I'm kind of freaking out! Please help! Breathing/Sleep Anxiety?

[cnote]

So the past few nights I have been having some minor anxiety in the evenings, and it seems as if my breathing gets a little shallow feeling if I'm paying attention to it. I've been having anxiety for about 3 weeks now. I'm on 5mg of Paxil and .5mg of Klonopin before bed.

Lastnight I was feeling pretty good! I laid in bed, and told my wife I was going to cut my klonopin in half to .25mg instead of 5mg.

I laid in bed, felt pretty good. I was playing a game on my iphone until I felt the klonopin and got sleepy. I turned on my side to shut my eyes to fall asleep.

All of a sudden it seemed as if my breathing seemed to get really shallow, and then my body would feel almost numb. Not tingly... just this sensation that it's not there. I told myself in my head, it's just anxiety relax...

I rolled on my back, and tried to fall back asleep, the feeling came back... scared me.

I laid there ALL night in bed it felt like doing this ALL DANG NIGHT!

I know I had to sleep some b/c I remember a couple of dreams I had, but for the most part... I promise I bet I got maybe 2 hours of sleep MAX.

When my alarm was going off this morning... I shut it off and just laid there praying to be able to fall to sleep.. but I'd get that feeling over my body again!

Like I said, it's a feeling of a complete numbness... and almost like an adrenaline.. but im relaxed, and not really scared?

Is this anxiety? I just had a Dr's appt. yesterday checking up on my anxiety...

Do you think it was me cutting down from .5mg to .25mg of klonopin???

Thanks guys!

[cnote]

Erin626, thanks so much for writing. Yesterday evening was tough, my wife and kids and I went to my parents house for dinner. I thought that would be good for me. But I started feeling really anxious and weird symptoms over there, just felt depressed, couldnt even eat dinner really. My mom held my hand and said "youre going to get through this just like all the other times, you have so much to be thankful for." And after she said that I left the dinner table walked into the bathroom and started crying... but it felt good. At that point I took a .25mg klonopin just to help myself feel a little better til I got home.

I went ahead and upped my dose of paxil to 10mg like my Dr. asked, and I took an entire 1mg tablet of klonopin before bed.

Guess what? I slept the whole night. It made me feel really good this morning b/c I realized "look, I didnt stop breathing!" lol.

I'm going to get through this. Part of me keeps thinking "I don't wanna get hooked on these pills (klonopin and paxil) but then I have to remember... why go through this feeling like crap and fighting it? I need to take it til it's OVER... THEN I can safely wean off.

I won't be scared to wean off if I'm feeling good. =)

I've weaned off stuff many times in my life, like ativan, klonopin and lexapro, and even paxil once I believe... No issues really... just some restless nights, but without the anxiety... and maybe a few brain zaps here and there but nothing major.

Thanks for writing Erin. You are awesome.

[erin626]

I hope tonight is going better for you. I had terrible anxiety last night and didn't fall asleep until 5am. I felt nauseous and shakey and my breathing felt weird too. I ended up listening to music and playing scrabble on my phone until I was finally tired enough to sleep. Now I'm scared to go to bed tonight because I don't want the same thing to happen.

You'll be ok though. Anxiety definitely causes breathing issues. But it can't actually hurt you or cause you any real harm. Its just very uncomfortable.

[cnote]

Had my Dr. paged today... I HATE DOING THAT... But he said I can do it ANYTIME.

I told him how I was feeling the past few nights, and especially lastnights sleep from H E L L.

He told me it's ANXIETY and that the 5mg of Paxil is TOO LOW of a dose. He said it's not even theraputic.

He said to go up to 10mg starting tonight, and to keep taking .5mg of klonopin before bed.

=/

I'm hanging in there... atleast I KNOW that it's only anxiety... but man when I say "only" anxiety... it doesnt make it much better. LOL. Lastnight was SCARY and so has my early morning today.

Nobody likes to feel like they can't breath right.

Peace out for now will update you guys on my progress.

THIS TOO SHALL PASS!!!

[cnote]

Just looked at the "anxiety symptoms List" on the site... makes me feel better... look what i found...

*SYMPTOMS OF ANXIETY*

Feel like you have to force yourself to breath

Find it hard to breath, feeling smothered, shortness of breath

[cnote]

I promise If I called my Dr. he'd tell me to relax and it's just anxiety. It's so funny how this anxiety stuff works. It's one symptom after another.

Mine started about 3.5 weeks ago... 1st symptom was tingly thumb and lips.. that left... but left me in panic for a bit.

Then came the dizziness came/lightheadedness... which ended up being labyrinthitis my Dr. said.

That went away after about 2 weeks, THEN, I had tension headaches for about 3 days and a stiff neck... THAT LEFT...

Now the past few nights I've been experiencing this shallow breathing sensation... which makes me anxious kind of. But last night I didnt think about it... til I got in bed... and it started happening.

Praying this leaves soon.

I notice the less I think about it... the less I realize it and my breathing is pretty normal.

THIS HAS TO BE ANXIETY. But man it *****... nobody wants to feel like they can't breath. I've never had this before with anxiety... so it's scary.

[cnote]

Today even at work I feel like I can't breath correctly. It HAS to be anxiety, b/c I CAN breath. I have to remember that! I CAN BREATH!

[macalla]

This happens to me sometimes when im really anxious its almost like you cant feel your whole body like its a feeeling of unreality! i wouldnt worry about it i think its just anxiety

[cnote]

I don't think I have sleep apnea, b/c I don't snore, and I'm not over weight. I'm 5/7 and 130lbs.

[plomeli]

Maybe it's the medication, sometimes when I take ativan you feel like your body is relaxing and your breathing changes and my limbs feel kinda heavy!!!! Hope this helps!