Tachycardia and sleeping, dangerous?

[dancingheart]

I have always had sinus tachycardia off and on since I had surgery on my shoulder in 1996.  I was hospitalized, one week after surgery, with a rate of 160 bpm that would not respond to ordinary treatment.  Needless to say it just worked out on its own.  I have had rates off and on of up to 145 bpm only during the day hours, unless I am ill then they can stay high all day and night around 130 bpm. I have had a gamut of tests done and they just say supraventricular tachychardia with normal sinus rhythm.  Now needless to say these episodes really beef up my anxiety levels which tend to make things worse.  Well, I have found ways to manage the anxiety this has caused and have found ways like, placing my face under cold water to stop the high rate, deep breathing, and bearing down against my breath.  One cardiologist labeled it Sino Atrial Node Dyfunction with PAC's worsened by panic attacks.  Now I have come across something that I can't seem to tackle though.... I have just spent 4 days in the hospital, over the weekend, to confirm the horrible nightmare I have been going through lately... no sleep from a fast heartrate waking me up in the night.  It started with around 158 bpm and I would drag myself out of bed half passing out to the sink to dunk in cold water.  Then back to bed to do deep breathing exercises, and usually within a half hour I was under 100 bpm and ready to go back to sleep.  Now on the other hand I am being woke up constantly with a pulse rate of 175-185 bpm, confirmed in the hospital last week of which it took doses of IV Cardizem to get it down.  It refuses to come down, but just stay there...  I have been put on 240 mg of Verapamil taken in morning and 50 mg of Metroprolol in the evening.  I have had only one episode of it going in the 124 bpm range at night, which is tolerable for me. They find nothing wrong with my heart... and they offer me no solutions except meds which are making me woosy and my pulse drop down in the 40's but my blood pressure is still high, sometimes as high as 150/103.  They say all of  this not deadly... just uncomfortable.  I can't get out of bed without a spike of 125-130 bpm in rate and then a dramatic drop to the 60's and 70's.  Befor bed my pulse is in the 40's and 50's range.  I am offered no answers and I feel alone in this.  I am wondering if anyone else has experienced these things with their heartrate and what do they do to get a handle on it.  Is there dangerous levels of being too high or too low for certain amounts of time?  And why at night when I can't control it with relaxation techniques (when I am already relaxed)?  I do not stop breathing at night, blood levels are okay, echo okay, ekg's okay (shows some flattening of T Waves and sinus tachy), stress test shows that I am just out of condition (sedentary more than I should be), loop monitor and holter monitors shows a lot of PAC's and very rarely PVC's, I am female mid 40's, with type A personality, suffer from generalized anxiety (mostly over my heart, for so many years).  I feel like I am going to die with this even though they say I am not.  Needing input from others who may be suffering with these same rates in sleep... My fears are not helping and feeling like I am the only one suffering from this. Thanks for listening and for the support.


This discussion is related to TACHYCARDIA/EJECTION FRACTION.

[Staywildmoonchild83]

Dancing heart.. I am 33 yrs. Of age. Going through exact same problems taking a cocktail of heart meds. Still nothing brought my rate or my pressure down ever.. Night time was worse at times. Finally I found a really great Dr. Who had heard of this very rare condition called PHEMOCHROMOCYTOMA it is so very rare that I in fact work at a hospital and when I discuss with the Coworkers of many nurses and Dr.s they haven't even heard of it either. My Dr picked it up a while after seeing that the meds were not having any effect what so ever. So I got blood work and urinalysis and sure enough it is exactly what it was..Maybe,look it up and still having these issues,ask your Dr. Or local hospital to run some labs on you to at least clear it then,also to ensure a proper diagnosis if so. One thing I can tell you I learned from my Nephrologist is the attacks you have at night is a a common trait of the PHEMOCHROMOCYTOMA..your adrenal glands let off something called fight or flight and when there is a interference.. The hormone comes out too much and your body cannot adjust to it like someone that can deal with it so you are induced into a severe panic. I hope this maybe helpful to you if your medicine prescribed is not helping you out. If you have your condition ruled out please take care and get well soon.. Thank u

[tom_h]

If you have sleep apnea, CPAP will effectively rectify that situation.  I use to awaken every night with a pounding heart rate, 120bpm or so.  We tried a number of things to no avail until a switch in physicians suggested sleep apnea.  A sleep study revealed severe sleep apnea.  Once on CPAP, this problem corrected quickly corrected itself.

