I am so scared that this will never end. I am 50 with regular periods but very close together and heavy. This sleep problem has gotten to the point that I have not had any sleep for weeks. I go to sleep tired and within minutes of falling asleep I find myself on the floor or grabbing all the covers and it feels like my stomach tightened and I'm trying to get a breath. Finally breath and then fall asleep again and again jolted up to panic. Over and over and over again. My husband gave me a xanax and when it made me feel sleepy my brain felt like it would fight it so I don't ever fall deeply asleep. I try to go out to the couch and it happens there too. I finally give up crying and near hysterical and take a shower at 4 in the morning and only then when the sun is up that I finally get about 2 hours of non jumping up sleep on the couch. It's like im on hyper alert. Because even when I fell asleep on the couch and didn't jump up I started to wake up naturally and I heard a siren outside and my heart started to pound. I had a sleep study but the idiot neuro was no help. I had 96 arousals in 28 minutes of sleep. He said no sleep apnea and it must be some type of parasonyn. Well I didn't need a sleep study to tell me that. I asked if it could be nocturnal panic attacks and he said they do not present over and over again at night like that. So he handed me Klonopin and his attitude was just take it with no questions. So if I don't have panic attacks at night and don't have sleep apnea ..then what do I have??? I have developed a fear of the night because of these attacks. If the xanax did not work would the klonopin be any different since they are both benzo's. My husband says he going to stay u p and watch exactly what happens to me but once he's asleep I'm on my own. I'm even afraid to take anything that would knock me out because maybe I won't be able to jolt up if I stop breathing . This got worse after I lost my job and went to bed not that tired. Then I would just fall asleep and hear my husband start snoring. Then he would stop and I'd hear my little dog snorting. Then I would look at the clock and see that my son was not home yet and couldn't fall asleep until he was. Then the phone would ring with wrong number at 2 in morning. There was always something and then eventually everytime even when it was quiet my body and mind stopped letting me go into any kind of sleep without jumping up in panic. Please, please can anyone relate. Would ambien help. The last time I slept peacefully was when I had a colonoscopy and it just felt so good when I felt myself going under. I wish I can have a little of that stuff.

how awful that you are going through this right now. this happened to me a few years ago & i can honestly say it was one of the worst symptoms that i have had through all of this. i cried just reading your post - it sounded so familiar.

i wish i could give you some real good advice, because i know how scary & really debilitating it is. i ended up on 2mg of ativan at night. at the beginning, even that didn't seem to help. & i recall sobbing to my husband - i felt so bad, my body was jolting me awake, & i couldn't get the system to calm down. the doctors were useless. through trial & error, i found if i could ramp down the entire system, then i could eventually get back to something more akin to normal. for me, that meant using the ativan during the day for a bit as well (or at stressful times).

there is debate about the use of benzos, but i was desperate. i have tapered use over time & am almost down to nothing now. other people do have problems with the addiction potential. i just know how miserable & scared you are right now & wish i could offer more than understanding, hugs, & the sharing of my own experience.

you will make it through this even though it is so bad right now. i hope you find some things that will help you start to be able to sleep again.

hugs,
ellen

I used to get that, too. It always seemed part and parcel of my PMS. Once my period came, it would cease.
Also, if I'm under unusual stress it can happen. With all our current money issues, it happened to me a few nights ago. It is, without a doubt, the most frightening thing--for a split second you feel like you can't breathe. And it happens over and over--as your body dozes it's as if some internal alarm goes off and you're jolted awake and breathless. I hate it!!

I finally took an Ativan, but it took awhile for it to kick in.

It will pass. You just have to find out what relaxes you and do that before retiring. I find working a crossword puzzle or reading some pleasant, affirmative material helps too.

((((Patti))))...i've been there and done that and it's absolutely awful!!
What helped me is NOT jumping up in a panic,no matter what...jumping up was just training my mind/body to automatically panic and i had to re-train myself.It was SO hard to do at first....but you WILL breathe on your own,it just feels like you won't.Instead of jumping up,i would cover my head with the blankets.....at first i felt like i would suffocate,but of course i didn't....after those moments of feeling like i was suffocating and would pass out it would eventually pass and i would be ok.It took ahwile but it all finally pretty much went away..i do ocassionaly feel that way during pms and i cover my head,breathing in my own warm breath helps and calms me down.Your body/mind will sooner or later(hopefully sooner) not automatically go into that panic state.....

