Hi all,

On July 15th, I had to go to the hospital because it felt like i was going to have a heartattack. After a ton of diff. tests, they found it to be the aftermath of a panic attack i had had which caused internal bruising of some sort. In the end, i was just happy knowing I wasn't dying.

So I feel ok all day and all night but the past few days, when I try to sleep, weird stuff happens. I'll be exhausted and very comfortable in bed and as i'm drifting to sleep, I all of a sudden feel this extreme need to suck in a lot of air as if i can't breathe, which is silly because I am breathing perfectly normal just 3 minutes prior. It causes my eyes to open wide and for some reason, feels like my brain is trying to shut down or something. This, in turn, makes me scared to try to sleep. When I actually get to sleep, i sleep well and wake up feeling ok. It's just getting to sleep that's hard. And it's always when i'm in the process of drifting to sleep. I wonder if this is anxiety? or something physically serious. I hope it's really nothing. Would like your opinions.

sounds like anxiety . if your dr. has ruled out other physical problems it probably is. i know alot of people the have gone tothe hospital with a heart attack to find out it was a panic attack. they can be very frightening and disturbing.

Joseph, can't tell you the number of times I have been to ER with heart attack symptoms and always checked out fine..even had an angiogram where they run the dye through your veins to mention one procedure..Night time is ALWAYS the worst for me it seems like..I'm anticipating something to be wrong, worrying..during the day isn't always the greatest but feel I have a little more control over how I am "allowing" myself to feel...if that makes sense at all..The anxiety/panic thing sucks big time and I've been dealing with it for alot of years..some days better than others..Just say a prayer and know that God is always there with you...Good luck...

to joseph
many things happen to us as we are falling asleep, including hallucinations

panic attacks are often confused with heart attacks
BTW, panic attacks dont harm the heart, panic attack sufferers dont die young