Panic Attack In Sleep?

[Stanlee14]

Hello all.

Last night I had the strangest thing happen to me. I've suffered from various anxiety related problems for quite a while, the latest thing has unfortunately been panic attacks. I suffered my first one in October last year, something you probably don't forget too soon. Over the last year I have slowly learnt to manage this new manifestation of my anxiety, thanks to the help of my phycologist, GP and some new meds.

I have been in a rather good head space of late although on Friday I felt my anxiety rising. Long story short, I had a terrible night sleep that night. I tossed and turned all night and had the most vivid nightmares. When I woke early in the morning, firstly I noticed I had a thumping tension like headache. I also felt as though I had fought a Bear all night long, my back and shoulders ached and I even felt a bit nauseous. All the while my heart was thumping out of my chest. I was lying in pool of sweat and felt a strange cold flush type feeling. At one point I was so cold I turned my air-conditioner off even though its quite hot here where I live. I could quite easily just put it down to a rough night sleep however, the more I thought about it the more I believe I may have had a panic attack while I was sleeping. All my usual panic symptoms were there. My first question is does any one know if its possible to have one in your sleep and has anyone out there had this, as Im kinda new to this type of anxiety.

Cheers Stan

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Stanlee14,

Thanks for your post and reaching out about your anxiety. I'm sorry to hear that you've had this new one in your sleep - I can imagine it would be pretty distressing especially given that you've never had one before.

It is absolutely possible to have a panic attack in your sleep. They (unfortunately) can happen at any time of the day. While sometimes we may not always recognise why it's started, it sounds like for you it might have been the nightmare that could have triggered it.

and for me - yes, absolutely. While I haven't had one in my sleep for a long time, I used to have them straight after nightmares. It would wind me up so much and I'd find it impossible to settle or go back to sleep. I did find that managing my anxiety during the day, as well as trying to stay as calm as I could with the panic attack helped.

Hope this helps and gives you some reassurance 🙂

RT

[SCoo]

Hey stan

I’ve recently been diagnosed with panic disorder and GAD. i too have had panic attacks in my sleep... they are really scary. They used to wind me up so much that I couldn’t get back to sleep.

ive recently started to use a meditation app that has really helped me get back to sleep if I do have one. it’s called headspace.

I hope you are all good. Anxiety is terrible but I’ve found with relaxation techniques and counselling my nighttime attacks are slowly decreasing.