Night time anxiety

Hi and welcome!

Oh that anxiety! If it can't get us during the day...it will sneak up on us at our most vulnerable time...when we are trying to sleep.

Since you have had anxiety for a fairly long time, I am guessing that you have some coping skills that keep it managed during your waking hours...at least most of the time?

This is what happened to me. I used to have daily panic attacks, and couldn't wait to collapse into bed...sleep being my only escape from it.

Fast forward to when my treatment started to kick in (CBT therapy) and I was getting the panic attacks under control...only for them to start to appear at night!

Are you kidding me?!? That is a dirty trick for sure!

Now I still have the occasional night time trouble...(and yes I have had the waking up to the room spinning experience..terrifying!) but now I use the same coping mechanisms that I learned from my therapy and it helps to stop them almost before they start.

Deep breathing and positive mantras are my go to remedies. I will often repeat this to myself until the symptoms subside:

"I am okay...this is only anxiety/panic making me feel this way."

We have some great breathing and relaxation exercises in our Resource Guide (main page, 1st post) that you can practice, so that you will be ready if this happens again. Even if you know some already...it is always good to add new ones to your 'tool kit' :)

Keep posting with us. We are here to listen and support...and it is good to talk with others who understand!

Scaredy Cat

This sort of just happened to me...I laid down for a quick nap after watching my grandson today so about 4 and woke up about 515 in pure panic, freaking out like I was dizzy, ears ringing, scared feeling so strange....I had to talk myself thru it....telling myself it is just a panic attack, breathe and relax....I took a clonozepam real quick and seem to be doing fine now....I think the nap along with my pms time must have just triggered it...not sure b/c I am on zoloft right now and haven't had anything like this happen to me for a little while...I am starting my 6th week of zoloft...I guess I am not all the way balanced yet?????? It sucks when you think you have it beat and it creeps back up on you (the panic)...

Have you spoke to your doctor at all about the new night time attacks? I'm not sure how different things are in Australia but here in England they first of all just gave me lots of different pills inc sleeping pills. I have to be honest and say I hated the sleeping tablets, but after not sleeping for nearly a whole week I gave them a go. I only tookthemfor about a week but at least with them I got into a sort of sleep pattern. I don't take anything at all now, I prefer to try to cope with it on my own, but that's my personal choice. I'm starting a 6 week course tomorrow on coping with all aspects of anxiety, sleep, stress,panic attacks etc....so I'm keeping my fingers crossed this is going to help me! I just think the more I know about it, the more I can cope with what's happening to me because I can understand the symptoms. Anyhoo if you're having a hard time in the middle of the night and need someone to talk to, come on here! We must be complete opposite time zones to each other but I always keep my phone handy to check emails so maybe that could help you too? Hope you get some good sleep, Kala :)

Here they are.:)

http://www.healthyplace.com/

http://www.stress-relief-exercises.com/

http://www.ehow.com/video_4405003_breathing-exercises-panic-attacks.html

http://www.psybersquare.com/anxiety/panic_relax_I

S.C.

Well here I am fighting off a panic attack sometimes I wish it would just come and get it over with cause I seem to feel calmer after I have had it, i have that horrible pressure head, heart feels like its in my throat, feeling dizzy, and that horrible feeling of dread, pressure head, I have my friends here and trying to pretend I'm ok is so hard but sick of winging about it to them I just want this to stop I try to think positive but the waves keep coming and how do u make that stop :-(

Morning (well it is to me anyway!) how has it been going? Did you have the panic attack or did it go away? I hope you are feeling a bit better now. I had quite a good nights sleep for me, so im feeling fairly good at the moment. Its a nice start for the week :) now off to do the school runs, let me know how you are!!

Goodmorning all i am happy to say i have had 6 hours pretty good sleep had to get up and about early to take a friend to the airport and am back home now and i am feeling great so I'm staying positive today and am going to say i will have a great day
Cheers Net xo

Well that's really good news! I'm now thinking of heading off to bed myself lol. I had my first evening class tonight in how to cope with anxiety and the different aspects of it. Its a 6 week course, the last 2 being on panic attacks and sleep problems. This is a free course put on by the NHS. Do you get anything similar in Australia? If so it could be worth enquiring about, it seems ok so far! Anyhoo I hope you stay really positive throughout the day and have an absolutely fab one :D

So glad that you had a good day and were able to stretch your comfort zones a bit while feeling well!!! That is a huge step! This is great because in the future if doubts come up as to your ability to go somewhere necessary...you can say to yourself "Well I did it then and was brilliant...I can do this again!"

Great advice on practicing the coping skills while you are in a good place. Then you can be confident and ready when you need them!

Keep up the good work.:)

S.C.

Hey good to hear you're having a good day today :)
I agree that's it's best to do all you can when you're well to prepare yourself for when you're having a bad time....I try to do it as much as I can too.
I know I'm not going to have a good night tonight, my daughter has come down with a cold and altho she's asleep, I'll be worrying about her all night, checking to make sure she's ok. I'm absolutely rubbish at coping when my kids are ill. I just hope that the nice lot of sleep I've been getting will help me get thro tonight! Oh well, there's always ups and downs I suppose :(

Hello,
I tend to get the majority of my anxiety symptoms at night which makes it very difficult to sleep, and if I have a particularly bad couple of nights it just makes my anxiety even worse, like a negative cycle that can be hard to break out of. However, one thing that seems to stop me having full on panic attacks is my mobile phone... I have a couple of games on it that require a fair amount of focus to play, when I feel like things are getting a bit out of hand I just start playing those to divert my attention (from anxiety). Now when I go to bed, just having my phone next to me provides me with some sort of comfort.
Good luck,

James

Hi James and Kalah,
i never use to have night time anxiety as such i hate it i get nervous when night comes and the later it gets the worse it is cause at some point i know i have to turn the tv and computer off i listen to different meditations hypnosis read come on here like Kalah just so i know im not crazy.
I had a ok day had a average panc attack this morning and was nervous bing on my own which i didnt mind before.
My daughter 9 yr old was singing in the school choir today at the local shopping centre which i cant go into and that just breaks my heart her lovely god mum went and rang me when they were singing and i just cried. I dont want my poor little girl to miss out anymore grrrrrr
Well its 9pm here hope i sleep well tonight.
Thanks heaps guys u have no idea how much i smile when i come on here and see ur posts.
cheers Net xo