[Zzz_please]

Yeah I'm up 1am because I can't sleep. Does anyone get a dizzy sensation and then feel your heart rates pick up. I want to see a doctor, but I fear all they going to do is tell me to take drugs, do a sleep study, ect. Offer no help when it comes down to it. Reading all the comments proves I fear right.
Is there a cure for this? I guess I have panic attack or sinus attack, maybe sleep apnea. Lets say I have all these problems with me? What can I do to stop having problems?

[auterson]

I've been diagnosed with SVT for over a year now, found a good cardio Dr. and recently underwent and abulation,(scary). But for almost a month and half I was symptom free except for sleep apnea and fatigue from meds, recently had meds changed again and now rapid rate back. I keep a bottle of water on me at all times for it does help me alot to dive in so to speak. For me sleep or a small nap would settle my heart rate down, only a few time have I woken up with acclerated heart rate. I take metroplol tartrate and it helps alot to keep my heart at a fairly steady and at times slow rythem, I quess it['s just finding the right DR.s to listen to you.

[Lisa2010]

I'm sorry to hear about this, but know you're definitely not alone! I have just been diagnosed with Sinus Tachycardia, though I have had it for years, as well as vasovagal episodes which are, as of yet, uncontrolled...meaning i will black out randomly. My sinus tachycardia is mostly induced when i try to exercise (it will get to 250 if i try to jog an 8th of a mile) but i also sometimes wake at night with a very high heart rate. Going up stairs also gets it way too high.  so far i'm on beta blockers and medicine to raise my blood pressure bc my bp is many times as low as 40/80. I'm tired all the time because of this, and I'm in the army...this condition is medically disqualifying so if they can't find a way to fix it i'm also looking at losing my job over it :(   For some people these medicines work really well but i guess not for all of us...i really hope they can find a treatment for you!

Lisa

[BEACHBUMCAG]

i am so sorry to hear about what you are going through.  i have always had inappropriate sinus tachycardia and i have been going to a cardiologist about 5 months now i am going to an electrophysiologist starting in a few weeks because monday my pulse went up to 100-160 SINUS RYTHM ONLY and NOTHING would bring it down not xanax or ativan or even shots from the ER.  i was scared too death because i have NEVER had this happen to me before at age 24.  they have done all these test on my heart bla bla bla say it's only inappropriate sinus tachycardia bla bla bla but i am just not buying it.  my heart is ALWAYS 60-80 bpm when i am laying in my bed i have a pulse oxi and i take it every night to make sure of that!!!!!!  and for the past week my pulse has not went under 80 at all!!!!!!!!!  it stays between 80-120bpm and i have been taking metoprolol 100 mg!!!!!!!  i want my heart to quit acting up and go back to normal WTF is wrong with it??????

[Samantha2009]

i feel the exact same way!! i am a 17 year old female and i recently developed bad burning chest pains and a high heart rate escpecially at night and my doctor told me that i have sinus tachycardia but they wont give me anything. I am up every single night until at the least 2:00 am trying to relax and get the pain to go away. The only way that i ever go to sleep is when i pass out from the pain. I really really wish they would put me on something anything to make the pain go away

[SKB2]

I am sorry for your situation.
As a panic sufferer and with heart issues I can relate to your situation.

I used to suffer from high heart rates waking me up for several years. Mine were self induced but needless to say, very scary and not a pleasant way to live ones life.
The reason I was suffering from a high heart rate like this was drinking any alcohol wine, beer, etc..
The last time this happened to me was two years ago, I woke up with a heart rate of 166 btm and went to the hospital.
That night they admitted me and started me on beta blockers.

That day I also gave up drinking for good and have been sober for two years.
I am not sure what your situation is but I am thinking it could be diet related or perhaps you are entering into peri- menopause?

