Waking up with intense anxiety/dread in the middle of the night?

[AnxiousAmy]

Anxiety seems to be seeping its way into my once safety zone... nighttime sleeping. Every few nights, I will wake up either drenched in sweat, or, like last night, simply wake up with a terrible feeling of anxiety for no reason. I can usually go right back to sleep and the next time I wake it is gone. Thoughts are not causing my anxiety.. and this is evident when I wake up from a peaceful sleep in utter fear. Fearing what? Nothing, except anxiety. It's not a full blown panic attack, but very close to it.

Does this happen to anyone else?

[Cares179]

I have been getting this too however anxiety has been waking me up at5:30 am and I can't get back to sleep heavy chest palpations hit and cold feelings. Some days the anxiety stays with me all day and other days it goes. I am on lexapro and not sure what's going on. I have read that our cotisol levels are at their highest by 4am so this could be contributing to the extra anxiety.

[sunnyg]

How old are you? This could be hormone related. Racing heart and night sweats can indicate low progesterone.

[AnxiousAmy in reply to sunnyg]

I'm 29. Been having anxiety for the last 7 years but these past 6 months have been horrendous in particular.

[AnxiousAmy]

How does one go about getting their hormones tested anyway? Is it a special blood test?

[sunnyg in reply to AnxiousAmy]

Yes, hormone testing is a simple blood test. Have you had your thyroid checked too? If not, you need to. Ask for a complete thyroid panel. You need to find a doc who believes in anxiety causes like thyroid, PMS, hormones, vitamin/mineral deficiencies. I am seeing a doc like this on the 28th. I believe anxiety suffers have something lacking that makes us feel this way. Let's hope there is a cure!

[Devin76oh]

Anxious Amy! This happens to many people. Happened to me last night. What do you do? Well, I really just pray and say "I have nothing to fear, God is with me right now" "All is good" "I trust Him"

Sometimes you wake up with weird scared feeling in your stomach, but the funny thing is we know nothing can physically hurt us... So why are we afraid?

It comes and it goes, but just know that you are OK, You've waken up to another beautiful morning and now all you need to do is think about the now and not the future. No need to worry about the future because that day is far from here...

Cheers

[91342]

Don't get hung up on the time if you are getting at least 7 hours of sleep. Just get out of bed and start your day.

[Mbuczek16]

Yes!!! This happens to me! 2 years ago when everything started, I would wake up every night in servere panic attacks I would have to take hard medication to stop it. Now it is a lot more mild and when I’m more stressed it happens. I read, it is our bodies way of releasing all the days built up anxiety. It happens when our bodies are at their most relaxed state. Bc with anxiety, we have a hard time to just sit back and relax. It is our bodies natural way of releasing the build up. When this happens to me, I turn on my meditation music and start to think of a nice warm, sunny beach and I close my eyes and use my imagination. I describe everything about the beach to a T and usually this helps. Or if it’s getting really bad. I stretch and listen to my meditation music. I hope this helps you just a little bit.