Anyone Else Have This Happen At Night?

[dezyrae2]

A few times in the last month I get woken up and I am extremely sweaty, my heart is racing and i am totally out of breath. The only way I could explain it is as if you were holding your breath under water and you come up for air. I dont know what it could be. Any ideas? Thanks

[EarthMother]

Last summer this was happening to me several times each week. I have a biofeedback device on my computer and I could track that my pulse was 120 sometimes shooting to 140. It took about 10 minutes to calm down.

All I know is I haven't had this for about 6 weeks ... and I'm enjoying a good night's sleep for however long I can.

I can't say I found a cure ... it may be that my body just shifted again into another pattern. But here are some of the things that may have caused these symptoms in my case:

* reactive hypoglycimia (there's a growing thread about this on the boards right now, and I was certainly having thi problem big time last summer)

* perimenapause (I was changing between one of the continious birthcontrol pills back to ortho-try cycline and think one or both was contributing. My cardio has since insisted I stop taking hormones, at least no BP as I am 45 and he doesn't want me to add to my risk of stroke etc. So I'm now hormone free and we'll have to wait and see how peri looks on my own body chemistry.)

* Thyroid Disease -- I see you have/had autoimmune thyroid disease as well (Graves), I have Hashimoto autoimmune thyroid and take thyroid replacement. Every now and again, my Hashi goes haywack and I tend to get these "little" thyroid storms that can cause adrenaline surges as well. It tends to come in wave and there seems to be little I can do to stop them other than just wait them out.

In my case it may have been all three of these things ... or none of them and something else entirely. I do know that it was a terrible time. The night rushes were terrifying and they took a big toll on my confidence. I hated the sensations and I was angry at myself for not "handling" them better.

May you find answers that will help you on your own healing journey, or at the very least may these "nightmares" simply stop as mysteriously as they started and never return again.

Salubrious.

~EM

[MomtoGiuliana]

In my late 20's I experienced this very disturbing symptom for about a year; I also experienced it post partum. It doesn't happen to me anymore. I know how uncomfortable and scary it can be. I was told at the time I was having panic attacks, of course.

[dawn]

Maybe you should check with your doctor about a sleep study.

It could be sleep apnea. I know that there are times that I forget to breathe at night and wake up gasping for air.

My sleep study was abnormal. Had a lot of shallow breathing. I also had episodes of not breathing for 45 seconds at a time.

I do have a c pap machine, I end up taking the mask off during my sleep, so haven't had much success with it.

Dawn

[Guest Sandy Sims]

What you describe is EXACTLY what I lived with for TWO YEARS!!

For me it turned out that my blood sugar was dropping out at night--sending my adrenals soaring--high pulse low BP--nausea--shakes--disoriented--soul sucking sick all alone in the middle of the night!!

But I got lucky and told this to the right endo who said "that's classic hypoglcemia" and did a glucose tolerance test WITH insulin levels to check for hypogycemia. I had it! And it turns out was having spurts of high blood sugar during the day as well. I was told today they no longer recognize the term reactive hypoglycemia as a real thing --tho I have it--<chuckles>--they now call it pre-diabetic syndrome or metabolic syndrome x. A rose by any other name. GEESH!

Anyway, I now take a pill called metformin and am well--a miracle!

This is a simple blood test--ANY type of doctor will order it--results in a day or two--and a cure that works in a few days if you have.

Please--get tested for this. I think MANY dys patients have this blood sugar problems and it eats brain cells and kills kidneys!

I also tested positive for sleep apnea as well--but the CPAP didn't fix me.

Hope this helps!

XOXOXOX

Sandy

[ramakentesh]

Many POTS patients experience sudden autonomic storms. That was one of my first symptoms. Waking in the dead of night with my heart racing and gasping for breath.

Researchers at the Baker Institute believe that POTS may be caused by hypermethylation of the Norepinephrine transporter but this still doesnt really explain why many POTS patients report these autonomic storms.

[MelissaCrystal]

I have those nights after drinking alcohol or smoking pot---I don't do either anymore, and I've only tried the latter a couple times and learned my lesson both times. Some prescription sleeping pills also do this to me, which scares the crap out of me. I also wake up gasping every 10 minutes when I'm sick or if I'm vomiting or dehydrated. I'm not really sure what causes it---seems like a lot causes it for me. Every once in a while it's just random and depends on how I'm feeling overall. I really hate it, it's scary.

[ramakentesh]

I used to drink a fair bit and when i came down with POTS it used to do the same. Weird thing now is that if im not symptomatic a few beers will bring on POTS, but if Im really symptomatic one beer will actually help a little. I guess its the same deal as with caffiene - sometimes it helps other times it makes it worse...

A dude that I worked with gave me a joint to see if it would help my pots symptoms - medical marijuana and all. Bad idea - I guess its because it makes your blood pressure drop or something but it was like the worst episode of POTS Id had for ages after just a couple of tokes.

When i was very young id smoked it then without any ill effects.

[jbrian00]

I sometimes get awakened in the middle of the night with a forceful pounding heartbeat and shortness of breath and think it's because my heart rate dipped a little too low and my body was compensating for that. I caught it a couple times below 48bpm. I sleep with my head elevated which I think helps some. Perhaps you may want to consider that if it happens a lot or find out what your heart rate is doing.

James

[mrsdavidson8605]

Yep i've had that happen too. I would suggest having the glucose tolerance test with insulin levels checked. I'm doing mine tomorrow. There have been some threads posted about that. read up on it! I think it's worth at least looking into ,especially if you're not getting any better, like myself.. good luck!

p.s. last year at tax return time, my husband and I bought one of those adjustable bed frames and I sometimes sleep elevated. Not sure if it really helps or not, but I do wake up less dizzy. May be worth the investment.

[Guest Sandy Sims]

Drinking alcohol--if your blood sugar is unstable--WILL make you very sick. I now know why I could never drink.

Maybe you should check this out?

XOXOXO

Sandy