Pounding Heartbeat At Bedtime

[BlackbirdSinging]

This is new. I know I have PTSD with complex traumas. And I know I have GAD or Generalized Anxiety Disorder so I'm familiar with anxiety and a pounding heartbeat and adrenaline and shaking.

Lately I've noticed that sometimes my heart will just start pounding. Even if I'm not feeling anxiety and adrenaline and shaking. And last night as I was going to bed it started again.

I wasn't particularly upset or triggered in that moment but I did have therapy yesterday and I did talk about a trauma that happened when I was 7 and it happened at bedtime.

What I'm wondering is does anyone else get a pounding heartbeat at times when they're not experiencing other symptoms? And what do you do for it? Were you able to find the cause of it?

 

[Suzetig]

I get this sometimes, I just think its part and parcel of the whole trauma thig. My doctor prescribed a beta blocker to regulate the symptoms because I was working myself into a panic attack and it works well in slowing things down so I can sleep.

 

[Littlemissbrit]

I get this all the time, I am not thinking about it, or anything negative I don't even have to feel anxious, but before I got to sleep and when I wake up my heart pounds.... I find breathing through it helps, and knowing that actually its not anything to really worry about, you aren't going to have a heart attack (although it is often super scary) its just adrenaline I think....

 

[Echo]

I had this every night until it dawned on me that my bed itself was a trigger, or rather lying on my back in a bed was a trigger (I can lie on the sofa and it doesn't have that effect). What I now do is to get into bed sideways and try and avoid lying on my back. I also have an extra pillow which I cuddle tightly lengthways down my body at night (a sort of adult teddy bear substitute). Now, as long as I get into bed properly, I can avoid this racing heart and other somatic symptoms which drove me nuts and stole so much sleep for over a year. This relates to something that happened to me on a bed when I was 8, so I wonder if it is something similar for you, @BlackbirdSinging

 

[franciemarnie]

High cortisol levels could be the culprit. I get it about half an hour after falling asleep. It wakes me up. Our stress hormones are irregular with PTSD. It's like they almost have a mind of their own - at least when they wake me same time every night without nightmares.

Also night time was the bad time when I was little.

I get up and eat something and read. I calm back down pretty fast.

Good to check with a doctor though.

 

[Littlemissbrit]

It wakes me up too even without nightmares like you @franciemarnie mine is always about 1.5-2 hours after falling asleep and I always wake at 3:30am, then every hour or half an hour after that through to the morning.

I'm trying to sleep right now and it's going like the clappers!

 

[Suzetig]

That's me too, I try to keep a very regular sleep schedule so am in bed at 11.00pm and usually fall asleep easily. I wake at 1.00am and again at 4.00am every night without exception and it'll take me an hour or so to get back to sleep again. I usually wake with a very fast heart rate and use breathing exercises to calm things down a bit. It's horrid not sleeping through the night and I'm constantly tired.

 

[BlackbirdSinging]

This relates to something that happened to me on a bed when I was 8, so I wonder if it is something similar for you, @BlackbirdSinging

I think so Echo. And now last night I had a nightmare that I was in that physical position that I was in during my trauma when I was 7. I woke myself up thrashing in that position feeling very scared. I was very aware that in my nightmare I was thinking and saying "oh no no!". I wish sleep was as easy for us as it is for other people who don't have PTSD or any other issues that cause sleep problems.[DOUBLEPOST=1399358587,1399358365][/DOUBLEPOST]Thank you for all of the responses. That pretty much answers my question. I'm thinking it's a trauma thing and I'm going to mention it to my therapist. I felt it again the next night but I was also kind of rushing around my room in a hurry to get to bed. It wasn't as bad as the night before. And last night I had a nightmare that's making me very hesitant to go to sleep. And it's 2:40am and I'm so tired. I guess I'm still learning all of the different ways PTSD is affecting me.