Help.."mini" panic attacks as i fall asleep

[curranimal]

Hi, i am a 23 year old man whose had bad anxiety and panic attacks for a while now. I found a method that has pretty much eliminated my panic attacks, every once and a while ill have a panic attack but lately ive been having these what i call mini panic attacks almost right after falling asleep. literally a couple minutes after. its almost the same feeling as a panic attack  normally would be with the drop in the stomach and adrenalin rush then the rapid heartbeat. sometimes they happen once and sometimes they happen multiple times in the same night. I rarely(only once or twice) have waken up in the middle of the night with them, only right after i kind of drift off it hits me like a frieght-train. I have had my anxiety and panic attacks under control for a while now but these new sleep feelings are drivin me crazy and bringing up some of those feelings i thought id kind of left behind... =(  any help would be greatly appreciated. thank you!

[amnmullins1w]

A beer or 2 will def do it, it's the only thing for me or I'll most certainly have them and they get progressively worse every time I go back to sleep

[juliusdedekind]

Could be triggered by sleep apnea.  Air blockage can trigger the physiological symptoms of breathing, then your adrenaline kicks in and you're jerked awake with no hint of why and thus begins the panic where you search for a reason and find none.  Check this :)

[Hannahhb]

Hey , Iv had anxiety attacks now for the past two years and the first year was absolutely the worst . I couldn't even enjoy life cause I was to busy stuck in my own head Panicing half the time. I just started getting anxiety attacks before I fell asleep or right after I fell asleep if wake up frantically searching for answers and my heart would be racing and I'd be terrified to go back to sleep . I find it helps if you have a partner to have them run you back comfort them. My boyfriend knows how bad my anxiety gets and he runs my back every night so I can fall asleep it's defiantly a labor of love . If you don't have a partner make up breath for a sec let yourself calm a bit tell yourself it's gonna be ok don't check your pulse every 5 secs and analyz it , it doesn't help to do that . Once your at a calm state go get a cold glass of water and read something on your home for a bit or watch t.v for a little like a couple mins however OMG it takes you to get tired again once you do lay down keep on some sound whatever comforts you and breath and start thinking of something u wanna dream of (believe it or not I count shee and I works , crazy I know , literally count bouncing sheep in my head LOL) and just work your way to sleep I hope I helped a bit I know how bad anxiet can be that's why I took the time to try to express what I do just so maybe I can help someone else

[Poonanii]

To all of you I'm so sorry you have to go through this. I'm currently 43 years old and I've been dealing with this disorder since my early to mid 20's.

I have the exact same symptoms that have been mentioned. As well as one that hasn't. I also have these tourrettes type nervous ticks that can happen for periods of time. An example of those would be blinking too much or twitching my neck to one side. They are brought on by stress as well as the panic sleep disorder.

I always thought I was the only person out there with these strange and debilitating problems.

I can tell you something that has helped me with both the sleep disorder and tics. I got on a beta blocker and it almost permanently ended the problem. I haven't had an episode for years until recently.

And it can get worse than anyone on here has described. I am dealing with that right now. I have been under a ton of stress lately as well as a botched surgery. I think all of this pressure I have been having is the reason why my beta blocker doesn't appear to be helping me right now. Very strange because I haven't had a single attack since I got on it several years ago.

So you know that feeling that you get, not feeling like you can get oxygen in your lungs, adrenaline rush so strong that it makes you want to jerk your whole body or go into a fit of rage, feeling like you're going to die if you fall back asleep. It can get much worse I have recently found out. For the past 3 days I haven't slept more than 4 to 5 bad hours. And there has been nothing that I have been able to do to get rid of it. I'm on the verge of going to the hospital to get some Xanax or Valium. This is pure torture and I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy.

[imdat80sbaby]

I am having the EXACT same thing happening to me. Mine just started about 2 night ago and I hate it.  I am dealing with a sinus infection currently and thought it was some weird side effect from the meds that I'm on.  But its good to know that I'm not the only one feeling this way.  What did you find helped you?

[lea_cattel]

Nocturnal anxiety attacks are fairly common. Normally when this happens the thing to do is to wake up, calm down, and do some breathing exercises.  But the better way is to actually prevent it from happening. There are many medications out there that can help with this and for those who are not fond of medications, there are countless natural remedies. Kava tea, chamomile tea, and lavender tea are great beverages that promotes better sleep. Endoca hemp products also have anxiolytic properties that calms you down and relax your body it also help alleviate anxiety. You can also try music therapy, aromatherapy, and meditation.

[aimsie20]

Hello ! Don't worry, it's nothing but stress ! I might only be 11 but i've been though it before. When you wake up suddenly and your heart is racing and your to afraid to go back to sleep in case you " Die " or you have another panic attack. But you might want to go to the docter incase it might be something else but because your still young I doubt that you will have anuthing wrong with you :) Do not worry ! I go to a phycologist and she has really helped me so if your feeling panicky after you wake up in the night imagine your walking down a dark corridor then you see a door framed by light, you walk towards it, turning the door knob and gazing out at the beautiful garden with bright flowers surrounding it and big curtains of ivy hanging down. You stare out at the waterfall that lands into a deep, blue lake, nothing can hurt. Now sit down, anywhere you like and imagine there is a light beam shooting out of you  It can be your favourite colour if you want ) and your slipping further and further away, nothing can harm you. Hope this helps :) Good luck !