I just wondered if anyone else suffers from anxiety in their sleep.
I’ve been waking up with a racing heart for months(been told after many tests that it’s anxiety) and that is still happening but I seem to have nightmares throughout the night and wake up a few times every night with butterflies in my tummy and heart pounding and just generally feeling soooo anxious.this happens every night multiple times.
I take a 10mg beta blocker three times a day to slow my heart rate which definitely is helping in the day time.just hate this at night and wondered if anyone had any advice?
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Minnie87
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Beta blockers are regularly prescribed for anxiety, and in some cases, like mine, just calming down my tachycardia works wonders. My palpitations made my anxiety much worse. I m still anxious but have not had any panic attack in months
Which Beta Blockers do you take? I take Atenolol 50mg. It slows my heart really well but I still get pretty regular palpitations.
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Hi Bobbyabby, I was on Atenolol 50mg which slowed my HR but caused nightmares... every night. I m on Bisoprolol now. The equivalent dosage to my 50mg Atenolol are 5mg Bisoprolol, taken once daily. However, my palpitations were bad at night and I felt the drug was tapering off too soon. So I took 2.5 mg in morning, 2.5 at night and all was nice and even. I have no palpitations. Side effect : I woke up around 4 AM and sometimes it was difficult to go back to sleep. My GP recommended to now cut the nightly dose to half. I m at day 9 of that trial and so far all is good. I hope it works out for you and you find a solution. I still feel anxious but a calm and even HR is such a relief. I do not take benzos but manage anxiety with walking, breathing exercises and mindful meditation. Especially the deep breathing I find helpful. All the best x
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Ok, I get bad dreams maybe it’s the Atenolol. I might discuss with my doc.
😃
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I didn t want to click 'like' because I don t like your having bad dreams I had terrible nightmares. They re gone for good, so that s fine. I hope you get rid of them too. xx
Hi Minnie. I too had this and it stopped when I was put on a different beta blocker, one that you take only once d a ILY. It lasts longer and after deviding my daily dosage into 2 (8AM and 8 PM) I sleep much better and wake only once... usually with a nervous tummy, feeling of falling. Check online for hypnic jerk.... people suffering anxiety and/or are sleep deprived often wake up with the feeling of butterflies in their stomach or of falling, sometimes twiching limbs. Are you still on Propranolol? It didn t work for me because it tapers off so quickly. I hope you find back to relaxing sleep soon x
I get really anxious when I can’t sleep for a Night or only a couple of hours, I lay there and if I haven’t gone to sleep after half to 1 hour I start panicking, I don’t understand. Never used to have problems sleeping before my
Anxiety problems with its horrible physical symptoms
Hi Minnie, I too use to have the racing heart, butterflies and nightmares that woke me
up several times during the night. It's a horrible feeling to be brought out of a deep
sleep in a sudden jolt of terror. The explanation behind that is the subconscious mind
replaying your fears of the day over and over spilling into your dreams. If we go to bed
worried that this is going to happen, we can't possibly get into a relaxed state. Just
as you may start to fall into a REM sleep, your tense muscles think that something is
wrong because it doesn't know the feeling of relaxation, and so it responses to an
ALERT where adrenaline is released, you wake up terrorized. With each moment of
fear, more adrenaline pours out causing that high h/r.
The thing that I learned that helped me get out of that cycle of night fear is once again
meditation and deep breathing. That has been the key to my success. I only wish I hadn't
lost so many years of sleep and worrying. I meditate first thing upon awakening, mid afternoon and before bed each and every day. I fall asleep fast and easily going into a
restorative REM sleep. No medication needed. The mind is controlling how my body responds. Talk with your doctor or therapist about the sleep issues. It's so important
to be able to let go and relax during the night. Wishing you better nights. xx
Thank you for that amazing reply.i must start to do the meditation before I go to sleep.i have been practicing it in the day time but not so much the early morning or nights.
I’m going to screenshot your message as always and refer back to it when I’m having a really bad night.so helpful and calming.
I might have the doctor change my medication or upp it a little as I’m on a low dose.
I’m still waiting for my cbt so hopefully that will hurry up.could really do with it now.
Everyone here is amazing! Just found this site and everything u have listed here is what I go through too! All the test normal but still these feelings out of the blue. You are not alone. Please update on how you’re doing!
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I had terrible nightmares. They re gone for good, so that s fine. I hope you get rid of them too. xx
No sleep 
Won't sleep, Can't sleep 
SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP AND NEVER WAKE UP
Sleep/General/Health Anxiety 
Sleep anxiety or what? 
