.Hi All,

Within the last month I have had two episodes where I have waken up out of a dead sleep to a racing heartbeat immediately (125bpm, my resting is 50bpm) the first time my blood pressure was 195/115 and I freaked out, called an ambulance, and ended up at the ER. They did a chest x ray, EKG, blood work- all came back fine

I’ve also had a stress test with EKG done, went the full 12 minutes and achieved 87% of my target heart rate and no issues with the test. I had an echocardiogram yesterday and will get my results Monday.

My latest episode was about an hour ago. I could feel my heart physically pounding through my chest and again my heart rate was 120-125. I handled it differently this time, asked my wife to get me a water and a xanax (.25mg) and I did not take my blood pressure reading- I knew it would be high and just ramp up this episode even more. I also took a shower and after about an hour I seem to be pretty much back to normal

I’m probably about 15-20 lbs overweight but most would look at me and not think I’m overweight at all. I have acid reflux, a small hiatal hernia, and obviously generalized anxiety disorder with occasional panic attacks.

Just wanted to share and see if anyone else experiences this. I don’t think with my health history and testing that’s been done that I should worry about a stroke either.

This never happens to me during the day, it’s always a night time thing (1:00 and 3:00 am) so I think it’s just harder for your mind to realize you’re not in any kind of danger.

So it seems like I’m going to get a clean bill of health in regards to the heart, but my anxiety makes me worry about a stroke now.

I’m early 40’s 6’0 tall and 200 lbs. I’ve never been a smoker and for the last 15 years I may drink once a week, but usually it can be every few weeks. And when I do drink it’s 3-4 beers at the most, usually 1-2

Thanks in advance for your insight and response