Night Terrors

[angieb]

Hiya

Does anyone else suffer at night?

I now realise after finding this fab site today that I have been having attacks at night (not full blown thankfully). I go to bed OK and drop off really easily but wake up at about 3.30am ish with my heart pounding out of my chest. I usually get up and go to the loo (don't really need to go) and just have a word with myself.

Usually takes me about an hour if I am lucky to settle back down.

It is always worse if I have had any kind of alcohol or if not in my own bed ie on holiday or staying with family.

Got them full blown in the day time now and I am not sure which is worse [?]

Love to know if anyone else has this type of night time awakening.

Thanks and take care...Angie

[nomorepanic]

Hiya Angie

Yes this is common.

Use the Search facility at the top right hand side of the page and enter "night panic" or "panic at night". You will be surprised how common it is.

Nicola

[FAN]

i think quite a few on here suffer from the night attacks i dont actually get one but im consious of it bubbling inside all night

fan x

[Hellie]

Once I get to sleep I'm usually ok, it's the actual getting to sleep I find hard, I can't seem to relax and get rid of anxious thoughts to get to sleep. The only time I wake up and panic is if I can't think of a reason I have woken up eg. need loo, parents up etc. Then I get convinced I'm ill. Irrational I know [8)]

Hellie x

[Meg]

Angie - try keeping off all alcohol for a while and eating a banana last thing before going to bed , if no help try having one when you wake up instead.

Hellie - yes irrational . Sometimes we just wake up a few times between sleep cycles and then it becomes a habit and the body likes to think its doing the right thing. I used to wake at 4 day in day out - Eventually I learnt to snuggle down and not get up and I taught myself it wasn't a necessary wakening time.



Meg
www.overcominganxiety.co.uk
You cannot conquer fear until you have learned what it is you're afraid of. The enemy is ignorance. Vivian Vance

[seh1980]

Maybe you could try drinking some milk before bed? :D

[tessa]

Hi ya,
Yes it wakes me up where I am gasping for air.. I feel like my throat is closing up. Then it is so hard for me to fall back to sleep because I am scared that I will not wake up.:(

tessa

[lisarose]

Hi Angie and welcome to the site:D

I used to get this all the time especially after drinking alcohol and I have since found out that it is due to low blood sugar. I used to wake up between 3 and 4am feeling really on edge with my heart pounding and feeling short of breath and thought I was going to have a heart attack. It used to scare the life out of me and I used to wake my boyfriend and tell him that I thought I was about to die. I always managed to calm myself down but it took ages to get back to sleep and sometimes I would pace up and down the bedroom because I felt like I just couldn't keep still. When I gave up alcohol for 4 months last year I didn't have a single attack and felt really good. I now drink but only at weekends and went out on Saturday night and had quite alot to drink as it was a birthday celebration and got a bit carried away. In the night I woke feeling very hungover with all the old symptoms and thought I was going to die. It took me 2 days to recover and for those 2 days had quite a few mini panic attacks.

You could try cutting out all stimulants from your diet, eg Caffeine, chocolate, alcohol etc and having a snack before you go to bed such as a bowl of wholegrain cereal or some wholemeal toast and having a cup of warm milk as you could be suffering from low blood sugar also.

There are probably a lot more people on this site who could tell you more about low blood sugar than I can but I hope this might help a bit.

Take care

Love Lisaxx

[Meg]

Lisa - have you put the low blood sugar thing to the test ?

[angieb]

Hi Lisa

Bingo! - I read too that when the alcohol wears off it wakes you. I am able to control the night terrors now - I found if I got up and read my heart would slow down and within half an hour I could go back to bed, gradually I reduced the read time and now I don't even need to get out of bed or read I can jut say - oh an attack, slow down go back to sleep.

I have not had an attack today just feel really tight chested, like I can get the air in but it only has half of the correct amount of oxygen in it. Working my way through such a feeling at the moment, I am OK till my girls start scrapping then whosh - tense everything again...Arghhhh

Still a much better day than yesterday and am aiming to make tomorrow an even better one.

Nice to meet you Lisa.

Angie

[FAN]

hi im glad to hear you have control over the night terrors now im sure as you go on you wont even get them so should be sleeping much better, hope you have another good day tomorrow

fan x

[lisarose]

Hi Meg

Yes I have put it to the test by following the GI diet and eating 6smaller meals instead of 3 larger ones and cutting out refined carbs, sugars etc and feel so much better when I do this. The mistake I used to make was going too long between meals and I would feel panicky, shaky get palpitations etc but now i make sure I eat properly and when I don't follow this I get a return of all the familiar symptoms of anxiety. The big test for me was cutting out the alcohol for 4 months and not waking in the night once with panic attacks so I think there was definatley a link. I am not saying low blood sugar was the cause of all my problems with anxiety but I think it definatley contributed to them.

Take care

Love Lisaxx

[lisarose]

Hi Angie nice to meet you too!

Glad to hear you are getting them under control now and hopefully they won't return. Mine only return when I drink alcohol like they did on Saturday so I am trying to stay on the wagon again!

I sympathize with you about the kids fighting, I have an 11 year old girl and a 5 year old boy and they are always scrapping and arguing. They are both off school at the moment with chicken pox and they are driving me nuts. Yesterday I had such a bad day and they got me so wound up with their constant fighting that I felt I just could not control them and had to phone my boyfriend at work, i was in tears on the phone and felt so tense and wound up I thought my heart would burst and he had words with them and then they were fine. Its annoying how they always behave when their Dad is around and sometimes I feel like I have no control over them and that I have failed as a mother. Anyway today is another day but I think cabin fever is starting to set in as I haven't been able to get out of the house and we are thick in snow here as well!

Take care

Love Lisa

[angieb]

Hi Lisa

Thank you for your kind word, my girlies are thirteen and five, they are wonderful ladies and do actually get on and adore each other most of the time;)

We have been lucky in Cambridgeshire - not too much snow.

Take care for now...Angie

[KW]

Hi Angie

Just thought I'd mention that I put a few drops of Lavender water on my pillow at night and it does help me to relax and I sleep the whole night through. Reading and listening to music just before I fall asleep makes me sleepy and tired.

Hope this helps.

KW

'Everyone believes very easily whatever they fear or desire'
- JEAN DE LA FONTAINE