Sleep Disruption

[Dogluvr95]

Hi all, I hope you all have been well!! I’ve been having problems sleeping lately and was wondering if anyone had similar issues or advice. I normally have very bizarre dreams and these dreams cause my heart rate to spike drastically while I’m sleeping, so much so that I’ll wake up and I cannot get my heart rate to go down most times. I obviously can’t control my dreams but it seems things like deep breathing etc don’t help, and the only thing that helps is taking my metoprolol. I do not want to take my metoprolol every time this happens though as I have a specific time I take it and when this happens I’m taking it a few hours earlier than I normally do. I hope this makes sense. I just want peaceful sleep lol!! I also have found melatonin gives me vertigo so I can’t take that. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks so much!!

[BobD Volunteer]

Flip that over and think about it. Heart does silly things. Sleeping brain finds explanation and creates dreams/nightmares to explain heart rate.

Worked that out years ago. Sort out your AF and your sleep will be better but do check re sleep apnoea as this is also a cause of AF.

[jeanjeannie50]

I finally admitted to myself recently that I'm afraid of the dark and now sleep with the hall light on. I was having very lucid dreams, they've all stopped now, thank goodness. Plus my GP prescribes me the lowest dose of the sleeping pill Zopiclone. I'm feeling better than I have for years, a good night's sleep is so important.

Jean

[BlueINR in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Am not afraid of the dark, though recently have been sleeping with a small light left on in living room, that gives me a bit of gentle guidance that I've found I really like. Agree with jean. Do what makes you fel better at night. Sleep is indeed important.

[bassets in reply to jeanjeannie50]

We have a salt lamp in our hallway which gives a gentle light at night. How are you doing now Jean? Have you recovered from your op?

[jeanjeannie50 in reply to bassets]

Yes, I'm really well now. Feel better than I have for ages. Have had my AF pills changed from Metoprolol and Flecainide to Bisoprolol and they appear to suit me better.

[bassets in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Excellent! 😁

[Hidden]

Just to be sure of one thing .................. do you take Metoprolol at night, then you get the dreams during your sleep that follows taking your Metoprolol ?

John

[DawnTX in reply to Hidden]

PS I take mine morning and night now prior to that it was the evenings because that’s what they prefer you to do. A fib tends to act up more at night

[Dogluvr95 in reply to Hidden]

Hi John, so I normally take my metoprolol at 5:30 AM.

[Hidden in reply to Dogluvr95]

Hi,

I asked the question only because I take a drug which is a member of the beta blocker family. I use Bisoprolol 5 mg and have done so since January 2010. I have been fine with it until January 2021 when my GP increased the dose to 7.5 mg in an attempt to deal with rising blood pressure. For the first 12 months no problems. Then around late February 2022 I began to experience weird stuff, mostly associated with sleep. My overnight resting/sleeping heart rate began to visit 39 to 42 bpm on a regular basis whereas I function best at about 72 bpm. I don't have good sleep patterns anyway arising from shift work in years gone by - but - all of a sudden my sleep patterns worsened. Then came the real weird stuff .......... nightmares, bad dreams, nightmares ......... stuff that would frighten the hell out of Vincent Price and his horror movies. I do not normally dream to that extent. I also experienced extraordinary tiredness, like I was the Zombie from the Land of the Living Dead ! Finally, I gave up trying to talk to my GP and decided to cut back my Bisoprolol back to 5 mg. I did this very gradually over about a month and eventually my HR dropped back to the range of 64 to 67 bpm. Ideal !

Not had such frightening or sinister dreams ever since. Tiredness also gone. Job done, sorted.

Just sayin' .......... maybe it will give you something to consider. I might add that I wasn't at the time in AF and am still not. My AF is highly controlled by diet and meds. I should also say that I take my Bisoprolol with all my other night time meds.

John

[Tommyboy21]

Yea my dreams are very lucid. I either can't sleep while in afib or if I can mental dreams.

[secondtry]

At you age and later I always had vivid dreams. I used to regard them as good, being the sub-conscious being cleared of background concerns.

However, I have had that waking up to raised HR and clearly you still need to address why they are occurring. I suspect the only way is to try everything on a trial and error basis until you find YOUR solution. I am no psychotherapist but you may need to change various lifestyle habits. I have found a quiet spiritual time before bed and no crime drama on screens helps to reduce the number of times or at least the severity of the issue happening.

[Dogluvr95 in reply to secondtry]

Thank you! I hate how vivid my dreams are, they’ve always been this way but since my ablation my heart is extra sensitive. Here I am at 2:50 in the morning again as it’s happened again 😅😞

[CDreamer]

Getting to the bottom of what causes what is difficult and you need to become a detective of your own body and how it reacts and behaves so start keeping an accurate journal, this in itself helps to reduce anxiety. Writing down your daily worries just before bed enables you to ‘park’ them for the night.

I’ve never taken drugs at night but know that nightmares and bizarre dream are a listed side affect of taking beta blockers - which affect your nervous system. I couldn’t tolerate beta blockers at all.

I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea - turned out that caused low O2 sats - to which my heart reacted - high HR which triggered AF - which always gave me nightmares, no beta blockers ever taken. Treated the SA - no more nocturnal AF, no more nightmares.

A few years later the nocturnal AF returned - turned out my pulse & BP dropped during sleep - raising the angle of the bed by 5 degrees helped but eventually I needed a pacemaker.

We all need to make sense of what happens to us - we humans constantly seek explanation - nearly every post here is evidence of that.

Amongst all of this reducing and managing general anxiety and good bedtime routines or ‘hygiene’ as it is called - doing all the things Secondtry suggested also really helped because we also get into poor sleep habits so it’s really important we break the cycle.

I know vivid dreams can be unsettling but ensure you use self talk to reassure yourself ‘it’s just a dream’ - you are making up to explain what going on in your body and to alert you there is something wrong. Once you reframe what the purpose of the dream it doesn’t seem quite so threatening.

Best wishes

[2learn]

Hi, Check the noted side effects of all your meds, not just AF ones, some might say can cause drowsiness, if so perhaps take those at night and others may say disturb sleep so take those in morning, My GP suggested this approach and it helped for me.

[mav7 in reply to 2learn]

Dogluvr95 . Great advice by 2learn

Review your medications with your doctor and the best time to take them and proper dosage.

A side effect of Metoprolol is bizarre dreams

[Adventurebike]

With my prescription it said one of the side effects of Metoprolol is it may cause a person to experience more dreams. I find I dream far less if I turn the temp way down for night so the room feels cool. Also I find when sleeping on my left side I will have many more dreams than when sleeping on my right. Not sure why that is.

[Rubymurray25]

As already suggested in the comments, I had similar experiences and mine was finally put down to severe Sleep Apnea, not to be underestimated.