sleep!!!!!!!!!!!

Mental health
1

Hello to whomever is awake at such an ungodly hour,

I just need to sleep that's all, just tried and cant get a wink, cant take anymore beta blockers and have nothing else to help...I find my panic attacks particularly hard to cope with as they happen at night, you know when your supposed to calm down and go to sleep.....foe the past few nights Propranolol has been working its magic making me all tired and fuzzy headed and I've been drifting off safe and sound.....now granted yes I've been waking up with a jump at 3-4am because of a panic attack in my sleep, which I've never had before, but i was certainly getting more sleep than i have in a long while.

Only tonight they don't seem to be working, got my normal fuzzy head and tiredness at 10pm so came to bed, tried to sleep.....i have lavender and everything......only this time i had a panic attack, but not a normal one because obviously with the Propranolol my heart wasn't going a mile a minute and i wasn't hyperventilating, i was just having one.........so i got dressed, put my shoes on and went for a walk......after around 30 minutes i came back, got into bed with my fuzzy head and sleepiness and have tried now for 2 hours to sleep and yet i have another panic attack, just like the first one.......

Now with it being 1am i cant exactly go for a walk, start cleaning the house or exercising as:

1) My partner is fast asleep

2) I have neighbours

3) I'm supposed to be winding down to go to sleep

4) I know i need sleep or I'm going to feel worse in the morning

5) It's not exactly safe to be walking to streets at 1am

so by all means i am wide open for suggestions, because NO WAY am i going back to sleepless nights, feeling anxious or like I'm going crazy.......I just cant do it again.......

At this moment in time I feel like crying because i hate relying on pills to help me sleep when i could sleep perfectly fine when i wasn't taking them, but the facts is i need the meds to help me get over the panic attacks.....bloody ironic.

My CBT doesn't come in till the 26th of March which seems like forever away.

I just need help PLEASE!!!!

Danielle xxx

2

Ok everyone I have been HORRIBLE that last couple of days, I have never ever had so much panic and anxiety,when you guys get or have anxiety has it ever lasted all day and you felt completely hopeless and that you are going to oh crazy or lose your mind and end up in a mental institution. I have been having this all day today and it sucks so bad....

I fell like I am never going to get better

Thanks Kari

3

Yes i had this when i was on citalopram 10mg and only for 5 days, i felt like my whole mind had just cracked and id gone off the scales........went to go see a different doctor and he put me on venlafaxine 37.5mg x2 a day, beta blockers Propranolol 40mg x3 per day and a weeks worth of Diazepam, that was last week and things have gotten much much better, its only tonight that i cant really sleep and the panic attacks are kicking in again, I'm on my 5th one in 5 hours and counting, just seems everytime i close my eyes to go to sleep i have another, which is pretty hard as the propranolol is making my head fuzzy and me extremely drowsy, but everytime a panic attack comes i wake right up, its a vicious cycle in in now, one which i doubt I'll be able to break now tonight.....

Danielle xxx

4

Dear Danielle/Kari,

Yes panic attacks,sleepless nights,worry,or any combinations of the above all make this a real living nightmare for us anxious types,yet we still get up the next day to fight another round,down and up off the canvas,a punch-drunk boxer,tottering around the ring waiting for the killer punch.

I don't know the answers only that somehow we get through,I guess I'm lucky in that now I'm the other side of 60,I tend to doze off more than I used to,so kinda nice in a way,when I was younger I could do my martial arts,football or cricket to burn off that energy that contributed to my anxieties then,a hard days work was never enough I had to be doing something extra,out and about on the move,then and only then could I sufficiently ease off and get a decent sleep.But I never have managed to weed out the anxiety or depression completely,with or without medication,at age 18 I was put on Phenol-barbitone,slowed you down so that 10 yds seemed like 100yds,slept ok,but struggled to wake up,couldn't be bothered with anything.

Like I say I now do as much walking as I can,get the air,take my meds (pregabilin) near bedtime,and I sleep after 4 hrs reading,browsing,crosswording etc.then I fitfully sleep till 8.30,all being well.

So in answer to your questions can't actually give you a straight one just hang in there till sleep comes,or search the Net for info on products that may help you sleep,I found some that help,just browse around,sleeping aids etc,you'd be surprised what you'll find,panic attacks,well!, that is all about the right medication and breathing,again I found some really good breathing techniques that helped on the Net.

