suffering, need help please

[ShortieG]

Hi,
its now 6:30am, i went to sleep around 12midnight and just couldn't fall sleep. woke up at 1:30am, and stayed awake till 4am and went to bed again. I am very tired all this time, but i just couldn't help it, I got a bit panicky inside me, if not, heart palpitations. I managed to get over them but still can't fall sleep. I had my first Panic Attack a month ago, things did get better for the following 3weeks, i felt quite normal. The only problem was fallingsleep. And now, even harder to fall sleep. I think by reading lots of panic attack / anxiety disorder infomation online worsen my anxiety. Because i keep trying to find exactly what illness I have with my current siituation. And we i come across panic/anxiety disorder with similar symtons, i get panicky a bit inside me if the identified disorder seems to be very hard to treat or suffering. I truely believe we can all overcome this, but it is hard if you can't even fall sleep. I notice it is like a vicious cycle, if you had enough sleep, you feel better next day, and end up doing and thinking positive things, and at night you sleep even better than the night before. Vice versa, if you can't sleep well or have no sleep at all *like how i am now* i am sure i will feel nasty for the rest of the day, and tonight will be even harder for me to sleep. anyways......i just need help bad on sleep. I am not afraid of going any places, i just have constant anxiety, maybe its because of the panic attack, or maybe i think that i have GAD, or maybe i afraid that i won't have my normal life back...

any advice on how to fall sleep or sleep better? pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee i really need to sleep better....... i need to get rid of the anxiety while lying there so i can fall sleep. gosh.............. help me.

I took 1mg melatonin last night before i went to bed, but it didn't seem to help much.

[EebyJeeby]

Hi Shortie,

Sorry to hear that you are having a bad time, but I know exactly how you feel as I went through much the same thing at night.

I found myself waking with a jump every 20 mins or so, all through the night and lay there desperate for morning to come. This went on for several nights and yes, you get sleep deprived.

Try this. Instead of laying there trying so hard to get back to sleep, sit up and turn on your bedside lamp. Accept the fact that you are not in the right state of mind to sleep just at the moment. Get yourself a glass of water and find something to distract yourself - I have a book that I read. Breathe slowly (so your abdomen rises, not your chest). Not being asleep won't do you any harm, you just need to get relaxed and not put pressure on yourself. If you read for a while, you'll find that soon your eyes will get tired and your body will be relaxed enough to let you drift off nicely.

Stop reading too much on the internet! I now find that referring to the pages on this site alone is enough to reassure me that all is indeed ok. Good, solid, non-scary information - no need to look further.

Be kind to yourself and let us know how you get on :-)

Ellie x

As for

[Meg]

Hi Shorty

Lots of ' what if's '.

Yes sleep is vital and necessary and it is easier when you do sleep but sleep often eludes us or goes cyclically.

Its true reading up online especially late at night is not helpful, you need to find comfort and restfulness and uplifting stuff for nighttime.

Sleep zzzzz (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5413)
insomnia, insomnia, insomnia etc.... (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6002)
Sleep problems (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6260)



Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com

Your anxiety is the human representation of the pictures that you paint using your many vivid colours of revolving and reoccurring thoughts.
How big is your gallery ?

[ShortieG]

Thanks for replying so quick jeeby and meg. I am just wondering if any of you sleep during the day? and also, can you take pills? this is getting really annoying that i have to try to sleep every single night!!! oh gosh......i just wanted my normal life back so desperately...

[ShortieG]

Hi all,
I know its Christmas Day, it is raining out. I don't feel like going anywhere. I feel so down ever since few days ago that my anxieties are back and struggling to sleep again, with pounding heart beats *manageble* and internal shake *unmanageble*. I am so sad inside, but i don't show it. I am so blue and keep asking myself why this happen to me, just one panic attack that day literally ends my normal life, period. This really sucks. I am only 27, and i have lots of plans and a very nice girlfriend. I don't want her to pull up with this, I love her i want her to be happy. We are supposed to get engaged this coming month or two and now... its all over. My life is pretty much over. I love her, i love my mom and my brother, they are trying everything they can to cope with me and help me. I know I can fight it off if i try hard enough to sleep each night, but it is just soooooooooooooooo hard. Its worse than the first panic attack. Because the attack only lasts few hours while this sleeplessness gonna lasts who knows when............

Even though its only been a month, but i already noticed that i am getting much older. I aged alot in this month. My eyes are tired, my body is tired but the anxiety is still there haunting me. I wonder if they can just totally remove the adrenal gland or just the cells producing the anxiety to solve the whole problem once and for all. These past few days have been like hell for me, knowing that everynight i have to struggle to sleep. You know what, I think the worst problem with General Anxiety disorder or any other panic or anxiety disorder all have to do the adrenal gland. which gives you endless feeling of anxiety and discomfort. If the anxiety was gone, i would sleep so tight at night and woke up feeling so normal the next day. sighs..........

I AM SO FED UP WITH THIS!!!!@@@@!!!!

can someone help me please? I don't think the tv, reading books or music works for me, i am too sensitive and can easily redirect my mind back to my anxiety. I am so use to multitasking, therefore my mind can be focus one thing and worry about the anxiety unconciously. dang....

Does anyone have any other suggestions? Please help me. I am desperate. I am gonna ask doctors about removing the adrenal gland. Kid you not.

Exploding...

-Shortie.

[ShortieG]

actually, no, i mean the amygdala ~~~~~~!!! I am gonna find more information about that.

Let's all have our amygdalae removed and live without fears.

-Shortie

[freakedout]

Hi ShortieG

I suffer from panic disorder agoraphobia and depression and have poor sleep. I am currently off work sick so from that point of view it is Ok, I dont have to be bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning. I no longer go to bed before 1am, because like you I 'ruminate' and think, think, think and panic and panic about anything and everything. I am always worse in an evening when my children are all in bed and I have more time to think myself up into a stew. I usually listen to music which reflects my mood, be it heavy metal or depressing slow stuff, through headphones very loud!! Usually I have dosed off before the end of the CD, ocassionally before the end of the second or third cd. It works for me. My relaxation CD makes me feel worse because it somehow makes me focus on the fact that I have a problem. I have been advised no coffee after 6pm and a relaxing bath with candles and bubbles etc but I cant find the motivation to bath and I feel a bit worthless so the bubbles are not appropriate. If you would like to keep in touch I dont mind.

Sorry if what I say is not much use, but I know where you are coming from,

Bye Louisa

[pauline]

Hi

Just some tips that have helped me with the sleeping problem and believe me i had it bad for a long time much better now though. Looking back now i would not off carried on the way i was as i was so frightend of taking tabs, i would go and get some sleeping tabs (they really do help) Also because your body is so stressed out you have got to help it heal. So lots and i mean lots of water it is hard at the beginning and yes you pee lots but it works you need to get those toxins out of your body which you are releasing as you are so stressed.

Also take Vitamin B tabs and fish oil. Don't expect it to work over night it won't but you will start to get better and once that happens so your sleep will get better.