Please help!!!!!

[anxiousNatl]

I go to bed at about 10:00 . for the past couple pf weeks I wake a 2 am with an adrenaline rush and in panic . I get up pace around worry that there is something serious wrong with me scared to death. my heart rate is high and BP is high . i have diarrhea and just a general mess. Ive read this has something to do with adrenal glands and cortisol? I don't know. does anyone else ever experience this? will it go away? I have a sleep study scheduled but it won't be for another couple of weeks. i'm at me wits end I want to sleep like I used too! :-(

[Anne1221]

A sleep study will tell if you have sleep apnea or another sleep disorder, (I have had many sleep studies and I have two sleep disorders) but what you describe sounds like anxiety which is a different story. You need to get your anxiety under control. Your doctor gave you Lexapro but you are scared to take it. But you will need to sleep for your sleep study because they need to monitor and watch you sleep to know what is going on. When you wake up and you feel "something is serious wrong and you are scared to death" that is not a sleep disorder, that sounds a lot more like anxiety. You need to get your anxiety under control. During my sleep studies they always want me to sleep.

[anxiousNatl]

i know i have sleep apnea and I've read it can cause anxiety and depression and HB

[Anne1221]

I have sleep apnea too, so they will diagnose that in the sleep lab. It makes me feel tired in the morning as I stop breathing. I hope it goes well for you! I think the sleep study will be VERY helpful for you and give you lots of information/results you didn't have before.

[Nowuccas]

Hey anxiousNatl,

When I suffered from sleep apnea I would awaken in panic when my breathing stopped, due to the collapse of the airways.

There is an inexpensive solution worth trying first; the sleep mask at http://www.amazon.com/SnorePro-X-Snore-Sleep-Apnea-Strap/dp/B00PHKL5K2/ref=sr_1_205?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1442132535&sr=1-205

Otherwise, a CPAP machine, providing positive pressure via a strap on mask, to keep the air passages open; Google supplies, or I believe Amazon have some.

Other things you can do:

Avoid alcohol at night.

Lose weight, if overweight.

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The following came from Yahoo!:

One: Take a sheet of paper and divide it into four columns. In the first column, write down all the negative, distressing or anxiety-provoking thoughts that are going through your head.
If you just know you feel bad and are not sure what you’re thinking, these questions may help:
What was going through my mind just before I started to feel this way?
What does this say about me? What does it say I can/can’t do?
What does this mean about me? My life? My future?
What am I afraid might happen? What is the worst thing that could happen if this is true?
What does this mean about what other people might think/feel about me?
What does this mean I should/shouldn’t do?
What images or memories do I have in this situation?

Read through your list of thoughts and circle the one you find most distressing. This is the thought you’re going to challenge. (You can always repeat the exercise for other thoughts later if you like.)

Two: In the second column, write down all the factual evidence that suggests your circled thought is true. Be as specific as possible, and only include facts, not opinions. For example, if your friend Sally said a particular dress made you look a little fat, don’t write, “I look fat” (this is just Sally’s opinion). Don’t write, “Sally says I look fat” (this is overgeneralising). Write something like, “Sally said I looked a little fat in the green dress.”

Three: In the third column, write down any factual evidence that suggests your circled thought is not 100% true. To do this, you can ask yourself the following questions:
Have I had any experiences that show that this thought is not completely true all the time?
If my best friend or someone I loved had this thought, what would I tell them?
If my best friend or someone who loves me knew I was thinking this thought, what would they say to me? What evidence would they point out to me that would suggest that my thoughts were not 100% true?
When I am not feeling this way, do I think about this type of situation any differently? How?
When I have felt this way in the past, what did I think about that helped me feel better?
Have I been in this type of situation before? What happened? Is there anything different between this situation and previous ones? What have I learned from prior experiences that could help me now?
Are there any small things that contradict my thoughts that I might be discounting as not important?
Five years from now, if I look back at this situation, will I look at it any differently? Will I focus on any different part of my experience?
Are there any strengths or positives in me or the situation that I am ignoring?
Am I jumping to any conclusions that are not completely justified by the evidence?
Am I blaming myself for something over which I do not have complete control?

Four: In the final column, try to come up with some “alternative” or “balanced” thoughts that are more factually accurate than those in the first column. These should take into account all the evidence you’ve just gathered. You can ask yourself the following questions:
Based on the evidence I have listed, is there an alternative way of thinking about or understanding the situation?
Write one sentence that summarizes all the evidence that supports my thought and all the evidence that does not support my thought.
Does combining the two summary statements with the word “and” create a balanced thought that takes into account all the information I have gathered?
If someone I cared about was in this situation, had these thoughts, and had this information available, what would be my advice to them? How would I suggest that they understand the situation?
If my thought is true, what is the worst outcome? If my thought is true, what is the best outcome? If my thought is true, what is the most realistic outcome?

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Anti-anxiety techniques:

Learn, become proficient in, and employ acupressure tapping / EFT, and progressive muscle relaxation, ( http://www.drcoxconsulting.com/managing-stress.html ) using whichever you find most effective.

Give the Meridian Tapping Technique / EFT a good tryout, to see if it helps you. It is free via mercola.com or www.tapping.com (13 free videos), or www.eftuniverse.com or www.emofree.com or one of the many YouTube videos. Google: "YouTube; EFT videos".
Professionally instructed is generally preferable (Google: therapists; EFT; [your location] or mercola.com has a locator). - There is a version for use in public places at http://eft.mercola.com (if you like, you can claim to have a headache, as you employ the acupressure massage / tapping on your temples, but you would then be restricted to subvocalising: saying it to yourself in your mind: "Even though I have anxiety, I deeply and completely accept myself)."