couldnt catch my breath

[molly36]

Hi there i have been a panic and anxiety sufferer for about 20 years ,i am 36 now and over the last 5 months the panic attacks are waking me up in the middle of the night .Mostly i all of a sudden am awake and i realise my heart is totally racing and i mean racing sometimes ive went to a&e as it was so bad ,But lately i have started having different symptoms last week i awoke and my heart was so slow and i felt faint and strange and then went in to full blown panic attack.But last night i was all of a sudden awake ,im not sure if i was fallen asleep or asleep but i felt this horrid feeling creep over me very fast and forcefull like when you get winded in your solar plexis .The air was knocked out of me and i was gasping for breath it lasted around a minute and i had to take a diazipan which i rarely take.It was like when say you have cycled to the top of a hill and and you have to try and catch your breath it was like that ,totally fast and out of control ,i really thought i was dying.I really cant express how forcefull it was .Im now terrifed ,i know when i go to doc he will say it my panic attacks but this was so much worse i felt ,i was literally gasping for air.It did pass but what was it .Has anyone else suffered such a severe panic or attack at night.I just feel i am never going to win this battle .kind regards molly

[rosebud]

I've woken up during the night gasping for breath when my panic attacks and anxiety were at its worst. Sometimes i was to scared to go to sleep in case it happened !!! Its just anxiety though even though i know its really frightening. Try not to worry. Take care xxx

[molly36]

Thank yo for your reply ,The thing is it semed to happen after i was awake for a second it didnt seem to wake me up the way the fast heart rate does.MY breathing was just so suddenly very rapid ,i was gasping for air.It is horrible and im so so tired of it all .thanks again ind regards molly xx

[Seffie]

Hi Molly,
I have had these kinds of things in the past-waking up in panic, with a racing heart & feeling breathless etc. It is very hard to cope with in the middle of the night. Are you alone or is there someone who can help you to calm down? If you live alone then you could always ring NHS Direct for reassurance. I had a very severe panic attack in the night once & just couldn't stop shaking or calm down, it was like I was having one panic attack after another & I felt terrified so I rang NHS Direct & they got a nurse to call me back within minutes who kind of talked me down until I felt calm enough to go back to sleep.

Just a thought, you may already have done this. It might help in the short term but ultimately you have to learn to do this yourself, your thoughts & fear are just fuelling these symptoms-I'm sure you already know this-but nothing will change until you change how you think etc.

When you feel calmer you could try writing down a kind of script for yourself along the lines of 'I've had this before & I was OK' & just focus on breathing slowly & abdominally with a brief pause between breaths.
Take care & know that many of us understand what you're going through.
Love Seffie x

[molly36]

Hi thank you for your reply yes i hav called nhs direct before but i always get someone who dosent understand and they tell me to go to hospital which fuel my anxiety even more.The prob is this is a fairly new symptom for me the waking severerly breathless and gasping for air ,i usually wake with the racing heart and sweating so i can sort of calm down after them as deep down i know its a panic cos ive had them so many times.But this was so scary and it happened twice in a row friday and saturday .So i am terrified to go to sleep but i am so exausted .Thank you again kind regards molly

[burak]

hey molly,

i have health anxiety for about 9 or 10 years now. sometimes im normal for months, sometimes im really struggling into my panic and anxiety. nowadays im really in a bad shape that my symptoms and anxiety at the worst level since the beginning.

im always focusing about different parts of my body like heart, cheast, brain etc. but always the docs say that everything is ok.

Im waking up in the nights for a few times with racing heart and shortness of breath for 6 months now. shortness of breath was always with me since i got this anxiety. at the moment im hungry for air all the day long. i am laways taking deep breath. Sometimes it goes worst that im starting to couch because of that deep breaths and at the last my stomach getting weird and the nausea begins.

just a little story: "4 months ago, worst of the breath problem happened and i fight with it for half an hour at the and my head began to feel weird like im going to faint or something, my hands began to tingle that i thought im going die for sure. My friend called an ambulance. they came instantly and took me inside. first they said you dont look like that you cant breath. they connected me to monitor and with a little tool they latched to my finger they measured the oxygen level of my body. they said you are breathing very well that my oxyggen level was %98. But i was still hungry for air that it took sometime for them to relax me. Even the doc meauserd his own level and showed me it was %97 and said "u cant fool me, you are breathing better than me". And they said the weird feeling on my head could be caused by high oxygen level."

So still i got the shortness of breath symptoms and waking up in the morning 4 or 5 times with them is very horrible i know. sometimes im getting up and standing for taking more deep breaths, a chest pain begans cause of them, im usually forcing myself to yawn cause im feeling that i can breath better while yawning. All at the and it goes away im relaxing and going to sleep again. every night the same vicious circle. But i know some day it will pass.

So be cool and relax. be sure that i understand you very very well. its horrible getting these but know that nothing bad will happen. anxiety can cause all these symptoms. sometimes i say myself that anxiety cant cause that, for sure there is something wrong phsically. But im still here :)

Hope these anxiety thing pass and go and never come back to us again.

Best regards,
Burak