Lately.. about a week or so maybe longer when I go to bed I have a hard time falling a sleep and when I do I usually wake up several times. There is this heavyness on my heart and a bad feeling. Happened again last night, woke up at 4 o'clock.. well my cat was scratching my door but still when I woke up I was almost thankfull because there was the heavyness... a bad feeling.. I can't say it's physical, well maybe it is.. but my heartbeat is normal there is no pounding or anything just a heavyness almost like sadness or as if I am in a bad situation.. I don't know anymore!! My heart is normal or so my doctor tells me I have recently had another stress test and all was well. I take Walcol a cholesterol medication and vitamins. Lately my life has been stressfull but the stress is not new, it's been going on since December of last year. I am just grasping at anything right now.... I also eat late.. I mean snack late, right before I go to bed.. but that's not a new thing either, I have always done that. I almost feels like there are unhappy people in my room or something.. Please help
Definitely sounds like anxiety. Women are more likely to have these nightime episodes than men, or so I read. There's nothing physically wrong, it's just that stress sometimes causes these nightime panic attacks. You should look for some other posts on the sleep disorder, anxiety and panic disorder boards because I've seen posts about this on all of those boards.
one of the things you may need is a sleep study to see if you have sleep apnes. Anxiety could also be the problem and going to see a psych dr for a short time might help.
This sounds like sleep paralysis to me. It's primary symptoms are a terrible feeling of dread, a heaviness on the chest and an inability to move upon awakening - but in some people the paralysis may only last a few seconds and might not even be noticed.
This is from Stanford University: [url]http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/paralysis.html[/url]
I had sleep paralysis as a child. Awful feeling! Thankfully I've only had one or two episodes as an adult. In the middle ages they thought SP was an attack by a demon or hag-with-a-broom-and-a-pointy-hat.
Last edited by AuntieLeela; 06-22-2008 at 05:09 PM.
Reason: Some words get ***** inexplicably.
