Panic attacks at end of dreams

[Lcer]

I was diagnosed as having panic attacks years ago.  They were the typical attacks where the symptoms were heart racing, feeling of needing to escape the situation, blurry vision, nausea. But, also at this time, I was having a different sort of episode. I get the feeling in a surge of "something" that starts near my upper abdomen, and then radiates throughout my upper body. It sort of feels like a burning sensation that will move into my arms and back.  It often will upset my stomach, so that I feel ill sometimes all day, and have some diarrhea. I've visited ER rooms while having these "sensations" and I'm told they are panic attacks. Once I was admitted overnight so that I could be on a heart monitor, and had a stress test. My heart was ruled out as the cause.  I also have had, on 2 occasions, CAT scans. Nothing was found.  I also was tested for something to do with tumors in the small intestine.  Also negative. They still say they are panic attacks.  I'm taking 60 MG of generic Cymbalta, 10 MG Burpar twice a day, and generic Tenormin to stop racing heart. I've been on this combination for about 2 months. At times, I could have these attacks one after the other during the day and night. Atavan doesn't stop them.  They only last maybe 20 secs.  I've been waking up after a dream with one of these every day. Most of the time I cannot remember the dream, but when I do remember it, they are nothing in the dream that would seem very frightful.  I have googled many times to see if anyone experiences this type of symptoms, but I cannot find anyone that does. Every Doctor of have been to says they are panic attacks.  I just wish someone else could confirm that they have similar symptoms. The attacks during my waking hours seem to have stopped, just now every morning.

Please let me know if you do

[LRon]

I highly encourage you to have a sleep study done, as you could be experiencing symptoms of sleep apnea. I used to wake up instantly sitting up straight in the middle of the night, and soon realized these were episodes of sleep apnea. This was confirmed in a sleep study and I have used a CPAP ever since. No big deal. It would be good to do if only to rule it out, and they might also catch one or more of your sleep events and help you figure out what's going on. Have your doc set one up. You'll be glad you did!

[michigan07]

That "surge" could very well be anxiety. Anxiety can do a number on the body from causing nausea and diarrhea to making everything seem spacy. When we are asleep our uncounscious deals with things that are bothering us. I would look into whether there is anything stressfull going on in your life right now and maybe seek out a therapist too. Therapy has helped me more than medicine as we are directly addressing what is causing the anxiety and learning ways to cope with it.