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Panic upon waking


Guest bluecanary

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Guest bluecanary

Hello all,

I hope you've all had a happy and healthy holiday. I've had something happen to me recently which has also happened in the past and was wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

Last night my boyfriend and I were planning to go to a midnight showing of my favorite movie, and lately I've been nodding off around 10pm or so, so I decided to make myself take a nap so that I'd have enough energy to stay awake for the film. I laid down at about 6pm and made myself sleep until 8. When I woke up, I felt very groggy and disoriented and generally "out of it" - typical waking-up sensations - but I also felt an extreme panic. Every little noise made me jump out of my skin, and I felt this inexplicable sense of fear. I don't know whether the groggy feeling caused the panic or if they happened at the same time, but I had some difficulty controlling it. I don't experience panic very much at all these days (I'm usually able to stop the anxiety in its tracks before it gets to that point), but I've noticed that I'm very vulnerable to it upon waking, especially if I've been sleeping in the middle of the day or am woken up suddenly. I suspect part of the reason is because I'm waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle rather than at a natural transition point, but I'm really not sure. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, what strategies do you use to overcome it?

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Guest irretractable

Is it a medication thing? Are there meds you would generally take at night but are putting off because you're staying up late? You say it happens during the day too so I'm thinking maybe not.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest bluecanary
Is it a medication thing? Are there meds you would generally take at night but are putting off because you're staying up late? You say it happens during the day too so I'm thinking maybe not.

I don't think it's medication - I do take sertraline (Zoloft) at bedtime, but I don't take it at the exact same time every night - just whenever I go to bed - and I haven't noticed any ill effects if the time I take it is off by a couple of hours. I noticed I did feel rather jumpy and anxious last night when I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. I'm guessing it's just something I'm going to have to learn to deal with.

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Guest Zippo3342

Yeah I know exactly what happened. You had what is called a "confusional arousal". Please look it up in google. What happened is that you went to sleep in the afternoon and when you woke up your brain was going into a deeper sleep state, when you wake up it takes your brain a while to reset and come on line properly. They are freaking terrifying, that is why I do not nap in the afternoons. I wait till bedtime and get proper 8 hours of sleep. I haven't had one for a year because of my new no nap policy. All i can do is pace and panic until my brain comes online when it occured. They are generally on the rarer side though but can happen. Another thing that can cause them is if someone wakes you up when you are transitioning sleep cycles (1-2 hours into a deep sleep).

They are also more common in people with sleep apnea. Do you feel generally tired during the day? Does your boyfriend say that you snore? (this is a very important question)

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Guest jamesmegan638

When we woke up our mind take some time to wake and that's why we felt like disturbed and all. And for me if I fall sleep in evening it is really disturbing for me. That's why I avoide to sleep in evening or day timing.

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Guest penny0305

Hi

It's not much comfort but panic on waking seems to be a really common ocd symptom. I wrote a post about it recently and got a lot of replies from people who suffer the same. I feel extreme panic every morning. My cbt therapist keeps asking what is going,through my mind and worrying me but I can't answer her.I'm sure it is just a general feeling of dread at another day battling ocd. If I stay in bed it prolongs it. I am much worse when I'm not at work.you are not alone. Take care. Big hugs

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Guest nervous

I get what Zippo explained, I had one yesterday, I fell asleep early because I was so tired and when my wife woke me up I was very confused and scared of my situation it was awfull and it took me a long time to get out of it.

Edited by nervous
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