Sleep Tachycardia

[johnjohnjnr]

Male 42 yrs - Non Smoker - Very Occasional Social outings less 12@yr - BP normal
Completed multitude of Heart tests ECG's , Heart scans , different Hospital stays over last 10yrs , Endoscopy up and down , Bloods etc all normal . 24Hr Holter Monitor without episode .
All Doctors and Cardiologists have played it down , saying I'm fine just stressed etc Ahhhhhh
This happens just when I'm falling asleep , going from Conscious to Subconscious always within 1hour of going to bed
When I wake up I'm actually out of my bed before i know it running for help , heart beating rapidly , feels as it's going as fast as it can go , unable to breathe until it stops abruptly to its normal rhythm within 1 minute .
Really frightening , tired and drained after .
This only ever happens after having BEER , not the night consumed but always the 1st night after and maybe the 3rd night . Never returns until i take beer again . I can drink Wine without any problems .
Ok the Answer is to refrain from drinking Beer , Yes I know but i would really like to know the detail to this ?
Can anyone pinpoint the problem for me as I'm going around in circles , with the same words coming up in research ;
GERD
HIATAS HERNIA
VAGUS NERVE
VITAMIN DEFICIENCY DUE TO BEER CONSUMPTION
What i can get during the day after , is a feeling of being spaced (out of body experience) ready to pass out as difficult to breath , and then a release of pressure through a burp relieves all of this .
I'm afraid that these Palpitations will weaken my Heart over time .
Is there any connection with SADS (Sudden Adult Death Syndrome) ? , as a good percentage die in their sleep .
Please Help

[is_something_wrong]

You're welcome!

If the heart rate slowly normalizes through 5 minutes, you can be fairly sure this is sinus tachycardia, but why take any chances, just get a Holter test so you can be completely sure.

Take care!

[johnjohnjnr]

Yes , your absolutely correct , i will get a Holter Monitor and drink some beer .
It is scary but the same time it would be nice to analyse the Heart readings during these episodes to see what's going on .
When i said it "stops abruptly to its normal rhythm" , i meant it actually starts slowing down enough for me to breathe again , and returns to normalish after maybe 5 mins or so .
At least i can control it , as it's up to me but i was worried if i had an underlying condition .
Big thanks for your reply
Take care

[is_something_wrong]

Hi, hopefully you're aware that you're not posting in an "ask the doctor" forum, so there are no doctors here.

When you say that your heart rate abruptly returns to normal, do you mean like from 180 to 80 in a heartbeat or over time? This is really important.

IF you return from 180 to 80 (or 100 or 60 or whatever your fairly normal heart rate in this setting is) in one heart beat, this is strongly suspicious towards supraventricular tachycardia, which usually is a completely benign condition often triggered by excess adrenaline. It's not life threatening and it's fixable, permanently with ablation but it can also be prevented with meds.

If your heart rate slows gradually (though rapidly, i'm not sure if the 1 minute is the total slowing time or the time of the entire event) this perfectly match conditions we all may experience when trying to sleep. It's normal to experience a lot of strange things when we are about to sleep, some people feel they jumps out of bed, some people actually hallusinate and some people get intense anxiety. This is much more likely to happen with stress.

Your heart is carefully examined, keep that in mind. I'm quite sure the doctors would have found something if something was wrong.

SADS = Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome, not adult. It's usually caused by genetic disorders which your doctor would have found long time ago.

After having a couple of Guinness, your heart is much more irritable, your blood pressure is lower and your blood vessels are dilated, which in sum will increase your heart rate, both at rest and with physical or mental stress.

I'm not a doctor but nothing in your post sounds concerning to me, and I would recommend that you trust your doctors who have carefully examined you. Try to avoid this self-diagnosing which usually only produce more stress and more problems.

Regarding the beer, you need to make a choice. The alternatives are:

1) I will continue to drink beer, but then I'll have to live with and accept the side-effects.

2) I will stop drinking beer and avoid the problems.

Another alternative is to get a Holter monitoring and drink some beer, so the doctors can see what this is.