Middle of the Night Panic Attack?

[olethros]

I woke up in the middle of the night last night having a really difficult time breathing.  I've had times where I felt that way before and it seemed more like a mental thing, but this time it seemed like it was physical more.  My chest felt really tight on the inside ... like my lungs themselves were really tight.  I just could NOT get a deep breath at all.  I started to panic for sure, thinking I was going to stop breathing and pass out or something.  I got up and chewed on some ice (for some reason this often helps me), woke my wife up to help calm me down, and played a game on my ipod til it was gone ... after maybe 5-10 minutes it had passed (hard to tell in the middle of the night, plus that kind of stuff always seems like it lasts forever).

Anyway it kind of freaked me out obviously... I've been thinking about it this morning and wondering if I should try to see a doctor.  The thing is, I've had 2 chest xrays over the past year and a half or so which were all fine.  So I know that is all okay ... but it's still really disturbing to wake up with that tightness.  I know panic attacks can do that ... can you just wake up straight out of nowhere with a full blown panic attack like that though? 

[Annie23]

Ahhhhh the wicked night time suprises. I woke up with one at around 4:30 a.m.  This happens to me quite frequently, it could be also that you are dreaming and in your dream you are anxious so you wake up with a tight chest, feeling panic.  You could have also been sleeping in a position that caused them to feel tight and it freaked you out, or you could have simply woke up having an anxiety attack! When this happens to me I just sit straight up in my bed and start trying to yawn (hold my mouth open really wide) because I find after you yawn you feel like " Oh well I can't pass out now, because I just got a full breath" then I do as you did and play a mindless game like tetris on my cell phone until my eyes start closing.  Another thing that helps with the tightness is "stomache breathing".  I lay on my back and put my hand on my tummy and try and make my hand go up and down by taking the breaths from my stomache and it somehow seems to loosen up my chest.  Hope this helps, and if not, just know that you are not alone in this and  that nothing bad will happen as a result of these, its just something an anxious body does sometimes. 

[1Peter5:7]

Yes, I've had those before. Thank God only a handful of times in the middle of the night. The fact that it lasted only 5 to 10 minutes means that it was just an anxiety attack. If it were something else, it would have not gone away on its own.