Heart pounding in the middle of the night

I'm new to the forum and just starting out on CPAP. My take home sleep study says I have a mild sleep apnea at 6.1. My AHI was 5.3 on my back for 2.5 hours. My AHI was 16.3 in the prone position for 14 minutes. What' strange is I don't sleep on my stomach. So, maybe this is an error unless it's reading me sleeping in a half side/back position. Plus the take home sleep study only allows you sleep on your back. What's also strange is I swear that I wasn't asleep during the time of these readings. Maybe I was in a light sleep or something. My lowest oxygen reading was 91.

My problem is I sleep for 2.5 hours straight and then wake up every night between 2:00 - 3:00 am, with my heart pounding. My heart continues to pound for a 10 - 15 minutes before I can start to fall back asleep. I then wake up an hour later with my heart pounding. By 5:30 or 6:00 am I have micro sleeps (waking up several times out of vivid dreams) until 7:00 am. By micro sleeps I mean I must be asleep for maybe a couple of minutes or so. In general my dreams are very vivid and recall all of them. My mouth and tongue are very dry. I'm a mouth breather. I also have sinus problems, especially at night.

This is my sleep pattern every night. When I wake up after 2.5 hours I feel terrible. It's like I didn't sleep. I must be having apnea events during the 2.5 hours, but not aware of them. Is waking up from the heart pounding a moderate to severe apnea event? I sleep on my side, but always wake up on my back when these occur. I can't sleep on my back. Can anyone explain the strange micro sleeps at dawn? Are those apnea events as well?

This has been going on for a year and a half. As a result I have developed chronic internal head vibrations from lack of sleep (I had an MRI, CT Scan and EEG done and all came back normal), horrible tinnitus and now terrible hives/swelling on my face/eye and body.

So this has been going on for a year and a half, yet you are JUST NOW starting CPAP?
Why the delay?
I had the same experience, but it stopped when I went on CPAP.

The delay is because I must have had five sleep studies before I could get a reading and approval for CPAP therapy. I have been trying CPAP therapy for a month now and I have not been able to sleep with the mask on yet. I have tried four masks so far. My average o2 level was 95. Funny you bring up the tachycardia. This all started out with tachycardia brought on by high job stress. I would be resting and not stressed and my heart would shoot up to 160. This would also happen at night and I would wake up with tachycardias of 130 - 150 bpm. Thankfully, the tachycardias are now gone.

I did a stress test, holter monitor, echo cardiogram and chest x-ray. All came back normal.

No stress now.

ZubeDude wrote: I'm new to the forum and just starting out on CPAP. My take home sleep study says I have a mild sleep apnea at 6.1. My AHI was 5.3 on my back for 2.5 hours. My AHI was 16.3 in the prone position for 14 minutes... I swear that I wasn't asleep during the time of these readings. Maybe I was in a light sleep or something. My lowest oxygen reading was 91... My problem is I sleep for 2.5 hours straight and then wake up every night between 2:00 - 3:00 am, with my heart pounding. My heart continues to pound for a 10 - 15 minutes before I can start to fall back asleep. I then wake up an hour later with my heart pounding.

1. Was all the heart pounding stuff going on before CPAP? Is it continuing/better/worse on CPAP? My first thought is your pressure is allowing some pretty rough apnea events to slip through. Data from your machine would be helpful in determining if that is so, or if it is unrelated to apnea. Data can help determine what changes could be implemented to prevent the incidents.
2. With limited sleep time being studied. you don't really know for sure the severity of your sleep apnea or how low you oxygen might drop. Don't take the results you've received as not being serious because they are termed mild.
3. Bad dreams are commonly reported with sleep apnea. Mine were always somebody or something was about to choke, drown, suffocate, etc. Kinda like when one is dreaming about going to the bathroom and wake up about to pee the bed. Our sleeping mind makes up crazy little stories about the physical sensations we are experiencing.

ZubeDude wrote:I did a stress test, holter monitor, echo cardiogram and chest x-ray. All came back normal.

ZubeDude wrote:wake up every night between 2:00 - 3:00 am, with my heart pounding. My heart continues to pound for a 10 - 15 minutes before I can start to fall back asleep. I then wake up an hour later with my heart pounding.

It seems this is happening while you are using CPAP? Call your doctor's office and ask them to order an overnight pulse/oximetry study. Many DMEs will provide the equipment and a report of the results to your doctor at no charge.

This will give you a definitive answer of whether your heart rate is really shooting up. Once you know the results, further investigation can be done.

This has been going without CPAP. I haven't had a successful night yet on CPAP yet.

ZubeDude wrote:This has been going without CPAP. I haven't had a successful night yet on CPAP yet.

What about when you wore the Holter monitor? Was your pulse not going up at times while you slept?

Just so there is not doubt, apneas will cause the heart rate to rise. Generally, the longer the apnea, the higher the heart rate.

No, holter monitor showed normal bpm at night. A low of 49. I do have a pulse oximeter and my bpm does read high (65 - 80) when I wake up with heart pounding. My normal bpm at night is between 55 - 60.

ZubeDude wrote:my bpm does read high (65 - 80) when I wake up with heart pounding.

That's not very high. I wouldn't call 80 pounding. Just moving around a bit when awaking can cause it to go up that much. On the other hand, it could be a short apnea or hypopnea is causing you to awaken.

Thankfully, the tachycardias are now gone.

I did a stress test, holter monitor, echo cardiogram and chest x-ray. All came back normal.

No stress now.

You've got a lot going RIGHT. I would just work with some forum members to get the CPAP therapy working well and get to sleeping well.

Please fill out your equipment profile, and it will show every time you post - https://www.cpaptalk.com/ucp.php?i=prof ... pment_info

Hmm, that's very interesting. It feel likes my heart is pounding in my chest though. So, because I'm waking out of sleep stage too soon, that may cause my heart to pound? Thank you for the profile link. I added my info.

ZubeDude wrote:It feel likes my heart is pounding in my chest though. So, because I'm waking out of sleep stage too soon, that may cause my heart to pound?

For most people, a pulse of 80 does not feel like "pounding". I don't know why you get that feeling at 80. I suspect that the feeling is caused by a minor obsession about the heart/apnea/pulse rate. Do you think it could be caused by your concern?

BTW, any normal awakening will cause the heart rate to increase.

Is your pulse-oximeter the recording type? If so, could you post a night's chart for some of the members to comment on?

Have you looked into Sleepyhead software to manage your CPAP therapy? Most of the regulars here swear by it.

Not really a concern anymore. It is the recording type, but I'm having difficulty getting the data to upload on my computer. Yes, I have heard of the software. I'm going to purchase an SD card and download it. Thank you for all your help!