I also have suffered from panic disorder for almost 30 years now. I understand how "touchy". our hearts can be and it takes NOTHING to get it to pound out of your chest from merely a "thought" or startle.

I truly feel for your situation and hope that you get some help.

My situation now is my heart is skipping beats but when that happens it starts to beat really fast  for several beats (if you can call those beats)  until it goes back to a normal rhythm.
It used to just skip beats but now this fast added heard beat is scaring the **** out of me.

[dancingheart]

EEEK, frustrated.  Fell asleep today and was rudely awakened again with a 128 bpm pulse.  I was so  fully relaxed for once my pulse had gotten down in the 60's so it seems... I was feeling tired so I laid down... didn't even notice I had fallen asleep until I felt my heart thumping away.  I getting so sleep deprived that I could fall asleep sitting up watching TV.  The other night I did just that and the phone rang.  Now I am never afraid of a ringing phone, but instantly I jumped awake with a banging heart... this has never happened before!  Frustrated...  Will there come a time when I am so tired that my heart will understand?... or I won't notice and just keep on sleeping.  Hypervigilant I guess?  Nerves are becoming irritated and irritating my heart more.  A vicious cycle some sleep would help cure.

[dancingheart]

Hello everyone,

Thanks all for the support.  I am finally back to update.  I am starting feel giddy with very little sleep.  My boyfriend tries to humor me and it just doesn't work... I just look at him with crossed eyes...  Like I wish he would just try to understand about my self absorbed state!
  It just seems so senseless... like I can understand why heart rate goes higher during the day.  I am not necesarily the best of shape...I don't exercise as regularly as I should and now the past few weeks it has been next to nil except pacing my living room floor 3 times a day for an hour.  Just figuring I could stand a heart rate of 115-125 bpm for just about that long of time before I feel like I am going crazy and have to sit down and rest again.  Talk about being deconditioned... I barely can get out of bed!  But anyway, what does this have to do when I am sleeping oh so soundly and out of the blue it decides I have run a marathon... when I indeed have not!  I am seeing a new cardiologist in a month.  I seen him for about 5 mins total in the hospital (75 miles from home), but he said he was the one watching the monitor for 3 days and nights I was there.  Says that this kind of tacky requires no other treatment but medication and lifestyle changes to reduce stress.  Like what stress do I have but sitting in chairs and beds all day?  The only stress I have is trying to tell my 14 year old that the doctors say Mom is not going to die... and she looks at me blankly because I have nothing else to tell her.  It just stinks being a single Mom and stuck in this predicument.  Anyway, my doctor (PCP) mentioned an EP study and Ablasion if needed.  The cardiologist didn't seem to really say to much to her. He said there were too many risks... like how am I to know they both talk back and forth, but never to me.  I don't know the guy (may be what he looks like) and no one has even told me about the option or what it even is.  The way I look at it meds aren't helping much and I am going crazy over no sleep and hovering over my wrist constantly to take my pulse like a watchdog.  I am sleeping with my bed room at 58 deg F and still have a flush face and drenched bed...  And I hate dragging myself to the bath room to keep dunking my face and stripping myself naked to get cold enough to stop this rediculousness.  By this time I takes me another 2 hours to shiver myself back to sleep.  Sorry for the ranting... it just gets so frustrating and tiring... I hate to live the rest of my life like this!
  
   Coribel I was labeled with panic attacks too.  My heart rate would be high, but by the ambulance made it to my house and got me to the hospital is would settle down into the upper 90's.  It wasn't until recently when I wore a loop monitor that they caught it as high as it was.  And then they still say that Panic could cause it to be that high.  I take Klonopin, which is like Ativan, at which I take before bed and it hasn't helped they gave me ativan in the hospital and that did nothing for me either.  In fact they gave me a higher than normal dose before bed, to really knock me out, and that was the biggest attack that I ever had, and it was a lot harder with IV meds to get it down. Panic attacks do do really weird things to your body, but if meds don't help is it still from panic?

