Help.."mini" panic attacks as i fall asleep

[curranimal]

Hi, i am a 23 year old man whose had bad anxiety and panic attacks for a while now. I found a method that has pretty much eliminated my panic attacks, every once and a while ill have a panic attack but lately ive been having these what i call mini panic attacks almost right after falling asleep. literally a couple minutes after. its almost the same feeling as a panic attack  normally would be with the drop in the stomach and adrenalin rush then the rapid heartbeat. sometimes they happen once and sometimes they happen multiple times in the same night. I rarely(only once or twice) have waken up in the middle of the night with them, only right after i kind of drift off it hits me like a frieght-train. I have had my anxiety and panic attacks under control for a while now but these new sleep feelings are drivin me crazy and bringing up some of those feelings i thought id kind of left behind... =(  any help would be greatly appreciated. thank you!

[SleepyDan]

I have similar problems as those in this thread.

I find that I experience the majority of problems, the night after I've had a large intake of alcohol.

Chest is a little sore as I try to sleep; and I always have an elevated heart rate. I start to become very aware of my heart beat, and simply that causes more stress, more anxiety, faster heart rate.

My resting BPM is around 55. On those nights it's more like 95-100.

My major issue, is finding myself finally forgetting about my heart rate, and beginning to drift off - only to be woken up gasping for air, as I'm not breathing properly.

This causes my brain to panic - release adrenaline - faster heart rate - cycle repeats.

One other very worrying occurrence during my sleep, or attempted sleep are what I can only describe as mini-fits or seizures.

First happened around 6 months ago, just as I was beginning to drift off.
My whole body began to convulse involuntarily. I was convinced in that split second that it was a heart attack.

I opened my eyes, sat bolt up right in bed, and suddenly the convulsions stopped. **** myself to be fair (not literally) and heart was going extremely fast again.

Now these convulsions are very intermittent and sporadic, and it's almost like I can control them. I can feel them coming on, and it's very hard to describe or explain, but once I open my eyes I can control my breathing and my body, and remind myself that's its nothing to worry about.

I drink maybe once or twice a week, smoke around 10-15 cigs a day, and have dabbled in recreation drugs like cocaine in the passed but no longer.

No idea what I'm going to do, but it's nice to have a place to get it off your chest.

Dan, Male 26

[Joebizzy]

Same here 31 year old guy, that this happens to....I use to watch a funny tv show, the office for me, but recently that stopped working.....I started to think it was because I was getting out of shape, so I started excerising regularly....while this has helped me physical it has help that feeling of a heart attack as you drift of to sleep..could've saved myself all this exercise if I had just stumbled upon this website years ago...lol...

I truly relate to everyone it is truly a horrible feeling trying sleep and just as you fall asleep your woken up gasping feeling like "this is it"... 3 years later feels the exact same way as it did the first time...It does put my mind at ease knowing that this is not just me....thanks everyone for sharing your experiences over the years and thanks to whoever first started this.

Joe G.

[AlexRedding]

This happened to me for the first time tonight and It was terrifying. I'm 17 years old and it scared me so bad... I don't want to go back to sleep

[sayshell]

HERE IS HOW TO STOP IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am 60% sure this will work. The reason you are getting these is probably because you are cutting sleep while waking up. You should never be waking up on a clock, you should get up simply when you feel not tired. If you force your self to get up when you feel tired, you will have these panic attacks. This makes having a job or going to school really hard, but just try it for 1-2 days and see if it fixes it. Worked for me. Good luck!

[Angelfire1959]

Haven't used an alarm in years and years. But thanks.

[amyterry1321]

Oh my gosh!! I suffered from this same exact crap!  i mean the same exact symptoms to a T.  it was so scary and it always always happened right as i was drifting asleep.  i would feel the drop, the panic, like i couldnt breathe.  i went to the doc and she had no clue.  well after a few er visits n tests it turns out its a bit to do with sleep apnea! Of course anxiety makes it worse.  it was caused by the meds i was on (that were for anxiety) and also my weight.  i went off all my meds n dropped a few pounds and havent had it happen since.  it used to happen every night for months.  now nothing.  im not saying go off your meds!  but google your meds n see if any of them ever caused sleep apnea for other people.  if so..theres the solution :-). Good luck all!

[sayshell]

I am really good at fixing these things. I have severe panic disorder and occasional paranoid schizophrenia. I solved it completely without any meds in a week, but currently I am in the same position as you guys. I feel panic as I start dozing off, and I can't do anything because my conscious mind is turned off. The only solution is to wake up and fix the fear. The good thing is I am an emotional doctor/philosopher. I spend my whole life messing with the mechanics of emotions. I will have the solution shortly and post it up here! For now my suggestion is buy sleeping headsets that block out sound. I think a lot of the fear comes from being afraid of being startled. When we are semi-awake we are extremely prone to being startled. Having the ear protection will make you feel safe from being startled.

[Angelfire1959]

Can't sleep with the quiet. Have had the tv on for years and years now. Always set on 10 volume.