Racing Heart, Adrenaline rushes all night..anxiety drugs?

[brethor]

Hi all

More questions!! Lately especially at night I have been having alot of issues with irregular heart beats. I will wake up out of a dead sleep with my heart through the roof and a ponding headache....I try to get out of bed but my balance is so bad I almost fall. I am wearing a holter monitor to try and catch these episodes but cannot see a cardiologist for a month! I have started having to take some ativan just to take the edge off...Is there anyone else who suffers from this and has had to use some type of anxiety drug??? Up until my hysterectomy 3 yrs ago I never experienced any of these symptoms....its soooo scary!!! and doctors are so slow to help!!!

Bren

[Mom2four85]

Bren I think alot of people who are overweight sleep on their back and then the extra pressure from weight presses in the neck and causes the apnea. You can have sleep apnea being normal or underweight also; check the sleep disorder forum here =)

I have sleep apnea on my side; and I didn't snore before I had heart surgery and gained weight. I've had fainting & balance issues along with arrhythmia's and a bunch of other stuff since I was 9 years old and nothing was found until I was 42.

A good thing might be is to look up Dr Steven Park here on MH, he is an excellent sleep specialist and you may get to ask him and see if he thinks it's sleep apnea.  

I would definitely push for a sleep study so they can monitor you in a sleep lab and see what's going on to at least rule it out - a sleep study is the only way to do this.

[brethor]

hi lisa

wow that sounds just like my attacks.....I am wearing a event monitor right now and so far of course I havent had a major episode (murphys law) although they are sooo scary I really dont want to. I have mild attacks every night and some nights they go on for hours....dead asleep than pounding heart,,, horrible head pressure and I completely lose my balance....it actually feels like I am stroking out. I have fallen the balance is sooo bad. I am just waiting to see the autonomic specialist right now....another month or so.....in canada it takes soo long to see drs. I have never been checked for sleep apnea....my doctors say I am not at risk because I am too underweight???? Do you also suffer from chronic lightheadedness and balance issues? Thats the hardest part for me...funny though before my last major heart episode I was walking ok afterwards balance gone.....my neuro wouldn't even check for a stroke...go figure!!!! I could use any advice you have to offer...very scared and frustrated right now

Bren

[Mom2four85]

I have problems during the night, sometimes my hr will be close to 200 while sleeping and I'll wake up gasping for air, heart pounding out of my chest and massive headache; neck pain & pressure - but mine's due to sleep apnea problems; have you been tested for it just to make sure?

I have a pacemaker/icd and it shows 5 or 6 times a week I have NSVT runs of high hr's and sometimes they'll be back to back or a few times a night.

I have ANS problems and don't even dare try to get out of bed when I'm having episodes like this - I learned the hard way :P

[claytex]

dear brethor....boy-o-boy... your symptoms sound almost exactly like mine used to and it took a long time (2 years) for the doctors to figure it out.. I felt like what you said...that I was having or going to have a stroke.. they sent me to neurologist, nephroIogist ( think thats what it was..blood doctor)  surgeons and I dont know what all... finally went to the endrocronoligist and he was sort of different kind of old man...  he looked at me and my records and the first words out of his mouth were"you need to send all of those other doctors on vacation" and never cracked a smile..he told me what was wrong with me within 5 minutes of being there... he prescribed the spronolactone for me and ive been fine ever since...and that was several years ago...  I had the head pressure also....had gray outs instead of balance problems.. similar  though... had adrenalin rushes when I first got up in the mornings..  felt almost like the sensation of riding a roller coaster...not quite that strong....kept telling the doctors it had something to do with my adrenalin and they would just ignore me.. or say  it probably had nothing to do with my condition...  ..If that is in fact what you have, the problem is that less than 5% of the population usually has it and they dont see it much.. think thats right.. Hey I know and see alot of folks from Canada.  I live on the Texas Gulf Coast in a tourist town or Winter Texan town as they call it... and lots of folks from Canada spend their winters here.One lady was telling me about the Health care there...said if you had a family doctor it was hard to change doctors unless your doctor died or retired!!! she fixed her problem though they live in a Motor Home most of the time and travel around and they let her switch docs..laffin they live in Ottaw and st edwards island mostly .  Lots of folks here from Ontario, Alberta and Quebec.uuuh plus all of the US states up north.   It like a migration here in the fall and spring.. laffin they come and go with the geese and whooping cranes I think.... On your condition... if you do have Hyperaldorstorism or Conns, the test are very simple.. the growth on the adrenalin glands can be detected by having a lower abdomen MRI and the condition can be detected by doing what is called a 24 hour urine test... Ya have to pee in a gallon jug for 24 hours,(keep it in the ice box) and take it to the lab when finished... uhhh if ya have to do one.. be sure and label the jug and dont get it mixed up with the ice tea!!! laffin...ugly huh... well sorry i write so much.. I hope some of what i say is helpful... good luck and have a great day.. If you do have it... its no biggie.. just take the aldoctone or spronoalctone and go on with life.. its not a bad med.. no side effects that Ive noticed.. sorry I got started again. I do get an MRI every 1-2 years to make sure the begnin tumor has not changed in size.. Claytex..you might go to a medical web site like Mayo Clinic and look their Disease section and see if the symptoms for Conns and Aldorstornism  are similar to your symptoms..

[brethor]

Hi...thanks for the input! Yes I actually live in a small city in Ontario Canada. Believe me when you have a hard to diagnose medical condition our medical system is brutal!!! It takes ten years because every dr you see you have to be referred to by another dr. So you end up waiting forever before you can see anyone and in the meantime the symptoms get worse. Very frustrating!! I have been hospitalized twice just in the last month and nobody can figure anything out.....I also had the narrowing of the arteries theory but it was disproven so back to square one. I can handle everything else except for the constant head pressure, neck pain and loss of balance.....I feel like I am having a stroke daily....very scary

[claytex]

I used to have the adrenalin rushes and irregular heart beats, then I started having atril fibrillation, well I also had some gray outs...almost like a black out except they progress slower..its like some one turning the lights out slow until you pass out.  Ok... then I started trying to find out what was wrong when i started passing out.  I went to several doctors and they couldnt find the problem. some said i had blocked arteries in my neck, one said I had an annurism at the base of my brain... I got second opinions on all and none of them were correct... so i finally went to an endrocronologist and he discovered that I have a benign growth on my adrenalin gland.  The disorder is called Hyperaldorstornism or sometimes called Conns disease.  He had me start taking 50mgs of Spronalactone (Aldactone)  twice daily and the problem has gone away..(that was 12 years ago) oh I also had high boold pressure... now its fine .I did have to have a heart ablation to correct the Atril Fibrillation this last july... and I think it( atril fibrillation) was utlimately caused by one of the earlier doctors giving me so many diauritics that my potassium and electrolites got messed up and got the afib started.  I dont know if this is what you have but the symptoms are very similiar.  Are you in the USA... sounds like your in a country with socialized medicine... Like we maybe about to get here...!!! Hope this helps..Claytex