End the Terror of Nocturnal Anxiety Attacks
Posted by on 20th September 2009
Panic attacks when you’re wide awake are a terrible experience, but night panic attacks are worse yet. Suddenly awaking with a pounding pulse and feeling of absolute fear is a terror no one should have to live with.
It’s very common for people suffer from panic attacks to experience them at night as well. Most of the treatments of these nighttime episodes are the same as for panic attacks that occur during the day. when the daytime attacks go away, the nocturnal attacks also go away.
If you suspect you’re having panic attacks it’s important to have a medical evaluation rule out problems such as thyroid or heart conditions that might be the underlying cause of the episodes.
If you’re having problems at night, you definitely need to be certain that you aren’t suffering from sleep apnea. Sleep apnea causes a lot of different symptoms. In particular, sleep apnea can cause nighttime panic episodes. If sleep apnea is the cause of the panic then treatment of the sleep apnea is the best treatment for the nighttime anxiety.
The only real way to know if you have sleep apnea or not is to be tested in a sleep lab.
Once you confirm the diagnosis of anxiety or a panic disorder you can go about getting it under control.
You can find a quick rundown of the various treatment options available at Anxiety Treatment Options. Other pages on that site give more details about each option.
For many people, the worst thing about nighttime panic attack is it leaves them exhausted. We all need a good night sleep to be at our best.
Unfortunately, many people with nighttime panic attacks think sleeping pills will be the answer. They’re not. They interfere with normal sleep patterns and don’t do anything for the underlying problem.
The anti histamine Benadryl has a mild sedative effect. Some people use it as a sleep aid. If it works, it is preferable to the more potent sleeping pills.
Better yet is to practice good sleep practices (no caffeine in the afternoon, avoid vigorous exercise before going to bed, keep regular hours etc), perhaps coupled with natural sleep aids. Natural sleep aids are gentler than drugs and disrupt normal seep cycles much less. Also, they usually don’t have a residual effect so you won’t feel groggy the next day.
You can find out about natural sleep aids that many people have used as part of their treatment of nighttime panic episodes at Nocturnal Panic Attacks Part 2 .
There’s a lot more information about all aspects of panic attacks and anxiety disorders on the site Panic Attack Release. It’s well worth checking out.
As you will see, it is possible to free yourself from night panic attacks. I hope you’re free of them soon.
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