Panic Attacks always happening at night

[MummyDeb]

Hey guys and girls

I'm new to anxiety zone and here to hopefully find support from fellow sufferers of panic disorder and anxiety. I've suffered from it since 2005 and have been off and on meds due to falling pregnant twice. I found out I probably didn't need to wean off them both times and now kicking myself. My panic attacks have started up lately and only happen at night, like Im scared to go to bed cos I know they will happen.
My problem is I have a very big fear of death, it stems back to when I had my horse riding accident and was thrown from my horse back in 05. I was told from a girl at work I could have a blood clot on my brain, and that night I experierenced my first panic attack, at the time I literally thought I was about to die cos I had a blood clot, I then had CT scans and my head was fine. But still I manage to think there is something wrong, or that I'm going to have an anerysom (sp?) Since having Children, I now am scared I won't get to see them grow up. I think way to much about the negatives and stress heaps. I will be seeing a doctor next week when I have the money to go, as I think being on the meds is my only hope. I find talking to fellow sufferers helps me, either online or face to face. Just knowing that what I'm having isn't going to kill me.
Just a question, when u have an attack, does ur head feel very hot and tingly inside? Cos my injury or fall affected my head I worry I've got a brain tumor or something like that, and if other ppl have their heads heat up etc when having attacks, I might start to feel a bit more at ease. I also panic from getting headaches or migranes.

Hope u have managed to get thru my rumble jumble, and I'm looking forward to chatting to u all and hoping to help support u guys as well

Take care
Deb :)

[BobPhilo]

MummyDeb,

I should tell you that you have nothing to fear ... but that would be stupid for people like us.

For as long as I remember I've been a basketball player, from grade school through college.  I have been knocked out more playing basketball than anything else.  Go up for rebound have someone cut under my legs and my head hits the floor from 8 feet.  I've wondered about the same things you are.

Believe I read in some book or my psychiatrist advised me that panic attacks can happen just as often while sleeping as when you are awake.  The absolute worst thing that has happened to me is the first time I had a panic attack during sex.  Needless to say I had to stop, get up and take some pills and try to calm down.  That was probably my most humiliating panic attack.

Because of history of laying unconscious on the basketball floor, I too have had thoughts about the possibility of an aneurism, particularly when I get a headache.  Wow, I gotta admit that your worrying sounds exactly like mine.

About your head feeling hot, yes that happens to me.  As a matter of fact I get hot flushes over my whole body where I feel like I am sweating like the rain, but when I feel my forehead or neck it is dry as the desert.  I have learned that these episodes are most probably linked to my high level of anxiety that I feel all the time.  I cannot relax except when I take the time, pull out my video iPod and listen to my panic attack DVD.  The problem with it is it's so darn long - about 50 minutes.

Not funny ha-ha but weird funny is your fear of death.  Many years ago, 22 to be exact, I was in stop and go traffic on the freeway in the inside lane, unable to get to an exit and escape my predicament.  I just got mad as hell and said a prayer right there asking God to take me "right now" if I was going to have to live with this for the rest of my life.  I was serious too.  I would have preferred death at that time to living so that I could escape this tormenting hell in which I live.  God and I wear different watches so I'm still here.

MummyDeb, you are not the only one - there are many others who share the very same symptoms as you and I.

Have a great life and play like a kid for at least 5 minutes every day,

Bob

[suzanne vance]

I am so glad to find that I am not only the newbie here! I am sure that your panic attacks are just that, but I realise that it's difficult to believe when they can make you feel so unwell. I tend to get mine whilst I am driving a long distance, and I wish that I never had to be a passenger, because that's much worse. I have tried to analyse the reason behind the attacks but the only thing in common with the really bad ones is that they occur when I am not in control of a vehicle. You see I get them when I fly as well.It seems to be a lack of trust in either the other driver or pilot. Does that make sense. I phoned an ambulance once bcause I felt so poorly and when it arrived and I was on my way to the hospital, I blurted out my whole life story, which at that time was awful. I try and use this example to calm myself down and convince myself that nothing is going to happen to me. I like to have a supply of beta blockers in my bag as a kind of reassurance, I very rarely take them.

keep me posted, Suzanne

[abeja_reina_1989]

wow! ive never had anyone else mention that before, but yes.. everytime i get a panic attack or get really anxious i get pretty bad headaches/feel dizzy and my head feels extremely hot.. like i have a fever or something.. i also get very sweaty. so id say it's anxiety, but get it checked by a doc to make sure