Is this an anxiety attack?

[TheKakarot]

This has been happening for a few years but didn't know what it was. But some nights I will wake up and have this throbbing and fizzing like sensation in my brain that feels like it's weighing my head down and along with that I feel this overwhelming fear of everything at that moment to the point where I can feel my eyes trying to shut to go to sleep but I force my self to try and stay up because I Am in complete fear of going back to sleep and I don't know why. It usually passes on its own and some nights it will happen more than once. I've never gone to a doctor and don't know how to go about getting tested for anxiety or if that is what is even wrong.

[specialmom]

Wow, sorry that is happening.  Sounds pretty scary.  One thing doctors do when you come to them asking if you have anxiety is they use science based questionaires to determine if you have a clinical level of anxiety or depression.  They basically allow you to fill that out and interview you.  One thing they always look for is how it impacts your life.  Everyone has anxiety at different points.  If it is a low level and manageable, I'd say you see that very often.  But when it impacts your daily life negatively, that is when action is a good idea.  If you are not able to sleep due to this, then you can't focus and do your work the next day so that is suffering, that is a negative impact of what you are feeling at night.  Sleep disturbance can be a part of anxiety for sure.  As this has been going on for a long time and getting worse, it would be good to talk to a health care provider about it.  start with your family doctor.  Paxiled asked an important question.  Do you feel anxiety in other parts of your life?  Anxiety is very treatable.  But until you speak with a doctor, it's hard to determine what is going on.  We just have this little snippet of information.  Let us know how it is going and if you are able to see your doctor.  Good luck

[AnxiousNoMore]

You can try reading a few pages of a book when you wake to see if it focuses your mind on the story, and if so go back to sleep.
I don't have anxiety but every night in the middle I wake up and generally have to read a few pages to stop thinking about my life and instead focus on something I prefer, which is the story. Then I go straight to sleep instead of wasting my time thinking for an hour.
When people get old like I am, nerves can wear out which causes sleep disorders, whereas if you are young then you likely have no physiological issue and if so, could be just a matter of training your mind how to switch ideas and the problem  might go away.

[Paxiled]

You don't really get tested for anxiety.  You get tested for physiological problems and when the doctor gets tired of doing that when nothing easy to find shows up they decide it's anxiety.  Are you anxious about things during your day?  Afraid to take care of things?  Or is it just during the night?