Question:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -(James Claiborn) writes: If you only have panic attacks when dreaming this may represent a different disorder than panic disorder. Although panic attacks do occur in the sleep of many people who have panic disorder it is most often associated with a different part of sleep than the one in which we usually dream. If you have not been thru a careful evaluation I recomend you get one. If your attacks are only at night associated with dreaming you may have sleep apnea or difficulty breating when sleeping which is often worse in dreaming sleep know as REM sleep. Another posibility is a nightmare disorder but this would involve a frightening dream and its not clear from my reading of your post that the dreams were frigtening. Jim Claiborn Ph.D.
I in no way, shape, or fashion, am here to dispute what Jim has said. I just wanted to say that be sure to read the part that says "if you ONLY have panic attacks during dreaming". As I wrote before, my worst PA’s were during the night, when I would wake up …sometimes during a dream…sometimes not. I had alot of physical symptoms that could not be explained and some PA’s during the day too…..so having them at night is not uncommon….out of a dead sleep. I totally agree that if you havent had a thorough exam….you should. Just my 2cents which is probably not worth .00002 cents with inflation…lol Cyndie
Response:
My worst Panic Attacks were at night. For a long time I slept in sweatsuits, on the couch, so that when I awoke with one I could go outside and contemplate if I was dying or if I needed to go to the hospital. (Arent PA’s fun! …lol) Once I started taking Xanax, I havent had a sleep disturbance in two years. If I wake up, I dont have a PA. I am a single parent with a physically challenged son and I would feed in to the Panic by thinking…Oh my God, what if I cant take care of my son while this is happening! PA’s at night are quite the norm and nothing to cause yourself excess worry over. Do you take medication? You might consider it….even if its just at night. I tried all the other stuff…..but medication was a must for me and it turned my life around. Cyndie
Response:
My PA’s come on at night while I am dreaming. It’s like they ’sneak up on me’ and then its too late to get up an take a pill, its right there and I’m deep enough into it. I think my subconcious is more vulnerable while I’m sleeping and certain types of dreams set the attack off. They are mostly problem solving issues with incticate little details in a repeated pattern. Good thoughts to you…
Response:
If you only have panic attacks when dreaming this may represent a different disorder than panic disorder. Although panic attacks do occur in the sleep of many people who have panic disorder it is most often associated with a different part of sleep than the one in which we usually dream. If you have not been thru a careful evaluation I recomend you get one. If your attacks are only at night associated with dreaming you may have sleep apnea or difficulty breating when sleeping which is often worse in dreaming sleep know as REM sleep. Another posibility is a nightmare disorder but this would involve a frightening dream and its not clear from my reading of your post that the dreams were frigtening. Jim Claiborn Ph.D. This is a test, only a test. If this had been your real life you would have been given instructions on where to go and what to do.
Response:
Has anybody had experience with PS’s that wake you up in the middle of the night despite medication? After three years of controlled PAs, I’ve had a few that bring me back to the old days. It’s awful, to say the least – a wooden, sweating, mobilized, and electrifyong feeling.
Response:
remember the terrible nightmare because it is more like a memory of a real-life event that just happened, than a fictional, third-person account-type of a bad dream. In other words — "PA’s in your sleep is a bad trip, man!"
Just before I went on paroxetine (Paxil), I had some attacks during my sleep. They were like you said; awsome. My worst was when I woke up one morning, scratched my arm, and all the muscle tissue fell out onto my chest, then I woke up for real. I was not ammused. At the time, it scared what was left of the shit out of me. Luckily for me the paroxetine has helped mellow me out. Now I’ve stopped the course and I feel much better than I did, although not 100%.
If you like this post and would like to receive updates from this blog, please subscribe our feed.