Panic Attacks at Night

love those hormones! You might want to have your glucose checked too. High blood sugar can trigger like a hormonal hot flash.

To help relax, my method is to imagine floating on the lake...sun beating down....good music going OR the sounds of the waves hitting the side of the boat. Works every single time for me!

Maybe its not panic attacks but more like hormonal attacks?

Can you get a small personal size table top fan and have it blow on you while you sleep? It might keep your body/brain cooler at night.

hth

There are so many different explanation as to the causes of panic attacks from Freud's belief that they are "psychic awareness to danger" to low blood sugar.

Get your sugar checks, eat a banana before bed, and write in a journal before bedtime to get all your thoughts out on paper instead of keeping them in your subconscious.

Have you been assessed for asthma?

Check your thyroid. My mother had panic attacks and the doctor found she has hypo thyroid

I'm not sure of your age, but I am now 44 years old and began having panic attacks at age 24. I have been through counselling, went on medication for only a 3 month period of time, and twice was treated in an emergency situation (when I was in my 20's) because I thought "I was dying." I have done research for years on this and can tell you that what you feel is a real condition, you are not crazy!! And while some may state their opinions to you or "think" they have had panic attacks, if they think they had one, they haven't. You KNOW when you have a panic attack. It's real, it's scary, but it can be overcome. What I learned from counselling and reading is that the best way to overcome panic is breathing properly. I have had panic attacks awaken me from sleep many many times, even recently. It's awful! My breathing is constricted, I feel like I'm being suffocated. I first talk because if you can talk, you are breathing! I then tell myself well I know I'm ok...then I do my breathing exercises...because a lot of the panic is you think you are taking deep breaths but you really are not, you are just inhaling. You must inhale through your nose and watch your stomach become inflated; then you exhale through your mouth, watching deflate. This works better than any medication you will ever be on, trust me, been there done that. If you practice this anytime you are stressing, you will be fine. Recently, I was also told bya friend who is a counsellor to "dance like crazy until you are exhausted" and you will dance your attack away. I haven't tried this yet but I just might the next panic attack that comes along! Good luck and know that you can beat the feelings you are having...Remember to talk-cause if you are talking you are breathing...to do the breathing exercise...and maybe-dance like crazy!! I hope this helps! L.

I started having some panic attacks as well, but they are not frequent and I think they are mostly stress related. My friend suggested L-Theamine, its a supplement and I bought it at our local health food store (Sprouts) - it was only $10 for the bottle and it seems to be helping. Also, you might try taking some melatonin (spelling???) before you go to bed - another supplement that helps you sleep. good luck.

I told my psychiatrist the same thing. I was having panic attacks at night. She looked at me and said panic attacks do not occur during sleep. Either it's a bad dream or sleep apnea.

Talk to your doctor about this and perhaps a sleep study is in order. A mild sleeping pill or anxiety med could help but chances are it is not a panic attack.

Anxiety and panic attacks are due to high adrenaline (norepinephrine) surges. It underlies the flight or fight response, directly increases heart rate, triggers glucose release, and increases blood flow to skeletal muscle.It increases oxygen supply to the brain.Norepinephrine is synthesized from dopamine.

Sometimes adrenaline will surge about 2-3 am because the blood sugar is dropping. Low blood sugar can hurt the brain, so when the body can't bring up or maintain blood sugar (because of low cortisol hormones), it uses its' emergency backup- which is adrenaline.

If you have high androgen hormones it will release more adrenaline.

Low estrogen can cause it, and so can adrenal tumors.

If you are having a drop in blood pressure it will release adrenaline. Do you ever get dizzy alot when you stand from a sitting position? Have a lot of fatigue? You may have low blood volume, You may have tachardia, you my have hypoaldosteronism, or you may have POTS. You might be dehydrated which usually goes along with what i just described.. You can increase blood volume by drinking MORE WATER and put a 1/4 teaspoon of SEA salt in a glass of water every day and drink it down. The salt helps you "KEEP' you water and stay hydrated.

Finall, are you on any kinds of medication? There are prescription drugs that can cause this to occur as well.

In general, this problem is related to malfunctions in the HPA axis (hippo,/pituitary/adrenal.)The MOST COMMON reason for this is LOW CORTISOL comming out of your adrenal gland, AKA: adrenal fatigue. You may also notice you have some hypothyroid problems also (because the thyroid uses hormones from the adrenal gland).

As far as the asthma comment is concerned, asthma also has it's root involved in HPA axis malfunction.

You should get your hormone levels checked. Checking aldosterone , renin, and electroyltes should be done. Also a SALIVA CORTISOL test, as well as a one hour glucose test should be performed. NOT a fasting glucose.....and NOT a morning one time cortisol blood draw..These tests really arent as good as the ones I mentioned and can let problems slip by or give a false reading that things are ok.
Gail