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Is Fluctuation In The Heart Rate Normal During Resting?

Posted on Wed, 22 Aug 2018

Question: the last few days every time I start dozing off to sleep I wake gasping for breath. The first few times it was accompanied by a flutter in my chest. I used a oxygen/heart rate monitor and my oxygen was above 90 every time but my heart rate was dropping from 70 to 51 in the few seconds it took me to fall asleep. should your heat rate fall that quickly? i use a c-pap, have severe insomnia due to RLS and recently started jerking whenever I lay down and relax. suspected propriospinal myoclonus from a lumbar fusion still going through testing.

Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (23 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
I would recommend as follows:

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

I passed carefully through your question and would explain that these heart rate fluctuations are quite normal during resting.

Anyway, considering your complaints and your past medical history, I would recommend consulting with your attending physician and performing some tests:

- a cardiac ultrasound to examine your heart function and structure
- an ambulatory 24-48 hours ECG monitoring to examine your heart rhythm trends and investigate for possible cardiac arrhythmia
- complete blood count for anemia
- blood electrolytes for possible imbalance.

You should discuss with your doctor on the above issues.

Hope to have been helpful!

Take care,
Dr. Iliri

Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar