Woken with severe racing heart

[Whawasthat]

I had an episode last night that’s worrying me.
I suffer anxiety anyway and have had night time panic attacks before where I wake with a faster heart and feeling hot and panicky. However this felt different, last night I woke at 2am boiling to touch, sweating and feeling my heart beating hard in my throat, I felt my pulse as I do when I’m having a panic attack and I have never felt anything like it, there was no pause between beats it was so fast. I put on my Apple Watch and my heart was 160bpm and climbing so I pulled it off as seeing that would make me feel worse. Splashing myself with cold water, belly breathing, lying still wouldn’t bring it down, strangely I didn’t feel panic throughout this but a strange sense of calm!?
After approx 30 mins in which I contemplated calling 999, it started to come down, and settled around 85bpm, I then felt exhausted and fell asleep, woke this morning back to normal heart rate of 65bpm.

I do take a beta blocker in the mornings for anxiety, and did have a meal and a few beers before bed at 11pm.

Has anyone experienced this, I’m scared it will happen again.

I have this off and on but also feel very faint and sick

I have had a heart recorder fitted and other than beating slowly then racing , no abnormalities
Dr thinks it could be ( for me )
My heart rate or blood pressure dropping too low during sleep ( I have low blood pressure )
So my heart beats faster to sort it out

It started again recently
I rang the surgery for an appointment and was told to come in asap
So they took it seriously

I also suffer from ptsd and thought it might be that ,but dr doesn't think that would wake me from sleep and cause severe symptoms

Luckily it's stopped again , for now

Yes I felt very sick too, was stood over the toilet for some of it but wasn’t sick. Then lay on the floor for a while trying to bring my heart down.
Not sure if I should mention in to my GP or not, or see if it happens again, that’s the tough thing with anxiety I never know what’s serious enough to get checked out.

I get a racing pounding heart if I eat Chinese food (I am guessing MSG?) or drink too much alcohol before bed. Started in my late 30s. Look up "holiday heart"?

I had this. Drink too much the night before. Awful.

*drank

@Teenylittlefella

I get a racing pounding heart if I eat Chinese food (I am guessing MSG?) or drink too much alcohol before bed. Started in my late 30s. Look up "holiday heart"?

I actually get that too with Chinese takeout and palpitations if I drink too much but my heart has never hit that speed before, I only had 4 alcoholic drinks but I’ll definitely be laying off the alcohol completely for the foreseeable future.

How old are you? Could be menopause

Also low thyroid can cause palpitations

@newbiename

How old are you? Could be menopause

Also low thyroid can cause palpitations

35

My mum has this with her thyroid problem and it is scary. Worth speaking to your GP.

Worth mentioning it to the GP, but hopefully it’s just a one off. I don’t no if it can develop at random ages, but a relative of mine has SVT, it causes sudden fast heart rate due to an extra electrical connection in the heart. It either stops on its own or you can do conversions to stop it (not recommending doing these unless your diagnosed with SVT though). They take medication to help control it and things like caffeine and alcohol are triggers for it for them.

I get this....I had a 24 hour ecg and an echo of heart.....I have developed an ectopic heartbeat.....but it does not warrant medication at this stage....I will be reviewed annually.....I get fast palpitations Daily.....it doesn’t bother me much now....but was scary in the beginning.....I have always had a lower BP .....averages at 100/60 .....but not abnormally low....I’m 57.

I'm 34 and I've had this a few times in the last year and it's incredibly horrible. I spoke to a GP and they said it's nocturnal panic attacks and to tell myself I'm OK and not dying...easier said than done! I find it's worse in the second half of my cycle (hormones!?) I'm tea total now as alcohol definitely raises my heart rate and with practise I'm able to lower my heart rate quicker (sip of cold water, cold flannel on face and legs raised up the wall) and that in turns lessens the other symptoms of nausea etc but I still really dread it happening. I find it hard to fall asleep again for the rest of the night, dropping in and out and then feel exhausted for a day or two after. Sending hugs and wish I had more advice. I have thought about asking gp to run bloods to check thyroid and hormone levels just to rule anything out that could be triggering it.

