panic & anxiousness when drifting off to sleep

[jojo81182]

Hi guys,

Had to post something to take my mind off of having an attack... I was trying to get to sleep but was feeling really agitated, tossing & turning, then all the usual thoughts started racing through my mind... what if this? what if that? tried ignoring them and think of other things but now i feel really lightheaded and had to get up.... its like as soon as my body relaxes my head wants me to wake up and remind me that I have anxiety - i had a 'normal' few hours this afternoon & evening and now im paying for it... does anyone else get this??!!

[SleeplessFog]

I am an on and off insomniac and yes, I have a lot of anxiety right before going to sleep. I do get this as well.

[Alisonj]

I spend many a night wondering what if and its usually followed by the horrid "googling" I think many of us have the similar problem. I am finding now that I am waking anxious. It is really disturbing and sets me up for a bad day.

[PanicMan]

I have a big caner HA and I find at night when I go to bed thats when I think about it the worst as I have no distractions. I've thought about how I'll be told how long I have, how I'll react, how I'll tell others, what will I do with my remaining time, all really morbid stuff which makes me anxious and its really hard to shut it off once your mind starts as the usual trick of distracting yourself doesnt really work as I have nothing to distract myself with.

[sarah jayne]

Im always like that x

[emh]

I relate completely with the drifting off to sleep then getting struck by anxiety.

[shaz01]

This has only just started happenign to me, waking up during night, feeling really bad and struggling to go back to sleep aaggghhhh x x

[momof3boys]

i get this too, sometimes when i am totally relaxed in bed and then all of a sudden, wham, i am hurting all over and anxious...the worst is when i wake up , my heart is racing and i feel all lightheaded and head is all weird and feels like i can't completely wake up

[Tink]

My anxiety is worse when going to sleep too. Esepcially when really tired as sometimes when falling asleep feel like I am falling and wake up in blind panic.
I try to read now in bed for 10/15 minutes as helps to send me off to sleep and distracts mind from the constant negative thoughts that pop in my mind if I let them

[LaNae]

I had this really bad after when Stephen Gately died, I convinced myself I had a heart defect too, and it made me go CRAZY when I had to try to go to sleep. Thankfully, another fear has taken its place for a bit.

[mangotout]

Hey i dont know if it will help any but i struggled with what your suffering from for some time. There was no easy way around it for me. Just lots of time and patients. I found it helped to get back up watch telly until i was so tired i rolled off of the sofa.
Thankfully i have beat it now but i found doing simple mind reversal helps a lot. When you feel yourself getting anxious just simply say
" im fine, im going to sleep and i will wake up in the morning feeling fine, i think therefore i am!" changing my mind set by disagreeing with my self helped me so much and it still does.
I hope this helps.
xx