Do you get heart flutters/palpitations with your sleep apnea or UARS?

History: in-lab sleep study showed 4.7 AHI and 18 RDI over 2.75 hours of sleep. Total REM sleep during that time was about 6 minutes. Had deviated septum surgery and turbinate reduction surgery. It was a success. Breathing capacity improved, but didn't help my sleep. Home sleep study a long time after surgery recovery showed 5.2 AHI with average apneas of 20-30 seconds and one up to 85 seconds. No drop in blood oxygen levels (nothing below 93%) in in-lab study or home sleep study. I have also done my own SPO2 monitoring lots of times and I see a spiking heart rate, but oxygen levels are within reasonable levels of 93+%. Heart rate went down to the lowest point of 42bpm, which was alarming since O2 levels did not drop with it.

I'm on APAP (Air Sense 10) in CPAP mode right now. Starting pressure at 7, EPR set at 3 to Ramp Only, bumping up to 8cm max pressure after 5 minutes. Numbers are great. Typically around 0.5AHI and RDI using a nasal pillow mask with mouth taping. I average about 2 hypopneas and 1 apnea per NIGHT. I don't think it is OSA. It must be something on top of it.

Still feeling terrible. I'm about to begin my second journey to see what else could be wrong, starting with a full panel of blood work. I get heart flutters or palpitations on a daily basis. My resting heart rate is higher than normal and sometimes I feel like my heart is beating harder than usual when I do something that shouldn't really raise my pulse rate or make me that tired (e.g. carrying a moderately heavy object at work that doesn't weigh that much). Resting heart rate seems up sometimes for no reason and other times it is about 80bpm, but still feels like it is beating heavy as if I'm totally exhausted; and I am totally exhausted. Not overweight, very muscular and fit. 37 year old male. Had this issue since pre-teen years and seem to be no closer to figuring out what it is.

Scared to drive due to not feeling alert. I take a bus home that takes about 30+ minutes to get back to the station. I fall asleep after like 10 minutes of setting down in the afternoon around 3pm to 4pm. My job is active and keeps me standing and moving around all day, but if I sit down anywhere, I instantly get so sleepy that I could just go to sleep within minutes. I fall asleep sometimes within minutes of sitting down in my computer chair at home. As a passenger in a car, I could drop off to sleep within minutes of getting in. The little bumps on the road and feeling of the motion of the car moving are so relaxing to me. Hyper-sensitive reflexes. If anything brushes against my head, it makes my lower back muscles arch to abnormally jerk me away. Been to a neurologist and they have no idea why. Blood work in the past has revealed nothing with thyroid checked twice. A scary blood draw situation one time where I fainted for 15 minutes and blood pressure shot down to 60/60 and 52bpm pulse. They never figured out why. Obviously, they do an EKG when you're having the in-lab study and nothing was noted on that, so I don't think I have heart issues. There have been times lately where I have been scared that I do, though...simply because I feel so weird sometimes with the way it beats.

Anyone else have anything on top of sleep apnea? Suspected Narolepsy, but I'm not sure that I would actually fall asleep in a Multiple Sleep Latency Test setting and I may not even have it.

I'm not a medical professional and can't offer you any expert advice. About all I can do is relate my experience with some of these issues. I'm older and a few years ago I noticed my heart rate when exercising on the bike at the gym seemed to go too high and act irregularly. My doctor prescribed a Holter Test. The results came back that I had the occasional irregular heart rate, but that it was not abnormal. Some time went by, and I volunteered for a research test that was an MRI to determine the condition of my cardiovascular system. To do they test they had to slow my heart rate down, and used a beta blocker drug called metoprolol. Some time later again when I was having some blood pressure issues I asked about using a beta blocker like metoprolol as a second drug. My heart rate is also on the high side. He thought it may not be a bad idea. He actually prescribed bisoprolol, as he says it give a more uniform effect during the 24 hours of the day. I have been taking it since. So perhaps it is something to discuss with your doctor. A warning though. It can make your heart rate too slow, and promote drowsiness.

Hope that helps some,