Anxiety and figuring out how to treat it

[99jj]

I am new to researching this, but I am not new to anxiety.  I have been high strung since I was a kid, and I used to sleep-walk and have severe "night terrors" where I would wake up screaming from a dream.  When I was in college, I had infrequent but really bad dreams as well and would wake up physically enacting them.  I sort of forgot about it for years, and then started having severe episodes where i would wake up from a dead sleep and feel like i was suffocating.  I was sure my breathing had stopped - I "forgot" how to autonomically breathe, and was sure I would die until I could collect myself after about 30 seconds and calm down.  These went on periodically for 2 years.  Then, I started having episodes during the day were I would have trouble breathing, and my chest would get tight.  I finally got scared enough to start seeing doctors about it and, although it took me 1.5 years and about 5 different doctor visits, I  learned I was having panic attacks.  At first, i thought they were a variety of things, allergies, asthma, and then sleep apnea.  I went to see about 4 different doctors until finally a neurologist told me they were panic attacks.  The waking panic attacks lasted for a long time, and then subsided, but after a period of time they went back to being nighttime attacks again.  Right now, I am going through a stage where I have extreme muscular anxiety most of the time.  Sometimes it will just "go away" and I will feel great, but the it returns and there is no clear link or explanation.  I do not have negative thoughts or worries I can pinpoint.  Sometimes, I have really extreme adrenaline rushes.  I work out, and it helps for about 3 hours, but then it comes back.  Sometimes when I do yoga, my arms burn because I think there is a lactic acid buildup in my muscles and I read that the adrenaline stimulates lactic acid production.  Anyway, I went through a short period where the neurologist suggested clonopin and then some benzadrine medicines.  The clonopin helped but I did not want to be on any psychotropic drugs.  I have been struggling with trying to resolve this with self therapy, and exercise.  Sometimes it works but not completely.  Recently my general doctor whose husband works at the VA gave me a scrip for Prazosin which they are using to treat PTSD.  So far, it seems to really help with the night terrors.  I am curious if anyone has tried this, and, even more curious if anyone has similar history as me in dealing with anxiety.

[kconnors]

Hi,

Wish I could be of more help than just giving you a few words of encouragement. I have had over the years my fair share of nightmares but not to the extent of your experiences . . . my panic attacks have subsided in terms of intensity and frequency in the last little while, but they do burst on the scene and sometimes I cannot pinpoint the trigger either.

I am not familiar with the meds that you mentioned in your posting, but I do know that anxiety and panic attacks for me do cause muscular issues. I think what is probably the worst for me are the adrenaline rushes, the results of which often stay with me for days . . .. I guess I feel somewhat lucky that they do not stay with me for continuous periods of time as they would in the "old" days.

The best that I can offer is my support for you and if meds break the cycle, perhaps that is what you need as a bridge so you can start recovering . . . I share with you your reluctance or caution around meds, but sometimes for some folks, just the break in the symptoms allows for the recovery process to take hold . . . I'm sure that other people in the forum will be able to provide you with more insights than I can . . . take care, kc

[cafeterrace]

Do you believe your night terrors are sleep paralysis?

Not sure if I'm allowed to post a link, but if you wikipedia sleep paralysis you can get information if you aren't all ready familiar with this.

Whenever I have sleep paralysis I feel like I'm being choked and I can't get air and I'm terrified.