lay awake worrying. ..

[Vixen5]

For about the past 2 weeks I've been doing really well with my health anxiety. There's been the odd moment when I've let thoughts and worries slip in, but for the most part I've been doing good.

Tonight however, I feel like I've taken 2 steps backwards. I've been lay awake for an hour, concentrating on every twinge, every time my chest tightens I'm worried that it's a heart attack, I can hear my heart beat thudding on the pillow. Then my arm starts to ache and I worry it might not be anxiety at all but my bodies way of telling me something is really wrong.

So I've fallen back in to the habit of self checking my pulse rate every 5 minutes.

Does anyone else find its much worse at night? I know logically it's because it's a time when we try to "relax" and there's nothing to take my mind off my anxiety, but I sometimes don't have any symptoms at all during the day, and that tends to be when I'm most stressed (although I don't feel particularly stressed over anything other than my health)

I guess I just want reassurance (even though I'm trying not to ask people for it!), that this can all be put down to health anxiety?!

[Taffy]

I know how you feel. At night when it's all quiet its easy to listen to ever twinge that your body makes. It's a bit like when you hear a noise in the house and think it's a burglar or something as our senses are heightened. I can always feel and hear my pulse in bed, sometimes it's like a bass drum!...so don't worry that's normal. I really don't think you have anything to worry about. Just try and relax and let your body do what it needs to do. Maybe consider some sleeping tablets to help you relax and drift off easier?

[amadragonfly]

I know how you feel. My heart thuds heavily at night and sometimes keeps me up for hours. I usually have to tell myself, oh well, if it is a heart attack, there's nothing I can do to stop it. It works sometimes.

[lalouba]

I'm always worse at night than during the day , Vixen. My worst time is the morning but evening or late at night comes a very close second.

I think it's very much to do with the lack of distraction, so like during the day we're up and about cleaning and tidying and working and such, but at night we're just sitting down relaxing and like you said, it makes it much easier to focus on how our bodies are feeling.

Not only that but I've found that I feel worse at night because I worry about something happening to me in the night and nobody there to find or help me until morning! I know that sounds terribly dramatic but it scares me. That and the fact if have to actually go and wake people up to take me to the hospital, and if it turned out to be a panic attack and I was fine they'd kill me for the scare and the inconvenience!! My social anxiety then says "oh no no no, you can't INCONVENIENCE someone, they'll HATE YOU FOREVER." Haha! Evil brains we have!

[Vixen5]

Thanks all for the replies, its good to know I'm not alone in feeling worse at night!

I'm currently try trying meditation which works sometimes and I've joined a gym so hopefully better nights are to come.

Thank you again for your comments, they really help :-)