hamster lady
11-04-11, 11:41
Hi everyone
I have been having a real problem with panic attacks at night and terrible nightmares ever since my anxiety problem started back in August. I have nightmares and bizarre, vivid dreams almost every night and I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going mad!:ohmy: I have also had nights when I have woken up suddenly gasping for air, sweating and with my heart racing like mad. I have sometimes woken up very suddenly with a jolt with a terrible loud noise in my head. This usually causes a night time panic attack which I find very difficult to cope with because I can't really distract myself at night like I do during the day when I have a panic attack. When I saw my doctor about my anxiety last October she said that the nightmares were probably due to anxiety and that it will probably settle down. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to have happened and in the last week my dreams have got even more frightening but I have been very stressed over the last few days. Some of the dreams are like something out of a horror film and are absolutely terrifying and seem to have a recurring theme of death. I have also been dreaming about my poorly son a lot so I think my stress about his illness is coming out at night.
Also since last August when this all started I have noticed that when I am trying to drop off to sleep I get really bizarre images and hear people talking, like mini dreams. Some of the images are scary too, maybe I am going mad! They are not hallucinations because my eyes are closed and this sometimes also happens if I have a nap during the day. I have started to wonder whether my anxiety has caused me to develop a sleep disorder, I feel like a freak - I never used to remember my dreams before I had an anxiety problem! I have wondered at times whether I have a problem like sleep apnea because of the waking up unable to breathe and my husband says I snore occassionally, I have also read that this can cause your heart to race at night.
I was just wondering whether any of you guys have a similar problem with your sleep and is there anything that helped you get over it? I have tried taking to Kalms tablets before bed but they don't seem to work and I don't really want to go down the route of sleeping pills. I am not on any medication for my anxiety at the moment so I can't blame it on that! I absolutely dread going to bed now, if I have a really bad night it affects me all the next day and I feel really panicky and keep thinking about the bad dreams. I'm really fed-up now I just don't know what to do to stop my bad nights.:weep:
I have been having a real problem with panic attacks at night and terrible nightmares ever since my anxiety problem started back in August. I have nightmares and bizarre, vivid dreams almost every night and I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going mad!:ohmy: I have also had nights when I have woken up suddenly gasping for air, sweating and with my heart racing like mad. I have sometimes woken up very suddenly with a jolt with a terrible loud noise in my head. This usually causes a night time panic attack which I find very difficult to cope with because I can't really distract myself at night like I do during the day when I have a panic attack. When I saw my doctor about my anxiety last October she said that the nightmares were probably due to anxiety and that it will probably settle down. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to have happened and in the last week my dreams have got even more frightening but I have been very stressed over the last few days. Some of the dreams are like something out of a horror film and are absolutely terrifying and seem to have a recurring theme of death. I have also been dreaming about my poorly son a lot so I think my stress about his illness is coming out at night.
Also since last August when this all started I have noticed that when I am trying to drop off to sleep I get really bizarre images and hear people talking, like mini dreams. Some of the images are scary too, maybe I am going mad! They are not hallucinations because my eyes are closed and this sometimes also happens if I have a nap during the day. I have started to wonder whether my anxiety has caused me to develop a sleep disorder, I feel like a freak - I never used to remember my dreams before I had an anxiety problem! I have wondered at times whether I have a problem like sleep apnea because of the waking up unable to breathe and my husband says I snore occassionally, I have also read that this can cause your heart to race at night.
I was just wondering whether any of you guys have a similar problem with your sleep and is there anything that helped you get over it? I have tried taking to Kalms tablets before bed but they don't seem to work and I don't really want to go down the route of sleeping pills. I am not on any medication for my anxiety at the moment so I can't blame it on that! I absolutely dread going to bed now, if I have a really bad night it affects me all the next day and I feel really panicky and keep thinking about the bad dreams. I'm really fed-up now I just don't know what to do to stop my bad nights.:weep: