Irregular pounding heart beat when laying down. 32 bpm to 77 bpm. What’s going on?

Heart health and blood vessels
1

I’m a 61 yo, female. Worked out, ran, bike, swam until last Fall. Still in pretty good shape but not fit as I was. Eat pretty good but probably too much salt. Quit ALL CAFFEINE a week ago. In my earlier years (until 40) I definitely was in poor health as I was a drinker and smoker and had an awful high fat diet.

Last October the following started and continues to this day: when I lay down to read (head propped up on pillows) or sleep on my back, my heart rate changes immediately. It goes from normal rhythm to an noticeable irregular beat to a constant
4 beats then skip, 2 beats then skip…can go on for an hour or more back and forth. Most alarming is when it it beats once then skips and measures 32 BPM. I have a cardio app the shows the heart beat and graphic. Once I get up, all is AOK, except some days I have an occasional heart beat skip throughout the day. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of irregular heart beat when laying down? It can happen when I sleep on my left side and until last week never happened on my stomach or right side. Its now happening on occasion in the night no matter how I’m situated in bed. Its causing me awful concern now. I do not have a doctor.Please advise. Thank you. Z

2

Those apps aren’t reliable you need to go to a cardiologist and ask for a holter monitor. Then you can get the electrodes attached to all the correct pulse points to give a more accurate reading. This is a patient website and most people here are not medically trained to read a proper EKG let alone an app version. If your pulse is genuinely going as low as 32 you need to see a cardiologist anyway.

3

When I was in to get my pacemaker fitted the other patient had a heart rate of 26 bpm. It was only found when he went for pre op check up prior to hip replacement.
Mine had been in the mid 40’s for years without any problem and went down to 37 bpm in the night. As I was having 3.5 second pauses during the night they wanted me to have a pacemaker.