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Heart or breathing stops during sleep?
by DunDun, Jun 09, 2008 03:55AM
I am having a problem where my heart or breathing stops after I've fallen asleep, and I wake up panicking. I've tried to include as many details as possible.
I first experienced this on a business trip. I went to China for the first time in February, 15 hour plane ride and 12 hours time difference. I took 5 or 6 Dramamine during the trip so that I wouldn't get sick and slept the whole way. So after arriving, I felt on schedule; I fell asleep at night and woke up in the morning. But in the evening, I would get this "weak" feeling in my chest, similar to what I feel when I have bouts of heart palpitations. It felt as if my heart was slowing down or skipping more often the more I fell asleep, and then after I fully fell asleep, I started waking up in the middle of the night feeling as though my heart had stopped, and was pretty terrified. I think I had panic attacks right after I woke up, which I have never had before. I think I had one during dinner one day, too. I felt as though I could not let myself fall asleep or I would never wake up again, and so I would jerk myself awake all the time (like trying to not to fall asleep in an early morning class in college).
They took me to the Chinese hospital, which did an EKG and a blood test, and said I'm fine, though I don't know how far to trust them. (And of course my heart never skips while someone is watching it. Only when no one is around.) I have had EKGs in the past to look at the heart palpitations, and they didn't show anything, either. (I have been getting palpitations for a few years, either a "skipped beat" while beginning to exhale or a fast heavy beat that feels like THUMPTHUMPTHUMP instead of THU-thump .. THU-thump .. THU-thump.) My brother gets premature ventricular contractions, so I wouldn't be surprised if I do, too. They gave me Chinese xanax, anti-psychotic, antibiotics, and ginseng. The anti-psychotic helped to relax me. I tried to go to sleep early that night, but woke up suddenly again and was in a trembly panic state, so I took the pink pill, and warm calmness washed through my body, but it made me feel drugged and strange and I only took it once. The Chinese xanax seemed to help, so we thought maybe it was just stress, but the same thing happened while recovering from jet lag at home, too, when I was not stressed. My mother's doctor said that sometimes people get sleep apnea from the pollution in China, but it's been happening since I got back, too. While riding in the limo home, I would doze off and be woken by the tingling sensation in my hands.
Since then, it has been happening more and more often, though, just at home. I am not sure if it is my heart that has problems or if it is my breathing, since I am fast asleep when it happens. Sometimes I wake up and feel as though my body has "forgotten" to inhale, and I breathe in deeply a lot in a panic to try to counteract it. Other times I am woken up by my heart fluttering or skipping, though maybe this is caused by the lack of breathing? I don't know much about medicine, but my impression is that my body's normal system for regulating breathing has stopped, I breathe out and it never tells my lungs to breathe in again, and then my body parts panic from the lack of oxygen and wake me up with some kind of chemical signal since the normal nervous system paths aren't working correctly. I feel a strange emptiness or numbness in my left hand and right foot, kind of like pins and needles from poor circulation, but not really. It still feels strange half an hour after I woke up. I went to bed around 1 AM, probably fell asleep around 1:30 AM, and then woke up suddenly around 3 AM. If I intentionally breathe out and never breathe back in again ("hold my breath out"), I get the normal reflex of feeling a need to breathe in, so I don't know how this could actually happen during sleep.
I am 26, 6 feet tall, 155 lb. This is certainly not the kind of apnea where your throat gets blocked. I don't smoke, don't drink caffeine, don't do drugs, and drink alcohol rarely. My heart rate an hour after I woke up suddenly (4 AM) is 72 beats per minute. I don't really feel lightheaded when I wake up. I often have anxiety of various forms. I do spend the majority of my time on the Internet on a laptop, probably with poor posture, bending my neck at odd angles (is there ANY good posture for laptop use? probably not.) I try to exercise, but only do a little. Running on an elliptical for half an hour maybe once a week, lifting small weights and doing sit ups maybe twice a week.
It seems to happen more often if I go to bed late and if I don't eat enough dinner (bad habit from procrastination, I sometimes ignore it, go to bed hungry, and eat more in the morning so that I don't have digestion problems while sleeping).
I know I should see a doctor about this, but I apparently have some kind of doctor phobia. I went to the doctor just last week about a puncture wound in my toe, and fully intended to ask about the sleep problem during the same visit, but chickened out while sitting in his office. I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't want to die in my sleep.
I first experienced this on a business trip. I went to China for the first time in February, 15 hour plane ride and 12 hours time difference. I took 5 or 6 Dramamine during the trip so that I wouldn't get sick and slept the whole way. So after arriving, I felt on schedule; I fell asleep at night and woke up in the morning. But in the evening, I would get this "weak" feeling in my chest, similar to what I feel when I have bouts of heart palpitations. It felt as if my heart was slowing down or skipping more often the more I fell asleep, and then after I fully fell asleep, I started waking up in the middle of the night feeling as though my heart had stopped, and was pretty terrified. I think I had panic attacks right after I woke up, which I have never had before. I think I had one during dinner one day, too. I felt as though I could not let myself fall asleep or I would never wake up again, and so I would jerk myself awake all the time (like trying to not to fall asleep in an early morning class in college).
