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Panic attacks while sleeping

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 219

Ashley,

I can't locate the thread.

Davit,

I found something worth noting that you wrote on another post previously that I came across that pertains to panic while sleeping. A form of visualization where you don't change the background, but the activity in it if its a bad dream replacing with pleasant activities to (replace) bury the terror etc.

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 6252

There is a saying, "never go to bed mad" Take that one step further. "never go to bed negative" it sets the stage for your thoughts.

Davit

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 219

Thanks Ashley,

I'm going to go look for it now.

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 11226

Hi JayDee,

I think there is a ask the expert question about this that you might want to check out. I have heard many members describe what you are describing. When you learn to manage your anxiety throughout the day this sleep anxiety will decrease. Be sure to practice relaxation techniques through out the day, especially before bed. You may also want to keep a food jounrnal to see if any foods are triggering these attacks.

Ashley, Health Educator

Here to help :)

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 219

Davit,

I made it through the night, until I woke up from a bad dream early this morning. As I laid there trying to go back to sleep I kept thinking of the bad dream and felt my heart start to race as I was falling back asleep. Good news was, I know what I was thinking, found a positive, filed it and sent that panic attack to well, it rhymes with that.

This morning I made some phone calls and am trying to get an appointment with a psychiatrist. My family Doctor has been great, by letting me approach this holistically. But also recommended I see one when the panic attacks started back in June. I've came a long way since then with the help of this CBT and forum, but the nightly panic attacks are making me so tired during the day. I feel like my energy has been zapped. I think having someone to talk to about inner personal matters would be helpful.

I want to be where you are with this. I want to be 100% panic free. If it wasn't for the stupid nightly ones now, I think I would already be 90% there. Who knows, I might make it through the entire night tonight panic free. Then I'll be 91% there.. :)

P.S. I made it to the acceptance part of this. I accepted it yesterday. I have a Panic Disorder. I looked in the mirror and said it out loud to myself. Then I said, you don't have to let it control you, You control it.

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 6252

JayDee

Did you manage to sleep? I remember going through what you are and it wasn't pleasant. It seemed like it would never go but it did. One day the negatives quit surfacing, even at night. Or maybe I just never noticed them anymore. I had enough positives to bury them by then. They just faded away. No great moment, no triumph just gone. I expected an obvious dividing line but there wasn't. There I was on the other side but couldn't say when I actually got there. But here I am and here is where I'm staying.

Davit

Ps I don't tuck in the covers because being tight or tangled draws claustrophobic scenes from memory and I wake up, not in a panic any more but still anxious which goes away right away. but it is a nuisance.

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 219

CardioTech,

I do snore, but not sure if I sleep on my back. I fall asleep on my side. I am hoping it doesn't happen again tonight but if it does I will take note of how I am laying when I am awoken.

Davit,

I have put forth a lot of information/knowledge into my brain recently about changing thoughts and core beliefs. I have done good today. I think I am thinking to much about bedtime though for fear, (keyword) that I will have another panic attack tonight. So I am giving it thought. I need to take those thoughts away. I think I will do my yoga nidra at bedtime to relax my mind and then possibly watch a comedy. I don't watch television often, so I will have to rent a comedy on demand. Last nights attack was bad. I've done deep cleaning today to keep myself from thinking about it. Hopefully I will be so exhausted, if it happens, I'll sleep through it.

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 162

Do you sleep on your back and/or snore a lot? Could you possibly have sleep apnea? Some of those similar symptoms (heart racing, gasping for breath) can be signs of sleep apnea.

If these are anxiety symptoms, I hope they settle down for you. If it's sleep apnea, you may need to visit your family doctor and have a sleep test and set up with a CPAP machine.

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 6252

JayDee

It will settle down and pass in a short while if you follow the same pattern I did. It works like this, all the information you have gathered on anxiety and panic is in your memory. If you sit down right now and replay all that information you will replay it logically and in order. And it is just information, no need for panic. Not so at night. You know also because that information is not needed for immediate functioning so it is stored in associated, because it is associated with your condition but not the primary answer, coping skills are. This is why when you wake from panic you use what you know works and is at the top of the list. But before you wake you are looking for an answer to the trigger. If you don't immediately have one you search associated looking for an answer. And here is all this new scary information. (scary because it hasn't settled into a specific home yet. It is still floating around being absorbed and sorted.) Once it is it can be used or not as the case may be in a logical manner. This happens with any new information from scary movies to a new procedure at work. Panic attacks are happening more often because concern is building a thought pattern giving them importance. Panic attacks are important because we don't want them. Important enough to post about.

Accept them and take away their importance. Panic is normal, attacks are not. Tell yourself this.

You just have too much information right now, slow down and concentrate on changing thought patterns. Pick one piece of information and file it. Make it logical and understandable and file it. It will still be in associated memory but not as something scary now. Make it positive so it doesn't pop up during fight or flight because you know all survival skills are negative. They have to be because thinking positive won't save you so you have to think all the things that could harm you, all negatives. Changing thought patterns is accepting them and discarding them so there is nothing to fear and panic will shut down because there is nothing there. Fighting panic attacks keeps them going because they don't have an answer and therefore no reason to shut down. Simple in principle right.

Just knowing it will get better is a start to giving panic no reason to happen. Remember, triggers are just triggers, it is what you do with them that matters.

Davit

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 219

I have been having panic attacks at night while sleeping that awaken me. I wake to my heart racing and pounding in my chest, sweating, terrified, almost gasping for air until I can gather my thoughts enough to start belly breathing and repeating calming statements. It has been going on since June but had been better until a few weeks ago, gradually happening more often and now nightly. I know it wasn't happening in July up until after August 18th when it started back up. This most recent one from overnight still has me shaken up. I even ate some food right before laying down last night just in case that could have been a cause to these nightly attacks. I am doing good during the day. It's like I just have a little anxiety on most days although some days vary.

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Panic attacks while sleeping