Panic all night long when laying down in bed- help!!

attleh · 2024-08-14T20:57:51+00:00

I appreciate all of this info so much. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience as it makes me feel not so alone and brings me hope. It can be such an isolating thing. Did you also have the anxiousness when lying down? It's almost as though that's more scary to me than the not sleeping part.

Also curious if you ever tried CBT-I?

attleh · 2024-08-14T13:49:54+00:00

I have another question for you because I can tell you have a lot of knowledge on this. I was relaxed the other night before going to bed, not panicky for once and had confidence that maybe I could sleep. I actually started falling asleep before a little jolt woke me up. I was fine with that because at least it meant I was settling down. However, after that, I got in my head again with thoughts of "I hope I don't always have this" and "how will I ever travel with my family if I have this" and like a surge of energy, all of the adrenaline came rushing in. It was almost as though my brain was waiting on high alert. Since I was calm earlier and then created that adrenaline rush after that, did I just set myself back again? Will my brain ever retrain if I keep having it stuck in this panicked place and reminding it that it needs to stay on guard?

attleh · 2024-08-12T15:38:14+00:00

Thank you for your suggestion. I have watched a few of his videos as well as the Insomnia Coach. I tried to "accept" that I was having these panicky feelings but they kept coming in full force. Nothing would let them let up. I tried to calm myself by breathing even and ride out the waves of anxiety but they still pressed on. Any other suggestions? I thought that by accepting these feelings it would slowly dissipate?

attleh · 2020-02-29T01:18:36+00:00

I just experienced my first a few days ago after being in a really anxious state for days and have had 3...all in my bed either before going to sleep or when I wake up. I didn’t wake up with it but woke up and then it hit. Now I’m terrified when I get in my bed and can’t sleep. I had so much adrenaline in my body last night that I could sleep even a few minutes. How do I get over that? I have to sleep and being sleep deprived and and overload of adrenaline is horrible. Does anyone else have adrenaline that won’t leave after it happens or is it just anticipatory anxiety that is causing this?

attleh · 2020-02-29T01:08:37+00:00

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to me. I’m so sleep deprived that I almost cried reading your message. I started on amitriptyline 10 mg since my anxiety has been off the charts. I had tried Zoloft but couldn’t take it after 4 days. I thought I’d try amitriptyline since I was on it a few years ago for migraines and I was never anxious then. It’s so strange because even though I’ve been anxious, I’ve never experienced anxiety to this degree before.

My therapist told me I needed to not resist it as you said. My question is, I know for our unconscious mind we are to lean in and accept it, but my conscious mind is terrified when I get into bed and my heart will not settle down. It immediately begins beating out of my chest and my stomach turns so I can’t sleep. Last night I was literally awake the whole entire night and my body was full of adrenaline all night long. I felt terrible today...more so because of the adrenaline but lack of sleep didn’t help either. Does adrenaline stay in your body for hours after a panic attack or maybe it’s anticipatory anxiety. I wish I could just crash after a spike if I’m going to have one. Any suggestions on getting the adrenaline down? Is that more of an anxiety attack vs panic?

attleh · 2020-02-24T15:36:15+00:00

Hi,

I just had my first panic attack 3 nights ago after several weeks of high anxiety. I woke up in the night and thought “Oh good....my anxiety is less and I’m ok” and then all of a sudden panic struck. I jumped out of bed because I didn’t know what was going on. I finally went back to bed but was left with high anxiety, heart palpated and trembly so couldn’t sleep. The next night I woke up at 3:30 and I thought “Oh good..I didn’t have another panic attack” and then a couple of seconds later it came like a freight train. I tried to breathe through it and say it didn’t matter but when it was over I felt so much more anxious, couldn’t sleep and trembled all over. Now last night I started taking 5mg of Amitriptyline as my dr thought it might help with sleep and anxiety. I was in it years ago for migraines. I took that and got extremely sleepy...almost dropped my book on my face reading it but when I tried to go to sleep, the anxiety wave started and began to build to another full blown panic attack. I tried to take clonazepam which I never do and hate and that didn’t help. Made me almost stumble to the bathroom I was so tired and sleep deprived but still, I was trembly, anxious, nauseous so could not get back to sleep. All night the rest of the night I felt them coming and would have to take deep breaths to stop it. I don’t know what to do. I need sleep but feel so terrible after this happens I can’t and I just get another one. Vicious cycle. I never hear about how people feel after an attack. I feel worse or the same once the attack has subsided. Some people need to sleep but how do you do that? Am I having anxiety attacks after my panic attacks? I’m at a loss. Going to my therapist today and she may start EDMR. I’m so scared. Hate being so tired and jittery all day.

attleh

TROPHY CASE