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Panic Falling Asleep

7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 23

That is great! At least medicines are good for you.

7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 17

Check out the books "Panic Attacks Workbook" by Dr. Dave Carbonell

and "Hope and Help For your Nerves" by Dr. Alice Weekes.

Both of these books are great and are helping me towards recovery. Not there let but I am better than i was a month ago for instance.
Dr. Weekes says to use the following technique

F- Face

A-Accept

F- Float (Float through the panic, let it flow through you while you are sitting down, let your muscles go limp and let it flow through you while you thinking about floating through the panic)

T- Time (Let time pass, it takes time for recovery. dont be impatient.

Dr. Dave Carbonell uses a similar technique called AWARE

A- Accept

W- Wait and Watch ( similar to floating)

A- Actions (go LIMP with your muscles and try belly breathing)

R- Repeat (repeat the steps)

E- End. Realize all attacks end whether you do something or not. So try to do nothing instead of fighting it and making it worse

7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 2

Thanks. That is helpful. I've managed to convince myself that my breathing and heart are not responsible but the sensation of following asleep makes my heart race and I'll pop right back up. It's now going on two weeks and I'm only averaging two hours of sleep a night. A few times I did fall asleep on my own, and it has never lasted over 45 minutes. The doctor has prescribed ambien and Xanax, but neither appear to work for more than 2-3 hours. I am confident I'll be able to figure this out, but it is very frustrating and makes me more and more anxious.

7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 17

I had a similar problem to you man. I was going to sleep with a week long of noticing these heart palpitations. I was at first nervous about them because i thought that it was something serious and wrong with me. A doctor visit cleared up that my heart was in fact healthy and normal, however i just thought something was wrong. Everytime i felt a heart palp i would panic and then have a panic attack and it started to happen as i would fall asleep and had several nights of restless sleep. I did more research and found a site that just put it in my mind more than anything that everything was okay. I will type what i found and helped me :

Heart palpitations are harmless and not bad for you. Think of them as just like a hiccup. Annoying but not dangerous.

Accept them.Best thing to do. Accept that you have heart palpitations and that there is nothing wrong with them, they are simply the same as a hiccup. And just accept that you have them and that its not wrong or bad to have them. its normal and healthy.

Accept it and don't fight it by saying " i wish i didn't have these. i wish i didn't think about it" Just accept them for what they are, and what they are are harmless and similar to a hiccup or a sneeze, it will help you to sleep better by accepting them and working with them instead of against them. :)

7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 2

I haven't slept well for a week and now the problem has evolved to a state of panic about sleeping. I have had pain in my neck for a couple months and went to see the doctor about it last week. Because the appointment was early, I didn't get a good night's sleep because I was anxious about waking up. I was prescribed a muscle relaxer that kept me up a lot the following night. The next night I startled myself awake a lot and my wife thought she saw me shaking while sleeping. The three nights since then have been awful. I go to bed relaxed as far as I can tell, but every time I nod off to sleep, I startle myself awake. I think I am having a palpitation or a change in my breathing rhythm but it startles me and then the panic and frustration starts in. The first two nights I probably managed 3 hours of sleep each night, but last night only 30 minutes!

Any ideas how to approach this problem? It is a little bit strange for me because the panic sets in as I'm nearly unconscious.

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Panic Falling Asleep