I have a cyclic issue that continues to plague me and I am at my wits end. It comes and goes, sometimes gone for long periods and sometimes stays for long periods. It's here now.
When I get in bed and fall asleep, the moment as soon as I am asleep, I am JOLTED awake by what I perceive to be a heart attack. I know it's not a heart attack. But,I have the perception that my heart feels like it is completely stopped, I grab my chest to see if my heart is still beating, and my head feels startled and dizzy due to the extreme fear that I am now about to die. Then I calm down, and the process repeats itself on and on on every few minutes. If I am lucky, I finally fall asleep and stay asleep. Sometimes this goes on for hours and hours. I get angry, and have even cried after hours of these jolts and no sleep.
No sweats, no racing heart, no gasping for air. Just a heart-jolt and fear, over and over again. Occasionally I will let out a scream of fear, as some of the jolts are particularity stronger than others. Again, when I finally do get to sleep, I sleep like a baby.
When this issue rears its head, it is also usually accompanied with me being able to hear and feel every heartbeat as I lay in bed. I guess this is a form of palpitations? At work, during the day, no issues with palpitations, very little anxiety/depression anymore. This only happens as soon as I lay down to rest/sleep.
I have changed so much over the past 15 years, cut out caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, all three for long periods of time. I have been on ant depressants, anti anxiety meds, had EKGs, I have had a sleep study and no apnea was identified. This issue seems to follow me despite all of this. Happens during naps, in cars and airplanes, hotels, and at home. I know as soon as it is here, as it has been the past week, it will one day be gone, and then back again.
Any ideas?