ok rhythm family!! need some info/support

[aylish28]

i have in past 2 months weaned off an SSRI antidepressant --zoloft/aka/sertraline after being on some kind of SSRI  for over 22 years....dureing the years i have had lots  of raceing heart/panic attack issues and then finally diagnosed with pvc/pacs  more pacs.. have been feeling them for years...however this is my issue--i have not had more than 3 hours sleep each night for 5 days --after going my longest stretch pf about 10 days with no meds--whats happening is the second i lay down my heart starts beating so forcefully that i feel it in my chest back ears head and arms and it gives me a nearly sickly  feeling...and my chest gets tight and sore-- likely from being anxious,,,and then my heart rate goes up been sitting in the high eighties low nineties  all night--then i fall asleep and wake with a jolt ,i have even tried sleeping sitting up and even ativan wich usually worked is not--in the past 3 months i have had a full cardiac work up-- 3 ecg   2 holters stress test  av node signal test  etc,, all normal except ectopics,,,this thudding is terrible,,i cant stand it and every night about 4 am i come very close to going to the ER  but dont see the point--the first cardiologist said take metaprolol and the second cardiologist said i didnt need it-- any ideas-- as of right now i take no meds except the odd 1 mg ativan  mostly for the heart thuds and fish oil---if my heart was fine so recently it must still be fine ???? but this thuddding is horried how can it not be dangerous???

[aylish28]

sound advice for sure---- thanks so much:)

[itdood]

Have you tried laying down in different positions to see if that helps?  On your sides, on your stomach?

This has happened to me with sleeping too, upon laying down.  It eventually resolved on its own, over time.  That made me think I was just conditioned, it was a behavior response, in my head.  The way to deal with a behavior response is to unlearn it.   There are techniques for this like cognitive behavior therapy.   I saw a sleep therapist for this issue when I had it.  He gave me the most pragmatic advise that really worked.  He said if I'm not falling asleep within 10 minutes to get out of bed and go read a book.  He said don't go back to bed until you are really tired.

This is just my own humble opinion, I don't think benzos are a good choice.  I have tried them in the past as a quick fix.  IT really did just give me a whole new set of issues to deal with, it didn't help anything.  I was taking them as-needed but it ended up reinforcing the bad behaviors.

I have a good example to show how much behaviors can affect you.  I was taking xanax to help me sleep.  I was taking .25 mg only at night.  I would wake up fine, didn't not need anything during the day at all.  To me this indicates no addition issues at all.  But if I tried to not take it at night, I would get what could be described as mild physical withdrawal symptoms.  I wouldn't expect any if I was only taking the smallest dose once per day.  But sure enough, when bed time arrived, if I didn't take it I'd have intense anxiety and some tremors, racing heart from 90s to 130s.   I dealt with it by taking the sleep docs simple advise.  He was willing to try another sleeping pill for me but said in the run I was better off conquering it myself.  That advise cost me $75 BTW, even with really good insurance :-).

So, I think it could be 1 of 2 things (or even both).  Either there is something physical going on with laying down or this is a behavioral response (which is pronounced by the SSRI withdrawal anxiety).

[aylish28]

thank you---i am leaning towards maybe asking about a low dose beta blocker to ease the palps wich i assume are part of ssri withdrawl syndrome--and it may help ease the anxiety also mmm  we shall see--i REALLY  need a reg family doc  not to see diff clinic docs

[cindy707]

Hey Aylish sorry that you are still going thru all of this stuff....i don't know one side of me thinks that you need to listen to your docs and if you got a green light you got a green light...i went thru the waking up thing and my doc recommended that i get Nightrest its called made by Source Natural and it pretty much took care of it.  I do know one thing tho you can't keep going on like this not getting sleep because i and everyone else on this site probably know that when we suffer from lack of sleep you can bet our hearts are gonna act up.  Like i said before to you i take a really low dose of antenolol to keep things at bay so i don't go thru that either and that worked too along w. the nightrest i take every nite...but i definately know what you mean..its the pits.  As far as the thudding goes..you have been thru so many tests now that they would have picked something up for sure by now i would think.  I think maybe you just need to find a combo that works for you i am unsure if Medhelp has a sleep disorder site but i would definately see if there is one but i'm sure lots of members will weigh in on this one...we've all been thru it at one time or another.....