night time panic attacks or heart problem - terrified!

[hamster lady]

Thanks for your replies guys. Oh dear, I am not getting on top of this at all. I have had a dreadful few days with waking up form nightmares with my heart pounding. Last night was terrible, I woke up from a vivid dream about 3 am and my heart was pounding, I tried to calm down but I felt really scared and my heart rate stayed quite high. I was terrified I was going to have a heart attack and spent the rest of the night dropping off into a fitful sleep and then I kept waking up from weird dreams with my heart going like the clappers. I was just lying there terrified feeling my pulse with that awful claustrophobic feeling of just hearing your heart beat in the silence of the night time. I am so worried that there is something wrong with my heart and that I am destroying it by it racing and pounding all night.

I am thinking about going back to the doctors and asking for a 24 hr holter but every time I go they just say that it is just anxiety. I am still worried that it could be sleep apnea but I have read that people with apnea normally have high blood pressure and mine is normal at the moment. I also sometimes wake up feeling like I can't breathe properly but I think that might be anxiety as well because if I get panic attacks during the day I feel like I can't breathe properly and it is very scary.

I just want this to end and to be able to sleep like I used to, it is ruining my life and I am finding it hard to cope during the day because I am so exhausted. Annoyingly my heart is fine during the day, I get the odd palpitation but my heart rate doesn't go crazy like it does at night. Are any of you guys going through the same thing at the moment, is there anything that helped you? Should I go on beta blockers or meds to break the cycle that I seem to have got myself into. I am really stressed at the moment about my son who is poorly with M.E. and I don't think it is helping as I never feel relaxed because I'm so worried that he isn't going to get better from his M.E. , he is only 10 years old and he is being robbed of his childhood.

Any help or advice on my nasty nightime problem would be most appreciated, I am getting desperate now and I'm terrified that I am going to have a heart attack because of all my stress and my heart going weird at night. Many thanks in advance, hamster lady

[rockydog]

Hi there I have difficulty at night and often wake with a racing heart and nightmares. Yu are right it is coming out at night because you have to be strong during the day. I also have ME/ Fibromyalgia they are not sure which.
Try and get some comfort from the fact that you have had this for quite some time now ? any heart condition would have escalated by now. Your blood pressure is also good and would be unlikely to be that low.
When mine first started i would jump out of bed and panic and my legs would go weak and i would stumble really scary. Then i went for help and was told to "not jump out of bed" in the middle of the night and cause an adrenalin rush and get wobbly legs lol So i tried lying in bed thinking no this is nothing to worry about its just that i have been anxious while asleep and breathing fast and this has made my heart speed up.(however i was still terrified) and layed there trying to breathe slowly and slow my heart down.(not easy) Until the day i worked out that was just adding panic to it by trying to control it. The day i thought oh here it goes again im going to just lie here and feel it beat fast without trying to stop it, it improved. It does still happen but not as frightening.
You really wouldnt have a night time heart problem and it really wouldnt go on for this long.
You are living with a tremendous stress and this is causing you to let go at night that is all. x

[hamster lady]

Hi rockydog, thanks so much for your help and advice and I'm sorry to hear that you are going through a difficult time at the moment with your anxiety and M.E./Fibromyalia. I have been trying out your suggestion of not jumping out of bed immediately so when I woke up in the early this morning in a fright with my heart racing, I just stayed in bed and tried to ignore it and my heart rate went back to normal quite quickly. I am still waking up every night with horrible vivid dreams, nightmares and my heart pounding or racing and I must say it is really gruelling, I used to love going to bed before this all started! I am do worried that I am going to have this for the rest of my life but I am hoping that when my son is better that it will go away. I have been a bit concerned that it could be sleep apnea that is causing my symptoms but my husband had insomnia the other night and he said that I wasn't snoring and struggling to breathe all night, I am even quiet when I am having a horrible nightmare! However, I do sometimes wake up from a nightmare feeling like I can't breathe properly but I think that is probably anxiety.

I have tried so many different things recently to help my sleep. Kalms night tablets made nightmares worse because it contains Valerian, rescue remedy night had no effect, hot milk and chamomile tea didn't work and neither has lavender oil sprinkled on my pillow. I had look around on the internet yesterday and I found that there is sometimes a link between panic disorder and nightmares but I don't really want to go down the sleeping pill route either because my doctor said they are addictive.

Have any of you guys found something that has really helped you cope with your anxiety at night? I wish I could just stop feeling panicky when my heart races at night but I find it really difficult because it just feels like there is something really wrong when it is pounding and racing, I think I have ended up with a terrible health anxiety about my heart now, damn palpitations!

I would really like to know how many of you guys have similar problems at night with your anxiety. It just seems hard to believe that anxiety can cause such horrible problems with sleep, it just feels like it is your heart that has gone wrong, just awful!

[Lindy]

Hello, I've had several episodes like you describe in my life. It's just beyond horrible, it's self-induced torture, I can definitely relate and I totally feel for you.

I have previously been prescribed sleeping tablets, a short course and have found that once I've had one or two nights solid sleep that things return to normal. It's just hitting that reset button. It's would say it's definitely worth trying, just to break the cycle.

However, the last time I took them they weren't effective and I woke up on sleeping tablets and was extremely drowsy and anxious at the same time. I guess nothing works forever.

I am having weekly psychotherapy and continued work with this is the only thing that has reduced them. When I have a bad episode I schedule some extra sessions. It's expensive but worth it for the sleep! I realise you are a carer to your son, and it would be difficult to find the time for some therapy, but you should really try to take an hour a week to try and help yourrself if you can. I think the first stop is to go back to your GP and see if they can suggest anything more. Hope you are feeling better soon x

---------- Post added at 14:17 ---------- Previous post was at 14:16 ----------

One more suggestion - hypnotherapy! I had a couple of sessions to help me with sleeping - it worked a treat. However I see this is a fix-up rather than a long term solution. It's just too expensive

[TelBoy]

Hi There

Hmmmm) nightmare aint it) I have what you describe as well.. it is the most frightening thing you can have happen to you. I wake up in the middle of the night as though I am not breathing and in panic,, each time this has happened to me I always think, this is it I am going to die this time...Even if you had ten of your best friends next to you at the time, it doesn't make any difference you really feel as though you are going to the next world
Don't feel alone, you are the same as many of us, but of course when it happens to you, you feel that nobody can help you and you are never going to make it to the hospital in time that's how I feel when it happens to me,
does that ring any bells?

[firebluetom]

Hi All, it's been a while since this thread was active, but I'd like to ask for an update from the people that have been suffering back in 2012. I have similar symptoms; waking at night with racing heart, dreams causing me to wake up. My doc gave me a Buspar prescription at a low dose to help with the anxiety, but I don't think it's working too well. I've also had some digestive problems and an uneasy stomach with my anxiety and think there's something wrong with me. But each time I visit the doctor, they tell me there's nothing wrong with me; I even had a blood test and it determined I'm healthy.

Maybe some of you kind folks can tell me how you dealt with the sleep loss and how long it took things to get back to normal?

[akommers]

Hi guys. Any updates from anyone or Hamster Lady? Sounds waking up at night with racing heart can be one of the following:

-Thyroid Problem
-Adrenal Fatigue
-Anxiety
-Sleep Apnea

Thyroid problems and Apnea are easy to diagnose. Have doctor do a Thyroid workup including antibodies. Then have a sleep study for apnea. Please let me know how its going.

I am dealing with similar issues. I have been diagnosed with a thyroid problem and apnea.

I wont get into more details if this thread is dead.

Thanks
Adam