Anyone experience heart palpitations from using CPAP

[jkgcmatt]

Hi,

I am a fairly new user of CPAP.

I have been noticing that I am experiencing heart palpitations more frequently now that I am using CPAP.

Has anyone notice this before?

Thanks!

[Deborah K.]

[Expat31]

Hello, 

When you speak of heart palpitations, can you describe what you and when you feel during the night?

It would help if you had some data we could see. For example get a pulse oxymeter and incorporate into a set of OSCAR nighttime graphs. 

Have you ever taken a series of blood pressure and pulse readings during the day, always at rest, and worked out averages? 

It's a place to start and checking with a doc if necessary.. 

Just a layman's opinion, and hopefully common sense.

[jkgcmatt]

So are you saying the bi-level will help with the breathing that may be causing the palpitations? Sorry just not sure I understand. Thx

---

Hello, 

When you speak of heart palpitations, can you describe what you and when you feel during the night?

It would help if you had some data we could see. For example get a pulse oxymeter and incorporate into a set of OSCAR nighttime graphs. 

Have you ever taken a series of blood pressure and pulse readings during the day, always at rest, and worked out averages? 

It's a place to start and checking with a doc if necessary.. 

Just a layman's opinion, and hopefully common sense.

So my palpitations are happening when I am awake (they may be happening at night too, just not sure). They feel like my heartbeat is fluttering.....

I do have a pulse oximeter and can add that to the OSCAR nighttime graphs.

Thanks!

[Expat31]

Hi, 

I think the following graphs may be of some help:-

Events 
Flow rate
Pressure 
Leak rate
Flow limitations
Respiration rate
Sp02
Pulse rate

Together with the statistics of desaturation events/hr and the pulse events/hr.

[Pokey49]

You may be having AFib. AFib and apnea are “kissing cousins”. Do you wear a smart watch that can detect AFib?? You might want to tell your doctor or cardiologist if you have one. They could put you on a 24heart monitor and see what’s going. I offer this as I’m an AFib patient. When I’d go into AFib it was/is a definite fluttering feeling.

[mesenteria]

Palpitations are the sensation of an arrhythmia, and while AF is associated with sleep apnea, there is also the common PAC (premature atrial complex/contraction) which ever heart experiences now and then.  That you are getting them in runs still could be PACs, but it's more likely AF (atrial fibrillation).

There is a lot to learn on the www about AF, and tons of videos on social media and YouTube.  If it really is AF, or if you'd like to determine if it's AF without having to go get a 12 lead ECG, I suggest using your smart watch, or a smart ring if you wear one, or for not much money a Kardia device, widely available.  The latter is less than half the price of a smart watch, and it's like a thick playing card. You place your fingers on its pads and it will record your heart rhythm for a short period.  Do this when you have palpitations. Then, take the uploaded report, either digital or printed out, to a physician or LPN/PA, and have that person look at it.  

Just briefly, the stages of AF are as follows: paroxysmal (which you must have...IF..it's really AF and not just PACs), persistent, long-standing persistent, and permanent.  Whatever else you learn over time, if you have AF, the best remedy that isn't improving your lifestyle and body mass (if you're overweight and maybe also pre-diabetic) is what is called a catheter ablation.  It's a day procedure, and a first such procedure in any patient has about a 75% success rate in stemming any further AF.  There's a lot more to this, but my main message is to get a grip on the disorder sooner rather than later.  It gets much harder to control and to treat the longer you let it go on, especially past the 'persistent' stage.