Heart Racing 5 Min. After Waking

[jenwic]

For several years I have had the symptom of being awakened in the middle of the night with my heart pounding out of me (like from an adrenaline rush). It would do this for a few minutes then settle down. I have read about a lot of you having this.

Recently, I will sometimes wake up (during night or in morning), lay there for a few minutes, THEN start to feel bad and wonder what in the world is going on, then the rush comes and my heart races and I feel kind of nauseous (same kind of feel I used to have as described above. It also only lasts a few minutes.

This is before I get out of bed. I'm wondering if this is POTS too or is it some new thing going on with my heart. It always just freaks me out when some new symptom starts, so I'm wondering if anyone else has this.

By the way, I've told my dr. about the middle of the night rushes that I and many of you have and he just looks like he doesn't know what I'm talking about. This from a dr. who is supposed to know about POTS.

[mkoven]

I get this before my period. I think dips in hormones triggers it. As I get older, it gets worse, so maybe a sign of perimenopause (I'm 41). I think even non-potsy women sometimes get this. But definitely deserves some attention. Could you get a holter monitor?

[Guest tearose]

Hmm, I only recall the waking up races after a dream and they are not frequent. Unfortunately I always have trouble after waking up.

Not while laying in bed but just after sitting up. I recently started taking my bp for about 10 days. It clearly was very low. If I took it, it was around 75/45. If my husband took it before I moved around it was even lower. As soon as I start moving around or sit up, my heart will race. I think our bodies are trying to wake up and get going.

Your situation sounds more serious if it constantly is waking you or is racing without reason. Are you planning on a dr visit? If you keep track of it maybe you can show the doctor how your heart is behaving and you both can figure out if you must address it or live with it.

good luck with this, I sure hope you don't have anything funky going on!

tearose

[jenwic]

I have a dr. appt. in Aug. I hope he can figure out what is causing this. I get very frustrated with dr.'s ignorance and with them looking at me in disbelief like I'm crazy.

[carinara]

This happens to me, when my blood sugar is really low. Whenever i get bad POTS episodes, i have to have something to eat next to my bed, otherwise my blood sugar will crash! During those times (before i knew i had POTS) i felt like you described! Now i always have a banana next to my bed and as soon as i wake up, i take my medicine, drink something and have a few bites of my banana!

All the best for you

carinara

[jbrian00]

I have the same thing, and think I figured out what is causing it for me...but you may want to check to see if the same is happening with you. I would wake up in the middle of the night with a thumping, forcefully beating heart. I caught one episode with my hr watch and it was 48bpm. So, for me, it happens when I have bradycardia (really low heart rate) when I'm sleeping. I've been checking my hr upon lying in bed before falling asleep, and lately it has been in the 50's. So when I'm sleeping, my heart rate naturally lowers further, and if it gets too low, it will pound to try and get the hr up again. Waking up and rolling over or sitting up in bed alleviate my attacks, because the change in position causes my hr to go up.

So, I would advise you measuring your pulse right when you are awakened, to see if it is really slow. I have found that elevating the head of my using pillows and kinda propping the upper part of my body up when I sleep prevents my heart rate from dipping down so low and helps a lot. So, you could try that and see if that helps you. I just have a tendency to have a much lower pulse around bedtime which turns brady when lying flat in bed.

Hope this helps you,

James