Aa
Anxiety when I should be sleeping!
So I was diagnosed last year with anxiety/panic disorder. I was put on xanax .25 for when I had an episode and Zoloft 100 mg to correct my neuro transmitters in the brain for the panic attacks...I have been off of these two for the whole summer do to losing my job and had no more health insurance and was absolutley fine! Up until now..every night for the past 4 nights as soon as I lay down to go to sleep I get severe anxiety and my pulse rate shoots up and I am restless and cannot sleep! It is so frustrating becuase I have school in the morning and I have been so tired in the morning because of my racing heart rate! I have an appointment with a cardiologist next week, becuase when this happens and I start drifting off to sleep I wake back up feeling like I lost a breath..so I need to get it checked out to make sure I don't have a heart murmer or palpatations. I just basicly need to check that my heart is healthy and that all of these issues are in my head! To put my mind at ease. I am a huge worrier and I know that has alot of the problem! Is there anyone out there that knows any special ways of avoiding anxiety when its time to go to bed??
Thank you so much for both of your inputs! There are so many people out there with this sort of problem like us and it is just plain out miserable!! Right now it is about 1:30 a.m and I am up because my heart is racing soo bad and I am restless and feel like bawling my eyes out! I am definetly going to get back to the doctor and get back on Zoloft so I can have a some what normal like! Thank you and good luck to you both!
I have the same sort of thing going on, with a minor variation - I can get to sleep just fine, but I wake at about 2:30 AM and can't get back to sleep. My mind races from one topic to another and won't shut down.
Like you, I am fine during the summer, but toward the end of August, I start thinking about the long dark winter and then the panic starts. My doctor initially thought it was GAD, but has since diagnosed it as SAD (seasonal affective disorder). I think that there are different varieties of SAD, some of which manifest themselves as depression, others as axiety, or a combination of both. For me, this has been going on for about 4-5 years now, all with the same seasonal pattern. As the days get longer in January, things really improve for me as I look forward to spring. This year, I started on 20 mg Prozac around the beginning of September and bumped it up to 40 mg about 1-1/2 weeks ago. I also take Xanax as needed - which has been .25mg every night before bed to be able to sleep from 10:00PM to 4:30 AM. Without it I get the racing thoughts and the next day I'm a total wreck. In my past experience, the Prozac takes a good 6 weeks to really start working - I can tell when I start getting some rest finally and my days are really great. I'm still waiting (anxiously) for that! I don't like taking the Xanax, but it works really well when the anxiety gets bad. I stop taking it completely when the Prozac takes effect.
If you have lost your health insurance, it's not that big of a deal - the generic meds are cheap ($10 for 3 months of Prozac at Wal-Mart without insurance) or your doctor can recommend something else. You can probably work something out with the doctor to get a reduced consultation fee as well. GET WELL!
Like you, I am fine during the summer, but toward the end of August, I start thinking about the long dark winter and then the panic starts. My doctor initially thought it was GAD, but has since diagnosed it as SAD (seasonal affective disorder). I think that there are different varieties of SAD, some of which manifest themselves as depression, others as axiety, or a combination of both. For me, this has been going on for about 4-5 years now, all with the same seasonal pattern. As the days get longer in January, things really improve for me as I look forward to spring. This year, I started on 20 mg Prozac around the beginning of September and bumped it up to 40 mg about 1-1/2 weeks ago. I also take Xanax as needed - which has been .25mg every night before bed to be able to sleep from 10:00PM to 4:30 AM. Without it I get the racing thoughts and the next day I'm a total wreck. In my past experience, the Prozac takes a good 6 weeks to really start working - I can tell when I start getting some rest finally and my days are really great. I'm still waiting (anxiously) for that! I don't like taking the Xanax, but it works really well when the anxiety gets bad. I stop taking it completely when the Prozac takes effect.
If you have lost your health insurance, it's not that big of a deal - the generic meds are cheap ($10 for 3 months of Prozac at Wal-Mart without insurance) or your doctor can recommend something else. You can probably work something out with the doctor to get a reduced consultation fee as well. GET WELL!
Hiiiii, i'm exactly like you!
I constantly feel anxious and as soon as i feel anxious i get palpitations and feel lightheaded. I also have a fear of dying and dying in my sleep so i really dred going to sleep, i don't go to bed until the early hours and i feel constantly exhausted, i often wake up in my sleep having a bad panic attack. My heart also race's when i lay in my bed, i try to think about something happy or count, it's really hard but you just have to distract yourself. I've also tried watching tv in bed which after so long make's me drift off to sleep. I get all sorts off weird sensations when falling to sleep, i wake up suddenly all panicky with a racing heart, my Doctor said it's Anxiety, the adrenaline, your mind is so pre occupied so when your body sends it's signal to your brain to go to sleep your mind isn't ready and get's confused and wakes you up. I've had an EKG and it came back fine but i know not all heart rhythm problems show up when you have it, the problem only might come every so often or when you exercise which scare's me alot.
So yes i know how it feels, i suffer badly from Anxiety mainly the panic disorder.
Try thinking of something completely different or something that make's you happy, counting in your head, reading or watching tv.
It's very hard to avoid it, but you can try, sometime's it works for me sometime's it doesn't, you have to really try.
Good luck. :)
I constantly feel anxious and as soon as i feel anxious i get palpitations and feel lightheaded. I also have a fear of dying and dying in my sleep so i really dred going to sleep, i don't go to bed until the early hours and i feel constantly exhausted, i often wake up in my sleep having a bad panic attack. My heart also race's when i lay in my bed, i try to think about something happy or count, it's really hard but you just have to distract yourself. I've also tried watching tv in bed which after so long make's me drift off to sleep. I get all sorts off weird sensations when falling to sleep, i wake up suddenly all panicky with a racing heart, my Doctor said it's Anxiety, the adrenaline, your mind is so pre occupied so when your body sends it's signal to your brain to go to sleep your mind isn't ready and get's confused and wakes you up. I've had an EKG and it came back fine but i know not all heart rhythm problems show up when you have it, the problem only might come every so often or when you exercise which scare's me alot.
So yes i know how it feels, i suffer badly from Anxiety mainly the panic disorder.
Try thinking of something completely different or something that make's you happy, counting in your head, reading or watching tv.
It's very hard to avoid it, but you can try, sometime's it works for me sometime's it doesn't, you have to really try.
Good luck. :)
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