What Causes Ectopic Heartbeat Prior To Sleeping?

Hello. Thank you for your question and welcome to HCM. I understand your concern. In these cases, with these symptoms, I would also recommend a 24-hour rhythm monitor registration, more to exclude an organic origin to your symptoms, rather than to confirm it. Now that your registration came back normal (normal heart rate is 60-100 beats per minute), then we are at least almost certain that there is not a problem with the electrical and conduction systems of the heart. A skipped heart beat can happen to any human being, even in physiological, normal states. One of the circumstances where it can happen is also while changing the position or side on the bed, and during respiratory cycle, because, anatomically, heart is in close neighbourhood to the lungs and to the diaphragm. With them moving every cycle, heart also goes with the flow . The changes in the pressures within the rib cage, can cause the heart to skip a beat. As for the waking up episodes, I think that this feeling of the heart attack is more produced by anxiety. Heart attack produces a severe chest heaviness, which is not tolerated, and patient himself cannot calm down and seeks medical attention. I think you are perceiving more of the feeling to What is happening to me? Am I having a heart attack? Am I going to die? These questions trigger a sever anxiety and panic attack, which is further accompanied with a spike of catecholamine levels in blood, hence the rapid heart beat, sense of feat, shortness of breath etc. I would recommend you to discuss with a psychiatrist, of a possibility to start a 7-10-day course of sedatives. I hope I was of help. Kind regards. Dr. Meriton