They took me to the Chinese hospital, which did an EKG and a blood test, and said I'm fine, though I don't know how far to trust them. (And of course my heart never skips while someone is watching it. Only when no one is around.) I have had EKGs in the past to look at the heart palpitations, and they didn't show anything, either. (I have been getting palpitations for a few years, either a "skipped beat" while beginning to exhale or a fast heavy beat that feels like THUMPTHUMPTHUMP instead of THU-thump .. THU-thump .. THU-thump.) My brother gets premature ventricular contractions, so I wouldn't be surprised if I do, too. They gave me Chinese xanax, anti-psychotic, antibiotics, and ginseng. The anti-psychotic helped to relax me. I tried to go to sleep early that night, but woke up suddenly again and was in a trembly panic state, so I took the pink pill, and warm calmness washed through my body, but it made me feel drugged and strange and I only took it once. The Chinese xanax seemed to help, so we thought maybe it was just stress, but the same thing happened while recovering from jet lag at home, too, when I was not stressed. My mother's doctor said that sometimes people get sleep apnea from the pollution in China, but it's been happening since I got back, too. While riding in the limo home, I would doze off and be woken by the tingling sensation in my hands.
Since then, it has been happening more and more often, though, just at home. I am not sure if it is my heart that has problems or if it is my breathing, since I am fast asleep when it happens. Sometimes I wake up and feel as though my body has "forgotten" to inhale, and I breathe in deeply a lot in a panic to try to counteract it. Other times I am woken up by my heart fluttering or skipping, though maybe this is caused by the lack of breathing? I don't know much about medicine, but my impression is that my body's normal system for regulating breathing has stopped, I breathe out and it never tells my lungs to breathe in again, and then my body parts panic from the lack of oxygen and wake me up with some kind of chemical signal since the normal nervous system paths aren't working correctly. I feel a strange emptiness or numbness in my left hand and right foot, kind of like pins and needles from poor circulation, but not really. It still feels strange half an hour after I woke up. I went to bed around 1 AM, probably fell asleep around 1:30 AM, and then woke up suddenly around 3 AM. If I intentionally breathe out and never breathe back in again ("hold my breath out"), I get the normal reflex of feeling a need to breathe in, so I don't know how this could actually happen during sleep.
I am 26, 6 feet tall, 155 lb. This is certainly not the kind of apnea where your throat gets blocked. I don't smoke, don't drink caffeine, don't do drugs, and drink alcohol rarely. My heart rate an hour after I woke up suddenly (4 AM) is 72 beats per minute. I don't really feel lightheaded when I wake up. I often have anxiety of various forms. I do spend the majority of my time on the Internet on a laptop, probably with poor posture, bending my neck at odd angles (is there ANY good posture for laptop use? probably not.) I try to exercise, but only do a little. Running on an elliptical for half an hour maybe once a week, lifting small weights and doing sit ups maybe twice a week.
It seems to happen more often if I go to bed late and if I don't eat enough dinner (bad habit from procrastination, I sometimes ignore it, go to bed hungry, and eat more in the morning so that I don't have digestion problems while sleeping).
I know I should see a doctor about this, but I apparently have some kind of doctor phobia. I went to the doctor just last week about a puncture wound in my toe, and fully intended to ask about the sleep problem during the same visit, but chickened out while sitting in his office. I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't want to die in my sleep.
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Heart arrythmias are common in sleep apnea.
You will see the doctor when your fear of dying in your sleep is greater than your fear of doctors. The irony is the thing you fear (the doctor) could rid you of your other fear (dying in sleep). Embrace a good sleep doctor as your best friend.
If I were you I would run and not walk to get an overnight sleep study in a lab. The more you stop to think about things, the more you'll procrastinate. The study can distinguish between ostructive and central apnea, and monitors your heart and brain waves. Everything you need to know.
Most people with sleep apnea don't die in their sleep - but some some do, so your concern is legitimate. Most just find their health and their life deteriorating over time.
The sleep study involves no pain. No needles. It is a royal pain to try to sleep all wired up, but not painful. Just consider it an investment in your health and your future. You seem very detail oriented, so I'm thinking you will be fascinated with so many details the report will give you. Ask your doctor for a copy to peruse as much as you are interested. Just do it.
I'm pretty certain it's not obstructive. I don't feel anything in my throat, I don't believe I snore, I don't have a choking sensation or anything. It feels as though my body is relaxing so much it stops trying to inhale.
When I first started getting heart palpitations a few years ago I went to a doctor about it. He did an EKG and basically just shrugged me off and said I'm fine. He had me wear a Holter monitor but I never found out the results of that, and I don't think it caught anything anyway.
Maybe a year later I was having lots of palpitations one day, several per minute, and went to the emergency room. They did an EKG and X-ray and said I was fine, made a mistake on a test and lectured me about doing drugs, even though I don't, and it was just a waste of time and money.
Then a few months ago when I was having the sleeping problem in China I went to the Chinese hospital. They did an EKG and a blood test and said I'm fine.
