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Question about anxiety attacks

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Posted 2/20/2008 4:04 PM (GMT 0)
Hello everyone,

Last night I'm pretty sure I had a panic attack in my sleep! It was unpleasant, to say the least. I woke up and my heart was pounding, I was sweating profusely (although a few minutes later I became very cold), and my mind was racing with weird, repetitive thoughts. The thing that confuses me is that the feeling I had when I first woke up didn't feel exactly like panic, though, it almost felt like I had a ton of frantic energy and I felt like I wanted to get out of bed and jump around. However, the energetic feeling went away after a minute and I then felt lots of anxiety.

Does anyone else have the "frantic energy" symptom, too? I haven't seen it described on the symptoms lists exactly the way I experienced it.

A bit of good news is that I was able to calm down within a few hours and I actually fell back asleep. I feel slightly disoriented this morning, but I think I'll be okay.

Thanks everyone.

Laura
Posted 2/20/2008 5:19 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Laura,

Not to diminish your panic experience. It sounds like night sweats to me with panic. How old are you?

Best, Cary
Posted 2/20/2008 5:39 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Cary,

I'm 29. What's the difference between night sweats /w panic and panic attacks?
Posted 2/20/2008 6:27 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Laura,

I'm 43 & have had a few episodes of waking totally drenched in sweat, then chills & then panic, frantic. It was determined I am perimenopausal (I also have GAD). You are young to be in this state - but not unheard of. With hormones & thyroid medication I no longer have the sweats. Do you ever have day time hot flashes? Do you have any reason to think you might be in early menopause? I still have panic attacks but never wake to them drenched in sweat anymore. I'd consult with Dr. were I you if it keeps happeninig. Let me know how it goes.

Best, Cary
Posted 2/20/2008 6:54 PM (GMT 0)
I don't have any reason to think I'm perimenopausal, but it has been suggested to me by a few people that I get my thyroid checked out. I have a few other symptoms of hyper-thyroid. I'm getting a complete physical next Monday, and I'm going to have the doctor order me up some very comprehensive blood work.

I should mention that my anxiety attacks started right after I ran a 1/2 marathon a few weeks ago. Combine that with my Ulcerative Colitis (which is currently in a mild flare), and I'm wondering if I threw my body totally out of whack and need extra nutritional support or rest to recover.

Also, I've had a few panic attacks during the day and there was no sweating involved with those, so what happened last night was a new symptom.
Posted 2/21/2008 5:59 PM (GMT 0)
I get frantic energy when I'm anxious... but never in a panic attack. I always feel like I'm going to faint or die or something... and I bargain with God to let me live...

For example... Walmart... 3 days ago or so... buying paint..waiting for it to mix. I haven't been in a Walmart at 5 PM when it's that busy in 2 or 3 years. I start feeling hot and sweaty... the lights are bugging my eyes... I feel like i'm hallucinating and suddenly the surge of "fight or flight" shoots through me endlessly. I feel like I can't stand anymore and i'm going to faint. According to my roommate I turn ghost white and I'm soooo HOT in the store... I think I'm going to die right there so I race out and the doors seem like miles away... and I can't get out fast enough... so I leave my roommate in the middle of Walmart.. each leg feeling rubbery.. when I get outside... I sit down on a bench and hold my face and catch my breath as I prolly forgot to breathe and feel like I can't breathe. I go to my truck, put the seat all the way back and curl up in a ball trying to settle from the panic attack. I end up driving home, get on the couch and so exhausted I pass out for an hour

That's just one of the many panic attacks i have. Some are different than that but I feel the "flight or fight" sensation for absolutely no reason... or reasons I have yet to figure out

I would say it sounds definately like an anxiety attack... which isn't anymore fun than a panic attack ... if you could describe maybe a little more what you were feeling during the anxiety/panic... did you get that fight or flight feeing at all?

I always feel disoriented and darn near demented the next day ...

I used to have night panic attacks... where I couldn't fall asleep forever because of them... repetitive thoughts racing through my mind and jolts of adrenaline making me want to escape my own bed for no reason at all. The repetitive thoughts were awful and I'd sweat so much!

I know there are people on here that wake up in the middle of the night in a panic attack too. I've never had that.

Some people as a mental health counselor once explained to me... are predisposed to panic disorder (a parent or close relative in the family may have had the disorder)... and may not ever have it come out until something traumatic happens in their life...

However there are people that have just one panic attack in their whole lifetime and never really know what it is... and it never develops into anything at all.

