Phone Call in the middle of the night...

[sleonetti]

Last night about 4 am the phone rang. It only rang once...I didn't even get a chance to answer it. HOWEVER....for about 45 minutes I couldn't move and my heart beat harder and faster than it has ever beat before. I am very good at controlling panic attacks, this one blindsided me. It's been years since I have had an attack with the rapid heartbeat. Normally a bad attack just involves not being able to breathe for me.

Today was just a waste though. My husband and I went to buy me some shoes, that was stupid. The whole experience was painful. Ever have a long, painful panic attack with everything going in slow motion and you feel like at any second you could lose consciousness?

I've always had problems with waking up at night and not being able to get to sleep after a bad dream waking me up...I have a lot of bad dreams and night sweats, at least four or five times a month. I don't know why that stupid phone call set me off so bad. The caller ID didn't even show who did that.

Right now I am at the point where I am just exhausted. After I crash from the anxiety the depression sets in and ruins a few days of my life.

A friend of mine told me that I need to be on mood stabilizers. All the doctors ever prescribe is antidepressants that seem to make things so much worse. I guess I should do more research on mood stabilizers.

Thank you for letting me rant. It keeps me from wanting to just sit on the floor and sob. I could have another horrible attack any second...that scares me so much.

[Missblondie]

"Ever have a long, painful panic attack with everything going in slow motion and you feel like at any second you could lose consciousness?" I Actually had one of those panic attacks today, it scared the crap out of me, Especially since it came out of the blue, I think maybe things effect me without me knowing. And If i don't have some place to feel comfortable so i can focus on breathing and getting over it - then it gets worse. are you the same way?
Its Been really hard.

-Elle
<center> "If I just Breathe, every little piece of me, You'll see, everything is all right." </center>

[sleonetti]

A lot of times I will just leave a store if I feel like that because I am scared that I could pass out and fall. Getting in the car and just breathing helps so much. If I can't get out, I will go find a corner or an aisle and just lean against something and breathe.

If it's really bad and there's a lot that is making me anxious, all the little shots of adrenaline keep on coming for several minutes...it's just horrible. Sometimes I find myself sort of delaying the attack, I've gotten very good at this! But, later it hits me so much worse.

Sometimes it is best to just get on the floor and cry and kick and scream...then I can just get it out. But, in public there is no way to do that!!

Today, I think the slow panic attack was because I was forcing myself to be in a store when I shouldn't have been. That and there were little children bouncing all over the place...lots of people talking very loudly.

Oh, to answer your question...if I don't feel comfortable, it gets infinitely worse. Holding in the tears is hard and I know that people can see that on my face! Normally I can hide feeling anxious around others, but sometimes when it's really bad and I think I may actually scare people! Once I had a waiter ask if I was mad at him because I looked uncomfortable. LOL That made me anxious about being anxious...probably got some OCD thing in my brain going, too.

[Missblondie]

Yeah, Today was very hard for me, i had a huge panic attack than what i'm used to. When i get them, Everything is in slow motion. the screaming of children and random people talking.. it all sounds like its underwater and panic, its pure terror. I Have to have some place to chill out, thats quiet and feels safe. Malls are the worst for me.
Being anxious about panic attacks and general anxiety is normal for me when i go out, I always just ignore it.. But it usually happens when i feel unsure about where i am going and how i will feel.
Growing up is really hard with this.
I'm only 15, and i've had panic attacks for about 3 years.

-Elle

[thriver]

<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">Last night about 4 am the phone rang. It only rang once...I didn't even get a chance to answer it. HOWEVER....for about 45 minutes I couldn't move and my heart beat harder and faster than it has ever beat before. I am very good at controlling panic attacks, this one blindsided me.<div align="right">Originally posted by sleonetti - 21 January 2007 : 02:05:50</div id="right">
</td id="quote"></tr id="quote"></table id="quote">

Hearing is the first sense to become active as one wakes up, and noise consequently is the most likely thing to wake a person (vs light, touch, taste, smell). This likely jolted you awake; but when we are asleep, our muscles are usually unable to move.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

"Physiologically, it is closely related to the normal paralysis that occurs during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, also known as REM atonia. In that, some scientists and physicians believe it to be a "natural" effect of the sleep cycle. Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain is awakened from a REM state into essentially a normal fully awake state, but the bodily paralysis is still occurring. This causes the person to be fully aware, but unable to move."

[sleonetti]

It wasn't sleep paralysis...I probably could have moved if I wasn't so scared I would die! This was so different, it was just a really, really bad panic attack.

I've had the sleep paralysis problem before, believe it or not. This wasn't the same. Sleep paralysis was a problem I had about seven or eight years ago at least twice a week! It's interesting that you mentioned it. Every six months I have it happen now...which is good because that scares me quite a bit, too.

[honeybee3939]

Hi

Take a look at thse links they may help hun,


Night panic
Nothing like a panic attack at 3:30 am
Sudden nighttime attacks
Waking Up With A Panic Attack In The Night
Bad Morning !!!!!!!!!!!
Panic attacks during sleep.
It's Back!
Waking Startled at Night
Panic Attacks....During Sleep
panic attack in sleep

Love

Andrea
xxx




"If you have a worry turn it into a problem, you cant solve worrys but you can solve problems"