I am 47 almost 48, male with no history of depression (but it is in my family); and no familial history of heart disease as such (though my father had right branch bundle block and a mild heart attack at 62, likely from clinical depression, chronic heavy smoking; and severe alcoholism ). My issue, is that I have a chronic fluttering /vibration which is quite aggressive in my chest. It developed slowly over the past seven years and it is worst when i sleep. I wake up several times a night (4 or 5) with a flutter, which sometimes becomes a faster heartbeat . I do not know if the source is cardiac although i had an echo last october which showed my heart is structurally normal (although left atrium is 4 inches and was 3.5 inches in 2005). I have a mild mitral and tricuspid leaks. I was taking part in some activities in 2005 which may have perforated my colon , though i do not think anything untoward happened. I notice that the vibration is heavy and gets worse (constant), before i have to poop; then it subsides. At night, when i wake up (this has been going on for about six months), i have a palpable pulsation in my left chest. Using a portable ECG, this has on two ocassions shown suspected fast heartbeat; other times, wven though the pulsation is quite palpable, there is only a normal wave form on the ECG. I also get quite tired around 2-3 pm and feel exhausted; and in 2011 i was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea (it was not made clear to me whether it was OSA or CSA but i had very bad CSA at the time and this has now resolved a lot, so i only have a few apneas that i know of, as i do not use the CPAP all the time now). I do not think sleep apnea is causing the current pulsation which is severe just before pooping; in the past, i used to get very severe abdominal cramps before pooping, to the point where it felt like i was being stabbed. Now that these cramps do not happen, instead, i get the pulsation. Is there any doctor out there who can help me? I have pretty much given up hope of finding the cause. I suspect a twisted or perforated bowel; bowel cancer (my Mom died from bowel cancer last year); or a congenital cardiac complication which is hidden on a stress echo but which is significant enough to cause heart flutter at night or the vibration is coming from a large artery which may have an aneurysm. None of the doctors i have seen (i have seen 25) are willing to or interested in doing further tests to find the cause.
posted on
Fri, 15 Jun 2012

Thu, 26 Dec 2013
Answered on

Fri, 27 Dec 2013
Last reviewed on