Panic attacks while sleeping?

[WendyLady03]

For the most part I feel like I have my anxiety under control, at least during the day. I haven't had a panic attack during the day in almost a month, and whenever I start to feel a little bit anxious I've gotten so much better at calming myself down thanks to the techniques I learned from my therapist. That's all fine and dandy, but my problem is still sleeping at night. I can fall asleep, but I find myself more often than not waking up feeling like I'm having a panic attack. It then takes me a while to calm down enough to fall back asleep, only to wake up again feeling the same panicky, anxious feelings. How do I make this stop? I just want to sleep, but I've gotten to the point where I'm scared to go to sleep because I don't want to wake up in a panic. Does this happen to anyone else? I hate it so much more then having an attack during the day because I feel like I have no control over it because I'm in some half asleep/half awake state and I can't think clearly enough to calm myself down. I'm getting super frustrated with it all and I don't know what to do.

[Deja25]

Hello I have the same problem every night I wake up in panic mode sweating heart palpitations the whole adrenaline rush I'm scared of going back to sleep and waking up again in panic mode I was prescribed a beta blocker and alprazolam out of the two meds I've tried more the beta blocker which helps with the palpitations but not with the panicky feeling I've tried alprazolam but I only take half once in a while half of .25mg I only want to take one medication if any body can help please what should I do

[rhino242]

I too suffer from anxiety. I am 27 year old male. I thought I was doing good no panic attacks for like two whole months. Awesome. Now randomly have sleeping panic attacks. I am on 150mg of certrlene.  I do take it at night and maybe that helps not have the night attacks?
I Work out every weeknight at 430-530, and eat good, Try not to eat red meat I don't know if it helps or not but when I eat red meat i think I feel more tense. I Try to get done with all eating before 700pm. I don't know what to do any more. I have thought about aroma therapy but have my doubts. Any thought are welcome.

[em1949]

    Hello, my name is Emma I am  a army veteran. I served from 1970-1973. I suffer from PTSD . I have  experienced trauma from being raped while in the milatary.  I will wake up feeling like I am choking. It is all so real. My service dog has woke me  out of my sleep when she hears me crying or screaming. It never goes away. I see an army counseler and it does help. I am on medication to take the edge off. I have the problem of always thinking is going to happen. I can not be around fire works or sudden noices. If someone were to come up behind me and startle me I instantly react and go into defense mode. Not just anyone can understand what I go through, only those who have experienced it.

[azgirl777]

My attacks started in October of 2010 Iam 26 years old. I never had these attacks before in my life.I have anxiety During the day ,but that has gotten much better. When I moved up to my mothers because of the these attacks ,she urged me to go to my doctors and tell what was going on. These attacks were devastating they still are when they happen. It is horriable. Anyways They put me on a janaric form of zanax to called alprazolam 5 mg ones. I use these when I feel anxiety and I never forget to take one before I go to bed . If I do ill wake up with a panic attack bad ones. I also went on an antidepresent to and that help with the anxiety during the day. So I do recomend zanax or albrazolam. Zanax is different and help so well because unlike over the counter or prescription sleep aids ,Zanax(alprazolam) will calm you to the core , nt just make you sleep and not fix whats deep inside like the axiety and panic.So please with anyone with this horriable disorder please talk to your doctor about an antidepresent and zanax. This is what zanax is made for ,people with our kind of disorder(sleep panick attanks) I thank you all I found alll your comments because they all help with my disorder even more now. You guys go through this to..lol ..Be brave....just breath and it will be ok..your not dying...its ok haaaaaaaaaaaah breath...thanks guys

[WendyLady03]

So I started taking half an Ativan at night before going to sleep, along with Amitriptyline that my Dr prescribed to also help me sleep after trying Seroquel which made me hallucinate and didn't help with my sleep at all. I only took the Ativan for 2 nights and the rest of the week I've slept through the night almost completely with just the Amitriptyline. I still wake up once or twice, but I'm not waking up panicking and I can usually fall back asleep pretty quickly. Thank you guys for all your answers, they were really helpful and I'm glad that at least for now I seem to be sleeping well. I hope you all are too.

[Fixit50]

I took a full 10mg of Ambien last night.  It really only gets me to sleep for about 5, may be 6 hours.   Not even really sure.  Before all this madness I used to sleep for 8 hours straight and wake up to my alarm. I have not woken up to an alarm in nearly 2 months now!  After I wake up close to 6 I seem to just lay there not being able to get to sleep.  No panics or anything... I just can't fall asleep

I haven't napped ever either.  I've tried.  I just won't kick off.  

