Just to add that I too get this almost every night...I put off ging to bed as it is very frightening. I know its stress and anx because if I have a really good day it doesn't happen.
Hope the reassurance helps to settle you a little.
Just to add that I too get this almost every night...I put off ging to bed as it is very frightening. I know its stress and anx because if I have a really good day it doesn't happen.
Hope the reassurance helps to settle you a little.
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
Kahlil Gibran
I'm glad you feel better about it... it's miserable to be worried about something so much. You have my sympathy. I, too, have suffered from this - not so much the death feeling brining on the anxiety but the anxiety bringing on the death feeling! I wake with my head spinning, my heart pounding and green spots before my eyes and i'm sure that "This is IT! Goodby cruel world!" and all that malarkey! Strangely, after an hour or so of surfing the net, watching TV or reading i can settle back down (normally about 4:30am ish).
So, you're not alone and i hope it subsides for you. Good luck!
It's probably anxiety, but yes I mean sometimes people just do experience little things like this, not that it usually really means anything as such it's just a bit bothersome!
I would imagine that anxiety is still the biggest culprit, and so herbal sedatives or something could be a good bet (valerian root, lavender, camomile, etc!), as well as pretty much anything that might relax you before bed
It COULD be something else, but if it were me I would be considering ways to relax before bed before I thought it might be anything else!
Let us know how you get on
i have exactly same issues atm...weird lightheaded rushes...with my eeys closed its like i can feel my eyes roll back into my head when it happens...its sooooo scary...then I get an intense rush of adrenaline and butterflys in my stomach.
Hi
I just found this website whilst googling. I suffer exactly the same problem and in fact last night it happened a few times. Just dropping off to sleep - very comfortable when all of a sudden I jump as though I can't breath - takes a couple of seconds and then I calm down. But it really distupts my sleep pattern. I also have a few drinks to get me to sleep at night - if I don't I take Nytol which makes me feel really drugged in the morning.
The first time it happened it bought on a serious panic attack and I had to go to the keydoc in the middle of the night because I thought I was having a heart attack.
I just wish I knew had to deal with it. I have had hypnosis in the past and have done the whole relaxation cd whilst trying to get to sleep but it still happens.
I am so pleased to find this website and realise that I am not a lone in this matter - so thank you for this.
Katie
I really think you are going through the anxiety to alcohol to anxiety cycle. I have heard many times do not drink alcohol as a means to get you to sleep. It has that temporary soothing effect, then wakes you up. It also dehydrates you and can lead to panic attacks. that's why they say those of us who are prone to panic attacks should not drink it. I would suggest seeing how things go for a little while by not using alcohol to calm you down.
You are not dying. This sounds anxiety related to me. On days when I have had high anxiety, I have had moments when falling asleep I feel like I have stopped breathing. It scares me so bad, I jolt myself back up to make sure I am ok. My thinking on this is my body is finally relaxing and my breathing might be actually going back to being normal -- or it is anxiety in itself. I am not active when I am falling asleep so the adrenaline has to release itself somehow.
You will be fine, but if these symptoms do continue, especially after soothing yourself in other ways, I would talk to a doctor about them for added reassurance. Hugs, Wiskers ~
"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint." -- Mark Twain.
"We can't solve problems using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." Einstein
I have been suffering from the same problem for the last 2 nights in a row, even when taking a nap! Yesterday I fell asleep on the couch with my son and I woke up panicking because I felt like my whole body weighed a million pounds and I couldn't move! I also felt like I wasn't breathing but my heart was pounding. This used to happen to me before, but hasn't happened in a long time!
I've also experienced the after-alcohol anxiety the last 2 times that I drank. It's horrible. Even worse than a regular panic attack. Drinking alcohol before never used to bother me - I would actually feel normal the day after. Not anymore!! I'm ready to give up drinking and I only drink socially!
Oh I'm really sorry to hear you've been having these awful panics when trying to sleep. I had this for a couple of weeks when my anxiety was really bad a few months back. I would start to fall asleep and then I'd get a terrifying image in my mind or my mind would wander onto something horrible and I'd get a sudden jolt of intense anxiety/panic. It's such a horrible sensation and of course totally disrupts your sleep completely. I didn't sleep for a week or so even on Diazapam :(
A few things helped me:
-Getting put back on anti-anxiety medication (Sertraline in my case)
-Going home to stay with my Mum for a couple of weeks
-Reading before I went to sleep or having quiet time with my boyfriend before bed
-Stopping watching TV before bed
-Taking a cup of Chamomille tea to bed
-Talking to anxiety helplines in the evening for advice and to get things off my chest
-Writing down my worries before bed
I hope some of these things can help you too
Feel better soon. You're not alone.
Moonlight Xxx
Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Depressive Disorder.
i know when this topic is pretty dead right now, but i have to share my feelings! i have the same problem and feel relaxed thet i found this topic, since i had a very long nights before..
the feelings were same, i felt like im falling in sleep ,and i recognized when in the same time ,im thinking about things thet rushes adrenalin in my blood somehow.. and then i felt like vanishing out of this world and my breath got uncontrolled ,as well as i had feeling like my heart were uncontrolled and could stop beat! at thet point i feel some dizzy feeling in my head and i pull my self instantly up, covered in fear and panic of death.. like thet it happens multiple times at same night.
i hope someone will figure out how to deal with it. the only thing thet comes in my mind, is when there got to be a way to fix the adrenalin input at nights! becouse before, i had never any problems to sleep...
maybe if i try to not think about things thet gives me adrenalin ,may help, but sometimes its too hard.
Again, I know this is an old thread but I have been experienccing the exact same. I either cant get to sleep or I wake up with a gasp, heart racing feeling as if im going to die. I keep wonderibg if its sleep apnea, but yes it is worse when im really anxioua... Ive had to take a quarter of a lorazepam to help, and it does, but I cant keep doing that. When im falling asleep I suddenly become.aware of how slow my heart is beating (usually its too fast), and I feel out of breath and scared and have to sit bolt upright.
I have told the dr, he seemed to smile and nod as if it confirms his anxiety diagnosis.
Charlotte
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