Gad

[Adriana]

I suffer from general anxiety mainly triggered by traveling, upset stomachs, sleepless nights and fear of the unknown. I am currently going through one now, I was woken up by strong winds and I am having trouble falling back to sleep, at first it's no problem but them I start thinking all these terrible thoughts: what if I never fall back to sleep tonight? how will I feel in the morning? Before going to bed I also had cramps and an upset stomach, which did not help my sleep. But once an anxiety attacks starts I can't control it, I can only focus on my breathing and every once and a while I get the urge to vomit and I feel relax after that but then the symptoms of shortness of breath, empty stomach and pin and needles returns and it starts all over again. I have a lot of trouble stopping and attack once it starts, I take 0.5mg of ativan to help, but it doesn't always do the tricks, I don't know what to do anymore. Does anyone have any advice for a similar situation, I would be grateful for the suggestions.

[stevie]

Well, before I was diagnosed with anxiety, I was going thru 2 nights a week with little or no sleep. Nothing could calm me down because I was so worked up. There are several threads that suggest breathing techniques (and they have hyperlinks to them...). I used dramamine (generally used for traveling to induce sleepiness) and it worked. Now I'm sleeping on my own. Not amazingly, but I get a solid 6-7 hours of sleep. Writing in a journal also helps.

I hope this helps a bit... good luck!