Very INTENSE scary feeling???

gen_exodus · Post by **gen_exodus** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 9:18 pm

Hello to all! I've been lurking here and applying the program to my life for quite some time but like so many I am a work in progress with all of this stuff. So I thought I'd throw out one of my "new" symptoms to see if anyone can relate. Everyone knows it's always helpful to hear that someone else has experienced what you are feeling when it comes to the symptoms. So here is whats happening...

Just as I am about to fall asleep many times I will suddenly feel as if I am going to pass out. The best way to describe this feeling of passing out is to say it feels just like how you feel when you are falling in your dreams only I'm awake when it happens. It is Horrifying. For quite some time I've experienced the light ones where I feel that falling feeling and I just take deep breaths and it goes away. But lately it's been very intense ones. Last night was a ten. I really thought I was going to pass out. Not only did I get that falling feeling but I got this intense dizzy feeling. My whole body went numb and It felt as if I was definitely passing out. I actually said outloud.. OH GOD I'M DYING! I got up on very shakey legs. Actually they felt like led. Stumbled to get some water. Still very dizzy. There was so much dread and doom involved in this. I just knew something very bad was going to happen. The spinning and the falling feeling subsided but all day I was on high alert and felt horrible. Stomach pains, and felt like I had the flu. If I walked even across the room I would get tired and when I would sit down my heart bounced all over the place. Sometimes it would skip beats. Sometimes very irregular. I've been to the Cardio to rule out any heart problems so I am stumped as to what this feeling is and I hope others have experienced this level of intensity. So many talk about having panic attacks for 15 minutes. Mine don't end. Once I have an intense one the feeling of death and dread loom for hours, days, and weeks. I feel as if I'm at the mercy of my body when it gets this bad. I will get real cold, then real hot. I'll have feelings as if I'm going to faint. I have trouble breathing. I really don't know of any cognitive tool that the program offers to work through that intense, falling, passing out feeling. As I said before it is horrifying. Sometimes I feel as if I'm the only one who deals with this kind of stuff. I'm sure I don't but at times it feels like it. So does anyone have those intense falling, passing out feelings where you can actually feel yourself passing out and you have to fight like hell to keep from going out? Do you then deal with intense feelings of dread and doom all day long afterwards and feel like you have the flu? When in hell does this stuff finally give up and leave? The list of symptoms I've had goes on and on and I'm just exhausted with all of this.

~*schnauzermom*~ · Post by **~*schnauzermom*~** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 9:52 pm

You are NOT alone. I wish when I did have my attacks that they would last 5 minutes. I think whomever said they can only last fo 5-10 minutes OBVIOUSLY has NEVER had a single one!

I can remember hours and hours of anxiety, sometimes various levels throughout the day and night. They seemed to worsen the more I thought about it, the more I kept myself aware and scared that they were happening, the more they would happen and hang out. We become so very hyper sensitive with every little creek and pain we have, that just magnifies what really is happening to jinormus porportions and WHAM! We have all these scary body things happening. I had all sorts of things happen I thought were going to do me in...but here I am! The adrenaline in our bodies speeds everything up, heart rate, breathing, we tense our muscles, chemicals are released in mass quantities throughout our bodies...at that moment we are in "fight or flight" mode. It is a defense mechanism that is GREAT when we need it, but when we do not, it produces annoying symptoms. I noticed the less I paid attention to them, the less intense and less often they would occur.

It is our thoughts that keep this going. When our bodies do something, we get scared and the cycle continues because of fear. Fear of what? FEAR! We are just plain scared! You said you were checked by the Dr. and they did not find anything, right? It is our thinking! We are so afraid! I thought I would never recover; I had headaches, horrible stomach aches, nausea, appetite loss, dizzy, some dp/dr, out of body feelings/falling feelings, sweats/chills...the list goes on.

This stuff just does not give up and leave. This CAN leave though. You must change your thinking. It is all in the way you see life, yourself, others, etc. Do not fear the symptoms. I felt dread, doom, like I was dying, completely exhausted and at times unable to sleep. I hav gone through this hell twice. I got the program the 2nd time around and it really has changed my life. If you have the program, listen to the first lesson OVER AND OVER again. I did that just to re-enforce that this was all anxiety and depression. Our minds are so powerful, I know it is hard to imagine all this is anxiety and depression, I did not beleive it myself, but I have done the program and am recovered. You will be too. It does take time, patience and effort. Please treat yourself with gentle kindness and compassion. Realize that you CAN get your life back!
Take care! LizB

gen_exodus · Post by **gen_exodus** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 10:12 pm

