Heart Palpitations When Lying Down...

Hi all,
recently when I have been lying down to go to bed, I suddenly feel this pressure and tingling in my chest, kinda like it filling with blood quickly.
I then notice my heart starts to beat hard and fast, and the beat feels quite irregular. After maybe 10 seconds, it will suddenly slow right down to a buum.....buum........buum..... for a few more seconds, then seems to go back to normal, albeit leaving my chest hurting a bit for the next few minutes.

I am 20 yr/old male, nonsmoker, average weight.
The only "problem" I have with my heart is an arrhythmia where my heart beats faster when I breathe in, though this is apparently quite normal.
Any ideas?

[Lisalater]

I have heart palpitations, Have for 18 yrs. I have had echo, EKG, Holter Monitor, Stress test ext. The more I worried the more I would get them now that I am older thay have got alot better. I have anxiety so thay said that is the cause of most of it. Relax dont worry about it like I did.

[raquel414]

maybe your experiancing some anxiety? panic attaks.....are you stressed out? worrying ?

[KatEyes]

How was your arrythmia diagnosed? If there has been a change in what you feel, your doc may want a holter monitor on you for a while to try to capture the incidents, or some other testing. Things change. A friend early (40s) felt his arrythmia had changed, and described a "dripping" sensation. Turns out a valve had gone bad. May not be what's wrong with you, just saying, check it out, then relax after they're sure nothing new is going on.

[tiredbrit]

Thanks for the responses.
I have had a few panic attacks in the past, and I certainly did notice palpitations then... but I have tried to relax more since then. Currently, I am quite stressed, so this is quite possibly the cause... the only strange thing is that these palpitations seem to occur when I lie down and take a few deep breaths and relax.... strange!

I'll just keep an eye on things and see what happens.

[KatEyes]

If these are happening when you start to doze of or if they are awakening you, you may want to look into sleep apnea.

[raquel414]

cant regular anxiety/panic attacks cause this ??? i have terrible anxiety, stress....and i haven't gotten a good night sleep in i don't know how long.!!! i wake up almost every hour on the hour, heart racing..pounding....i'm only 31yrs. old...i'm going through a lot of ****, but i dont want to take sleeping pills...

[ebjb]

Get checked out for Atrial Fibrillation - I've had it for 11 years and it began with palpitations when I lay down ! The holter monitor (mentioned by KatEyes) would show this. Good luck - let us know how you get on

[tiredbrit]

That's very strange, the same exact symptoms...
the problem seems to have gone away the past few days, but I will certainly mention something if it comes back.
What did it "feel like" when you lay down?

[ebjb]

When I lay down it felt/feels  (still get it from time to time) like my heart was 'fluttering' - it would go fast, then become irregular like missing a few beats - I also noticed it quite badly after I'd eaten a heavy meal. Another thing when this happens I 'belch' a lot - I couldn't understand this symptom but a cardiologist told me that when in AF (atrial fibrillation) the heart increases in size and presses on the thoracic diaphragm which causes the 'belching' to happen.

[tiredbrit]

Wow, thanks for than info... I have exactly the same symptoms.
I had exactly the same problem with the fast and then irregular beats. Weird. Did you get a strange sensation before your heart beat fast?
I didn't get any belching during the episodes, but I am a bit of a chronic belcher... :-(

[Stanwee]

I am a 19 year old female and i have been active all of my life...Soccer was my main sport... i even went on to play soccer in college my freshman year...after my first year i decided to quit soccer all together and i stopped working out...my grandmother passed away....and then i found out my boyfriend was cheating on me all in a close period of time. I work at a place called Roosters and all to food there is fried. Well i have anxiety and it started making me eat alot more...so on top of all this other stuff i started eating unhealthy. One day i was sitting on my couch watching a movie and i got this sensation in my chest...it wasn't a painful sensation but it felt as though my heart was missing a beat. i let it go for a few days and it kept doing it...i also noticed that it would do it a lot worse at night and after i ate unhealthy meals...I went to the Doctor and she wanted me to have an EKG, Holter monitor, and then she wanted me to go to a cardiologist. Now by this time i was freaking out because my grandmother that had just passed away had a heart attack before she passed away of cancer but other than that there had been no heart problems in my family. I went to get all the test done and then i went to see the heart doctor...he told me everything looked great and that i was experiencing palpitations because i had anxiety and sooo much stress in my life....i went and did a stress test and that turned out fine too!...now i have started to eat healthier, not panic about my heart, and exersice more....my palpitations have completely stopped. I was also on The NUVA RING birth control so i stopped that because one of the side effects was palpitations...one other thing that seemed to help is FISH OIL...it has OMEGA in it which is really good for your heart...well i hope all is well and you should always get things checked out if they change..but don't panic about it because it only makes it worse!

[tiredbrit]

Nah, I don't worry a huge amount. Also I eat pretty healthily and consume a good amount of fish, as well as getting a good amount of exercise.
Strangely, I had some palpitations after exercise yesterday...

I'm glad that you managed to look at your own situation and figure out the contributing factors though, sometimes it can be difficult to get life back on track...

[ebjb]

Hi again,

Like you, I don't worry a huge amount and I eat pretty healthily etc. I also have palpitations after exercise. You really need to get yourself checked out for Atrial Fibrillation as your symptoms seem pretty similar to mine, especially the fact that after you relax and lie down, the palpitations begin! Do you drink coffee? - or other caffeine loaded drinks - like Coca Cola - if you do cut them out - you can get decaff coffee and decaff Diet Coke. Sometimes spicy food like curry gives me palpitations.

[tiredbrit]

No, no caffeine.
I had palpitations last night again and then my chest and left arm started burning. I went to sleep, but when I woke up I felt short of breath, and my arm still hurt. I also felt quite dizzy and weak. I just went and saw a nurse, and she took my BP, listened to my heart, and did an ECG, and she said everything seems fine.
Weird.
I still don't feel to great but maybe I'm just having a panic attack and have trapped nerves...