperventilating.  I would wake up gasping
for breath in the middle of a deep sleep with my heart racing,  it's awful!!

It sounds like plain old anxiety and it's very real and a challenge to cope with.  I have had it all my life, it comes and goes.  Every once and awhile I take something for it when it gets bad and have for 15 years.  I don't like it when people nail someone for taking a medication to help. Anxiety runs in my family and I have seen people literally get their lives back once they have gotten treatment.  I will not judge anyone for doing what ever it takes and experimenting with many different forms of treatment.  There is tons & tons of options, anxiety is very treatable - it just takes commitment and acceptance.  Good Luck  Erin

[sunset555]

From Sunset555
Hi again, and thanks for your comment. I went to my Doctor following my last eposode of heart beating fast, and he checked me over and said that if I drink alcohol and take even one or two cigerettes, that this may happen and especially laying flat on your back at night. This put my mind at rest as I thought it was my heart or something serious. Everything went fine until two nights ago, when I was celebrating with my partner on the purchase of our new house with the kids and was so happy and excited had a few beer and a few cigerettes, and bammm, when I went to bed I was awoken an hour later with the exact same thing again, heart beating fast, etc, so I am now once again terrified and alarmed. What am I seriously going to do, this is taking over my life, and I cant cope.

[fastasian79]

I, too, feel and hear my heart beats.  Whenever i'm occupied i would not notice it.  At any time, if i think about it then i can feel n hear it within seconds.  It's really uncomfortable!  I wish there is a med. to cure it

[mssuesue55]

I to experience my heart raging and beating really fast.I have had my heart checked.It has been determined that I have a heart murmur.It is said to be normal.But how can that be possible when I feel so uncomfortable and weak I can't perform at work.When it come on in the middle of night when I'm in bed I already know I'm going to have a bad day at work or im not going in that day because my energy level is really low.Hot flashes and dizzines.As I'm writing this I am experiencing it as I speak that's what drawer my to this site.Please Help!!!

[Sam888]

Sorry, meant to post to sunset555

Dont drink alcohol...it elevates your  heart rate. Look for natural solutions like diet and exercise as well as lifestyle changes to reduce or even eliminate anxiety.  Find the source of your stress and find a solution. Go see a PSYCHOLOGIST, not a psychiatrist and learn CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy techniques).  Take Yoga classes and find time for yourself.  If you don't, you;ll be prescribe mood disorder meds and that'll typically make your life worse.

[Sam888]

Dont drink alcohol...it elevates your  heart rate. Look for natural solutions like diet and exercise as well as lifestyle changes to reduce or even eliminate anxiety.  Find the source of your stress and find a solution. Go see a PSYCHOLOGIST, not a psychiatrist and learn CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy techniques).  Take Yoga classes and find time for yourself.  If you don't, you;ll be prescribe mood disorder meds and that'll typically make your life worse.

[sunset555]

Hi, I went to bed last night after having a few bottles of beer and three cigerettes, even though I gave cigs up 2 years ago I still have the odd one with a beer, anyway, my heart my beating very fast when I went to bed and was pounding very hard in my chest, i could not lie on either side and just lay flat on my back until i finally fell asleep, i am very worried as a result and even rang the doctor who said go to hospital etc, although i do suffer with anxiety and panic attacks sometimes and am only 35years old with 2 children, but am going through a particularly stressful period in my life at present, please help anybody as i am very worried.

[xanaxed]

Yea it sux that this happens cuz i love drinking! its a great relief from the anxiety, But I always regret it when I have to endure the uncomfortable feeling of my heart pounding.  So I guess I gota stop drinking too. Thanks for sharing your experiences with me mozart, its good to know that theres someone else out there who i can relate to..