Fast Heart Rate at Night

[Paulinski]

   Hello

Here's my dilemma.  I'm 28 My symptoms appear for about 3 months and there is a break and it starts again.  Basically once I go to sleep I wake up about 1 or 2 hours later and my heart begins to beat fast. I get this feeling that something is going to happen to me (hear attack etc.) I can feel my pulse pounding/racing as well.

My resting heart rate is 80-90 depends how upset I em over this thing.

I went to see my physician and did ECG on two occasions, full blood work twice - (everything is fine there) and finally a stress test that also came out negative. I was prescribed Lorazepam and it seem to help but I don't want to take a pill just to sleep through the night.

My doctor says my heart is fine. what is happening to me?

[Michael J. McWilliams, M.D.]

it sounds like you are having panic attacks in the middle of the night.  ativan is an ok temporary solution, there are other medications that can help with this like zoloft, paxil, etc.

I will usually try a heart monitor to make sure nothing else is going on, but it really sounds like panic attacks.

Thanks for posting.

[avwdanko2002]

A related discussion, How do I stop my  heart comepletely and how many mgs of ativan does it take? was started.

[Paulinski]

Thank You for your reply.  Is there any way to reduce the panic attaks without taking medications like zoloft, paxil etc?