palpitations

[awlright10]

Have been having palpitations during sleep for the last few months, Some are stronger than the others. But completely by accident fell asleep while reading and noticed that although I slept for two hours, I didn't feel palpitations. Consequently, I been trying to sleep sitting up (possible but not yet comfortable) and I've found that when I do feel palpitations they are not as intense as the are when i am lying down. Can anyone relate to this experience.
Thanks, Awlright.

[Autumnx1003]

If you mean by palpitations, you are talking about PVCs or PACs, the ones that make your heart feel like it has skipped a beat or flipped flopped or something, then I really don't get those very often.  However, since palpitations can also be described as anytime one is aware of the heartbeat (fast, slow, off, etc), then I have a problem with palpitations at night as well.  Mine come in the form of feeling my heart beat way too fast.  Last night this sensation woke me up twice out of a dream...and the dream wasn't bad or anything.  More often, I have this problem when I initially wake up in the morning...when your heart is supposed to be at its slowest and calmest.  Instead, mine is often beating out of my chest!  I've clocked in numbers as high as 149bpm!  I've had all kinds of tests, though, and the docs all say my problem with this is just anxiety.  The few times I have had "flip flop" or skipped beat palps, however, have often been related to how I am sitting or laying.  I have noticed that if I lay on the left side I can sometimes get them, or if I have my arms propped up for awhile, they will happen.  I have learned a lot from this forum, however, and probably what you are feeling is some sort of stimulation of your "vagus" nerve (spelling?)  I know that this can cause your heart and chest to feel all funny, and can be stimulated with certain body positions.  My best advice, though, is if you haven't already, go get thoroughly checked by a doctor to make sure that everything is ok.  Most likely it will be, based on many of the other posts I have read on here, and my own experiences.  I have came to the conclusion that the sensations that we feel in our chest are often scarier than anything we actually have wrong with us.  I don't know if this has helped or not, but if nothing else, just know that you are not alone in your experience, and many of us on here relate :)

[awlright10]

Thank you so much for responding to my post. I see that you and I suffer from the same heart problem, or should I say reaction. I've had palpitations most of my adult life. First they were the result of panic disorder and later of generalized anxiety. I guess it was the way I was wired. But as I got older I developed PVCs, those little skips you speak of and they could and did last months in which it was impossible to get a good nights sleep. They were found to be benign after a lot of study. Nevertheless, they alomost drove me crazy. Eventually they'd go away and not come back for years. Then suddenly, without warning, there they were again. I went through about three to four episodes during my lifetime when they lasted five to six months. I lived with them to the best of my ability in the conviction that they'd eventually go away. And they did. Over the last ten years what I've had is Atrial Fib and the occasional PVC. Then this last November out of the clear I started waking up with palpitations three times a night. I never had anything like this. In the past my palpitations were once in a while, off and on. But I never experienced them three or four times a night! They never occur during the day, but the moment I'm in deep sleep, bang! off they go. (Really not unlike they occurred in the past, just many more.) The first one is usually the worst, the last one is mild and I can get back to sleep after it's awakened me. I did a nuclear stress test and Echo, which was fine. But the 24hr. Holter Monitor showed all kinds of arrhythmia, from PACs, PVCs, Flutter and A/Fib to short runs of Ventricular Tachycardia. Now that scared me. I did a 21hr. Event Monitor and it picked up more VT runs of 20 seconds at 138bpm. That's over my base line which is 131. I have a slow heart rate that can drop to 40bpm and doesn't go over 131. The VT was also considered benign.

However,to make matters worse (sorry for the long post) I had a five minute chest pain on the bus coming home that took to the ER. You guessed it, nothing was found. I had another short chest pain and my doctor decided to do a Catheterization. That hasn't been possible because I may be allergic to the contrast dye. But he and the Cath doctor don't feel I have blocked arteries. Their reason for doing the Cath is to convince me that I'm all right in the area. My eating habits, mainly Vegen, and workouts convince them it's all electrical. Right now I'm on my second 21 day Event Monitor. I have a cautious cardiologist-electrophysiologist. The good news is that I may have entered a remission state, either that or sleeping sitting up has eliminated--at least for the last ten days-- my palpitations. I suspect you're right about the vagus nerve playing a role. My A/Fib is more vagal than anything else, slow all the way down to an A/Fib that is below 60bpm.
I'm going to go on sleeping sitting up (it's worth it) until my heart proves me wrong.

My heart goes out to you. I know what you go through with palpitations. To have them in the morning like that is terrible. Like me you seem to have them in sleep too. I understand they can be ablated by electrophysiologists and cured if they are supraventricular and not caused by the sinus node. Have you approached your doctor on that? I'm retired. Thank God I don't have to go to work. I wouldn't be able to. I would have been let go a long time ago.

Good luck and all the best, and once again thanks for answering my post and listening to my rant. It helps to know there are others out there. That I'm not alone in my misery.

                                                  God Bless,