I think a sleep study would be a good idea, but I don't know how to find a place or sign up for one. I don't have a regular doctor and have only been to this guy at a clinic three times. He doesn't seem very thorough.
Again, a sleep study would monitor your heart overnight. Whoever this doc is at the clinic, just tell him you wake during the nite with irregular heartbeat and you want a sleep study. If he balks, ask him what you have to do to get one. This is not the time for you to bow down. Stand up for yourself.
I hope you pick up the phone and call before your body starts to have major problems like mine.
Hey KatEyes where was you in my life when I needed the best advice I ever got. I know I've only been a member since June.
Good Luck Dun!
Dee
The symptoms that you are experiencing are quite possible due to sleep apnea. Other causes can be acid reflux and excessive anxiety.
Please consult a doctor as soon as you can.
Meanwhile my heart says:
skip
skip
skip
SKIP
SKIP SKIP SKIP
:(
Dee, glad you're on your way to getting better. Better late than never, right? Just wish it didn't have to be late for so many of us. Take care.
* Went to a doctor in like 2004 about heart palpitations, did an EKG and said I seemed fine, I was too awkward to follow through with more appointments.
* Went to the emergency room about palpitations in 2005, waste of time and money as they made a mistake on a urine test and lectured me about being on drugs, I had to spend the rest of the night there doing more urine tests to prove that I wasn't, and just wanted to get the hell out of there as fast as possible. They also did chest x-ray, EKG, and blood tests. They eventually changed their minds about the drugs, told me I was fine and to avoid stressful situations.
* Went to hospital in China in February about sleep problem and palpitations, did EKG and blood test, they said I looked fine and gave me antibiotics and ginseng.
* Went to doctor yesterday about sleep problem and palpitations, did EKG and said i seem fine and it's just anxiety.
Ugh.
They're certainly right that I have anxiety (hell, they probably conclude that my problem is anxiety the instant they meet me because of my personality), and it certainly makes the palpitations worse, but this stuff happens while I'm relaxed, too! Caffeine and alcohol make my heart skip, too. Does that mean the problem is caused by caffeine?
There's gotta be something medically wrong with my autonomic nervous system that is *aggravated* by these things, not *caused* by them. Lots of other people are stressed and drink caffeine and alcohol every day of the week without anything like this happening to them.
When I wake up, I don't feel tired or exhausted, like I've been exercising. The best way I can describe it is that I fall asleep and then wake up dead. I start to become conscious in the middle of the night, and feel as though I've exhaled without inhaling, my heart has stopped, and my hands and feet have died. Of course I then panic and wake up the rest of the way with a start, and inhale deeply and wiggle my fingers and toes and check my pulse, and after I move my hands they feel normal, and my breathing is normal, and my pulse is there and my heart is pounding. It's very strange and maybe it's all in my head, but it's frightening.
So I have to go to a lab for the blood test, and then what happens? Will the doctor's office call me when they get the results, or do I have to contact them?
Until you have a sleep study to rule out some sleep disorders, all else is a maybe. With anxiety, it is easy to overthink things. Please, give yourself a break. You need to be able to sleep without worrying - it's important to both your physical and mental well being. If it all comes back normal, maybe you'll be able to relax a little about it.
I know I can tend to be single-focused, and I'm not always right. I'm not a medical professional. But it doesn't take a medical degree to think if something happens only during sleep that any daytime tests aren't likely to capture the problems. I really think you should just get a sleep study. You need those answers to know where to go next in researching this. A good sleep doctor should hear your symptoms. I don't know what else to say to you except get a sleep study. Tell the same doctor you want to be referred to a sleep doctor or have them order the study.
I started taking a potassium supplement, and I think it's helping, but I still had skips today.
Maybe you think the sleep study is bad advice. That's certainly your call. I won't bug you any further about it. It's the last time you'll hear it from me. I just hope you find answers and are soon sleeping without the problems you have. Oh, you've had episodes since going on the med, right? The prescribing doctor needs to know that. It would be a perfect time to tell him you want a .... oh, wasn't gonna say that again. Sorry.
(Aspartate, Citrate, Orotate (milk))
99 mg
1 tablet per day
3% Daily Value
This seems to be working. 3% doesn't seem like very much, though. Anyone know why it's so low?
I will look into the adrenal insufficiency, though it doesn't seem like I have many of these symptoms.
"Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome"? That seems more like it. My heart skipping does seem to be strongly affected by my (bad) posture, and I sometimes have increases in heart rate after changing position (often because of a bad habit of nervously holding my breath, though, which seems to cause major problems when I then change the shape of my torso). Also some bowel problems, which is apparently related.
So I guess now he thinks I'm a hypochondriac because I finally got up the nerve to see him about the heart palpitations. No one takes it seriously. I guess if you see a lot of bad injuries and stuff, things like this seem trivial, and I have a very awkward personality.
But still, this is why I procrastinated going to a doctor for six months about it. Social anxiety = fear of being judged = doctor thinking I'm paranoid. Which he does. Great.