I hope this helps... let me know how you're feeling

TG~
Posted 2/21/2008 10:09 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for responding, TwiggyGal. Your post was very helpful. The more I've been reading about anxiety attacks vs. panic attacks, the more I'm pretty convinced that this is what's going on. Over the past few weeks I've been having these episodes, sometimes when I'm sleeping and sometimes when I'm awake, and they definitely go on for a long time. They tend to vary in intensity. Sometimes I feel almost normal, and other times I feel like I'm going to freak out (kind of in the way you describe, but not as severe). I don't really feel like I"m going to die, I"m just afraid that I'm going crazy.

Both of my parents have panic disorder and I have always thought I'd escaped the ol' family curse, but I guess that's not the case. I think this was all triggered by the fact that I ran a 1/2 marathon a few weeks ago and that I also just started having flare-up symptoms again from my Ulcerative Colitis. I always get anxiety with Ulcerative Colitis flare ups, but not usually this bad.

I've been having issues with racing thoughts that come and go, but my friends and co-workers say that my affect seems normal aside from me telling them that I feel like I'm losing my mind all the time :)

One question that's been on my mind, though: I've noticed that many people who get anxiety also have depression. I haven't really felt depressed about this whole thing, just worried. I guess I've had a few very short bouts of it (i.e. less than a few hours of feeling down), but nothing major. Do some people manage to get through bouts of anxiety without getting depressed?
Posted 2/21/2008 11:57 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Laurer

It sounds like a panic attack to me. My first panic attack was in my sleep and I jumped up in panic, heart racing, sweating, trembling, feeling as if I was going to die. Luckily a brown paper bag was on the dresser and my friend gave it to me. I breathed in and out it and the attack subsided. Thats a good remedy for panic attacks.

All the best.

GT
Posted 2/22/2008 12:10 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Laurer i do get he panic attacks in my sleep where i too wake up in a frenzy! It is terrifying! Mine start out like i'll wake up and all of sudden i feel this funny feeling that starts from my head and goes all the way down to my toes.Then i usually sit up to get a hold of myself by then the sweating would have already started.Once i sit up my heart starts feeling its going to jump out my chest then i just feel this flush chilling feeling.It's almost sickening! Then my stomache will start hurting while my heart is still pumping hard and i'm sweating.Most of the time as the feeling starts subsiding and i start taking deep breaths i ususally have to use the bathroom really bad!(number2) then i'll calm down and fall back to sleep!Sometimes i also get the feeling Twiggy described too,where i want to run out of my house or something and start screaming! Also as Cary mentioned,i have had irregular mencies all my life and i was also told i had poly cystic ovarian syndrome,i dont know if you've ever heard of that before? But like she said if you are premenopausal for any reason or your hormones are off some kind of way,you can also wake up feeling this way.Believe it or not my OBGYN told me that alot of women have had these feelings of panic and fear for years not knowing that thier hormones being off balanced can cause this.I took a hormone pill briefly while trying to get pregnant and i had never felt better in my life. I mean i slept better,I had lots of energy,my skin cleared up,my mencies regulated,i was having a little unwanted hair growth on my chin and it even stopped,i just felt better all together.My panic attacks even stopped.The only thing about it i was just so dizzy and nauseated! So i stopped taking them and haven't been on any hormone meds since but i have been thinking about starting back.Anyway you will be suprised at how your hormones can play a big part in everything from weight gain to anxiety!
Posted 2/22/2008 12:26 AM (GMT 0)

There have been a number of times where I've had panic attacks and experienced no depression at all.  I almost just have to laugh it off because it is so frustrating! (I'll pick out something funny that happened, like buying too much of something in a store because I wasn't paying attention and so on)

Sometimes I get depressed with no panic at all too... it just depends.

It could be hyper-thyroid so I would definately get that checked.  I've had my thyroid checked three times and it's normal, so I know this darn disorder is not going to be as easy to fix as I had hoped.

Also, about 90% of my panic attacks or panic episodes... I don't think I'm going to die... I think either that I'm going to go crazy or faint.

Your panic / anxiety could have been triggered by the grueling 1/2 marathon race... definately something to discuss with your doc

So you've been feeling panicky a lot lately?  How often do you get your attack/episodes?

TG~

Posted 2/22/2008 5:03 AM (GMT 0)
I'm 27 and I get those things too. I definitely think it happens when Im really tired. The sweating and then getting really cold is exactly how it happens to me. Heart pounding happens to me too. Hope you feel better
Posted 2/22/2008 1:20 PM (GMT 0)

Hi, when i was first diagnosed with anxiety disorder, they thought it was hyper throidism the two disorders systems overlap alot. As for panic attacks in my sleep, I get them everytime I have a bad dream usualy wake up feeling realy alert anxious and scared and then jus fall back asleep. I wake wiv the feelings from the dream somtimes which isn't nice, yesterday i dreamt my friend was getting raped and woke up wiv alot of feelings i really rather not have .

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