Can’t sleep

[briselrdriguez]

I’m back, I’m so tired but I can’t sleep because when I start falling into deep sleep I feel like I’m dying. Is this part of my anxiety or am I actually dying?

[Jeff1943]

Has a doctor told you that you're dying? If not then you certainly aren't dying, as proved by the fact that when you do get some sleep you always wake up...alive!

Try and find the cause of your anxiety, if you do and can distance yourself from it then your nerves will eventually heal and these strange thoughts and feelings will resolve.

[briselrdriguez in reply to Jeff1943]

I’m always very focused in my heart, because I can’t feel it or hear it. I got so used to being able to hear/feel it because of the anxiety/panic attacks I would get daily. Now it’s just hard for me to sleep, I wake up feeling out of breath and feel like my heart stopped

[Jeff1943 in reply to briselrdriguez]

Brisel, so you only feel and hear your heart when you're having anxiety/panic attacks. But because you no longer have panic attacks and can't feel and hear your heart any more you're worried. You should be out there buying your friends champagne, celebrating because the attacks have ceased. You have now joined the other 7.5-billion people in the world who can't feel or hear their hearts😊.

I know what you mean though, when you have sensitive nerves one symptom may go away but it is soon replaced by another. In your case worries about your heart. But it's become more than worry, I think so much introspection has become an obsession. I don't know whether you've talked this over with your doctor but if not ask him or her to check your heart. It will give you some reassurance. But the chances are it won't free you entirely of your worry about your heart, you'll suspect something has been missed. That's the way it goes with people who have anxiety disorder, not just you but all of us. Anxiety is resistant to doctors, specialists, ECGs/EKGs, blood tests and scans all giving a clean bill of health.

You've absolutely no reason to believe you're dying. This is anxiety playing mind games with you and making you worried and miserable. The worry causes fear. The fear hormones act on your nervous system and keep them over sensitised. Your nerves then send out fake symptoms like breathlessness that resemble organic illness and bad thoughts. This causes more fear which once again keeps your nerves sensitised...it's a vicious circle that goes round and round.

The way out of this dilemma is simple: treat your sensitised nerves and forget about the symptoms. Once you've desensitised your nerves the symptoms such as your heart worries will all disappear.

The way out is to stop listening and feeling for your heartbeat 25 times a day. O.K. check your pulse once a day before you go to bed, then have a good night's sleep, there's absolutely no reason not to.

The way out is to accept the bad feelings and thoughts for the moment. Accept them utterly and without fear. You know as well as I do that you'll probably live to be one hundred, your heart is fine (do confirm this with your doctor again if you wish but then accept the diagnosis).

Once you successfully frame your mind to accept all the symptoms and bad feelings your anxiety is sending your way, you stop producing those fear hormones which keep your nerves sensitised. Still with me, brisel? And because your nervous system is no longer under attack from fear hormones they have a chance to recover. Not right away, you've got to keep practicing acceptance for a while, but before too long they recover and all those bad feelings and thoughts disappear. You're feeling normal once more. That's how it's done.

So relax, brisel, no need for worries, you are fit, healthy and fine. Start practicing acceptance and you will be starting your recovery. Everything is well and you are in no danger. Your heart is strong and will serve you well for many decades to come.

[Hidden]

Hi briselrdiguez, I’ve just posted similar symptoms, when I try to go to sleep ! It’s a vile feeling ! x

[Kn515]

Hi I’m new to here but this is exactly what I was googling when I come across this page , I’m exactly the same , whenever I feel tired I assume it’s because I’m dying so I fight sleep until I physically can’t , I can’t cope with the thought of not knowing what happens when we die , I even started attending different churches to look for answers 🙈 so you’re not alone x