nightime anxiety

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-28-2006
nightime anxiety
34
Sat, 10-28-2006 - 8:44pm
When I go to bed at nightime I always have an anxiety attack. It gets so bad I have to get out of bed, I feel like I am suffocating, I start sweating and have shallow breathing. Does any one else do this?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-22-2003
Wed, 12-13-2006 - 8:54pm

Hi & welcome to the board.

Sheri Ann

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2006
Thu, 12-14-2006 - 6:37am
hi sherriann,
I never had pa's in my life, i could get anxious sometimes..(an upset stomach and many trips to the bathroom) but the pa's came on so suddenly and violently in my sleep that i was scared to death that i was dying,,,and of course not knowing what they were i had everything escalate..breathing, pain in the chest, i crawled to the bathroom where things were coming out both ways and i was a mess. I didn't even have the strength to call out for help from my husband or son who was in high school at the time. All I kept thinking was that people usually have to use the bathroom when they are having heart attaches and trouble breathing. After lying on my bathroom floor for like 20 minutes i finally called out to my husband who found me in quite a state--he was ready to call an ambulance... But i just wanted to lie with someone quietly i was so exhausted from it, i seemed like i was coming out of it..and i did, 10 minutes later i was fine..but scared enough to go to the docs asap. The only times i seem to have them is when i am sleepy at night, during sleep or within an hour or so of awakening. They have gotten much more controllable now when i have them, not controllable in the sense that i can stop them from happening, but controllable in the sense that i know what it is and that it will eventually pass, I do deep breathing and picture myself on the beach floating on a raft, but sometimes i still need that touch sensation of someone, when it just seems like it is getting the better of me and i go to my husband who helps me with slowing things down and breathing with me and just rubbing my back gently...usually i am at this point grabbing my chest and sobbing. there have been occasions when i feel like one is coming during the day, but its like its put off until i am tired..very strange ( my throat starts to feel like it is closing)...but i say to myself not now, i can't, so maybe that is a way i am controlling it too, i place an ativan under my tongue right away...and the feeling subsides within 5-10 minutes. Those feel different than the completely awoken from sleep and gasping..by then they are pretty much full blown. I hope that yours do not escalate and I implore you to seek medical treatment, just to rule out any other problems you may have. my docs did the stress test, chest xrays, and also have checked my thyroid. everything in order so definatly panic attacks. My doctor told me that sometimes during sleep people have a sort of seizure, not like epileptic, but just misfiring (chemical imbalance i'm thinking) and that this can happen, she describes mine because of the frequency as severe. I can go three to five days fine and then all of a sudden they are back and in full force. At one point i think i had as many as six in a three hour span. The clonapin definatly(sp?) helps me to fall asleep but the doses keep going up i used to sleep for a day on .05 or even split that in half and sleep like a zombie before the attacks.,now i am up to 4.0 milligrams a night, and as they say "the hits just keep on coming.." I had brain surgery twice over the summer and would rather do that again than have these damn things continue...( well maybe not:)) , but they are a royal pain in the arse...thank you for your reply and letting this sleepless woman rant on...i hope that yours do not continue and that you find some sense of releif as i have knowing there are so many others out here. Go to the Doctors.....check everything out... its a must. on a ps. I did the cpap and doubt if it worked, i had two pa's and the technician thought that i slept a very light sleep the remainder of the time for maybe three hours never hit a deep sleep.. i went to sleep at 10pm and was awoken at 5 am...who knows how many times i awoke, i have never been a great sleeper anyways, but we can discount the cpap as helping with the pa's it just didn't. ( I was diagnosed with apnea, on the first sleep study,,,hence the cpap study)..i will keep you posted on what the docs tell me next but until then i remain SLEEPLESS IN MASSACHUSETTS, happpy holiday..and don't let the stress of the holidays put you overboard...because of my surgery i am not back to work and haven't a red nickle for the holidays,,but i try to keep things in perspective and realize i am alive this year, and that is a blessing in itself...christmas is a lot of hype( which is alot to get over) but i'm doing what i can to go back to the old way,,,finding special photos and buying 5 dollar frames, cooking cookies and tinning them up...making ornaments...things i can do that cost next to nothing...It was hard at first, but my kids are young adults they understand and i was considered a miracle after my brain surgery, so they say i am their present this year...feels great knowing that I am a survivor, and am appreciated for it...you hang in there and don't let christmas bring you down, it is Christs day not ours.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Thu, 12-14-2006 - 1:13pm

You have such a great attitude, even when you have been through so much! I am glad to hear that I am not the only one practicing the *less is more* Christmas. Many folks on my list are getting handmade/homemade items;)


Just wanted to share this link to the anti-anxiety diet. http://health.ivillage.com/mentalhealth/mhanxiety/0,,hld9,00.html

 

 


 



iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2006
Fri, 12-15-2006 - 5:34pm
I just put your menu ideas in my favorites,,,i don't drink or do drugs (street) either, i drink a full glass or two of milk before bed...so triptaline i beleive in,,ever wonder why everyone wants to sleep after turkey on thanksgiving????lol...thanks (BIG MUAH XO)PS> my son returns from spain tonight so excited! It's his freshamn year at college and he decided to spend it in spain through suffolk university...i only have three weeks with my baby at home....I can't wait to kiss his face...at least he was studying. went through my oldest son in iraq for 18 months and he returned last march..it will be so nice to have everyone home this year.!

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