james, i have similar symptoms... i wake up in middle of my sleep with immense sense of fear. i have these episodes left and right. last night i woke up at 4am with severe anxiety and panic. and relaxed with a glass of water and my wife held me to calm me down. eventually, i went back to sleep but again i will get up every one hour or so with panic and anxiety. i was talking xanax 0.5mg which makes me sleep a little bit and lowers my anxiety, otherwise if i lower my xanax t o0.25mg then my anxiety stays with me all the time.
i am in process of telling me mind all the time that these panic attacks and anxiety are due to my mind and i need to control it before it controls me...
your not alone on that james i often get this and its crazy scary it like you just wake up out of no where and your loaded with anxiety and fear and next thing your heart is going like mad.. i cant realy sleep after and im all shakey and no energy.. you will be ok man take care.
were u taking any medications ???
sounds like your adrenal glands are not working properly. HAve you had your thyroid and adrenal glands checked?
Could this at all be in any relation to night terrors?..just throwing that out there
actually, if you research thyroid and adrenal disease (signs and symptoms), malfunctioning, is a possibility.
The anxiety could be coming from the hormone (adrenaline, cortisol) imbalance.