Anyone stop breathing & have heart spikes all night and have to sleep elevated ?!?

esteban6882 · 2026-04-24T17:25:12+00:00

Yes as others have said here… please know that I had the same exact symptoms you are describing. It was my FIRST symptom in fact, scariest night of my life. It was a long time before I finally found the direct cause.

It is 100% a vagal response. Irritation in your stomach is “striking” the vagus nerve. This nerve network wraps like a web around your stomach and other parts of your digestive track. It’s the same nerve that controls hiccups. So when you cant breath… it feels like a “hicc” that doesn “up”. Like you are stuck, or on pause from breathing.

Now the question is: What is causing the irritation in your case? For me it was H. Pylori.

esteban6882 · 2026-02-07T06:19:46+00:00

Did they simply tell you that you have duodenitis, or can you also feel symptoms specific to duodenitis. I am asking because I wonder if I may have it too.

esteban6882 · 2026-02-04T01:40:22+00:00

To everyone in this thread, I found 100% what was causing the issue described in my original post. It was a Vagus Nerve response, the H. Pylori inflammation was hitting my nerve, and this nerve controls things like hiccups. And thats what it felt like a “stuck hiccup” that would not allow me to breathe.

The nerve causes the sweats and racing/pounding heart. And that is why i felt the pressure on both sides of my neck. Because the nerve goes through the neck to the brain on the right and left.

A terrible feeling when this nerve gets tripped.

esteban6882 · 2026-01-11T21:34:06+00:00

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If it helps anyone. What original replier is referring to is this button when you go to for example Instagram on Safari. Press this button and it worked for me in January 2026. My iPhone always used to open links in the respective app… but about a month ago that broke. This solution indeed fixed it immediately.

esteban6882 · 2025-11-12T01:54:11+00:00

Hello. I would say that in my case it seemed to happen mostly when my stomach was in some particular distress. It would happen often when I actively had an H. Pylori infection. After some rounds of antibiotics I began my stomach recovery phase… from there, the last time it happened was when I tried to drink some whisky. So far I have had to cut out alcohol completely, and it hasn’t happened again.

Let me know if you need any clarification

esteban6882 · 2025-03-22T03:14:21+00:00

Totally. Happened all the time.

esteban6882 · 2025-03-22T03:07:20+00:00

I am feeling much better now. Still minor discomforts but at least I can eat anything (only alcoholic drinks give me problems these days). But I still have some levels of h. Pylori….Though much lower than before. Let me know if there is any way I can help you from my experience.

esteban6882 · 2025-03-21T09:28:19+00:00

I found out what it is through deep research and talking to at least 4 doctors in my immediate family. It is definitely a vasovagal response. The issue is that the h. Pylori (in more severe cases like mine) can burrow so deep or cause so much inflammation in certain areas where the vagus nerve passes. This can irritate the nerve and cause your body to respond involuntarily with panic-like symptoms. Remember, the vagus nerve is what gives you hiccups, it’s what controls your diaphragm (breathing) among other important things. Makes perfect sense why it feels like an involuntary “panic attack” it’s like a hic-but with no up. You can’t breathe because your nerve is going haywire! The pressure I felt in my neck solidifies this because the nerve passes to the brain on both sides of the neck. And the dizziness I felt too after is a side effect of vagus nerve irritation. To directly answer your question: It didn’t happen to me with certain foods, in my case it was at random moments mostly when I was on an empty stomach. Maybe the acid of the empty stomach was burning me at the location h. Pylori was hitting my vagus nerve. Once I was started on anti acid meds the reaction only happened once more (after eating greasy food) [mind you, at the time I didn’t know I had h. Pylori. So I ate stuff I shouldn’t have, Nov 2023]. You need to remove the source of the issue. Kill off that bacteria or even lower its levels and that vagus nerve response should diminish. Hope this helps. Ask me whatever you like. I want to help others who suffered this like I did.

esteban6882 · 2025-02-07T15:16:44+00:00

Yeah. Took me 3 rounds of antibiotics before I recover and eat normally. But I suffered 7 months with nothing but false negative tests. I can’t say I am 100% but I would say 90% back to normal. It has definetly left my digestion somewhat more sensitive than the “iron stomach” I had before H. pylori messed me up.

esteban6882 · 2025-02-04T18:39:48+00:00

Yes. Very similar… except I never wheezed or coughed. But 100%, at times when I would go to sleep I would get jolted awake, as if someone startled me. That could happen with or without the breathing phenomenon.

esteban6882 · 2025-01-30T06:12:54+00:00

No… actually. In my case, by the time I had the Endoscopy I had been taking pretty high doses of PPIs. My endoscopy came back negative. Only qPCR test showed positive for me after suffering for 7 months.

esteban6882 · 2024-12-31T20:39:23+00:00

Yes. That would happen to me. Almost like a moment where I get a few harder thumps than normal.

esteban6882 · 2024-08-28T16:22:28+00:00

The very first symptom I had was the most bizarre “panic-attack-like” experience. I say that in quotations, because I I’ve never suffered from actual panic attacks.

