I wondered if anyone has ever experienced what I have, for years I have had ectopic beats with no other symptoms.
6 weeks ago I went to bed with ectopics, didn’t take much notice as it happens most days, suddenly I woke in the middle of the night feeling out of breathe and very weak a feeling I had never experienced before. I went to see my gp who ran some blood tests and did an ecg which all came back fine. A couple of weeks on and things were getting worse, I was waking after 2 hours of sleep with the same thing happening but each day that went past I was experiencing more symptoms, arm numbness, racing heart, feeling very faint, shaking. I spoke to the gp again and said things are getting worse, but only at night time, I had a chest X-ray which came back normal. I ended up in hospital as the symptoms were getting far worse and I just could not get any sleep. They was monitoring my heart rate constantly, during the night it went up to 180bpm whilst sleeping. They was also concerned with my sit to standing pulse. Going from 87bpm sitting to 144bpm just standing. I had lots of blood tests done, a heart ultrasound and antibody thyroid tests and they have all come back normal. I have been put on a beta blocker which has brought my heart rate down but I am still waking with severe weakness and dizziness. The next step is a 24 hour heart monitor and follow up with cardiology. If anyone has experienced anything like this is would be great to hear from you! Many thanks
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As others might tell you, ectopic beats tend to be benign for the most part however, I can see you’re struggling with yours.
I have the odd nights where I wake up with my heart racing, though I’ve not had this further investigated since a 2 week heart monitor came back clear last year. I wish I knew what was causing this, especially when we’re asleep. I do know that stress, anxiety, diet and even the weather are a few things that can contribute to this.
Interestingly, I note that you say your heart rate jumps from sitting to standing. Have the doctors ruled out POTS (postural tachycardia syndrome)?
The below link has more information on POTS. Perhaps, have a look and see if your symptoms are similar.
That’s interesting that even the weather can contribute to our heart rates. It’s so odd isn’t it, I have gone down the anxiety, stress path but it doesn’t seem to add up as I regularly meditate and practice yoga daily and am very conscious about self care and keeping stress levels down. I did wonder if I’m having panic attacks but the symptoms I had the very first night this happened were not of my heart racing but of the feeling of weakness and light headed and feeling out of breathe . I think anxiety is now playing a part though as I fear going to sleep now, also lack of sleep i’m sure isn’t helping things so it all becomes a vicious cycle.
That’s interesting with the POTS, no the drs didn’t mention anything about that. I was definitely having some of those symptoms but the beta blocker is now controlling that.
As I am now on beta blockers and it’s controlling my heart rate I feel like the holter monitor is probably unlikely to pick anything up so I will contact them to see what they suggest.
The beta blocker is definitely helping me but I am now faced with very low blood pressure at night so I may need to tweak the dosage slightly. I guess it’s a bit of trail and error with them initially.
Thank you so much for your reply and wishing you well.
I'm sorry it's awful you feel like this, especially, when it happens in night time. I had suffered with similar condition for years..left work,my life was affected badly by not being able to sleep at night because of hectic heart beat and dizziness ,adrenalin rashes,it was crazy..all tests came back clear..till I one morning I couldn't walk anymore. Two weeks go sent me back with paracetamol, when I went to paid GP he said its blood clot.. straight away my NHC go send me to ultrasound and they found blood clot in the leg and both longs. I was living with them for several years and none ever realised it is from poor blood floaght that heart is struggling during the night..I haven't had any other usual blood clot simthoms..no redness,no swollen anything ..just pain..it could be too late for me..but I am survivor and wish I would of lusten my intuition earlier..your body is telling you there is something wrong with you and you need to be your own advocate. It's good uour heart is fine..so need to look further..it might be sleep apnea or anxiety but in my case I knew that it was the condition what made my anxiety worse not the other way around ..so be your own advocate and get your self checked..after the pandemic the blood clots condition has grow rapidly..blood thinners totally has changed my life years of suffering gone just few weeks after I had them.. or at least try natural blood thinners its always healthy even if you don't have clots.. just before bed drink water and have a little pot of instant porridge.. keeps your insulin level balanced during the night as it also keeps your blood pressure lower..and no insulin dropping..that was other issue I've had around 3am would get up and faint of sugar dropping too low..Good luck and take care
bless you sorry you went through all of that, thank goodness they have found out now what was wrong and that you persisted with it.
May I ask, do you know if they ran any bloods to check for clots in your lungs? It’s just I know when I was in hospital they said they ran a blood test to check for clots in my lungs and said it came back normal.
That’s exactly it with the anxiety, I feel the same I don’t feel this started because of anxiety, I’m definitely experiencing it now because I am so scared to go to sleep.
Thank you so much for the tips re the water and porridge, I’m definitely going to try both. I always take water to bed with me and when I wake I always have some but I also find I have symptoms like my blood sugar is dropping, I have found eating a banana really helps at the time.
Thank you so much for your reply and wishing you well
Hi there. Im 35 and I suffer with Sinus Tachycardia. I was diagnosed in 2019. Ive had all the tests going too. Ive had an MRI scan, an echo scan, 2x 24 hour holter monitors and a 7 day holter monotor. Im also taking a beta blocker and it does help. I do find that i need to avoid caffeine and chocolate also. Unfortunately there was no answer for me as to what caused them. Attacks can be very frightening when your heart peaks like that for no reason. I have no cure or answer for you Im afraid but I offer you my hugs and support.If I find an answer I will gladly share with the world. Take care.
Sorry to hear you suffer with this too, it’s so odd isn’t it when they can’t figure out what is causing it!
May I ask what beta blocker do you take? I tried propanalol in hospital but it reduced my heart rate too much dropped below 50 so I’m now on bisoprolol, I’m getting on ok with it but finding my blood pressure is dropping quite low during the night.
Oh yes I cut out caffeine quite a few years ago when I was suffering with the ectopic beats found it really aggravated it.
It’s so scary isn’t it, sending hugs back to you and thank you so much for your reply. Wishing you well
Hi there hope your well. I take 2.5mg bisoprolol. The doae hasn't changed since I first went on it. Sometimes i find I get them sporadically but for the last 3 weeks or so I've been having lots of them throughout the day. There never seems to be any sort of trigger or pattern. They happen no matter what I'm doing.
Hi I hope the doctors can be identify the causes. In terms of ectopic beats some supplements such as magnesium (orotate or taurate in particular) could maybe help. Other agents include L-carnitine, hawthorn, amino acids such as taurine etc and these might also help regulate the hearbeat but I would only recommend looking into this in consultation with your doctors and/or a qualified functional / natural oriented doctor. there are some useful sites for atrial fibrillation you could also look at. I wish you good luck.
That’s very interesting as I found a water with added magnesium and I used to find it really helped when I was having an episode of ectopics sadly the company seemed to have folded and I can’t seem to find something similar! Have tried spring water with electrolytes but it doesn’t seem to work as well.
May sound daft but I had a lot of this and it turned out to be triggered by mild infection rumbling in the body, first of all it was my teeth, gum diseases only since I've had a private dentist who has cleaned them properly and encouraged interdental brushing have I had far less attacks, the only other times is when I've had a water infection so it's the toxins in the body causing it.
Oh that’s very interesting. I do have a fungal foot infection affecting my toenails and skin on one foot and the skin on the other. I’ve had it for quite a few years now and can never seem to get rid of it. I will investigate this further now!
Thank you so much for your reply! Wishing you well
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