@isaacson72 

Last reply

isaacson72

Heart thudding at night

I know this particular issue isn't MS related, but I have a question anyway. My heart really thuds when I lie down to sleep at night. Hard enough that it keeps me awake. It doesn't race - might be a tad quicker, but not too bad. Mostly just the thudding. I talked to my neuro because I thought it could be a side effect of amitriptyline. He said it likely would be, but he doesn't believe it is as I only take 30 mg/night for headaches. He said that symptom normally happens when you're taking 100mg or more. Plus, I've had this before, when I wasn't on amitriptyline so it must be stress related. I have a stressful job. I have tried everything - stress relieving activities, I drink plenty of water (I've heard dehydration can cause this too), I have mg tea at night, to help with both stress & headaches. It doesn't happen every night -- but probably 5 nights/week. Some nights it's tolerable, others it keeps me awake. Last night I was up until 2:30 and had to get up at 6 for work. Suggestions??? I am at a loss. Somebody suggested pot. I don't want to inhale anything. I did buy THC pills (it's legal in my state), but 2 issues: one, I don't know if this is going to happen until I lie down to sleep, and the pills take 2 hours to metabolize. I'm not going to take it as a preventative. And 2, I am concerned it might interact with the amitriptyline. So I haven't tried this route. I've tried all that I mentioned above. I've tried meditation. I enjoy stitching so I do that at night, I find it relaxing. I walk my dog. I don't bring work home. I'm concerned too that if it's stress, it will trigger a relapse. I've had my heart checked out - it's perfectly healthy. So it's either the amitriptlyine, which per my neuro isn't likely, or it's stress, which isn't going away no matter what I do (short of quitting my job, which would likely trigger a whole new set of stressors). If it's something else, I have no idea what that would be. ???? Thanks for any suggestions, and thank you for reading. I'm open to anything at this point. I'm exhausted & frustrated. Michelle
@isaacson72

*deleted my own comment - corrected something that didn't need correcting! Like I said, I'm tired! :)

@Stumbler

@isaacson72 , that's a difficult one. Acknowledging the problem is one thing, but getting your brain to not be concerned about it is another! You could try a white noise generator. This'll give you something else to listen to, which would also "damp down" any other noises.