Vivid dreams + heart meds = a bit worried - Heart Disorders Message Board

ITrustMySoulNYC · 08-12-2006, 08:03 AM

Hello all,
It's been a while since I've posted on here - I just got back from studying abroad in Scotland and Ireland (luckily I just missed all the terror stuff that's going on there)....
anyway, I am a 21 year old female who was recently put on calcium channel blockers for an undiagnosed form of heart failure. Well, actually I was diagnosed with tachycardia but they don't know which form or how or why, just that I have sustained tachy somehow. My heart rate is usually around 140 (with seemingly no underlying causes), with the meds it's down to 120 or sometimes even 110 if I've been lying down for a while (which I know doesn't sound too exciting, but it is for me

).
I get very vivid dreams anyways, and have my whole life (or since I can remember - you know, waking up and not sure if what just happened was real or imagined), but now I wake up with bruises and cuts on my body (I sometimes dream of being attacked). One of the side effects of my medication is vivid dreams and I was just wondering if 1 - anyone else has had this problem and 2 - if I should maybe try another drug
I feel like I'm in a catch-22 because I was told I'd never be able to make it in Scotland (lots of hills and walking) without the medication, so I stayed on it, but I hate waking up with new bruises. I am also very weary of taking medication (took me 7 years to agree to go on meds).
I thought that maybe it was lowering my blood pressure too much, but I have high blood pressure anyway, so that wouldn't make sense. It's also an extended release capsule I take at lunch so I don't see how it would lower it so much just at night.
And, yes, I am sure they happen at night, not during the day, given their place and when they develop. Also, one of my flatmates heard me fighting with myself in my sleep. There are also other ways I know, but that's not the point

.
Anyway, my main question is, what do you think I should do??
Thank you guys so much and I hope you all had a great summer!!

Gaitsofgold · 08-12-2006, 03:40 PM

You didn't say what specific medication you are on, but I'm on Inderal ( a beta blocker) three times a day, and I have very vivid dreams every night. I don't mind them however, since I used to have horrible nightmares just about every night. The doctor prescribed Xanax before bed, and the nightmares are greatly reduced now. The vivid dreams I don't mind - as long as they aren't nightmares! Oh. . I also occasionally have hallucinations and I'm sure this is due to the Inderal. I'll think I see someone sitting in my chair or some really strange thing, like a weird looking spider. Sometimes it frightens me and other times I just go back to sleep. I think I am only partially awake at these times. I will also sometimes start talking to my dh about nothing that makes any sense. This all usually happens shortly after I go to sleep. I insist at the time that I'm wide awake, but realize in the morning that I wasn't.

ITrustMySoulNYC · 08-13-2006, 08:58 PM

Hmmmm
I'm on a calcium channel blocker - Verapamil
I don't have hallucinations, I would be quite scared if I did, though
I'm not an anxious person, at all. I'm very laid back. My family and friends are pretty worried about these dreams, though, so I'm trying to put them at ease a bit by finding out more (not that I don't want them to stop, I definitely do)
I wouldn't consider going on Xanax or any other meds like that, that's the whole reason I didn't want to go on medication in the first place, I don't want to keep taking medications and then different medications for different side effects. It's too much.
The thing is, my dreams are about being attacked and I wake up looking like I've actually BEEN attacked.
I read that my reaction is very rare and just wanted to know if anyone had any suggestions
Thanks for your reply, though

Lenin · 08-14-2006, 06:58 AM

My first thought was BETA BLOCKERS. They are notorious for causing vivid dreams...if they allow sleep at all.

But then awakening actually with EVIDENCE of the dream's reality can lead me to only two conclusions: sleepwalking or possession (I just saw THE EXORCIST, THE BEGINNING.)
Let's forget the second and try to rule out the first.

Can you have a dear friend watch you all night? Like I said, a DEAR friend. With good insurance coverage, a SLEEP CLINIC is ideal.

p.s. Ralph Kramden had his Ed Norton watch him to find out he was sleepwalking to look for LULU!

ITrustMySoulNYC · 08-14-2006, 09:08 AM

Well, when I was in Scotland, my flatmate who was right next door said he heard me like banging up against the wall one night (bed was against the wall) at around 4 am.
I don't get out of bed, I just kind of fight with myself while in bed. But, I don't leave my bed, I always stay in bed. I slept with 3 or 4 people in a room and I never got up or anything, I jsut woke up with bruises and scratches.
It's weird because I was SUCH a light sleeper before going on the medication, if someone walked by my room I'd be up, I hardly ever got to that deep REM sleep, now I do and apparently hurt myself.
It NEVER happened before, so I hope I'm not possessed :-P