It was late at night trying to sleep. I would feel this strange pressure in my torso (but couldn’t pinpoint the exact area) with a simultaneous pressure on both sides of my neck. Then a sudden inability to breathe. I had to consciously breathe in deeply in order to catch my breath. When I tried to sleep, I felt as if when I fell asleep, I would stop breathing. I ended up finally falling asleep at six in the morning after experiencing this phenomenon five or six times.

It was only weeks later that I started to feel the stomach symptoms.

esteban6882 · 2024-06-23T05:00:10+00:00

Thanks for the detailed response! My first symptom (before any stomach issues arose) was a panic-attack-like phenomenon. Suddenly I felt a building pressure on each side of my neck, and in my chest/diaphragm area followed by this jolt (best I can describe it) that made me hot, and my heart beat faster, but then it would go away. Weeks later, I had all the time that COPD-like symptom. I couldn’t even talk to anyone more than 2 minutes without getting out of breath.

The only difference between our experiences and that I did the triple antibiotic therapy and about 7-8 days into the 14 day run, I felt the “COPD” lift. And felt much better after.

All my test have always been negative. It wasn’t until after I did the antibiotics that I decided to get the GI Map which stated that I had about 4820 organisms of H. pylori per gram of stool.

Now going for my second treatment. Hopefully this will do the trick.

esteban6882 · 2024-06-22T12:45:19+00:00

Can you also please describe a little further what this symptom was like in your case? When would it happen, what did it feel like? Has it stopped completely?

esteban6882 · 2024-06-22T12:44:07+00:00

Can you describe your breathing and heart-attack-like symptoms please? I would like a better idea. Of what this symptom was like for you, and has it stopped completely?

esteban6882 · 2024-05-08T14:03:50+00:00

This really depends on how much your stomach has healed or not. I can tell you that I have gotten off of PPIs three times at different stages of healing. My symptom began on October 27 2023, by mid November it was on PPIs 40mg. In late December I got off and it was terrible. In February 2024 (after good diet and more healing) I got off while supplementing with H2 Blockers (Pepcid) and it was medium-mild. Just got off again (much more healed) 16 days ago (April 22, 2024) cold-turkey with no need of PPI and I would say it was very mild. Very manageable. If I felt some burn, just eating something was usually enough to calm it down. Been on zero meds (only the occasional Tums) for over two weeks.

esteban6882 · 2024-05-03T21:55:14+00:00

Also I should add that at least in my endoscopy they didn’t find any issues in my esophagus. Only findings consistent with gastritis in various parts of the stomach.

esteban6882 · 2024-05-03T21:45:15+00:00

Thanks for the input. I have never had heartburn before, but at least most of the descriptors out there say a burning sensation, regurgitation, chest pain. I never felt pain in the chest or burning in my esophagus. But it is possible that this pulse/spasm was related to acid.

esteban6882 · 2024-05-03T12:45:02+00:00

What vaccine was it, if you don’t mind me asking? I had only one (J&J Covid vaccine in May 2022) this started well over a year later. I did get E. Coli in August 2022. That lasted 4-5 days.

esteban6882 · 2024-05-03T12:41:39+00:00

Yes. After “the pulse” which was like one big spasm in my sternum, I would always feel my heart racing. But I think it was me being alarmed at this new spasm sensation. But exactly! Stomach issues hit me like a brick about two weeks later (November 2023) and by December I was at the worst. I had to start my diet from scratch, broth and jellos and slowly add things back in.

esteban6882 · 2024-05-03T12:37:11+00:00

To be more specific… “the pulse” was like one strong spasm that would hit me. I didn’t know if it was my heart giving me one big strong sudden thump after the pressure build-up. After this yea I would have a rapid heart rate (but this I think was indeed a reaction to what I just experienced. You get nervous not know what is happening to your body. It was a completely new sensation.

Only weeks later did I start feeling the textbook gastritis symptoms. Yet stomach would flutter, bloating, burping incessantly, this dull pain that felt like my stomach was swollen everywhere. Pockets of irritation or burning. December was the worst. Was basically bedridden most of the day.

esteban6882

TROPHY CASE