Kimba Posted August 14, 2006 Report Share Posted August 14, 2006 I have searched the forum, but can't find anyone with sleep disturbances like mine.I have been waking every morning about 6am, unable to go back to sleep. I was waking "wired" (I think due to a new medication, as this has subsided since stopping the meds), but now it has switched to a "rushing" feeling that wakes me up every time I start to relax and fall back to sleep.I thougt this all might have been due to my heart rate increasing and waking me up , as I could feel it pounding in my chest. This pounding has also decreased a lot, but I am still waking up. Wierd thing is - monitoring my heart shows that it is not going crazy. Sometimes this "rushing" feeling happens even as I try to fall asleep with my heart rate in the 50's. I would call it an adrenaline rush, but doesn't your heart rate always increase with that? The longer I am off the medicine that I think was aggrevating all this, the better I am sleeping. But I still wake about 6am every day, heart pounding less noticeably all the time, heart rate pretty normal, but with this "rushing" sensation throughout my head (and often chest and arms) that wakes me up. This can go on for hours until I give up and get out of bed. Months ago when I first got POTS and was really sick I called this "waking on a roller coaster", as it felt just like you do when you drop down that first big hill on a coaster. ("Great" way to wake!) This new feeling is not that pronounced, but similar I suppose. - Anyone had that roller coaster thing happen like I did a few months ago?- Anyone had this "rushing" feeling upon waking each morning - no matter what time you went to bed, and after sleeping good all night? I recently switched to Toprol XL, so maybe that will help, but I as my heart is not racing and everything else seems fine when this happens, I am wondering if this even will help? Thanks - Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bttrflyamby1981 Posted August 14, 2006 Report Share Posted August 14, 2006 Hi Kimba,I also get this "rushing" when sleeping. Or at least tring to. I know for me it happens mostly when I am falling asleep. I feel as if I just fell asleep and my body (shakes) me awake. It's very unpleasant and my poor husband gets woke up when I do this. It's almost like having a nightmare and you wake up suddenly, although I have not recalled any nightmares? I'm not sure what my heartrate is like, but I know it's pounding when it does this. I did this while taking a nap today in fact. I over did it by doing yard work so thought a nap would help? It didn't. Your not alone, I believe others have felt this way too...I remember it being on the forum, but couldn't tell you what the topic was? Take care,Amber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimba Posted August 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2006 Thanks for the reply Amber. I guess I am just confused by this sleep thing, as I pretty much go to sleep immediately each night no matter what time I get in bed, sleep pretty good all night, but then suddenly wake around 6am with this rushing feeling when I try to nod back off. It seems to happen everyday like clock work! I would guess a racing heart and adrenaline rush, but this morning it never got above 78 bpm while this was happening. I am sure of this reading, becasue I was using an Heart Event Monitor from the Cleveland Clinic. When I called the event in, the technician told be what my min/max heart rate were. I suppose it could be the Toprol XL wearing off, but I thought most people only got tachy when standing, etc...not sound asleep in bed. Am I wrong there? And, I thought your heart rate had to be higher than that to be considered tachy. When I initially woke at 4:30 am (a little earlier than usual this morning) it went from 47 to 68 over about a minute and a half, but that still does not seem like a crazy number to me. Especially because I was just waking up from a night of sleep, and when I woke I could feel my heart pounding a bit so I pushed the record button on the monitor. I am sure waking this way increases anxiety, so would likely add to your heart beating faster anway.A related question about being able to feel your heart beating hard frequently - One Dr. hypothesized that an immune modulating drug may have casued my own system to damaged my nerves and bring on POTS. If that were the case, do you suppose that all this hard heart beating I feel often when my overall rate seems pretty normal could be due to some sort of nerve damage? I ask, because I know when you have even a small burn you can feel your heart beating in the damaged area. Might be the same case here? I seem to often feel it beating in other areas too (face, neck, arms, etc).If anyone can help clarify specifically any of the questions in bold above, I would greatly appreciate it!Thanks - Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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