Sometimes my heart freaks out when I lie down.

Buttcleft

Before everyone says it, I went to a doctor when this started months ago, had an EKG and everything. Said there was no sign of heart issues, and bloodtests came back good too.

On to the point.

Almost every night when I go to lie down in bed, and some times when i get up form lying down in bed, my heart just kind of freaks like it skipped a beat then beats erratically, usually followed by a sensation of warmth flooding over my body and face. Some nights it beat a lot harder and more erratic than others, and really freaks me out.

To get over the situation I have to go back to how i was, if it happened as I lay down I have to sit back up for a minute. If it happened as I was getting up, then I lay back down for a minute, and its fine.

It only happens at night too, if I crawl into bed during the day for a nap I get no troubles.

I know I shouldn't be concerned about it because I've already been to the doctor and had everything cleared, but I just had a bad one just before I got back and decided to make this post because this shit freaks me the hell out every time it happens.

Should I just ignore it and treat it like an occasional cardiac dysrhythmia that my doctor thinks it is, what with my cleared tests and all, or is there something else going on that the doctor didnt consider?

edit

wow totally wrong forum, pming a mod to move to help and advice

Brodo Faggins

Are you out of shape?

Buttcleft

Brodo Faggins wrote: »

Are you out of shape?

I'm highly active and have no issues when I'm doing heavy labor, but I am about 20lbs over what seems to be the reccomended for my height.

Esh

Go get a second opinion?

eternalbl

Do you drink alot of caffeine?

Erandus

My wife has some serious irregular heartbeat issues, has for over 10 years, and has learned much about small factors that can help. Electrolyte imbalance can cause or at least exacerbate arrhythmia - irregular heartbeats such as you're describing. Find a way to work a little extra potassium and magnesium into your diet. Dehydration can also be an influencing factor.

Basically, eat a couple of bananas a day and try to knock back a bottle or two of power/gator-ade a day. Try it out for a week or two and see if it helps at all. My wife is essentially on a banana & powerade regimen. If she doesn't have them for a few days, her arrhythmia (artrial fibrillation in her case) is more pronounced.

It is not a "fix", by any means, but it can help to lessen some forms of arrhythmia. Besides, its not like having a couple bananas is bad for anyone anyway.

Buttcleft

Erandus wrote: »

My wife has some serious irregular heartbeat issues, has for over 10 years, and has learned much about small factors that can help. Electrolyte imbalance can cause or at least exacerbate arrhythmia - irregular heartbeats such as you're describing. Find a way to work a little extra potassium and magnesium into your diet. Dehydration can also be an influencing factor.

Basically, eat a couple of bananas a day and try to knock back a bottle or two of power/gator-ade a day. Try it out for a week or two and see if it helps at all. My wife is essentially on a banana & powerade regimen. If she doesn't have them for a few days, her arrhythmia (artrial fibrillation in her case) is more pronounced.

It is not a "fix", by any means, but it can help to lessen some forms of arrhythmia. Besides, its not like having a couple bananas is bad for anyone anyway.

This is exactly the kind of information i was looking for, Thankyou. I'll pick some up tomarrow.

tek

I had been experiencing something similar for the better part of a couple years, not frequently but often enough for me to notice. 12 lead EKG then a full on 24hr portable(take home) EKG both turned up nothing(Even thou I felt it happen while wearing the 24hr one more then once.) Started hydrating more then usual and eating bananas, seemed to go away.. Switched over to a good multivitamin(currently One-a-Day Men's Health) and it's all but gone for going on two months now.

Buttcleft

You know, I think it might be a potassium problem now that I've had a few hours to think about it.

Cause I notice now with the previous 2 posts that I've not had any high potassium foods in my diet since this started.

Hopefully it is that simple and easily rectified.

NightDragon

Yeah, I've had this exact thing happen to me every now and then...usually it happens in phases - like, I'll get this for a week or two, and then not for another 3+ months.

It also happens to me when I've been moving around a lot, and then lay down very suddenly. Try what's been mentioned above, and try to also get into bed slowly (i.e. moving from an upright to horizontal position more gradually).

3drage

I had heart surgery so I'm a little damaged to begin with, but I've been living with this for a good six or so years. I've noticed if I'm experiencing indigestion that it happens more often, something about the way my stomach deals with excess gas and the way it shifts when I sit up or lay down that throws my heart for a little loop. Increasing potassium is a good avenue to follow, if that doesn't solve it explore your eating habits and figure out if maybe you are eating too close to bedtime, as digestion can also do some strange things to electrical currents through your body since they travel the same general pathways.

saltiness

I have something like this occasionally. Went to the doctor for it. Turns out it only happens when I have very spicy or acidic food and it's not actually my heart but my diaphragm having spasms from acid reflux or something like that. It feels like my heart but it's not.

JebusUD

I would find out about acid indigestion. Or reflux or whatever.

I have felt the same way before, but it was definitely acid. Try taking some tums and then see if that fixes it. Then look for a more permanent solution.

ceres

If this doesn't pan out, definitely get a second opinion. Just because one doctor doesn't see anything doesn't mean another won't, and it's probably better to be on the paranoid side when it comes to your ticker.

Phoenix-D

If you're really concerned, there are devices (eg a houlter monitor) that check your heart for a 24 hour period. You are much more likely to see any programs then, than during a brief check at the office.

Ketar

Phoenix-D wrote: »

If you're really concerned, there are devices (eg a houlter monitor) that check your heart for a 24 hour period. You are much more likely to see any programs then, than during a brief check at the office.

Doctors can order holter reports for 24 or 48 hours, or occasionally even for 7 days. There's also event monitoring, which would have you wearing the monitor 24/7 (aside from showers) for 7-21 days to help detect issues that don't/might not come up during a holter reporting period. Event monitors automatically trigger for various common criteria, and can also be manually triggered at any time, resulting in a 90 second recording a cardiac tech can analyze and pass on to your doctor if it meets certain criteria. Or notify EMS if it's something life-threatening.

I, uh, work as a cardiac tech right now for one of the companies that does all that stuff. I actually do non-traditional holter reporting, so I end up analyzing 24-48 hours of EKG at a time and preparing reports for the doctors.

3drage

On the monitors, there are also event monitors that you can push a button to record if you feel light-headed or feel your heart flutter, so that doctors can go through the events faster than trying to scan a few days worth of data.

If anything you might want to request a rhythm strip and a good listen to from a cardiologist just to rule anything potentially serious out. When I wore the monitors, even though I felt the strange heartbeat they found nothing abnormal in my reports. But there are different types of arrhythmias from benign to drop dead serious. You are likely in the benign category, but you should get it checked out anyway just in case.

Bajungadustin

Don't really want to necro a dead thread but I'm curious about the people in this thread who were experiencing these issues it's been 10 years and I'm wondering how the progress has gone.

In the last 10 years have the symptoms get worse or better? Fmdid you find anything that helps remedy the problem or did it lead to worse situations like a heart attack or whatever?