Constant palpitations waking me up at night

[Xenomoth]

Has anyone else experienced this? For over two weeks now I’ve been woken up every night without fail (sometimes twice a night) with my heart skipping beats, fluttering, pounding and similar. It takes what seems like ages to stop and is driving me insane as I’m just exhausted all day.

The odd thing is, the palpitations rarely happen during the day. I’ve quit caffeine, had normal bloods and ecg. I’m waiting for the holter mointer next. Anyone had similar or know how on earth to make them stop?!

Are you menopausal?

I’ve just turned 39, so could be peri I suppose

Gosh I’ve had this too for the last week or so. I’m definitely perimenopausal but I’ve not idea of the cause.

Did you get your thyroid tested with your bloods? I had overactive and the palpitations at night were ridiculous. Also how's your blood pressure?

Go to your doctor. It could be many things but your doctor will advise and refer on if needed.

I’ve already been to the doctor, I’ve had ECG, and all the normal blood tests they do, including thyroid which was normal. She said could be silent reflux and gave me omeprazole but it’s not helped yet.

Strangely, my heart rate is completely normal and not at all quick between these episodes which rules out things like atrial fibrillation. There just seems to be no clear cause and hence no way of stopping it. But surely it can’t be normal for this to suddenly start and persist over a period of weeks.

Hopefully I will get the Holter mointer soon and that may provide some answers. But, until then it’s just miserable at night lying there thinking I’m about to have a heart attack.

I had this for a while after Covid. Have you been ill at all?

I had that over Easter hols! Had a 24hr heart monitor over half term and haven’t heard anything back so I assume it was stress. Always had palpitations but having them wake me up from asleep was alarming!

I had this and a blood test found I was very low in folic acid, started supplements and it went away. Have you had a blood test?

Probably not relevant but I have this if I drink more than one glass of wine!

start taking magnesium 100% rda at bedtime and if you can afford a Kardia about 160 pounds on Amazon) buy it and use it in the middle of the night when you feel the arrthymia. you will then have a proper ecg from when it is happening and you can email it to your gp or show the cardiologist

I’ve only had a fbc, thyroid and such like. Did they test your vitamin levels on the nhs or did you have to go private?

In response to the other comments, I’ve not had covid recently, can’t drink wine anymore as it was causing palpitations even before this started, I already take magnesium. I will look up the Kardia if the holter doesn’t show anything.

I’d highly recommend taking Magnesium Glycinate at night and having a read of the Davina McCall book on menopause. The magnesium will help to regulate your heart rate and your symptoms could well be linked to perimenopause.

Following with interest as I have had the same but haven’t gotten round to seeing GP (suspect I’ll be fobbed off). I had to stop drinking as it made it 100 times worse. Cutting caffeine made no difference, I have been stressed for a while but the palpitations are intermittent eg I’ll have them for a week then not the following week. Magnesium didn’t seem to help either.

Sounds very much like me, are you a similar age (39)? You might be surprised, I found my doctor very helpful especially when I emphasised how much this constant disturbance of sleep is affecting my wellbeing. Oh, I’ve quit coffee too and it’s made no difference (apart from making me even grumpier than I was already!)

Could anybody recommend a specific type/brand of magnesium? TIA.

Magnesium Glycinate helps to relax and best taken at night before bed as it is great for the zzzzzzs! Magnesium Taurate is good for palpitations and is good for the heart muscle. I take both but only take the Taurate if I have a run of rapid heart rate - I have Afib and take other prescription meds for that also.

I have Atrial Fibrillation and my heart rate and heart rhythm are completely normal between episodes of AFib which are months apart. I have a Kardia and it's very useful, I think it's about £100 for the basic version which is all you need.

I know you've said your blood test was normal but what was your actual reading for ferritin? It should be approximately 70 for healthy hair growth so anything under isn't that great.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/iron-deficiency-anaemia/

Lay on your right side at night.

This was my no1 period symptom, very scary!
All resolved when I started HRT

Get a referral to a cardiologist just in case. I have thyroid issues, am perimenopausal and drink more wine than I probably should and have no issues with palpitations. The fact that they wake you up at night is worrying.

it happened to me about 4 or 5 years after I quit smoking. I was getting a standing MRI and was sent away bc they wouldn’t touch until I got my blood pressure under control. I’ve been on a dietetic since. Who knows where it it came. I have idea. I quit smoking about 4 or 5 years before. I now have chronic high blood pressure but my life is fine. Some people just have high blood pressure.

And I saw all the immediate doctors and had appropriate testing afterwards. They have no answers and my heart seems to be fine. But I wish you well and they can figure out why for you..

Do you mean you wake with a start? I got that when I was particularly anxious, like a hypnic jerk but worse. Would wake up like 5 times with a thud. I even had it the other day where I woke up and thought I was gonna be sick suddenly but I wasn't. The only thing I can think is being hyper aware whilst falling asleep due to anxiety.

I'm not getting that so much now but still get palpitations occasionally in the day. I've written a diary with what I've taken/eaten and the only thing I can pinpoint is taking iron tablets and eating Quorn. But doesn't seem like either of them would cause it. Am 37 so did wonder if it was peri. Sucks whatever it is! My anxiety around my heart is so bad there's no way I'd even get tested.