Adrenaline spikes: Med detective needed, award given

I was diagnosed with svt recently as I am having episodes of crazy things going on with my heart, I have the rushes as well, but I also have where my heart does flip flops and skips beats, and other times my HR is over 250 bpm. I did wear a monitor for 24 hours and I do see the cardiologist on the 6th. The monitor didn’t pick up all the rushes though, only some. My report says 6 premature super ventricular tachycardia episodes were seen as well and 8 premature sinus episodes. I do have a heart monitor in my phone and some nights it picks it up, other times it doesn’t. Thank you for your reply, I am going to bring this medication up on Wednesday.

I have also had adrenaline spikes which wake me up every morning for at least the last 18 months. I have seen a primary care doctor, a psychiatrist, a sleep specialist, a neurologist, and a spine doctor ( I was having some back problems also). I have had many blood tests, an MRI, and a sleep test. The only doctor who suggested a possible explanation which feels right to me was, oddly enough, the spine doctor. She said that my blood pressure might be dropping while asleep (I guess this is normal when we sleep) and my body was over-compensating with the rush of adrenaline. I am on a small dose of Zoloft, and the neurologist prescribed Clonazepam, which hasn't helped much and I don't like being on a benzo, so I hope to discontinue it. I have been waking up at 3 or 4 am lately, so am feeling very sleep-deprived and would like to figure out how to calm down the adrenaline. Meditation and exercise relax me, but going to sleep is not the problem, it's this being awakened every day with the "fight or flight" experience. It does indeed make one feel pretty desperate!

Hi @betsy101 and welcome to Connect! Those symptoms must be awful and it must be frustrating to be unable to find a successful treatment.

I wanted o introduce you to fellow Connect memebrs @sierrawoods @libjen @contentandwell @gailb @jigglejaws94 @lmherman and @mittzyvon as they have all experienced something similar or have had a mystery diagnosis and may be able to offer you support.

Back to you, @betsy101 have you had any other symptoms outside of these adrenaline spikes?

@ethanmcconkey @betsy101 I know the frustration of not having a diagnosis having gone almost a year and a half without one for cirrhosis. I was having confusion episodes (along with other symptoms) so was sent to a neurologist. He was the first person who suggested liver problems!
I don’t know where you are, but what I learned from this was to not wait locally if a diagnosis is not forthcoming within a couple of months. I am about 55 miles outside of Boston, which is where I had a liver transplant, and now go there for everything other than my PCP.
I don’t think my sleep problems are as severe as yours, but I also very often wake in the middle of the night (bathroom calls) and don’t get back to sleep for hours, so I can sympathize with your plight. I don’t have “fight or flight” feeling, just an overactive brain spinning around. I will be very interested in hearing if a solution is found for you, please let us know how it’s going.
JK

@ethanmcconkey Thanks for getting back to me. I have read the posts from the people you mentioned, and felt much compassion for the severity of their symptoms. I have described my feelings on being awakened as "vibrations", as opposed to tingling (which I feel in my legs from pressure on nerves in back) or tremors (which the neurologist prescribed for) and I think this term has perhaps stumped my doctors and made them think it is "all in my head." I often feel tired and drained if the vibrating has been especially intense or lasts longer than usual. Knowing that it might be an over reaction to low blood pressure has given me a different view of this. I have been sleeping better the last few nights, so am feeling better. I've tried raising my upper body at night, which seems to help, but is awkward since I sleep on my side.

@jk Thank you for your response. Not having a diagnosis is one of the hardest parts of a problem, physical or mental, and I'm glad you were proactive in getting help. Sounds like it saved your life. I live in a large urban area with plenty of medical help, although I belong to an HMO, so access to doctors can be limited. They are very good about testing for various things, and while this is good, it is often the end of the conversation if nothing shows up.
Overactive brain is definitely frustrating--I have tried meditation, listening to audible books, and some Yoga before bed. My sister swears by a little warm milk with cinnamon if she gets up in the night. 🙂 Hope you find something that works.

Hello I just read your post and it relates to me totally I'm getting one surge every other day mostly in the morning or during the night. It sometimes prevents me sleeping for hours, or I wake up try to sleep and just as I begin to nod off it flares. It's like my body won't let me sleep as it thinks there's danger. I've been diagnosed with cfs as I was getting energy crashes but they only last one or two days and doesn't relate to half of the CFS criteria as adrenaline will cause same symptoms. ie pots imsonia etc. Also as I have excersise intolerance I thought it was cfs/ me. Not convinced! I'm taking melotonin and somelex but nothing makes me sleep longer or get me through a spike. I'm anxious because of this condition not the other way around. Do you have any advice or updates hacks as my hormone panel came back as normal. kind regards Neil

Neil, thanks for your comments. You will think this is crazy, but after trying meds and tests and doctors, I read a book called Energy Medicine by Donna Eden and David Feinstein. It's about working with the energy in your body, mainly through tapping acupressure points. When I do these things at night when I'm awakened and feel terrible, the energy calms and I can sleep. It's the only thing that works for me and has even stopped panic attacks that I had for decades. Not sure how this would work with your cfs, but the nice thing is it's natural and won't hurt to try. Best of luck, Betsy

I joined this forum because I found your post while looking up possible adrenal problems. Our situation is quite similar. The only way to describe it is an adrenaline attack. And getting to sleep became impossible. My body gets this internal vibration, hot flashes, heart rate elevated, blood pressure suddenly all over the map and sometimes I get chest pains. I was having these episodes many times a day. Recently they have slowed thankfully. I wasn't sure how much more my body could take.

I have ended up in the ER multiple times and the only thing they found repeatedly is that my potassium keeps falling below normal levels. The first time it was so low they put me on IV potassium. And hypoglycemia even though I had eaten and orthostatic hypotension. None of which I have had issues with prior.

My GP says it's anxiety but I am not convinced. I started to think it might be hormonal and begged to see an endocrinologist. He reluctantly approved but he insisted this was all in my head. It's been frustrating. He put me on an antidepressant that I had a bad reaction to. It made my symptoms so much worse:(

Now I need 1mg of Ativan and one muscle relaxer just to get to sleep.

Edit: I did have an MRI done and they noted my pituitary glad was larger than it was on my previous MRI from 2015.

@bumble81 I agree with you that my symptoms seem to be hormonal as well! But doctors seem to think middle aged women are depressed or anxious when their endocrine systems seem to be off! I’m 45, and 5 years ago I had my uterus and both ovaries removed due to endometriosis, and then about a year after that my thyroid stopped working properly, so I’m Synthroid now, as well as estrogen and progesterone. When the doses of either the thyroid or estrogen change, they affect these hot flash adrenaline rushes that always hit me at 3:30am like clockwork!

My body is telling me it is related to hormones, but I haven’t seen an endocrinologist (and from reading this thread, I’m not sure how much help they may be either). It’s frustrating to have mental health conflated with physical health! I don’t get it? I wonder if it is a lack of knowledge in the field? Or lack of focus on women’s health? It’s super irritating to have to search the web to get any kind of understanding of what is going on, though...