Worried about Exaggerated Startle Response

I always get very easily startled, specially when I sleep, any noise (a telephone ringing, a voice, a dog barking) will send me into panic mode, making my heart beat very fast. Then this symptom is followed by fear of dying of damaging y heart every time I get startled.
For the last two weeks I had my mum in and out hospital and I have been very worried about her. Yesterday my daughter had surgery and we stayed in the hospital overnight. Last night I was extremely and my daughter fell sleep early. The nurse was in and out changing drips, and one of the times when she opened the door and walked in I got startled and because the room was dark I felt very disorientated and afraid, my heart was beating very fast I though I was going to have heart failure. I tried to calm down but then for the rest of the night I felt jittery and edgy the minute I started fallen sleep again I kept waking up startled with a very panicky feeling. I feel very alone with this problem, I would like to hear if any of you have experienced something like that or similar. Thanks.

Hello Star. Please fry not to worry too much about this as you have other real worries. This is typical hyper arousal because of extreme anxiety and fear. your body is in overdrive and can't switch off and relax that's all. The more attention you give to it the worst it gets. When it happens breathe in to a count of 7 with your stomach rising and breathe out to a count of 11. Practice this diaphragmatic breathing as much as you can. You'll feel better....promiseX

Thanks for your answer, I will practice the breathing exercises and hopefully they will help me deal with the problem. Thanks again

I tend to startle very easily when I'm over the top with anxiety and worries. Berating exercises really help me a lot. It helps to calm me down and it shows me that I am capable of controlling my response,
. It's not the event ( the startle ) that causes us to be anxious. It's our thoughts about the event that create the fear and the panic.
Breathe.

I agree about the thoughts making things worse, of course when the heart is beating so fast I think, "This is it, this time is really going to happen" and I will not want to move just in case, my body will freeze and extreme fear will take over. It's a terrifying experience, I had panic attacks in the past and suffer from GAD but this feeling in nothing like it. I would like to know if there is people out there that have experienced this. Suddenly waking up sitting up and feeling your heart beating really fast for three minutes and gradually going down, feeling extreme fear and not been able to sleep after the event.