panicking every night,very stressful

[woody77]

For the last week or so I've been feeling more a.d more tense as the evenings have gone on. By bedtime I'm exhausted and long for a restful sleep,but each night now I'm waking after about an hour with racing heart, hot sweats and absolute feelings of terror, I try to breathe calmly and relax by reading or doing a sudoku etc. I often am awake with new waves of panic for about 3 to 4 hours. I'm exhausted and disheartened. I ve suffered with anxiety for over 20 years now and am particularly phobic about my heart being damaged. I have a responsible job in a gp surgery and know all the theory about how to cope but I can never put it into practise! I'm sorry to ramble on but I feel at the end of my tether at the moment:(

[sugarplums]

aww how awful for you, have you ever tried night time kalms?
i know it's so difficult to think logically when the anxiety takes over, even though ive had anxiety for years , it's so hard to remember common sense and that nothing awful is going to happen, my anxiety tends to be worse in the mornings, and whenever i panic i think im dying or going to faint.. even though ive had the same feeling many a time before,.
hope you feel better soon x

[Anxious_gal]

I had this for a bout month, it was very stressful, waking up every hour, feeling scared and never getting enough rest.
I find it's much worse when you are stressed out.
now I wake every 4 hours or so but only for a few minutes, sometimes when I wake my heart is racing, so I assume I might have had a nightmare. I can also wake up covered in sweat, gross lol
I can also wake up feeling some what confused because naturally I'm still half asleep.
I find a drop of lavender on my pillow can help, and doing some thing relaxing like reading can help.
i don't like the cold weather as I wake up feeling very cold which doesn't help, I do have an electric blanket with a timer so that helps.
I've never been a good sleeper so don't have many suggestions, I do hear a 40 minute or less nap can be good .
also keep your room extra clean and uncluttered, I find a tidy room much more calming, i also have some photo cards of relaxing scenes stuck to my wall with sticky dots.

[gaaron]

hi mishell

I can't sleep. I wake up every hour. x

[Anxious_gal]

How long has that been happenIng ? I always had a problem with falling asleep.

[gaaron]

months! I try to stay awake during the day so I can sleep at night. But I end up staying awake for about 24hrs because maybe I'm overtired. Then I sleep for a few hours and then the whole thing starts again!

[blueangel]

I have problems with sleep as well. I can usually get to sleep, but wake up early and then find it very difficult to get back to sleep again.

[Ayame]

are you taking anything to help calm your symptoms, if not maybe you should go see your gp as some medication can help your symptoms ease off and then you might be able to get a good nights sleep. maybe you can try listening to some nice music before you go to bed, take a hot bath or have a milky drink.

[eloelo]

i have the same problem too, i go to bed sometimes feeling nice and relaxed but then a couple of hours later i wake up with a huge panic attack and cant get back to sleep again, its frightening, and i hate it.
I have recently been trying alternatives, before i go to bed i put on some relaxing music, drink some herbal valerian tea and use aromotherapy oils massaged in to my soles and chest.