[kenc127]

Does anyone here wake up in the middle of the night with anxiety raging?
Aside from a benzo, what do you all do to cope with this? Sleep is so important, and it seems that these days it is hard to get any. I wake up at 3am or so quite often with this unexplained anxiety, and usually the nexy day I'm a massive anxiety wreck. It seems to occur when there is a test in the near future or just after being stupid enough to read a schizophrenia discussion topic.

Ken

 

[Guest]

i dont know about anxiety at 3 am but my sleep patterns are simply horrible, i will go to sleep at 10 pm then wake up at 2 am feeling like my body is refreshed but my head is all screwed up, i dont know what the fuck is going on.

 

[sebastian]

i had a few weeks where i was waking up at 3 am (or thereabouts) on a nightly basis. I'd be gasping for breath, reeling from the enormity of eternity, death, and God, and it would take some time before i could calm down sufficiently to move from my position. The worst thing about this is that you will be tired the next day and if you work or have school, it can become a real practical problem. Also, the exhaustion/anxiety cycle perpetuates itself, in that if you're anxious, you have trouble sleeping, and if you don't sleep well, then you're more likely to feel anxious the next day.

When this happened with me, the only thing i did was stay up and watch a movie or come to this very forum to calm down. The trick though, i think, is to get out of bed, and do something. If you have the luxury of living in antarctica this time of year, you can always go for a walk at that hour. For the rest of us, i would suggest TV, and realize that you have the option of calling in sick the next day.

The big thing with these attacks is that i becomes difficult to gain perspective. The reality is that your mind is just over anxious...and you just need a good night's sleep. Alas, we dpers tend to think of it as an apocolyptic event, certain to wreak insanity or death upon us. Try to realize it's just a physical result of having too much stress, and you'll do fine.

s.

p.s. as an obvious aside, drinking alcohol or caffeine contributes to this. while you're enduring this, it might be best to limit their intake.

 

[Guest]

I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night with "mild anxiety", but I usually fall to sleep again without any problems. It's scary, but I wonder if it has got something to do with DR/DP?