This is interesting about 5 months ago I was diagnosed with sleep apnea waking up in the middle of the night with my heart racing and skipping beats. Some nights were worse than others anyway after testing I was holding my breath 28 times per hour and my oxygen levels were down 20%. I haven't had an attack of AF for nearly two years now only because of the drugs I take and being a publican cut down on my drinking of course.
To cut the story short I purchased a sleep apnea machine no more waking up in the middle of the night with my heart racing and no more palpitations the next day which could take a week to get over. Has anyone else had the same experience as me ?
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Crab
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For years my wife has told me, 'I think you have SA'. I woke her up with
heavy snoring, gagging to breathe, 20 seconds without breathing , she said.
But I'm only 9 stone and slim, don't drink a lot, don't fit the SA profile.
GP poo-pooed it also.
Then I was diag with AF. I kept a log and 80% of my AF incidents occurred
overnight and I woke with it. This was sleeping on back, I then started to sleep on my side and since then, April 2015, I haven't had a waking up with AF event. It comes at other times.
My wife tells me my snoring isn't so bad and she doesn't notice me struggling to breath.
I am waiting to see a sleep clinic and ablation also.
I had a problem with holding my breath while trying to get to sleep. I had SA test and found nil. I later realised the higher the bisoprolol dose the more the episodes of waking thru breath stopping. Not SA. Bisoprolol is the cause of a lot of breathing stops when sleeping. Now on a low dose of 1.25mg I don't have this prob. But when I did occasion to increase it again some months ago to 3.75mg for a brief period, my breathing stopped while trying to get to sleep a few times. I find this side effect of higher bisoprolol is well overlooked by medics and overlooked by this forum except by one member who mentioned it some weeks ago, with no response.
Wow that is exactly what happens to me! I had dismissed it as anxiety making me hold my breath. It only ever happens when I first go to bed and am drifting into sleep. I am also on bisoprolol. X
Funny stuff sleep......At the peak of my anxiety, 15 months ago I had similar experiences in the night. Had a sleep apnea machine strapped on overnight and despite an interrupted night I was told no apnea. At that stage I had just 3 months of no AF thanks to Flecainide.
As the AF free period extended and I started taking a helpful Magnesium compound (Nutri Ultra Muscleze) plus breathing exercises/Mindfullness/general relaxation my sleep got slowly better with no more waking up sweating and faster heart.
My advice is try everything as early as possible until you find what works for you.
My Dr. ordered the sleep test years ago, but owing to my sensitivity & all the procedure, I did not go to sleep at all til it was time to go home!!! (no joke!)
Can we purchase the apne machine without a Drs. referral in Australia, please?
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Sleep Apnea
Is this sleep apnea?
Sleep Apnea very common with AF
Sleep apnea results 
Un-diagonosed Sleep Apnea 
