waking with palpatations and feeling faint

[molly36]

Hi there yet again i have had another terrible attack of palps that woke me up ,i think i was just going to sleep or just fell asleep im not sure .The first time i awoke i felt kike my throat had closed so i awoke from that but tuned ove and went back to sleep but not long after that i awoke again with terrible eratic heat beat and it going very fast ,i felt faint this time with it sort of like my bp had dopped ,then i couldnt catch my beath and my heart started to go out of control it was acing.I ended up at a&e and had ecg and they said i was sinus tachicardia .So it came down and went back to normal ,they said yet again a panic attack .But i said i felt faint when i was having the palps but they just said there nothing wong it was a bad panic attack.Its the faint feeling and beathlessness im woied about .Ive had echo about 3 yeas ago and a 7 day tape on 3 years ago but had no symptoms when it was on.Ive had umpteen ecgs .I Really am worried about why this felt different .Its like my heat goes in to a really irregular rythm while im asleep and this what wakes me up to terribly fast beats .THIS only seems to happen when im sleeping o going to sleep but not every night.I do still have flutters and ectopics duing the day but they dont scare me as much as this night time attack.I really hate it but all i keep being told is it is anxiety but these attacks are so forcefull and scary. Has anyone else suffered this way kind regards molly

[Help Me]

Hi Molly
I have had the same thing there is nothing worse then when you are about to fall asleep and just when you are semi conscious it kicks it..
When i get it I feel like I am going to swallow my tongue its so scary, and I will be really tired and desperate to go to sleep but I keep feeling like I am choking and cant breath.
I know its mad, but sometimes when this happens I get up and do some cleaningg, it really helps..
Or try some nice music in your room before you go to bed, herbal things on the pillow.
Just try and remember its all the mind, so if you train your brainn to think the music or watever will stop you having a panic attack then it should work.
I'm suffering major panic attacks at the moment myself and I think the more we all keep reminding ourselves about the mind thing the more it will sink in.. haha
Hopefully !!!!
Good luck and have a lovely nights sleep tonight ..
xx

[ashrelive]

I'm in a waking at around 2-3am thing lately. I can relate to waking up to a racing heart. That happened again tonight.

I have a routine I go through - I make chicken soup, which helps to calm me down for some reason. One thing new I tried tonight - I took my heart rate - 10 second count. I didn't factor out what the beats per minute are though, but instead remembered whatever the count was, then took the count again in a minute or two. The beat count was less by a little. Somehow, knowing that helped, and each time I took that count, it was less and less. I *think* my entire *episode* was reduced from doing this. It's like, as soon as I realized that the count was getting lower, that helped quite a bit. The beat was only "1" less, or so, on the second count, but that was enough to start the calming down process, or help it along, perhaps. This seemed to fit in with the suggestions I've read about "rating" your panic attack on scale of 1 to XX whatever, and how that goes down in time.

I also start to do cleaning around the house, anything to bring my mind back to normal helps. Finding something to do that is "normal" and requires my mental attention, but nothing stressful, just something normal, or even boring, that requires some, but not *alot* of thought.