Any idea what happened to me last night?

[Weirdnight]

DS woke me up around 3. He went back to sleep within seconds but I then started to question something I'd done at work that day and utterly panicked. To the point that I got up, turned on my laptop and did around 30 mins of work to get it sorted. I've never done this before but work is so stressful at the moment it seemed like the end of world at the time.

(This morning I realised it wasn't even important or urgent, so just nighttime dread I think!)

When I went back to bed I was totally wired and it took me a good hour to start nodding off. But for the rest of the night I kept waking regularly with full body spasms. I also felt cold but on the inside rather than the outside, mainly in my limbs. Also felt quite nauseous.

I am most concerned about the full body spasms as I have never had them before. Like all my muscles were contracting at once and making me curl up. Should I talk to a doctor?

Text book stress and anxiety.
Give yourself a break and get some proper rest. Hope it eases soon for you.

How old are you?
Sounds like perimeno panic attacks to me (disclaimer, am not a dr and if you’re concerned you should see a dr!).

I should add I had taken a sleep gummy from Holland & barrets when I went back to bed. Usually they send me off to sleep in a couple of minutes but it took a while to work. Could the spasms be the relaxing plants fighting off with all the excess adrenaline? I'm scared to ever take them again now.

You're stressed, if affects your entire body when it builds up. It ends up coming out in funny ways if you don't take the time to decompress.

I am early 40s so could be peri. I have always had low level anxiety so I could kind of relate to the nausea but usually it's heart racing/struggling to breathe. I didn't have those this time, just the awful spasms while asleep, so presumable when my brain was switched off.

Well at least that would be reassuring, anxiety is preferable to all the deadly conditions my health anxiety has diagnosed me with.

I'm planning on an early night but not sure if worrying about this is going to keep me awake urg.

Hey OP, this sounds like a classic stress/ anxiety response to me. I hope you’re ok OP. Can you do anything to tackle how you’ve been feeling about work?

Anxiety is often one of the first symptoms of peri, long before others pop up.

I also agree - anxiety.

Thank you so much all. Unfortunately today it got even worse as a few more urgent projects got added onto my plate as we are short staffed.

The workload is unlikely to ease up until about June so I'll have to find a way of not letting it get to me!

I usually pride myself at not getting too stressed about work and keeping in perspective it's 'just' a job but it's obviously sneaked up on me.

It’s a horrible feeling I sympathise with you. Just remember work will always be there and try to prioritise yourself. There’s no job that’s worth causing your mental health upset. I’d recommend trying some guided meditation to get you to sleep or back to sleep if you wake up in a panic. A great way of resetting