During the day I dont' really panic, but i've lost my nerve in general.  Its hard to plan things or do anything.   I don't feel like myself.

[Shanna707]

I was also waking in panic attacks that took hours to recover from almost daily.  Finally, I had to be put on ambien for my Insomnia and Klonopin at bedtime and have not had any problems since.  I tried all kinds of natural/herbal/vitamin remedies that just weren't strong enough and in some cases seemed to make me more agitated.

I did extensive research on herbal/natural remedies and then only after studying them and talking to my pharmacist about these remedies interfering with my other prescriptions did I try a long list of them which are all listed above and then some.  In the end, none were what I needed at the time and some even made me feel more agitated like valerian root.  I like melatonin, but its just not strong enough when I'm having these type of symptoms.  It doesn't sound like fixit (the above poster has had all that great of results with the natural stuff for this issue either).  And, Fixit, I would just like to say you should not feel ashamed for trying ambien or imply to others that they should.  Ambien is a great drug used properly under dr. discretion.

So, please WendyLady talk to your DR about these am panic attacks and getting something you are comfortable tying prescribed.  The ativan may help especially to get you to sleep, but if you still have problems please consider that you may need a longer acting antianxiety med for over night.  I take klonlpin and it works perfect.  I've been on xanax and ativan too, but they are short acting and no longer active in the system after about 4 hours.  I'm a nurse, but not a DR and suggest you talk to your DR about any medication changes, and never feel ashamed for having to try a medication to have a better quality of life!!
Now I'm gonna go to dream land.  Hope your already there and wake well rested.  It's always better to prevent the panic attack than have to deal with it after it is in full affect!
Let me know how it goes.  I use to thin I was the only one who woke up in panic attacks,  and thought there was no help for me.  Sleep is so important to our overall health.
Good Luck.  Let me know how it goes!
((Bear Hug))            Shanna      PM me anytime

[Fixit50]

I'm in the same boat.  Before I knew what was what I was having chronic visual disturbances and insomina in the form of waking up at about 4am every night (not really panicky, just fully awake and alert).  It started to take its toll and increase - After quite a few things including research and talking with people I found it was (supposivly) anxiety/panic (fight or flight) that I had triggered during stressful times.

Except for the damn DR causing visual stuff (Glare, halos, tunnel)   The big problem was when I started to have issues at night.  The waking up moved into waking up with zapping across my body, that moved into buzzing etc..  just trying to get to sleep in the first place.  

By this time I knew it was all harmless - which it is - so there were even nights where I would just let it buzz and think "really.... wow.. this is ridiculous" .    

Ashamed to say it but i'm trying Ambien now. We'll see.  I may need to try xanax at night, but i f'ing hate drugs.  Let me know on the Ativan though.  

The sleep dep. has been horrible. I think if I can fix that then other things might fall into place - I don't actually panic during the day. I just get some signs now and then and the DR makes me want to not deal with stuff.

A few things to know
-Its harmless... try whatever.  I do whatever I can to shake the feeling and then rest again.. Even if it means kicking my legs around a bit.

- No caffiene, no alcohol

- Work out.. break a sweat.. 30 mins a day, but not close to bed.  No later than 8pm for me.  This works off the Adrenaline.

-  Eating good and bland foods. I eat turkey sandwhiches and V8. Totaly lame.

- Set up for bed early.   Breathe easy and try to not think about it.    

- Try some natural stuff (good luck).  I've tried a lot of things including 4mg Melatonin + Holy Basil Extract.   The extract (Ursolic acid) is supposed to help with Cortisol and kinda take the brain chatter off.   Melatonin is strainge. It induces sleep but its not really a sleeping pill.  It wears off so fast.

I'm really in the same boat right now.

[WendyLady03]

Thank you so much, I'm going to try taking a half an Ativan tonight and see if it helps at all. I feel like I was doing really well, and then I don't know what happened but the sleep problems have returned. It's so annoying.

[lilythmageborn]

I had this exact same issue more than once.  I was unable to cope with it on my own, depriving myself of sleep to avoid the panic attacks, which only made me worse off.  I was only able to overcome it through medication.  Taking a Xanax or an Ativan before bed stopped it from happening, and I only needed to do that for three nights at most before it stopped completely.

[kerry430]

i get this too its awful =(