Insomnia Support Group

I do not have any great experience or wisdom on this. I know some people who take antidepressants for panic attacks. My mother has woken up to panic attacks at times.

That must be tough to deal with. Hopefully these attacks do not come in your sleep that often.

I had vicious panic attacks that would rip me from a deep sleep.I got on a regimen of Clonazepam and cut the sugar in my diet way down.I had to keep a little bit of a high dose consistently for about 6 months.Then with the help of a great patient psychiatrist I had developed a method of thinking,breathing,acting as soon as panic symptoms started.Gradually I brought the dose down to a maintenance level and by continueing to play subliminal relaxation music at bedtime,watching my diet,journalling like crazy I seldom if ever have a panic attack now.This took 4 years to bring to fruition but I believe it is acheivable for anyone.Sometimes we just need a medication increased for a little while to help control the symptoms while we work on the cause.Best of luck to you!

Couple of suggestions for you Tonnieg.

First, see your doc to either treat or rule out a medical cause. What you experienced could be caused by an underlying medical condition that mimics a panic attack. Sleep apnea, hyperthyroidism, hypoglycemia, and a number of medical problems could possibly be involved.

If there is no identifiable medical problem, then look to reduce anxiety in your life. This may be obvious, but your prior history suggests excessive levels of anxiety experienced during your waking hours may be the most probable culprit. Anxiety can and will contribute to insomnia and nocturnal panic attacks.

If it's any consolation, you are hardly alone in experiencing nocturnal panic attacks. In one form or another, this affects many insomniacs.

CBT specifically for sleep is one method that might help you both reduce anxiety during waking hours and strengthen your inherent sleep system. CBT will show you potent ways to reduce anxiety, as well as effective methods to help yourself relax and fall back asleep if and when a nocturnal panic attack hits.

Good luck with this.