Waking up to heart pounding in my chest

[Justin1967]

I woke up this morning to my heart pounding like mad..
I have had this a few times, should I be concerned as I have been trying to sleep with my mouth shut and breathing through my nose....

[curquack]

Hi, I saw a special once about someone who had these same symptoms.  he would awaken in the middle in the night with heart palpitations that got progressively worse, he had to be rushed to the hospital.

anyway, he had severe sleep apnea.  basically this means that during sleep, specifically REM sleep, he would stop breathing, lack of oxygen causes the heart to go into cardiac arrest, which could account for these symptoms.

i advise you to go to a sleep clinic to monitor your sleep and check for sleep apnea.  if you do infact have this, you'll be required to use a CPAP machine every night, but you'll be cured

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi

Thanks for keeping me posted. First if it bothers you to sleep with mouth open, then consult an ENT to see why this is happening. Once your sleep pattern will improve, you will be ok.

Other than that please get your thyroid tested, test for diabetes and consult a doctor to rule out acidity. This should give you an answer.

Please let me know if there is anything else. All the best!

[Justin1967]

The heart pounding stopped after I woke up and it slowly returned to normal.. It has happened when I usually wake up around 6am

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Thanks for the post! How are you now?
Waking up with a pounding heart could be due to disturbed sleep, bad dreams, anxiety, heart problems, low blood pressure, low sugar, severe acidity or a panic attack. You have to rule out the causes one by one. How does the pounding stop? The answer to this question could be the key to diagnosis. I think you should discuss this with your doctor.

Hope this helps. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!