Re: Horrible nighttime anxiety
Originally Posted by
JulieJay92
Does anyone else experience horrendous mid night panic (my diazapem doesnt help during the night!)
As it happens, I did last night, and it was the first night in ages!
I had been thinking in the day that I felt 'off' and I probably wouldn't sleep well. Well, my brain was listening and I slept horrendously. I had a night of what I used to have every night - which is to wake up after a short while with my heart pounding, nausea, sweating, dry mouth etc (nocturnal panic attacks) and that carries on throughout the night in sleep/wake cycles..
I advocate getting up and moving about, and that's what I used to do, but I couldn't be arsed to move last night, so I kept doing my abdominal breathing which got me back to sleep, but then I'd wake up again because of the amount of stress hormones in my body. The deep breathing turns the fight or flight off but it doesn't change what's already in your system, right? Those have to be burned off. Also, my dreams are very vivid and like all action movies - so more stress hormones!
In my case, it's anxiety. In your case, it will be a combo of anxiety and meds withdrawal. I've had to research the Flaxseed but it seems you're correct, but it especially affects women who are 60 plus. I'm 50 plus, and it's interesting because I have an opened bag of the stuff in my fridge which I haven't touched since because my heartrate went fruitang after taking it and it was the only thing I'd done differently, so this is very interesting!
So, next time it happens - get up, move about. Discharge the adrenalin, cortisol etc and when you start to feel your body relax (and you will) then you can try to go back to sleep again. But the number one tip is not to worry about it happening. It's very unpleasant, but it's not harmful.
So yes, I've had years of nocturnal panic attacks, but by doing what I did to help myself, I got them under control, and so can you.
So I go back to see why it's happening and I know my anxiety is higher at the moment. I've been watching too many Midsomer Murders and not doing enough work on my mental health. Plus, cake.
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A thought is harmless unless we believe it.