  Hi jsuter 69  I too get those extra/skipping beats.  It took me a long time to be able to ignore those.  But I finally got it mastered.  I would get flushed face and feel faint, I would just take deep breaths or stroke my neck like the doctors showed me to and they would go away.   They mainly came around the time of PMS.  So I just attributed them to that.  May be too I will find ways to deal with the fear I have of the tachy.  I guess only time will tell.

[jsuter69]

I'm not quite sure how high my heart rate gets at night...but I do know my heart rate does stay quite elevated...ALOT....and I can relate because it does it at night while I'm trying to sleep and yes, mine DOES wake me up at night....most of all I hate it because I feel like it controls my EVERY move,thought or activity....I'm suppose to start nursing school but I'm scared....not only does my heart run fast.....but the pausing and "skipping beats"....it's always unnerving....so yeah...I totally understand the fear you live in...but mines constant......And I also "suffer" from anxiety...sometimes bad anxiety attacks...have since I was 13...and I just turned 39...when I started mowing the lawn this past summer...my heart was beating so wicked fast..I too felt I was going to pass out...never did...thank God!!

[coribell]

Hi I know just how you feel,I have mvp and got a new doctor today as my familly doctor seemed unconcerned about my rapid hreatrate and im glad now i got a new one as he pulled my records from the hospital from oct4 and er visits after that where i would awake in the night with my heart either pounding or beating fast and he showed me the ekg from the time of oct4 and said this ekg is crazy then he told me my heartrate was 140bpm when i got there but went to 240bpm  before they got it under control my other doc never told me that and i heard someone that night say it was 121 so i thought that was as high as it went but they were talking bout my blood pressure the bottom number being 121.He also told me that the other times during the night after that when i went to the er and my heartrate wasent all that high and bp was not to high well he said it might have been pretty high before i got there but might have came down by the time i arrived there and the docs on call those nights could have mistakenly thought i was having a panic attack and said panic would have happened after my hearrate was high.So i do know what you are going through and im scared just like you and i asked my new doc am i going to die? He shook his head no. He told me to stay on my cartizem for now but that my dosage might need to be increased and to call if i felt i needed to see him and that we might have to do something more but if i dident call to come back in a month. also i asked for a prescription for ativan low dose to take when i feel my heartrates a little to high to help keep me from panic he agreed but said only temporary until im better and my heartrates better controlled.I was hoping he would recomend me to a cardiologist and if i have anymore really high heart rate ill ask to be unless he reccomends me to one.Lastly i awake allmost every night with my heartrate racing just like you but im to scared to check it with the monitor as my monitor isent allways accurate and i dont want to panic by what i get and cant be sure anyways if its even right so i take 1 half a ativan and lay still until i feel my heartrate slowing down usually about 20 or so minutes and by then im falling back asleep.Believe me you are not alone iv only been going through this since oct4 of last month and i feel my whole world is upside down but Brooke is right in all she said and you should get your doc to refer you to a electrophysiologist. Anyways dancingheart we are all here for you and please keep posting, we really are in this together you me and all of us with these heart health problems that make our lives so scary each day and even nights.My best to you dancingheart.      

[Brooke_38]

You are not alone! There are many people who are suffering from symptoms, fear, anxiety and feeling like they are being dismissed by Dr's.

I am sorry to hear all that you have been through and continue to go through. The high heart rates that you mention are high and would certainly make you not feel well. Your BP is also something that should be addressed.

Have they mentioned doing an EP study? This, to me, would make sense. Doing this would give the Dr a very good indication where in your heart the problem is coming from and as a result could be ablated which means cured. It sounds like they're putting a bandaid over the problem instead of taking a more aggressive approach toward a cure. I get very frustrated when Dr's do not take into account the patients quality of life. Suffering needlessly will certainly have an impact on our bodies, loweing our quality of life.

Popping pills, dealing with side effects from medications, haivng unanswered questions, feeling no better and reaching desaprity is not what I call good quality of life. If what I mentioned regarding an EP Study has not been offered to you, you might consider calling your Dr and asking about a referal to an Electrophysiologist for consultation.

Please remember, you are definitely not alone. We are all here for you. Many of us have been in the boat you seem to be in. If you need more info please just ask.:)