Hi LizB. Thanks for the response. I'm still here reading about others who are dealing with that passing out feeling. I've been dealing with Panic attacks, and GAD for 5 years now. I've experienced just about every crazy symptom this wicked "disease" has to offer. Just like everyone I will never forget my very first time I stepped into the abyss and had my first full blown panic attack. Through the years I've battled back as hard as I can. I've been to the DR's more times than needed and each time I'm sent home feeling hopeless wondering what the hell is going on. With many of they symptoms, especially with the heart, I've learned to handle that. Once I finally went and had a complete cardio work up which included a treadmill, holter monitor and an ultrasound of my heart I no longer worry about my heart being a problem. All tests came back real good. Sure enough as always another new sypmptom takes the place of an old symptom that we no longer fear. I've had the shakes and swears so bad at times I could have been a walking earth quake. I woke up one time with my left eye completely swollen shut. No pain nothing just looked like someone beat the hell out of me durring my sleep. Got through all that. Use to feel like there was a vibrator attatched to my waist and that I was internally vibrating constantly. Got through that. Felt like I was standing on a boat sloshing back and forth. Got through that. Felt like I was floating outside of everything around me in a bubble. Got through that. This things were never triggered by any known incident and usually started out of nowhere when I was very relaxed. I'm sick of it. I sometimes don't know if I have the fight in me. I suppose I do but I just get so damn mad when something new shows up. This feeling like I'm going to pass out really has me right now. It always happens when I am at my most relaxed. Just as I am falling asleep and then BAM I'm feeling as if I'm falling. Out of no where. So intense and for no reason at all. My heart goes real screwy when it happens. My heart beats very very slow. Skips a few beats and then is irregular. As I said before I've dealt with a light feeling as if I were passing out but the intense ones are the ones that take me right back into the abyss because they are just intense enough that it hits my anxiety level so that the doom and dread comes on. When any body sensation takes me to that death feeling I'm gone. From there it is days of feeling awful all over body sensations and a constant feeling of death. I suppose I'm rambling but this does help to get some of this out. Just wish so much that this monster that came out of nowhere in my life would get a clue and realize I'm through with it and I want it gone. I've already called in sick for tomorrow because I was feeling so bad today. Now I'm afraid to lay down just knowing I'll pass out just before I get to sleep. Thats what I hate about this whole thing. When you hit that wall of intensity you know you have to face it again and again in order to destroy it but it's scary as hell. Then of course is that fear it's not anxiety related and it's something wrong like a stroke or something like that. UGH the cycle. When all else fails just take it to God and hold on tight I guess.

IAmTheCosmos · Post by **IAmTheCosmos** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 3:10 pm

I get the same feeling as you - it doesn't occur every night but usually I'll get it if I've had a particularly anxious/stressful day. This last week I've been constantly worried about going mad, and every night as I'm drifting off to sleep I'll get that falling/passing out kinda feeling, which snaps me awake again and usually into a panic (sometimes I'm afraid to go back to sleep and will stay up for hours until I finally just drift off). Often when I snap out of it I feel momentarily groggy and disoriented too, and I wake up during the night feeling the same... I HATE it!! I usually listen to some relaxation stuff before I go to bed and that has helped, though it's pretty unpredictable. This week has been hell though because it's happened at least 2 nights, cause I've been so overwrought with worry. Urgh.

stephanie621 · Post by **stephanie621** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 10:56 am

i dont quite get the passing out feeling but i do get some feeling thats similar. just when im about to fall asleep i get this overwhelming feeling come from my stomach and up to my head. feels like panic or an anxious feeling. then when i open my eyes it goes away just as fast as it started. i sometimes keeps me up all night long. it a very annoying feeling. please reply if you've experienced this. thanks.

Ashlee Helen · Post by **Ashlee Helen** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 11:37 am

Im so glad I found this post... I felt so alone especially trying to explain my feelings to anyone. Then Id get wrapped up in them, and throw out different reasons why Id feel that way, even some crazy rediculous ones. Then I start thinking about how Im really not the only one here. I feel so alone, like no one else is really there. Like unable to comprehend that people are seeing their lives through their own perspectives not mine and we are all sharing "reality"... *Sigh* I dont know if you get what Im saying or not but hopefully. Its been horrible lately. On me like a ton of bricks. Theres so many things Im afraid of, including "growing up". Not having anyone to care. And then just not feeling any connections just really makes it all seem real to me.

This last month has been baddd.

Brooke.T · Post by **Brooke.T** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:53 pm

I have them too. Usually when I alone and driving. Fills like I have done druugs or something. I try to drink some water but usually I feel like I cant swallow. Sounds silly but when I have these panic attacks I feel like My throat is swelling shut.

labourg · Post by **labourg** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 3:33 am

I get this too, but lucky me, during the day! Anyway, I can relate to that "OMG I'm dying, passing out, falling over" and yeah, they last WAY longer for me! And I know it is all in my thinking. As schanuzermom suggested, I have listened to tape 1 over and over again to reinforce it really can be anxiety. What you describe, describes me to a tee...the numbness dizziness palpitations...I have them all and I always make it through...as will you!! Keep fighting the fight and practice that positive self-talk and reassurance!!

StarRider · Post by **StarRider** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 1:22 am

It is soooooooooo good to hear that I am not the only person who gets these feelings! This is my very first post here. I have been reading for over now. I can so relate to what all of you have written. As I have been reading this morning I have been talking myself out of a severe panic attack. I have not gotten my "box of life" in the mail yet, but after all the reading I have been doing so far I am so looking forward to starting this program. I have also taken the Dr's torture tests for everything from heart to mind and they always say that everything is good.
I am afraid to go to bed at night because of the very same reason you have written. I actually have to stare at a portion of light on the wall until my eyes get too heavy to stay open. Then I just have to try to keep my mind clear so that I don't think of all the things that will send me into an attack.
Now will someone tell me that this program is going to be able to change all of that for me?

jaimek · Post by **jaimek** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 11:26 am

I get this same feeling at night too. I have read somewhere that this is normal at night. I get a feeling like my head is buzzing and I can feel myself not breathing. and it goes away when I take a deep breath. The more tired I am the worse I feel. Like during the day I'm really spacey if i'm tired. But it sounds like a normal symptom.