Evening/night time panic and anxiety

[kafebrown]

Ive had anxiety for the last couple of months. It started with a night time panic attack, completely out of the blue. I woke up panicking unable to breathe etc. For ages after that i felt anxious 24 hours a day. I do feel tonnes better during the day, virtually normal but its nighttime i cant conquer. For weeks after that initial panic attack i couldnt sleep for fear of it happening again, which it did a few weeks ago. I have been sleeping a lot better but over the last few days ive been waking through the night worried its gonna happen again. Before i go to sleep i feel anxious. I cant swallow, feel i cant breathe properly and just generally a bit panickey. Im trying to stay positive cos i feel fine during the day but i know lack of sleep is not helpful for anxiety. I take 30mg of propranolol a day and bachs night rescue. Any ideas? I dont want to undo all my hard work of feeling ok during the day! Angela xx

[suzy-sue]

Have you tried a relaxation period before bed .A nice warm soak with some relaxing oils and soft music .Then 20-30 mins of a relaxation or hypnotherapy cd or down load .If you do this every night ,eventually you will sleep better .Make it an enjoyable period and a relaxing massage will help too if you have someone who will give you one .You have to break the pattern ,as the longer you leave it the longer it takes to put right . . all the best Sue x

[ikimasu]

I always watch TV or play a game on my iPod after laying down in bed. This helps calm my mind and keep me from thinking too much. I've listened to stuff while going to sleep since I was a little kid - in fact I have a hard time sleeping if I don't have something to listen to, especially now that I'm older and have much more on my mind. I feel bad for my wife who is just the opposite (needs it to be really quiet). :-(

I have had a couple of experiences recently with night time panic attacks, usually they've been associated with some kind of dream though. Like I had a dream where I was looking at spiders (I hate spiders) and woke up in a mild panic, but I just reassured myself that I was fine and could keep it from escalating, and went right back to sleep.

Anyway, panic attacks at night are not irregular at all, to my understanding. So no worries - do hope you get better and can get some better sleep though. Just try not to anticipate them coming. If you can try to really anticipate a good night, you're more likely to have one. :)

[xleannexwrightx]

I get mine mainly at night too hun, i noticed soon as i was drifting to sleep, which is always hard for me as im a poor sleeper, i would suddenly jolt up and be gasping for air, plus felt likie my heart just stopped beating completely for a few seconds, then along come on the other symptoms. This happened almost every night for a few weeks, the first thought of sleep to me was dread and fear as i knew it would happen again and again, lucky i broke the pattern, i found sleeping in different areas, or friends houses for a few nites stops the association with your bed and panic....then wen u eventually get back into your bed hun it should ease off. I still have some nights like that, but not as often, so breaking the pattern did help. And i agree, lstening to music really helps, especially calming music, Hope it gets easier for you hun xx

[miss_moose]

I fhave alot of panic attacks too, i find they are worse at night and in the morning. I've found it really helps (infact it's a must for me), that i sleep with the tv on all night, its a huge comfort if you wake up in a panic and theres already something to comfort you on in the room, if you can sleep with i on then try and compromise by muting it and darken the screen using the colour and contrast buttons, i have to do this because my partner cant sleep with a tv on.
Set up some channels with comforting tv on if you can, we have a transmitter that feeds whaever is on the lounge tv to upstairs so i set programs to come on at different times, also have a dvd set up if you can, Friends is my comfort program.

Sleep with some puzzle books and magazines next to your bed so you can distract from the panic if you have one, doing puzzles really helps, have a torch handy too, a pen, and deffinately a drink of water to sip while your panicy.

:hugs: