Anxiety and Stress Forum - Panic attacks at night, trouble sleeping, don't want medicat

Mental Health > Anxiety and Stress Forum > Panic attacks at night, trouble sleeping, don't want medicat

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Q: Panic attacks at night, trouble sleeping, don't want medicat

asked by: DoctorQuestion on April 19th, 2007

I've been waking up an hour or so after I go to bed at night and I feel very weird. My mind is telling me to get up and panic and pace around the house looking out windows or get up and watch TV or read a book or magazine and I'm so tired I just want to sleep. Sometimes I feel like I'm 3 different people all shouting stuff out. This is happening either every night or at least 3 or 4 times a week. I am so tired and I need sleep. I fall asleep in the chair or on the couch and I'm fine until I go to bed. I almost dread going to bed. When I do sleep I have weird hidious dreams that make no sense at all. I try and stay in bed but I get dizzy feeling so I jump up and pace around the house or watch TV for an hour and then I go back to bed and sleep until it's time to get up. Can this be from perimenapause or just plain anxiety? My health is good and I can't take any medicine cause that makes me freak out worse. During the day time I am fine. What is happening to me? Thank you.

Replies(1)

Dr. Nikola Gjuzelov , MD

replied on May 2nd, 2007

Anxiety & Stress Answer A2658

It doesn’t seem that this particular sleeping problem is due to perimenopause because your cycles are still regular. Instead, the problem could be banal: maybe you are going to bed too early and, therefore, you can’t fall asleep. Or: perhaps your bed might be not comfortable since you can asleep on a chair or on the couch. It seems also that your problem does not affect you very much because you can still sleep during the night and you don’t feel sleepiness during the day. However, if you'd like to pursue the matter, you might try to talk to a mental health professional that treats anxiety with alternative therapies other than medications. It might take some looking around, but these professionals exist.

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