dontlikeliver
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4749
posted
Does anyone else get this?
I have had episodes of it for years and last night again it woke me up. I was not having a nightmare or anything like that that I am aware of. Just aware of my chest POUNDING FAST. My pulse was about 125 (obviously, at rest).
What causes it? Any ideas?
DLL
Posts: 2824 | From The Back of Beyond | Registered: Oct 2003
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I had this off and on for the past few years. It subsided with treatment. Unfortunately, its not clear which treatment...lyme or babs.
Heart palpitations and such were a first big symptom for me. Including the nightime heart racing.
I think it was lyme treatment as my babs treatment was recent and I havn't noticed that symptom in a long while.
Could be another coinfection....I responded very well initially to high dose Doxy which is used for Ehrlichia. I never tested positive for it...or much else so you never know, but the doxy got my heart rate in order pretty quickly.
Hope this helps. Mike
Posts: 87 | From Yorktown VA USA | Registered: Jul 2005
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disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
I've had the problem of racing pulse for a few years, as well as palpitations (which makes me wonder if I wasn't infected with lyme and co-infections BEFORE I, my husband, and my LLMD think I may have been).
It has never woken me up from sleep, but it has been such that I wouldn't be able to fall asleep from it, OR sometimes I'd wake up in the morning after sleeping all night and my heart would be pounding and, when checked, it would be around 112 or so.
I thought it was crazy especially since it was resting pulse even. Plus, it always frightened me that my heart would be doing that.
But since I've been treated (for only a month and a half thus far), my pulse has slowed down to around 75 - 90 and I haven't had any real noticeable palpitations.
I keep a symptom journal every day in which I record all the symptoms I have as well as in the evening I take my pulse and blood pressure.
I think it's helpful not only for the patient, but for the doctor who's treating the patient. :-)
Good luck.
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
I definitely have some heart issues as well that keep me awake.
My pulse is only (only?) 75-90 when I am resting, but my blood pressure is through the roof right now.
I took it this morning not 1 minute after I woke up (rested) and it was 156/107.
I feel that thud, thud, thud in my neck and it is very scary. Glad to know I am not alone.
Posts: 20 | From Platte City, MO | Registered: Jun 2006
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klutzo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5701
posted
Mine started out like yours with a normal but rapid beat of about 110-130 and after many years developed into PSVT's, an abnormal rhythm of 160 or so that requires meds or radiofrequency ablation.
I now take Verapamil in slow release form, and it prevents the problem, as long as I obey a few rules.
If I were you, I'd go to a cardiologist and have an Echocardiogram, a painless, ultrasound of the heart. You may find you have an MVP....most of us do. That can predispose you to certain problems which you need to know about. Google "Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome" to find out what I mean.
Next, they should give you a Cardiac Event Monitor to wear, which is the size of a deck of cards. When you wake up with symptoms, you press the record button, and after the symptoms subside, you call it in and play the recording over the phone. They found out what was wrong with me in less than 24 hrs. this way. Do NOT accept the inferior Holter Monitor. Insist on a Cardiac Event Monitor. My problem was missed for over a decade because they kept using Holter's on me.
If these two tests uncover nothing, or the treatment does not solve the problem, I would then ask for a sleep study. Many of us develop sleep apnea, and it can definitely cause this problem at night. When you stop breathing in your sleep, even for a second, your body reacts by making your heart pump harder and faster to get more blood to your brain to keep you alive. It turned out that I also had apnea, and a CPAP machine has helped me immensely.
Hopefully, your treatment will make it go away, but meanwhile you can be safer and a lot more comfortable.
Good luck in getting to the bottom of this, Klutzo
Posts: 1269 | From Clearwater, Florida, USA | Registered: May 2004
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tabbytamer
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3159
posted
I get this too. I'm sure Lyme/Babs etc. has something to do with it becaue I notice it seems worse while treating Babs.
But, I've also had similar episodes of the nightime pounding heart beat when my thyroid med dose was a bit too high.
An adjustment in the thyroid meds helped within a couple days. Just a thought.
Oh, another thing they can test you for in the cardiologist's office is Wolfe/Parkinson/White syndrome. It's a conduction mix up with the electrical current of the heart. My son has this.
It was his 125 beats per minute pulse that caught our attention. Then the cardio doc diagnosed WPW.
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