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Panic attack as i fall asleep

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MamaHopeful

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Just as I am about to fall asleep I am jolted awake by a huge surge of terror and panic. Adrenaline floods my entire body and my arms go totally numb. I get ZERO sleep because the cycle just keeps happening.

I calm myself and then get jolted awake by terror.

I've tried xanax and clonapin and they didn't work at all and in fact made it worse. I'm so beyond terrified.

Has anyone else experienced nights like this? Just full on panic attacks on repeat waking you up nonstop???

What can I do??? It's beyond relaxation techniques because it is waking me up after I've relaxed myself enough to fall asleep.

Any help is welcome. Please. I cannot keep living this way.

Michelle
 
Yep! Had that for years. I went to a behavioral sleep therapist who helped me retrain my brain to accept sleep as a good thing because I associated falling asleep with danger. Who knew!? That really helped. Then I started doing trauma therapy. Between the two it's knocked it down probably 85%
 
You know whats funny? It happened to me last night after I wrote that! It gave me the giggles -- karma baby!
But here's the difference between back then and now. Now I know what it is, why it is happening and how to ground myself. I write it out - usually on here- and then I do some meditation and if it's really bad take a xanex. I don't go to the drugs first because I know I have to get it out of my head or they won't work. I've found that for me the act of getting it on paper helps get it out of my mind. It's like releasing it into the ether. Then some grounding exercises or meditation. I have a system now so I can usually get past it in about an hour. Huge improvement because in the past it would take several hours to get settled down.
 
I started to take propanalol at bedtime when I was getting anxious before sleep. I can't remember if it worked because I was sleeping. :) But, I think it helped to quiet the nightmares although it didn't eliminate them.
 
Hey, sorry for what you're going through.
I've had it too - the adrenaline surge like someone's tipped a bucket of cold water over me. It effing sucks.
Neurofeedback, which is brain training, has helped.

The other thing is, have you ruled out physical causes? It may not be, and in fact probably isn't, physically caused.
But... those are usually easier to treat, and this is a common neurological symptom that could be lots of things. Just thought I'd put it out there.

(If you want the whole science explanation as to why this happens, I'm happy to oblige.)
 
I don't have full blown panic attacks but sometimes when I am in bed and ready to drift off, I get a panicky, anxious feeling that doesn't last too long where my heart rate amps and my chest tightens.

I mark it up to my mind and body relaxing and quieting, distractions are gone, making room for subconscious fears to arise. I try calming myself through deep breathing and reassuring my inner child but, damn, I wish there were a way to make it stop because once it happens, the exercises are more of an afterthought.

Maybe deep breathing and self soothing would help as a preventative??
 
I used to take Prazosin for that until I developed an allergy. Now I listen to a book on tape with a timer. I listen to books I've already read and liked, so if I miss some I know what happened. I get the audio books from the library or Audible, and there is one reader who's voice calms me and puts me to sleep quickly now.
 
Thank you so much everyone for these replies.
I have started therapy and my days have been improving little by little by little. Just repeating, "This is PTSD, you are not insane," has been the biggest shift. For MONTHS I thought for sure I was completely insane and broken in the brain forever. Truly. The intrusive thoughts and intrusive images had me feeling like I was slipping into a terrifying and inescapable insanity.
My biggest hurdle is still the sleepless nights that arrive sometimes along with nightmares. When these nights happen I feel like my brain cannot slow down which causes me to have panic attacks so severe I vomit.
It's like the moment I slip into sleep, my brain brings up all of the flashbacks and trauma and fears I'd been ignoring during the day while I was busy.
I. Cannot. Sleep. for more than 10 minutes. I wake up in a full blown horror state.
It seems to be worse around my period. Sorry if that's TMI. But the first nights of my period these nonstop panic attacks and nightmares seem to ramp up. Even things in my day that I didn't think were scary are suddenly in my dreams and become nightmares. The worst nightmares. Like today we went to pick out a bunny for my daughter and now my nightmares are of the bunnies and my trauma all together. I'm tired of this PTSD stealing my life this way.
I'm looking for someone on here to say they've been here too and I'm not alone - and also let me know this is just PTSD - I'm not insane.
I'm looking for soothing reassurance.
Thank you so much!
 
Oh totally. I did that for years. I still scream myself awake 3 or 4 times a night. If I don't concentrate on listening to my book on tape, my mind races and I can't sleep. I have 2 or more nightmares a night. This is after 6 years of therapy, coming here and working on it. I am much better because I use the coping mechanisms that I've learned. The book on tape. For awhile I used Prazosin, and my doc wants me to work with an allergist to see if I can't take it again. It is a blood pressure pill that keeps your body calm, so when you have the nightmares, you don't react, wake up, or startle. For me it continued to work during the day, and kept my constant startling down.

What you're talking about is the world of PTSD. This is what it can do to you. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to learn coping mechanisms and calming routines that help with the symptoms while you work on trauma. It can get lots better if you work hard at it. You are not crazy, it is your illness. I'm sorry I can't be more soothing, because it takes a lot of hard work to get past. Along the way there are meds that can help, cannabis helps some people, meditation, which takes awhile to work up to 20 minutes, works really well for some people, myself included. A service animal helps. I trained my mastiff to perform many tasks that made my life better. You can do this, you got yourself through the trauma, which means you have the strength. Not every day, but some days.
 
thank you.
i'm just exhausted and get so upset when my body gets in the way of my recovery like this.
last night I kept waking up from my legs moving wildly as soon as i'd fall asleep.
I even took a video of me sleeping last night because I was so confused with why I couldn't sleep.
I'd fall asleep within seconds, and then my legs would start moving wildly and then I'd shout out for help and wake up.
I'm doing CPT therapy and on my second visit with the therapist. Praying it will help ease these nights.
 
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