Waking Up To A Panic Attack, But Is It?

[Melp283]

I have woken up with panic attacks before. Heart pounding, drenched in sweat, feeling like if one more thing touched me I was going to scream until my heart burst. This was different though, and I've done it as long as I remember. The heart pounding and sweat was there, plus confusion at waking up, but not the end of all terror. My psychiatrist says it is a panic attack, while my EMDR counsellor wants to test me for sleep apnea. Anyone else had this happen?

 

[Friday]

I divorced my emotions from most of my panic attacks a long time ago. My body still responds as-if, 140bpm/ shallow breathing/ blood yanked to my core/ cold sweat/ etc. ...Massive adrenaline dump... But my mind and heart are on the sidelines. For the most part.

It actually makes it harder to calm down the physiological response, because I can't talk myself out of them anymore, but it also means I'm entirely functional (walking, talking, driving, shopping, cleaning, etc,) whilst in the middle of one. It was pretty surreal at first. But, like most things, you get used to anything in time.

 

[Deleted member 28403]

A bit ago it mostly stopped, but before I had her support, and full trust to her, I would often wake up in conplete panic.

I would wake up abruptly, completely panicking, drenched in sweat and unable to differ reality from dream (nightmares :cry: )

I would stay awake for about 2-3 minutes, and then lose consciousness, dropping and waking up after around 5 minutes. It could go like that for up to 2 hours, I'd just panic, cry, shake on the bed, unable to do anything, in a complete haze, not knowing where I am, what I am and whats happening, one moment I was in a nightmare, hiding, the other I was awake and scared, panicking... It was awful... :cry:

 

[arfie]

It has happened to me often enough to think of it as pretty routine, at least for me. It is fairly certain I have sleep apnea which I have chosen to do nothing about for lack of faith in the available treatments. I snore like a chain saw and folks who have watched me sleep say my breath catches on a regular basis; that it looks like I cannot breathe when my breath catches. It has been suggested that one can expect panic attacks when they are unable to breathe.

Equally, I have had horrendous bouts with nightmares and night terrors which cause me to wake in full hyper-vigilance.

In my case, I think it is both.

 

[Biz]

This happens to my dad. He could fit in either category, being somewhat overweight and a SERIOUS snorer (therefore likely candidate for sleep apnea) and also having psychological issues, but the "panic attack" type symptoms are recent and he's had the weight and snoring issues for a long time. Plus he's had an increased stress level recently. His are probably panic attacks.

Getting tested for sleep apnea can be a long process. If you have risk factors for it, it's worth it to check it out though. Sleep is so important to feeling okay and sleep apnea can disturb your brainwaves/deep sleep.

 

[Melp283]

Thanks everyone for the input. I will say that I'm not overweight, nor do I snore (thank goodness), but I have been prone to night terrors, sleepwalking and talking. What this means as far as sleep apnea I don't know.