Jolt of panic right before sleep!

Dailyobsession · Post by **Dailyobsession** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 8:06 pm

I have this experience almost nightly where I am relaxed and feeling confident that there will be no panic and then as I start to drift off there is this reflex that jolts me with a burst of panic and I wake up almost rested for having had a moment of sleep and then the panic cycle begins. I will then go through the positive dialogue to talk myself out of the attack only to be visited yet again and again going through the same pattern of back and forth rest and fear. Does anyone have any suggestions. I have tried my breathing, tapes, theanine, gabba, unisom, boring reading. The wheels just keep on turning.

Michael John · Post by **Michael John** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:24 am

Daily: Here is a variation on the theme. After a rather sleepless night two nights ago, the anxiety kicked in and was concerned with everythibg from fear of death to questioning existence and what is life, who am I etc. Fell asleep hard last night early and woke up at about 5 AM today. My wife had the TV on because sometimes she cannot sleep. I awoke to a commercial for a tv surround system. Bam, my mind kicked in about remote control waves which could cause cancer and here we go again. I am talking about seconds here. I just woke and thought what a great sleep and wow, the power of the human mind to think negatively is amaszing. I am going out for a morning run to laugh. My personal coach suggests turning these negative thoughts into something funny and I will be working on that today. Hard to do with space waves? Any suggestions and does anyone have these types of fears? It seems that it really is all about control and the matters that we truly cannot control, we want to desperately control. If only I could convincingly let go and let God. You will get through this too! Another day for trying our best.

Dodger · Post by **Dodger** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 1:59 am

hello....I have had these feelings as well....I thought they were everything from sleep apnea to cardiac arrest. Its frightening when its happening because we so desperately want a reason. I have come to beleive there is a reason....its the anxiety. I think that we start to drift to what we think is sound sleep but we arent quite there and the body is caught between sleep and awake and the mind backfires.

I have been laying with my son and noticed it has happened to him as well almost the feeling as if you fell off the bed. And I know that he is not stressing just sleeping. I think that even when we sleep our minds are still working...dreams come from that place and so do those warped fears. I cant tell you how many nights I feel like I didnt sleep at all cuz of the dreams.

I wish I had the magic answer to stop this from happening but like every other anxiety based body symptom I have had from heart palpiations to feelings of passing out to these jolts have all gone away the less I recognized them.

Im telling you I have stressed about this and so many other things its crazy sometimes......it can consume me and it scares the begeebers out of me but I have to say that through all that tense and terrifying stuff....Im still here. Didnt die didnt go crazy.....so I guess I have to start to believe the truth.

Good luck
Dodger

jugray · Post by **jugray** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 2:22 am

I think it comes from the fact that the brain doesn't distinguish between what's real and what isn't real (unless we tell it to). In fact, professional athletes have been hooked up to machines that monitor their heartrate and brainwaves when they are participating in training and when they are just visualizing the event and the same exact physiological symptoms took place in the body. Amazing! If you apply that to people with anxiety imagine how difficult it is for us. Our minds are always busy we are continually obsessing over our thoughts either real or imagined. Unless we stop and tell the brain this isn't real, this is just anxiety and then practice our skills learned through the program we will go crazy or end up possibly ill. This might sound weird but we actually have to be assertive with ourselves. Why not? We are learning to do it with other people. It is about control, but it is control over our own thoughts, not some extraneous factor. We are what we think. Once we get control of our thoughts. I mean real control not just temporary, I believe we will experience a sort of calming experience. At least I hope. I am one of those insomniacs and early risers. I hope this helps. Good luck everyone. Keep the faith.

Alexis · Post by **Alexis** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 4:02 am

okay, i get it...i hav ethis, too. i try to read when i go to bed, something nice, not technical, work related, bill related, etc. just a book, or catalog, magazine, anything, adn i start about 3 hours before bed, relaxing, i know there is lots to do...but do less taxing, mind taxing things prior tobed..if possible, drink...herbal teas...really , and if you have to, put honey and lemon in it, very relaxing...it takes time to LEARN to relax, put on relaxing music, or if the tv is on...have the volume lowered, make sure you have no work related stuff in the bed room...pile it somewhere else, and if you work outside the home, DO, when you first get home ..change your clothes and shoes, it helps...i know then start dinner or read the mail, phone messages, and email, after the kids are in bed or after you ahve checked homework, packed lunches forthe next day, whatever...you get the idea, rearrange the arrangements....try...and take deep breaths, through the nose and let them out through the mouth. and exercise...earlier...it helps relieve stress...etc..
i do this and it helps, not a cure, but it sure works after about tyring this a few times..you get used to feeling less stressed.

Mary Wargo · Post by **Mary Wargo** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 4:41 am

Years ago when I had some very bad insomnia I woke up with a jolt - wide awake suddenly- and just thought it was the morning adrenaline telling me it was time to get up for the day. I got up, got dressed for work, had my tea and just as I was getting ready to leave the house for work I looked at the clock. It was 1:00AM in morning! Boy was I confused! That was the start of my insomnia and appointments to sleep disorder doctors etc. It has since subsided thank God but at the time I was starting to wonder if I would ever sleep again.

sleeplessMom · Post by **sleeplessMom** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 4:54 am

What you describe has happened to me too, and not just at the beginning of night...it can be at any time. My therapist also worked in a sleep clinic and she says it is a result of just high anxiety in general, then when you let your guard down, your body or mind feels there is danger. Anxiety is a primitive emotion, and if you believe in evolution it probably had an evolutionary advantage. Say you lived in a cave where lions came by every night and you had a family you needed to protect. In the day you would be on alert for danger, but you would probably feel this in your sleep too, and would jerk suddenly to make sure the lions weren't there. Going to sleep itself would cause anxiety because you would always be worried that there was something to fear. I just finished Tammy (from the StressCenter.com)'s book "A Time to Sleep" and it offers an interesting perspective on creating a new sleep attitude. Time and patience is key (but is so very hard, I know when you are exhausted). I could send you the link about ordering the book if you are interested.

Mary Wargo · Post by **Mary Wargo** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 5:34 am

SleeplessMom - The connection between the anxiety and the fear is interesting. My anxiety is definitely linked to my fears but I've never been able to decipher if I'm just afraid of my anxiety reactions or if I actually have a fear of a situation. Sorry to go off on a tangent but this is my overthinking going into overdrive this morning.

SandyZ · Post by **SandyZ** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:57 am

I have a fear of sleeping alone. My husband goes out of town on business with his new job and this time for 3 weeks. I have NEVER been alone thru the night and have in the past had some problems with anxiety but not for years. I now have this fear. I have someone spending the night with me now but i am worried to try it by myself even though I have the tapes and skills I need I am still afraid.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Diggy · Post by **Diggy** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 3:58 pm

Great advice , so many different but positive ways to look at the situation. I myself have this at night, i drift off for what seems to be hrs but really is like 10 or 20 mins, jump up with racing heart fear that i am dying. I am learning to ignore it, its been going on for over a year and i am not dead yet ( thank god) i am sure its stress related, we work all day, have to tend to our mate, kids ect....