Sleep attacks, sleep terrors, waking up in a panic, feel like I am going to die.

As of late, aside from my usual anxiety, depression, and stress, my sleep attacks have been more frequent and scarier. I have had these for 10 years now, but they have gotten worse. I wake up literally screaming, heart racing, out of breath, dizzy, weak, and terribly afraid of death. It just happened to me about 15 minutes ago, and I basically ran out of my house in fear, from my bed. Now for the most part, I believe that my underlining stress levels are the culprit for this madness, yet at the same time I also feel that my acid reflux and allergies are apart of the problem. But its the screaming that really gets me. From last week until now, I feel like I have had a billion heart attacks, my body aches from strain and jolting awake, and my mind is weary from the major lack of sleep and relaxation. Anyone, please tell me iam not alone and that this can stop.
Thank you
best;
Autumn

Hello, i have not experienced sleep terror/attack but i can give you an advice about stop thinking having heart attack.

Basically my doctor told me that a real heart attack is like feeling that an elephant is sitting on your chest, if you do not feel this type of pain, then it's nothing, maybe it's hurting a little but your life is not in danger.
It made my life easier, because i am no longer worried, when i feel little pain round my hearth or left-side of my chest, i'm like: oh it's just one of my many muscles contracting randomly etc...

Hope it helps !

Thank you Rain, I appreciate your response and advice. You are absolutely right, it just feels like a heart attack, especially upon waking from sleep suddenly, but knowing it isnt does make me feel better faster.

peace
Autumn

Autumn you are not alone, but there is many ways to get relieve.
click me, please
It is very good start for people who fail at meditation. It will retrain your mind to do it again. For newbies; an excellent start to take control of anxiety :))

Again, thanks Dahlia for your response. I have been involved in meditation/yoga for quiet some time, however, the things I am dealing with now need more than just silence to heal the wounds of which I am bestowed. But it is a good start to recovery, once I can find the peace and time.

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Originally Posted by Dahila

Autumn you are not alone, but there is many ways to get relieve.
click me, please
It is very good start for people who fail at meditation. It will retrain your mind to do it again. For newbies; an excellent start to take control of anxiety :))

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Originally Posted by Autumn Hazel Rain

As of late, aside from my usual anxiety, depression, and stress, my sleep attacks have been more frequent and scarier. I have had these for 10 years now, but they have gotten worse. I wake up literally screaming, heart racing, out of breath, dizzy, weak, and terribly afraid of death. It just happened to me about 15 minutes ago, and I basically ran out of my house in fear, from my bed. Now for the most part, I believe that my underlining stress levels are the culprit for this madness, yet at the same time I also feel that my acid reflux and allergies are apart of the problem. But its the screaming that really gets me. From last week until now, I feel like I have had a billion heart attacks, my body aches from strain and jolting awake, and my mind is weary from the major lack of sleep and relaxation. Anyone, please tell me iam not alone and that this can stop.
Thank you
best;
Autumn

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Before I was on medication, I always woke up in the middle of the night and paced through the house because I was so damn anxious. I felt sick, dizzy and had this feeling of unreality. The majority of it was caused by hyperventilating in my sleep. Later on I discovered that these symptoms would also happen during the day, because of hyperventilation and anxious thinking. It can feel so terrifying and you feel exhausted afterwards, but these feelings will pass and they are quite common if you have problems with anxiety. There are tons of things you can do to get your body relaxed again. I needed to look around for a bit before I found the things that worked for me. These mainly are: meditation, yoga, writing down bad thoughts and countering them with positive ones. This is a very short description, but it gives you a better idea.

Hey Autumn, from another post

Dahila's suggestion works well, meditate, clear the mind. If not Guided Imagery works well. Search Youtube for a couple of videos.

I also use the KP.org Podcast for sleep

http://www.healthjourneys.com/kaiser...thfulSleep.asp

Try this before you go to sleep!


The other thing I do is play a game so I am focused on something else before I go to sleep. I play a round of golf and by the 4th hole I dont remember anything LOL!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Autumn Hazel Rain

As of late, aside from my usual anxiety, depression, and stress, my sleep attacks have been more frequent and scarier. I have had these for 10 years now, but they have gotten worse. I wake up literally screaming, heart racing, out of breath, dizzy, weak, and terribly afraid of death. It just happened to me about 15 minutes ago, and I basically ran out of my house in fear, from my bed. Now for the most part, I believe that my underlining stress levels are the culprit for this madness, yet at the same time I also feel that my acid reflux and allergies are apart of the problem. But its the screaming that really gets me. From last week until now, I feel like I have had a billion heart attacks, my body aches from strain and jolting awake, and my mind is weary from the major lack of sleep and relaxation. Anyone, please tell me iam not alone and that this can stop.
Thank you
best;
Autumn

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You know, there was a time some years ago that I went through this pretty often.

Actually, when it slowed down I actually became a little bored

Since I didn't seem to have much excitement when I was awake, I took solace in the fact that went I was asleep, I apparently was the life of the party

They stopped when I stopped fearing them

Since they happened so often, I kinda got used to them and knew they were harmless

No more fear, no more attacks.

This is my life. Geez.

Yes, its underlying stress. You need more exercise during the day, this calms the body. Now u need to calm the mind. I like watching relaxing YouTube vids on my tablet before bed, in particular rainstorms or asmr videos.

Oh I know the feeling all too well. Happened 30 minutes ago here. I battle to sleep at night. I will be fine, sleeping for half an hour and just wake up in a panic. Most times I would just wake up without panic but then my mind says "dont get a panic attack"...and that is exactly when the heart starts racing and a full blown panic attack will ensue. It is almost like I'm just waiting for it to happen every night, which is a really bad mindset. So now I've put the headphones on and I'm listening to relaxing music. Let's hope I can sleep. One night of peaceful sleep will be so great right now...but it is already 3:30 in the morning here. Makes one feel kind of lonely.

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Originally Posted by Stevo22

Oh I know the feeling all too well. Happened 30 minutes ago here. I battle to sleep at night. I will be fine, sleeping for half an hour and just wake up in a panic. Most times I would just wake up without panic but then my mind says "dont get a panic attack"...and that is exactly when the heart starts racing and a full blown panic attack will ensue. It is almost like I'm just waiting for it to happen every night, which is a really bad mindset. So now I've put the headphones on and I'm listening to relaxing music. Let's hope I can sleep. One night of peaceful sleep will be so great right now...but it is already 3:30 in the morning here. Makes one feel kind of lonely.

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It's like when you say: "Do not think of a pink elephant", but then you will definitely think of it. The only thing that use to work for me (I don't have problems sleeping any more), was replacing it with another more positive thought. It takes so much practice before it actually work, but now I sleep like a baby.

The one thing you can do is see a doctor to rule out the acid reflux/allergies as being the cause of waking up. It's a pain in the neck but I've been through sleep studies and I learned a lot about my sleep...like the fact that my legs kicking is actually disturbing my sleep up to 10 times per hour!

You are absolutely not alone in this. I go through periods of nocturnal panic attacks. In my opinion, I would rather have panic attacks all day than to have one at night. They are completely scary and come and go on their own. One way I've tried to keep them at bay is meditation before sleep. Going to sleep stressed will contribute to the frequency and severity of the nocturnal panic attacks. I have a fear of sleep so I also take medication at night to help. Hope things gets better for you.