Anxiety while sleeping

[Tiff_Tiff]

I get regular anxiety attacks, that I also have not been treated for. Lately I think I am getting them in my sleep. I feel like I am suffocating and have a hard time breathing. I also have a hard time waking up out of this state. Sometimes I also hear loud piercing sounds in my head when I am sleeping. When I finally wake-up, I'm hyperventalaiting, crying, panicked, and terrified to sleep. Also when I wake-up my temples really hurt from straining to wake-up, and sometimes my ears hurt too, from the sounds I am hearing in my head when I sleep. I'm not quite sure how to go about this or how to make it stop???? Some advice would be greatly appreciated. Is anybody else having this problem that can relate??

[Lorpd]

I have problems similar to this too, I haven't for the last couple days but I usually do.  I am dreaming and I know that I am.  I'm in my room in my bed and I see this in my dream, but I know I'm dreaming. I start to panick a lot and I start to scream and try to get my husband to wake me up (in my sleep) I cry and scream once I dreamt that I even got his gun and started firing it trying to wake him up so he can wake me up, Its weird, and when I wake up I feel really scared. My dreams feel so real and for some reason I always feel really scared in them.  I've been afraid to go to sleep because of this, My husband doesn't believe or understand me.  But I really don't know what to do.

[shelzmike]

More than likely this is realted to panic/anxiety disorder. It happens to me sometimes too. I will go through periods where I get them several nights in a row, but it is not all that often. However, I can say that I have never had them to that level. I usually wake up gasping for air and heart pounding, but usually can fall right back to sleep as I know what it is from.

That being said, you may want to go get checked for Sleep Apnea, which is a common problem. It could be realted to this. My doctor thought that is what I had, but it is actually just anxiety.

Many people actually only have anxiety like this. During the day they are completely fine, but while they are sleeping they have these experiences.

Unfortunately, I am not sure if there is anything that you can really do to stop them. However, you may want to talk with your doctor about taking like .25-.5 mg of xanax half hour before bed and this might help. However, the only downfall with this is is that you usually sleep longer and can be groggy when you wake up.

Good Luck!

[Lorpd]

Thanks,

I really don't know about taking medication because I'm scared that if I do and I'm having one of these dreams I won't be able to wake up, Do you know if it'll stop me from having dreams like this, or just make them longer for me? :)

[shelzmike]

As far as the dreams, I do not think there is a medicine that can really stop these bad dreams. Now(and for those Effexor takers, you will know what I mean) there are medicines that will give you really really weird, but not always unpleasant, dreams). What I am thinking here is that you have having the anxiety in your sleep first, which cause you to have the dream as a result (not the other way around). The Xanax can help alleviate the anxiety, which will (hopefully) make the dreams stop. The best advice I can give is to go to the doctor and talk with him about it. I would say even ask him about my theory -sometimes doctors know a lot, but do not recall it unless somene brings it up. However, I do not think that regular sleeping pills are the answer.

Now that I think about it, my doctor once prescribed me a medicine called Tofranil that I was supposed to take before bed. Maybe that is what that was for. I am not sure, but I stopped taking it due to the fact that I do not want to take an "every day" medicine. I take Xanax only when needed and only at very small amounts. Good Luck!

Mike