Panic attacks in middle of night

[wooster16]

I'm under a fair bit of stress at the moment with work and recently I've been waking up in the middle of the night having panic attack - impending sense of doom, rushing heartbeat, sweats, etc. Can I ask how you all combat this ... what can I do. Do I need to go to the doctor? I do a lot of late nights and have a job that requires me to be "on" constantly.

I had this. I saw my g.p. I felt really stupid but she was great. It took time to get over. But I did. I think I'm cured! I read CBT self help books, there's also articles online. I saw a therapist privately because I was desperate but it didn't really help, too deep and delving for me at the time. I needed a quicker fix. I went back to my g.p and got 6 sessions of NHS group CBT therapy which worked well for me. It made me feel back in control which is what I needed. It involved re setting my thinking and sorting it out for myself iyswim. Good luck and be gentle with yourself. Night panic attacks are horrible.

Hi OP, I'm sorry to hear you are feeling like this. Anxiety sucks!

Many years ago a book that helped me with stress/anxiety is: Self Help For Your Nerves by Dr Claire Weekes. It is still a useful and easy-to-read book.

Also, have a look at Mindfulness as a relaxation technique. It works for me.

Good Luck

I had this, I called it The Fear. DH (same career) also gets it. I'm afraid my solution was rather drastic and was basically to change my job, I felt life was too short to spend my nights panicking about my work. I did find writing down what I was worried about helped a bit.

I found a relaxation app on my phone. I would listen to it every night and it really helped.

If you can take other things off your plate during the stressful period that'd help. So any other unnecessary commitments for the next couple of weeks, try to ditch them. To remove any 'stressors'.
If they are nice things, keep them!
Other forms of support: reduce coffee for the time being to one cup of coffee a day, try to get some small walks in.
I found reflexology (the foot massages) really good too, as you get extremely relaxed without needing to disrobe or let anyone near any part of you except your feet!
Make yourself watch an hour of some series on the telly rather than writing lists or fretting about work or reading emails.
And no alcohol before bed.

I used to get these about dying. I would be lying in bed, in the dark, my heart pounding and my mind in a whirl. I wish I had thought of doing what the others have said with regards to cbt as I think that might have helped. For me, it went, but I do still get the occasional attack, but not anywhere near as many as I did then. Good luck op.

I know it's awful, but anxiety attacks are TOTALLY normal. Read DARE: The New Way to End Anxiety by Barry McDonagh. It will help so much. You don't need pills (that don't work anyway), and there is nothing "wrong" with you. Your body is simply being flooded with stress chemicals at a very annoying time.

God I remember getting these when my anxiety was really bad.
Horrible. I sympathise with you OP.
Mine just passed on their own once I wasn't so stressed. I used to get up, read a book and try and relax myself til I could fall back to sleep