Heart racing, early morning wake ups

[TheChuckster]

Even though the rest of my night looks essentially perfect, I always seem to have a really nasty obstructive event at around 5 AM that causes me to wake up in a state of panic with a racing heart; you can see in my data that I took off my mask because I couldn't breathe. Minus a short-lived breath, the thing lasted nearly half a minute. I've been having these episodes since even before I got CPAP. I'm now up to 15 cmH2O, and while it has killed off most of the other events (those hypopneas are benign, probably mis-scored), I still have this killer event every night. When I finally manage to get back to sleep 2 hours later from calming down, the remainder of my sleep isn't productive/quality sleep at all. What should I do? Bump up the pressure again to 16cmH2O?

[purple]

Uh, do you have Aerophagia? Or to put that another way: Air in the stomach pressing on the diaphragm, lungs makes it harder to breathe. When we get up in the morning we can have a shortness of breath, perhaps until we move around enough to re-distribute, or belch out some air. This is all related to how well we sleep.

The borderline to some sleep doctors to consider a Bi-Level, (which Resmed calls a VPAP and PR calls a Bi Pap) is when ones pressure goes above 12. Some people do not have Aerophagia no matter how high the pressure. That is, a Bi Level machine is one way to deal with Aerophagia. I look forward to what Pugsy has to say about this.

Wait a minute, I just looked at your web page. You are a competitive distance runner. There are some heart problems which are associated with a well trained heart, and its expanding until the electrical pulses that control the heart do not function correctly on what is other wise a well conditioned heart. Afib being famous. Also the heart acting like a washing machine out of round. Banging around, and not actually pumping much blood. The complication for this being causing the heart to flip a blood clot, which is not good wherever it gets hung up but can be tragic if it ends up inside the heart venous system, or the lungs, or the brain.

I am not competent to really know if the heart might be the problem.

[icipher]

Are you sleeping on your back or side? Perhaps you're getting in a really sedated state of sleep while on your back which is causing the event?

[Bucco]

Sleep apnea and atrial fibrillation (or atrial flutter) can be closely associated with each other, and especially in athletes. You ask what you should do? You should sooner rather than later see an electrophysiologist (a cardiologist who specializes in heart rhythm issues) or as a minimum see a regular cardiologist. They will probably have you wear a heart monitor recorder to determine what is going on with your heart. Atrial fib puts you at a seven times the risk of having an ischemic stroke over an equivalent person without atrial fib. This is important, and please don't delay. I have both sleep apnea and atrial fib.

[Sir NoddinOff]

Wait a minute, I just looked at your web page. You are a competitive distance runner. There are some heart problems which are associated with a well trained heart, and its expanding until the electrical pulses that control the heart do not function correctly on what is other wise a well conditioned heart. Afib being famous. Also the heart acting like a washing machine out of round. Banging around, and not actually pumping much blood. The complication for this being causing the heart to flip a blood clot, which is not good wherever it gets hung up but can be tragic if it ends up inside the heart venous system, or the lungs, or the brain. I am not competent to really know if the heart might be the problem.

I agree with this. There are many explanations on the web. Here's a starter:
http://stanfordhospital.org/cardiovascu ... letes.html
http://www.uptodate.com/contents/arrhythmia-in-athletes

[icipher]

Sleep apnea and atrial fibrillation (or atrial flutter) can be closely associated with each other, and especially in athletes. You ask what you should do? You should sooner rather than later see an electrophysiologist (a cardiologist who specializes in heart rhythm issues) or as a minimum see a regular cardiologist. They will probably have you wear a heart monitor recorder to determine what is going on with your heart. Atrial fib puts you at a seven times the risk of having an ischemic stroke over an equivalent person without atrial fib. This is important, and please don't delay. I have both sleep apnea and atrial fib.

What kind of apnea do you have?

[HoseCrusher]

A comment from "outside the box..."

The body naturally gets things going in the morning. Yours may kick things off at 5 am.

This kick start may result in electrical irregularities that don't show up at other times.

This can be an early sign of a magnesium deficiency.

You may want to alter you diet to include more green leafy vegetables and see if that helps.

[Gerald]

How about the possibility of sinus drainage that blocks your airway with a blob of "junk"?

You might try using a Grossan power irrigator. You can buy it at Amazon....and it's a great tool. Use 3-tablespoons of kosher salt along with 3-teaspoons of baking soda in one gallon of distilled water. Warm a glass-full of this solution (to body temp) in your microwave....and rinse your sinuses before going to bed.

Might help.........

Gerald

[TheChuckster]

My heart is fine -- no arrhythmias.

It actually turned out to be anxiety. Now that I'm being treated for it, I sleep the full seven hours. I advanced my mandibular advancement dental appliance by a couple of mm too, and the brain fog went away. I feel like a whole new person.