Panic at night - really scared

[hamster lady]

Hi everyone

I joined the forum last year because I had begun to suffer terrible panic attacks and agorphobia due to a terrifying attack of fast heart rate in the middle of the night without warning. I have recently been feeling better during the day after having telephone CBT help but I am still having terrible anxiety at night. I have been suffering from nightmares and vivid dreams every night for over a year now and I have also been waking up suddenly with a terrible feeling of horror and dread which comes out of nowhere and then my heart lurches and starts pounding. Last night was absolutely terriflying, I woke up suddenly from a dream and this terrible feeling of dread and fear came over me, my heart lurched and then started to race out of control. I got out of bed and went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face to see if it would help. My hear rate was really fast for about 2 minutes and then it slowed down when I got back into bed. I was shaking and had sweating hands and feet. I woke my husband up and told me not to panic and that it was just my anxiety causing the symptoms. I calmed down eventually but could not really get back to sleep properly.

I have been to see my doctor recently about the possibility of sleep apnea causing my symptoms but she said that it was probably just anxiety and sent me off to CBT therapy. My heart does not race during the day unless I get a panic attack which thankfully are happening less often now.

I absolutely dread going to bed now due to the terrible nightmares and I am wondering whether my symptoms could be night terrors due to the feeling of disorientation I get when I wake up suddenly. I have also had a really weird thing happen every since this all started last year in that when I am just dozing off or waking up I have mini dreams which are like scary images, it is horrible and after looking it up on the internet I think they might be Hypnocognic hallucinations which can be a symptom of narcolepsy although I do not have any other symptoms of this. I am not hallucinating with my eyes open, they are shut and I am just dozing, this also happens if I have a nap during the day. I really hope I'm not going mad! I was just wondering whether any of you guys on the forum get similar problems at night with your anxiety. I really hope my symptoms are just anxiety and not anything more serious. I had an ECG done last year which was normal but I'm still worried there is something wrong with my heart even though I don't get any worrying symptoms during the day, it all happens at night. I would really appreciate any help or advice on my problem as I'm really worried and fed up and feel like a complete freak at times. My husband keeps saying that it is not normal to suffer from nightmares every night which makes me feel even worse. I know nightmares can't hurt me but that doesn't help because they are so vivid that I sometimes feel like I live two lives, one at night and one during the day. I also wake up feeling like I've had no sleep every single day.

I think if this keeps happening I might go back to the doctors and request a sleep study as something has definitely gone wrong with my sleep, I've really had enough of it after a year, it is making my life a misery and I've got enough stress at the moment with looking after my poorly son who has M.E.

Many thanks in advance and sorry for the long rambling post, I just really needed to offload!

hamster lady:weep:

[robinhall]

Hi

I'm sure this must be extremely difficult for you to have to endure

The good news is all this can be explained and is very common

Think of it as a set of logical connecting events

First of all you had a terrible experience of rapid heart rate on awakening - this can happen out of the blue for a variety of non-harmful reasons connected with anxiety - 60% of people with panic disorder report waking up in panic

After that you lived in so much fear of it happening again that you got caught in very common cycles of fear which lead to panic disorder and agoraphobia

The nightmares are most likely a result of your constant worry that this will happen again - you entire focus is on the fear of what will happen when you go to sleep - so that has lead to an increased level of anxiety when you go to bed - and when anyone is very anxious over a long period of time - especially regarding sleep - they can easily have very disturbed sleep and nightmares

You can easily learn how to turn this around - but first of all you need a thorough understanding of what is happening and then you need to learn ways to deal with this when it happens so that you stop the cycles of fear

Can I suggest that you try the CBT4PANIC programme - which is recommended here on nomorepanic - it will explain in great depth what you need to do better than me giving you a few vague suggestions here on the forum.

Also keep in mind that people don't actually wake up 'in panic' - they might wake up due to sensations in the body - that can be the result of our body reacting to our going into a deeper sleep which can 'startle' us - or they can be the result of what we might be dreaming - if we are having a nightmare our heart can start to race the same as if we were frightened when we are awake

so - harmless but exaggerated bodily activity can wake us up and because we can't figure out WHY we are experiencing such sensations we immediately 'think the worst' - that we must be very ill, going mad, even about to die - it is at THIS point we 'panic'.

Once you learn more about what is happening you can then learn how to 'catch it' before you go into 'panic' and the anxiety will quickly reduce.

I really do empathise with what you are feeling - I myself used to wake up and go into panic many many times - I also used to suffer terrible nightmares and any time I closed my eyes it was as if a thousand faces and voices were swirling in my head - it's a very scary thing indeed

Please give the programme a try - it will help.

Robin :)