Heart racing upon waking up

[Jessie192]

Hi
    I am 21, rare smoker, occasional drinker (believe it or not), not a drug user, rare pop or coffee drinker, am not overweight, eat healthy, drink lots of water, and try to sleep 7-8 hours every night although I never sleep solidly throughout the night. I wake up at least 3 times throughout. I have been noticing a change in my mornings for the past 2 weeks or so. When upon waking up my heart feels like its pounding/racing at the same time. I thought it was just my imagination but one morning my boyfriend put his head up to my chest and made a comment without me asking to listen to my heart. I also feel like my body is extremely tense throughout the night and upon waking up. This all causes me to be really fatigued throughout the day sometimes leading me to naps but even during naps I cant sleep in a constant and feel my heart racing/pounding when I wake up. I've had problems sleeping since I was young but just of resent I've been having these heart conditions. I have been stressed out for a while now but never felt this in the beginning. About a month ago I was having extreme heart pains (not acid reflux, I do get that and know what it feels like) it would last about a few minutes like my heart was being squeezed very slowly until i felt like a popping sensation. It hurt to breath and happened every night around the same time for a couple weeks. It then stopped. I also get heart palpitations on occasion starting at a young age.
     One thing i wonder about is if my any of this could be related to an incident that occurred in march of last year. I was diagnosed with two strains of blood poisoning and was put a lot of meds, including one to keep my heart pressure up (50/ 30) to keep my heart from stopping and this lasted for a course of three days until they treated me correctly. Worst week of my short lived life. Could this have affected my heart in anyway? Sorry this is so long i just want to make sure someone gets all the information I can give to help me out.
                                              Thank you for your time I truly appreciate it.

[allmymarbles]

Find yourself a good cardiologist, especially as you have a history of heart  problems. Definitely something is out of kilter and you have to be seen by a specialist.

[allmymarbles]

By the way, I don't think you are on the right forum. Your anxiety is natural, given that you are suffering from a physical problem. A heart forum would be more helpful for you.

[Jessie192]

Oh! well I feel silly! But thank you for bringing that to my attention and thank you for your suggestion.

[lene54]

You might be on the wrong forum and you got good advice to see a good cardiologist.  I just wanted to tell you I feel the same way when I wake up.  Mine started after I was given a lot of different pain medicines over a short period of time that I was unable to take.  After I stopped taking them, and went back to hydrocodone that I was taking, I started having panic attacks.  Now I have anxiety.  I have heard of other people that feel like they are having a heart attack and it's panic attacks.  I am not telling you not to see a cardiologist to first rule out anything serious.  I do know from my experience that medications can cause serious panic attacks and then anxiety.  I hate the way I feel each morning so much that I hate to go to sleep at night.  I know how you feel.  I hope you find some answers.  

[allmymarbles]

Never feel silly when you have a physical problem. The poster above mentions that a variety of medications can cause the problem you have. I know because inhaled steroids did it to me. The steroids screwed up my adrenals and I was getting spikes of cortisol. These spikes caused panic attacks. Anything that has an emotional symptom is often diagnosed as an emotional problem. You have to be firm about not accepting a psychological cause. As you search for a cause for you symptoms you might run into this. So be alert for this facile diagnosis.

The second poster agrees that you should see a cardiologist. Please do that. I have a fine heart apparently, but because of physical stress the cardiologist prescribed a mild beta blocker which dropped my pulse rate to normal levels.

[allmymarbles]

I didn't mean to suggest that all emotional symptoms had a physical cause.