One night sleeping changed my life

[H4rry]

Hi all,
I just want to share my experience to see if anyone can relate to this. I enjoy my work and I am stress free who exercises regularly. One night around 10pm I went for a run on the treadmill interval training so would sprint for a minute and then walk for a few minutes which lasted for about half an hour, afterwards I showered changed and got into bed all relaxed. While lying in bed all of a sudden I felt a change in my brain which really gave me a fright, I seem to picture it as a pair of eyes opened up and I was definitely not dreaming, I somehow managed to get to sleep. The next morning I got up changed and in the bathroom as soon as I remembered that incident I started feeling dizzy and nausea but wasn't physically sick then all of a sudden there were suicidal thoughts which really shook me. I didn't know what was going on and thought it'll be fine once I walk it off to work, at work I would panic and walk out felling nausea and then a few minutes later I would be fine. Anyways this happened for a week, I went to the doctors checked blood pressure/blood test which were all fine. As weeks went on the panic attacks stopped but there were more weird thoughts, me pulling my pants down to embarrass myself and sexual thoughts about my work colleagues and even family members which I've never had before and really frighting. Anyways sorry for the long essay but has anyone had any similar experiences? Any help would be greatly appreciated

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya H4rry and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Why not take a look at our articles on our home page, they contain a wealth of information and are a great starting place for your time on the forum.

I hope you find the as site helpful and informative as I have and that you get the help and support you need here and hope that you meet a few friends along the way :yesyes:

[Catherine S]

H4rry, from information on the forum it sounds like OCD as that can produce the thoughts you describe...i'm no expert though, but there are plenty of people here who feel the same way and i'm sure you'll get plenty of advice. The other thing I'm thinking of is, the fact that you work out most days, do you take any supplements or steroids by any chance? If so it could be a reason for hallucinatory experiences etc. Just a thought.

:)

[H4rry]

Thanks for the quick response guys. I only take protein shakes now again for a number of years and never had any issues before which I have now stopped thinking it was the protein but still have the thoughts. I know all the dangers involved with steroids and would go nowhere near them. Yeah did think it would be Anxiety OCD but does this just happen over night? I've never had any sort of mental illness in the past, don't drink, smoke or do drugs just a happy guy enjoying life which has now changed because of that one night

[Ancient Weaver]

I'm not sure what CatherineS was suggesting but I think it was possibly the opposite of how you have interpreted it.

When you started exercising regularly, did you increase your protein intake?

It sounds like 'now and again' is not really enough, and you have gradually been putting yourself further into protein deficit, and you have just reached a very nasty tipping point.

Exercise and stress both increase a person's need for protein. Not eating enough causes low mood, lethargy, poor concentration, inability to build muscle, poor sleep, a very long list of things in fact, including anxiety.

[Pik]

Hi H4rry - sorry to hear about this disturbing experience and the weird thoughts that are causing you anxiety and fear. In your message you said you exercise regularly so I wondered if its possible that the initial experience you had may have happened regardless of whether you had been on the treadmill earlier and not be connected to that at all.

I had a similarish experience where I sat down to dinner one evening and suddenly I felt something had happened in my brain, almost in a flash. I didnt know what it was but I felt it was something I needed to be really concerned about. That was the start of a period of severe anxiety for me which resulted in me stopping work and for a while not being able to leave the house even. I also had intrusive and distressing thoughts about the possibility I may be 'going mad' and that I might be a danger to others as I might hurt them using knives or other weapons. This would be totally against character for me as I'm a bit of a softie and rarely even get angry with people, never mind physically hurt them!

I think one of the most useful things I learned going through this experience is that once you learn how to scare yourself with 'scary thoughts' it just gets easier and easier to do it, and the thoughts can become more outrageous and more scary. It's a horrible thing to go through and it is perverse that your own body/mind, which is supposed to be 'on your side', puts you through such things!

I eventually was treated by a psychiatrist who diagnosed anxiety and depression, with the depression probably driven by the anxiety. A huge part of the anxiety was health anxiety. I have to say I was dubious with the diagnosis as I was convinced I either had a brain tumour or pancreatic cancer, but I sort of agreed to try some treatment addressing the health anxiety just to humour the guy and prove him wrong.

Anyway, I've digressed a bit - what I wanted to say was that one of the really important lessons I learned during the treatment, which was a CBT therapy (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) was a way of dealing with intrusive thoughts. The analogy I was given was to imagine being on a railway platform in an underground station and that the intrusive thought is a bit like a train thats about to arrive... you can feel it coming when you hear the noise and feel the rush of air building up. If the thought of that train (thought!) arriving is distressing you then you have two options: 1) jump down on to the platform, push your arms out in front of you to stop it in it tracks! 2) stand back on the platform and hold on while it 'passes through'. With the first option, you're going to get wiped out and are on a hiding to nothing. With the second option, you get buffeted by the air and engulfed in the noise it brings with it as it passes through, which lasts a little while, but it does pass through and you survive. So for me when I had the intrusive and distressing thought I sort of accepted that the thought was 'heading my way' and rather than trying to stop it arriving and getting anxious about it, I tried to very passively 'stand back', 'observe it' as it arrived and then wait for it to pass through (as it always did pass through). Of course the 'observing the thought' wasnt without anxiety itself, but I did find that over time I learned that the although the 'buffetting effect' was going definitley going to happen, and was unpleasant in itself, it was survivable and it did eventually pass with no harm occuring.

Different things work for different people so I dont know if this will work for you. I hope it may help and also I hope you get the help you need to cope with the distressing feelings and thoughts you are experiencing. As you will have seen from the other postings on this and other forums, you are definitley not alone.

Wishing you the best
Pik.