does anyone experience waking in the middle of the night with anxiety, i dont know what this is but occasionally i am woken and my heart rate is uncomfortably high, i try slow deep breathing to slow it but takes ages to have any effect, i do have anxiety dreams but dont always get woken by them in this state.....also im on an anti depressant with anti anxiety included so why would this still happen....any thought appreciated
Yes, yes, yes. With me, I get to sleep okay and then wake up around 3-4am. That is after 3-4 hours of sleep. My mind then starts racing and that is the end of my night. I go through all the "what ifs" and feel awful. Also, the health anxiety sets in. I don't take any medications so that isn't the problem. It is horrible because I start the next day tired and increases all the anxiety.
How long have you been on the meds? I know my dreams/anxiety at night got worse when I first started taking my meds, but now it's gone. It's a common side effect. One thing to try is taking your antidepressant earlier in the day if possible, ideally, first thing in the morning.
I suffer from the same thing, and I've had since I was a little kid. I take Effexor and Xanax, but nothing seems to help the waking up in the middle of the night. I wake up about 5-6 times during the night, staying up a minimum of a half hour. Sometimes when I wake I am so scared for no reason, and then I'm up all night. I've tried everything, exercising, no caffeine, meditation....nothing seems to help this.
Usually I will wake up with panic when I've been drinking. I wake up in the middle of the night with my heart racing-- I mean RACING-- which makes me feel like I'm going to have a heart attack and get in a panic attack. I am quite sure it's the alcohol causing this, although when I told my doctor he told me "it might be the alcohol..." and he acted like he had never heard of that being the case before. Sometimes I can drink a couple of drinks and I sleep through the night; other times I can have a couple of drinks and it really affects my sleep. And if I'm hungover the next day, usually that will put me in panic mode, too. Has anyone else noticed this same thing with alcohol?
hi
thanx for your replies, i have been on meds for a while, 18mnths, but i do take them at night, mainly because they help me to sleep cos i dont sleep well without them, i know that some things like caffeine can make my heart rate go up, so i avoid them also alchol can do this, but weirdly not every time.....its just so scary when it happens
