Woke up thinking I was dying.. First time this has happened...

[fedup36]

Went to bed last night feeling really good after a good therapy session yesterday morning.

Anyway so about 2.30am I literally jolted awake and felt really dizzy like really dizzy and almost felt out of breathe and just plain weird... I honestly thought I was about to die!

I grabbed my other half and said I'm dying I'm dying and literally it passed in under a minute and I went back to sleep... I have woken up this morning just feeling plain weird and a bit scared of what on earth happend as I've never experienced something like that before...

Has anyone else? I'm assuming it's a classic anxiety symptom but just took me by surprise :(

[hanshan]

It sounds like a sudden panic attack - in these the feeling you are dying can be strong. Many people feel they are having a heart attack, etc. It's good that you've got someone to hang on to, particularly if they understand and can be with you until it passes.

[Phuzella]

Did it happen when you turned over in bed? And really spinning vertigo?

[fedup36]

I just woke up and I was spinning... I suffer with dizziness and vertigo and it just felt like a very severe dizziness and felt out of breathe to... Wasn't very pleasant :( I just thought like I had died and my body knew it was happening so jolted me awake :(

[Phuzella]

BPPV affects me like that

[fedup36]

I've been tested for BBPV and that came up negative... So not sure what this was :(

[fedup36]

Err this is really playing on my mind :( I can't stop thinking how awful I felt....

[Linda01818]

Err this is really playing on my mind :( I can't stop thinking how awful I felt....

Hi,

I know I'm a little late on the draw here with chiming in, but this exact thing happened to me last night and I was searching for others who have experienced the same thing and found your thread. And I too can't stop thinking how horrible and weird I felt. I've never felt anything like it in my life and I'm sitting here crying because it scared me more than I think I've ever been scared, ever. You said this in another post:

"I just woke up and I was spinning... I suffer with dizziness and vertigo and it just felt like a very severe dizziness and felt out of breathe to... Wasn't very pleasant :( I just thought like I had died and my body knew it was happening so jolted me awake :( "

That's what happened to me EXACTLY. And I was convinced that I had been slipping away (dying) in my sleep and my body was like "Oh no! Hey! You're dying! Wake up!!!"

So I shot awake and the room was spinning and I felt dizzy and I couldn't focus on anything and had to sit there for a minute or two before I could get out of bed. Then I was terrified to go back to sleep all night long. I'd try to, but as soon as I would start to nod off I'd come back awake because my brain didn't want it to happen. I finally got up and took an ativan and that helped relax me enough to go back to sleep.

And here's something even more weird - once I was able to get up and walk, I went to the bathroom. The light must have bothered my eyes some because walking back out of the bathroom I think I hallucinated, I saw something moving against the wall and I literally gasped, that's how bad it freaked me out.

My gawd, what an awful, awful night and one of the most terrifying feelings I can ever remember having. And then I found your thread and what you described was the exact same thing I went through, so I had to post comments.

I'll tell you one thing (I'm still crying because I still can't get over how that made me feel) I'm glad to know I'm not alone. I think it's a form of panic (I have GAD and get the occasional panic/anxiety attacks, although they're less severe than they used to be) and I might be wigging out a little in my head right now because I'm on a couple of medications for an ailment (nothing serious) and I'm already one of those people who suffers with 'health anxiety', constantly worried about coming down with some horrible disease or not living much longer, that sort of thing. That's the only thing I can come up with as to why this happened.

[eevee]

A couple of times I woke up with severe vertigo that I literally had to be still for 4 hours. I couldn't even more, or let alone, lay down because I would go straight to the toilet and throw up. I was a bit out of breath too.

Is it possible that you had bad dreams that woke you up?

[Phuzella]

Have a word with your doctor, might be an ear problem