Out of interest, have these symptoms including @Kitkat151's ectopic heartbeat come on since a possible Covid infection and/or the Covid jabs?

I have just posted my own thread about an unpleasant experience having a scan today, but my symptoms are the same and have come on since the pandemic. But, I am also post-menopause, so it could be any of those. Thyroid test was normal.

I’ve had that before and that was linked to anxiety (I’ve had the blood test, heart rate monitor etc..).
I’ve had palpitations like this so strong they made me dizzy up to the point if nearly fainting (everything went black and then just switched back to normal)

Something that always help is to take a big breath in, as much as I can and then hold my breath. That seems to calm the palpitations down within seconds.

Having said that, I’d have it checked by your GP in case it’s anything else.

@didntlikethis

Out of interest, have these symptoms including *@Kitkat151*'s ectopic heartbeat come on since a possible Covid infection and/or the Covid jabs?

I have just posted my own thread about an unpleasant experience having a scan today, but my symptoms are the same and have come on since the pandemic. But, I am also post-menopause, so it could be any of those. Thyroid test was normal.

I had the ectopic heart beat since 2020....but worse palpitations since Covid in January 22...although the actual Covid episode was not extreme....more like a heavy cold

I have found cutting out caffeine and cutting back on alcohol has helped.

Sounds like a panic attack. I have had this, when I wake and feel panic, BP is high, I feel funny etc. Manage to calm myself down with chamomile tea and go back to sleep. 160 is quite high though, my heart is 120 during my panic attacks...I would mention to GP just incase.

Anemia can also cause palpitations. You should call your GP and get a blood test.

I have similar short episodes - currently back under cardiology for testing.

Your symptoms do sound like SVT - what dose beta blocker are you on?

As above, triggers like food and drink need to be monitored and you could keep a diary of it all.

I stopped drinking alcohol at 35 (39 now) as it made my heart play up so much - but it just wasn't worth the stress!

@wineandsunshine

I have similar short episodes - currently back under cardiology for testing.

Your symptoms do sound like SVT - what dose beta blocker are you on?

As above, triggers like food and drink need to be monitored and you could keep a diary of it all.

I stopped drinking alcohol at 35 (39 now) as it made my heart play up so much - but it just wasn't worth the stress!

I’m on 40mg Propranolol each morning, I’m allowed to take another dose in the evening but I haven’t as I worry about relying on them.

I haven’t had any alcohol since, a few episodes of random increased heart rate since but nothing as bad as the one in my op.
Food definitely seems to encourage faster heart and palpitations, particularly high carb.

I had these episodes.
I was found to have atrial flutter.
Since I stopped drinking I've never had another episode.

I had this with alcohol when I was anaemic. I found if I had a few drinks I’d have really bad palpitations. Once the anaemia was treated it stopped. Definitely worth discussing with your GP.

I have these too! Combined with ectopic heart beatings, very very annoying. I saw a cardiologist in December, all the tests were fine and he said it's just anxiety (I have a demanding job). He said that if I get a very fast heart rate I should drink a glass of very cold water, it apparently "deactivates" a nerve (vagus?) responsible for the heart rate. It is scary, especially when you start to feel sick and dizzy. Worth mentioning too, I had anemia for a while and it's coming and going

@Antares444

I have these too! Combined with ectopic heart beatings, very very annoying. I saw a cardiologist in December, all the tests were fine and he said it's just anxiety (I have a demanding job). He said that if I get a very fast heart rate I should drink a glass of very cold water, it apparently "deactivates" a nerve (vagus?) responsible for the heart rate. It is scary, especially when you start to feel sick and dizzy. Worth mentioning too, I had anemia for a while and it's coming and going

Thank you for the water tip! I had another episode of this yesterday and tried a large glass of ice water, it helped and my HR came down much faster. I’ve had 3 of these episodes now so have contacted my GP and have an appt tomorrow. Sorry to hear it happens to you too, hopefully it’s just anxiety for me too

Alcohol does this to me. Sweating, racing heart.