Odd heart sensation at night

I woke up last night and noticed that my heart felt as if it were gently vibrating (think of an electric razor). I checked my pulse manually and with Kardia. Both indicated that that the heart was regular at 55bpm. I couldn’t feel any vibration when I put my hand over the heart. The sensation passed after about 25 mins.I had some PAF a couple of days ago and recall a similar sensation months ago. Anybody experienced similar or have any idea what it might be?

[Jalia]

Could this possibly be coming from stomach area? ....very close! I have had this sensation and it was from intestines ! We are so tuned in to our hearts that we tend to pick up up any thing in that area and go on alert.

[Hidden in reply to Jalia]

Thanks for your reply. It is possible but it felt as if it was coming from the heart.

[Hidden]

Thanks. Do you mean that you can count- or use an electronic device to detect- the 120bpm?

[Hidden]

The last few episodes of PAF that I have had have been fairly slow at about 80bpm, but they were faster last year, often 100+. On one ECG some atrial flutter was mentioned; I told the consultant but he didn’t really comment. When you have had the atrial flutter (with the shivering sensation ) were you able to detect 2 beats per second? I assume that was what you meant by the cycles? When I took my pulse it felt as if it was going slowly and regularly and Kardia indicated the same, so I don’t really know if it was atrial flutter or not.

[Shcldavies]

Found your reply interesting, normally flutter has a lower atria frequency and the ventricles have a higher frequency which is in proportion to the atria eg. 2 to 1, 3 to 1, 4 to 1 and as the ventricles are the predominant beat (to push blood around your body) its this faster beat that is felt. I would be interested to know if many more have flutter with the atria going faster than the ventricles.

[Jetjockey]

What you felt is the typical flutter “saw-tooth pattern” in between the ventricle beats.

ekg.academy/ecgLessons/atri...

[Hidden in reply to Jetjockey]

I rang the two sets of cardiac nurses- one at BHF and the other at my local hospital. Opinion was divided. The first group thought it a disctinct posssibility but said the only way to find would be to do a 24 hour heart monitor (which I did some months ago). They suggested arranging this via my GP. However, this sensation happens fairly rarely, so this might not pick up anything.

The nurses at the local hospital were dismissive and said that if the heart wasn’t beating rapidly then it wasn’t likely to be heart flutter related and possibly was not to do with the heart at all. They also said that Kardia would have picked this sort of thing up.

[jrd210]

Having had both AF and Atrial Flutter for over 30 years and a pacemaker and several ablations, it is most likely you have some flutter and then as well explained by Baraba you get a 2:1 or 4:1 block of transmission so actual heart rate may be quite slow but you feel the flutter, it makes me a little nervous feeling and usually some extra fatigue.

[Hidden]

I didn’t feel at all fatigued -but then I don’t feel fatigued with PAF( however I have been told that being relatively asymptomatic doesn’t make PAF any less dangerous). I think I will ask the GP for a heart monitor, or possibly speak to Barts for advice. I am due for an ablation probabaly early next year. They did say that this would also deal with any flutter, although BobD has pointed out that ablation can actually result in the onset or worsening of flutter.

[Shcldavies]

Thank you that gives me a better understanding

[Dangerousdriver]

I’m getting exactly the same thing at night or when I wake up. It’s like you are vibrating but you can’t feel anything and your HR is low and in NSR. I’m baffled by it, just started out of the blue for me!

[Hidden in reply to Dangerousdriver]

I have noticed that it is more common during the days following an episode of PAF. Often there are long interval between the “vibrating” episodes. Often it goes fairly quickly when I get up- it always happens at night (as does most of the PAF that I get).

[AussieHeart in reply to Dangerousdriver]

I kept this post as experience same and have recently discovered this info: a-fib.com/faqs-understandin... I think adrenergic aFIB is the cause. I hope to raise this with my EP