Anyway,I feel a nap coming on,all this writing,I'll be up till 02:00am if you need someone to talk to,in the meantime I wish you a good day! Hang in there!

Regards Malc

5

The suggestions I am making here deal with insomnia not panic attacks. I suffered greatly from

insomnia until I went to a sleep clinic on Long Island, New York where I live. I consulted with a

specialist there, a PhD. He prescribed progressive muscle relaxation exercises. You begin by sitting in a comfortable chair with your hands in your lap and your feet flat on the floor. You tense each muscle 15

seconds and then relax 15 seconds. Starting at your neck, bend your head back towards the top of your back. Hold it for 15 seconds then relax. Push your shoulders up towards your ears. Push your eyebrows up as high as you can. Squeeze your eyes shut tightly. Pull the corners of your mouth back as though

grinning. Clench your jaws. Squeeze your fists while resting your arms in your lap. Squeeze your fists

while bending at the elbow. Push your feet flat into the ground. Raise your toes off the ground with heels on the ground. Curl your toes under your feet. He also recommended meditation-like exercises where

you focus on a sight which gives you pleasure. ie. sitting on a beach watching the waves break on the

shore. or lying in a hammock in some peaceful glade. You do need to practice these techniques daily.

The more you practice the earlier you will begin to feel relaxed. It has worked for me and I hope it helps

you. I take 7.5 mg. mirtazapine at night which also helps me sleep and nothing else. As you probably

know it is antidepressant, not a sleeping pill. The usually dose is 15 mg. but as that potency made me

sleepy during the day and at the MD's suggestion I cut the table in half. The mirtazapine is for mild

depression. with no side effects.

6

Ok all, just tried the whole writing down why i think my panic attacks started and what happens during a panic attack.......it brought on a panic attack!!!!! I cant do it!!! I had to give up and I'm not even half way through so clearly that's not gunna work for me........ Ok so my panic attacks are about during dying ok, I'm scared of dying end of.....i cant get over it because its inevitability, and this is what i panic about every single night, I'm not religious even tho i have tried to find god it hasn't worked......my panic attacks are justifiable and i cant see how I'm ever going to get over them......im sorry but i just cant.....this is the most I've ever talked about them......and i cant 'embrace' them because i cant find a reason to calm myself down......many people have tried explaining their way of thinking and it just doesn't work for me, I'm at a loss, and writing all this in panic because i just don't know what to do anymore!!!! I don't know how anyone can help me, it all seems pretty hopeless........im sorry about the rant but that's what it is, because now I'm panicking, and no amount of medication seems to help.

Danielle

7

Hi there Danielle. Like malcolm, i am an anxiety sufferer since childhood and am now 63!!! You name and i feel i have had it. Re sleepless nights, try just relaxing as much as possible and dont even think of sleep. I know this is hard when you obviously do need sleep, but the very act of TRYING to sleep can create stress in itself. In theory, if you are tired enough and fairly relaxed, sleep should come.

I`ve been on loads mg valium, anti depressants, beta blockers etc ova yrs and agoraphobic too. Thanx 2 good counsellor i found root of problems and 90% recovered from agoraphobia, At mo on 0,5 mg valium, seroxat and bisoprolol (beta blocker) Good luck to you

8

Hi all, thanks for your advice, i have, over the past couple of days, been trying your suggestions, i tried the exercise, which was hard as i still wasn't over my depression, but i forced myself to go, admittedly yes this did tire me out, but I'm afraid as soon as my head hit that pillow i had a weird panic attack thing (due to the propranolol) and i didn't get to sleep until 4am. I then tried the relaxation techniques, all this did was make my muscles ache (may have been tightening too much) but still no relaxation for sleep....then i tried emptying my mind and to my shock it worked and for the past 2 nights i have been able to sleep, tonight however i had my eyes closed for about 40 minutes, clearing my mind, and that same god awful thought popped into my head and again i had some weird, symptomless panic attack, shot up tearing quite a bit of hair out too, bloody hurt. I've now been sat up for about an hour or more, wondering whether to go back to bed or not. Im running out of things to do.

thank you so much for the advice guys

Love Danielle x