Nocturnal Anxiety Attacks

[intrasearching]

How many of you have experienced sudden awakening late at night/early in the morning with anxiety, high mental energy/agitation and intrusive thoughts?

Last night I was slowly nudged awake by cycling thoughts that were giving me a lot of anxiety. The thoughts were intrusive as I could not at all control how they were like... raping my brain (that's what it felt like...) and causing me pain.

Thanks for the input/just reading this. I am lucky that I am not totally in shambles, but I am pretty sick of this constant fear/always being ready for serious danger and these random bouts of anxiety/panic.

 

[GeorgiaOnMyMind]

Yes, this happens to me too, mostly in the middle of the night. It's very hard for me to think rationally late at night, so it's very hard for me to "reason" myself back into a state of calmness. I find that the best thing to do is to get up, turn on a light, and read or watch TV. Otherwise I just fall right back into the nightmare cycle.

I wish I had advice for you, but I'm very new to this. I hope it helps to know that you're not the only one, anyway.

 

[JustBe]

I just saw this thread and I know where you're coming from. For me, the best thing is keeping something on in the background like music or the TV or an audiobook.

Having my dog snuggled up against my back is the biggest help.

 

[ms spock]

I have this as well as high anxiety and panic attacks as well.

 

[Toria]

Me too - normally about 4am or so and then I don't stand a chance getting back to sleep. The odd thing is I don't tend to get them during the day - just the ones that wake me up.

 

[ms spock]

I wake up about 4.30am each morning. It is strange.

 

[WillyKat]

I've been having this the past two nights. Monday night, I had a hard time getting to sleep and around 2am or so, remembered that I didn't take my hypertension med and melatonin. After that, I didn't sleep at all until maybe 4:30 or so. Had to get up for work at around 6:30 and had anxiety--about really stupid stuff--all day.

Last night. Exhausted and went to bed early. Slept well until about 2:30am, then had never ending cycles of anxiety. I'd fall asleep for an instant and wake up with a start. I fought hard to remember to breath, to go through my cycle of thoughts that get me oriented. Nothing worked. Again, fell asleep only after about 4am.

I feel so crazy when this happens. It seems like every single irrational thought that I've ever had comes to the surface to bother me. I just hate it.

Doing a little better today, but it's not even noon yet.

 

[intrasearching]

WillyKat, I definitely hear you with all that. I always feel crazy because of all the stuff my hypervigilant mind picks up on. And that in turn makes me panic because I have a phobia of insanity. Lovely how things get compounded like that.

What has your experience been with the hypertension meds? I was prescribed some recently but only took one and put them away for good because I also have a phobia of drugs, regardless of the type.

I am really curious... You mentioned feeling crazy. Do you often have the suspicion that you're losing your mind or is it not that serious for you?

 

[ms spock]

Doing a little better today, but it's not even noon yet.

Every little good bit matters. Celebrate the baby steps.

 

[WillyKat]

Intrasearching,

I feel like that at times, yes. The BP medicine...well, my doc says my BP is now at a level he's comfortable with. Otherwise, I don't notice it affecting my mood, no side effects, etc.

 

[Toria]

I am really curious... You mentioned feeling crazy.

I once read that one of the symptoms of a panic attack is the feeling that you are going mad - I can relate to that because your mind whirs and you cannot stop it - like a roller coaster. I said to the Dr the other day "I just want to be able to switch my brain off" and that's how I feel - if I could stop the thoughts I would feel so much better.

 

[WillyKat]

Toria,

That describes it pretty well.