Do any of you ever get a racing/pounding heart at night? I'm 46 and this happens now and then. Sometimes it happens when I turn over on my left side. Sometimes it happens when I'm almost asleep and then my husband makes a snore sound that jolts me awake. But my heart will pound for about an hour! The doctor ran tests and said my heart is fine and that it's probably stress or hormones and that I should relax, meditate, focus on breathing deeply, and sleep on my right side. He suggested I take magnesium and eat a banana daily as well. Anyway...it rarely happens but when it does it is quite disconcerting. Does anyone else ever have this happen? I don't feel terribly stressed in life and I think of myself as a chill person! It's so strange.
Also - I don't drink soda or caffeine. I do have a cup or two of coffee but only right after I wake up in the morning. I'm not an alcohol drinker except on occasion.
Ask the doc if he'll order an halter heart monitor for you that you can wear for a week or a month or something.
I would keep track of when it happens and how long it lasts when it happens.
My now 22 yr old daughter's heart started racing at times last year about 4 months after my husband suddenly died. It turned out that she had SVT and we didn't know it. We were at the ER once a month January through April to re-set her heart because it would not slow down. It was running around 200 beats per minute which is NOT good for the heart to do that nonstop. In the end, last July she had ablation surgery to correct the SVT (electrical issue) in her heart. She currently has a clean bill of health from the cardiologist and will go back next year for a follow up.
She complained of rapid heat beat a couple times to her Dr. and an EKG checked out normal all the time... an EKG needs to be done during the rapid beat in order for the Dr. to get a correct read.
Sometimes stress and anxiety hit us in ways we do not understand.
I hope you find relief.
When I was going through menopause I used to get hot sweats sometimes (day or night - but night was really annoying).
It was a feeling of being too hot but my heart didn't pound.
I'm hypothyroid and take a med to keep me regulated but when adjusting dose they always ask if my heart has ever raced - because that would indicate my dosage is too high and it would push me into being hyperthyroid.
Have your doctor check your thyroid levels.
How's your B12? I have low B12 (have to take it because I don't process it or keep it or something) and I had funny heart stuff - if you Google that, see if any of it matches. I know anemia sometimes causes palpitations, etc.
It could be SVT or it could be your thyroid. Have they ruled out either?
If it is SVT there are vagal maneuvers you can do to stop it. Check You Tube.
I have this happen, too. I am exactly your age as well and probably get it like 2 x a month (I don't really keep track, but that seems about right). I haven't had an issue with being startled into it by hubby snoring or I haven't noticed I am laying on a certain side (but I will keep track now to see if it is on my left - that is the side I normally sleep on so probably). It always happens when I am dozing off and approaching real sleep. I always thought that I was having a dream - like the kind you have right before falling asleep or when you are waking, of falling or something like that (but I don't recall the dream). I wake to a super racing heart that takes between 5 - 20 minutes to slow down.
I've never asked a doctor about it, mostly because I forget it happened by the next day unless something jogs my memory. I would agree that hormones must play a part as now that I am on bio-identical hormones, it seems to happen less. I also think that subconsciously I must be a bit stressed about something when it happens. Just because I don't feel stressed, doesn't mean I am not actually stressed.
Interesting though - I didn't realize others had this same thing!
Just to add to what Margie said about B12 - if you decide to do this, make sure you take a multi-B vitamin. You don't want to take just one B vitamin - you don't isolate them. You need to take one that has all the B's in it in addition to extra B-12...
You said your doctor checked you out. Was this a cardiologist? If it wasn't, that is who you need to see.
Try coughing. Sometimes I have this and the doctor said to cough. It can get it to slow down.
Yes, that happened to me a lot during peri- and menopause, but never before then. Taking replacement hormones helped a lot.
My mom had episodes in the middle of night with her heart racing. She now takes some blood pressure medication that has solved that issue for her.
Sounds like it's time to find a doctor that will listen and not give up when one test says you are fine. I have had the best luck with my naturopath. They look at everything as a whole.
Good luck!
I would track in a journal when these episodes happen.
It could be something medical that he didn't check like hormones (thank God your heart checks out healthy yea!!). Or it could be anxiety brought on by stress or sometimes for no reason at all other than you are worried about having a racing heart therefore you do.
I dealt with some anxiety and had a hard time realizing it wasn't a medical issue but a head issue (and I wasn't crazy just stressed to the max all over my life it was a hot mess of transitions).
There is a powdered magnesium drink called CALM that really does help calm you. Comes in several flavors and is very soothing.
But if you track these and see a pattern to when they happen then you can always take that back to the doctor. Big hugs from me!!