Thank you for all your advice and feeling like I'm not so alone. The nighttime is such an alone time I feel. I try very hard when I jump not to panic but it takes me awhile to feel like I'm getting air. It feels almost like I'm clenching my stomach at night and this is what is causing me to hyperventilate in my sleep. I just don't know. But funny thing is that it has been very bad this past week and I just got my period today. Was not at all expecting it since it has only been 21 days. This is the 1st time ever I got it only 21 days apart. I was always about 28 to 30 and then in the last 3 years have went to 23, 24 and back to 27 or 28 days everyother month. So I imagine the hormones have been causing my sleeping panic to be worse this week. I'm just so worried I have some type of seizure. Because sometimes I jolt up and feel something coming on me and the best word I can use is writher and twist and tense my legs from the "feeling". Other times I just find myself on the floor trying to breath. I think if all the things I hear on tv about how bad it is not to sleep for your heart and they said it's actually good to not get any sleep I'd probably sleep better knowing I'm not going to get a heart attack from all this night time horror. I'm going to try a xanax again tonight. It's only .25 the lowest I think you can take and then not go right to bed. I will just stay on couch and maybe fall asleep there. Maybe this way I will break the cycle. Thank you all.

If you can't sleep again, come join us in chat. There's usually a bevy of insomniacs chatting at all odd hours!

Hi Pattimay,
I have dealt with this type of insomnia off and on for years due to crazy hormones and stress. In my opinion, you probably started this whole thing off with an overload of stress. The stress hypersensitized you to any outside stimuli. Hyperalert as you say. Then add into the mix your hormones that are doing a number on your system at every level. Now, when dealing with sleep, look at what happens when you go to bed a few hours past your bed time. It's hard to get up in the morning and we try to sleep in. Then when you try to go to sleep at your regular time, you notice you can't fall asleep easily because you just messed with your sleep schedule. As we age we just don't produce as much melatonin as in our younger years. Now, lets add sleep deprivation. So here you have it. Stress, hypersensitivity to body sensations and thoughts and pain, hormones out of wack and messing up your sleep schedule. Then top it off with a fear of falling to sleep and there you are. You need to calm everything down. Give your jolted system a break. The way I did that was to use xanax. I also take AD's. When you got your colonoscopy the meds they used were probably Versed and Phentoline. Versed is an anti anxiety. That's why you felt so relaxed. I have had so many colonoscopies I know what your talking about.
Another thing I used for many years was Baby liquid Benedril. I would take between 1 teaspoon to 2 Tablespoons and it would relax me and take away anxiety. My pharmacist told me it had anti anxiety properties as well. Plus it causes drowziness. I now only use Xanax when I have a really bad attack. For smaller issues with sleep, I use the Baby Benedril.
I also had to wear ear plugs because I slept so light that I woke up to any noise. Also, I cannot sleep with anybody. I have to sleep in a dark cool room ALONE. If I feel movement or hear snoring, forget about it. My sleep is shot. I know it would probably be a strain on a relationship to sleep apart but it's not forever. Don't give up. This can be turned around. Good luck to you...............Debra

I know exactly how you all feel. Last night, after a day of stomach issues, i went to bed and ALL NIGHT LONG, I would lay down and feel like I was falling and then my stomach would spasm and I would jolt awake. Over and over and over. I even took a benadryl, but it didn't do much. My stomach just kept tightening up. It was awful. I am sorry you all ever go through this, but happy I am not alone.

Enough
That happens to me. What does that mean?? All night in to the morning I'll get where my legs jerk and it wakes me up. When I first start to sleep my whole body feels like it's falling. One night it felt like a lightening bolt went through my body. I had terrible anxiety after that. Even when I'm on the couch and starting to fall asleep my body jerks. Do you find anything that seemsto help??

Last night, nothing seemed to help. I jsut tossed and turned all night. The problem is that the daytime comes and I am so tired. I am also then afraide ot go to sleep that night, for fear it'll happen again. I thought the benadryl would help, maybe xanax, anything at this point. It is awful.

Yes, I hear ya. It seems lately I go from the bed to the couch until noon. I used to zoom all morning getting up at 3-4am. But after 3 months of that I'm totally drained. Maybe adreanal fatigue. I seem to be better by night time so 10pm I pop my sleeping pill and out go the lights. I finally can get 7 hours of uninterupted sleep. I would try xanax before bedtime as this used to work for me. The night time jerks and bolts still occur. Not as bad.

This used to happen to me for years........it was horrible..........if it wasn't that I thought I needed to live for my kids, I would have wanted to die for sure. ......then with using a tranquilizer, it did help some, but I am seeing a pattern here. When I started on thyroid meds, it was better. Then when Menopause hit and the Dr. put me on Prempro, it got really really bad. I was walking around asking someone to shoot me. So I quit that, and again, it was some better. Then this past year I have been trying to balance my hormones with bio-identical hormone replacement, and I find that when these are balanced, I'm fine. When they are out, it comes back. I notice some of you mentioned it being worse at PMS times. I think that tells us something, doesn't it? Since I'm in the first year of Menopause, I understand the hormones can fluctuate quite a bit, so balancing them is tricky.......you think you have it figured out, then your body changes again.

I'm just reading The Schwartzbein Principle II, and she says to make sure you get plenty of Magnesium and Calcium at bedtime, but use a non-addicting sleeping pill if you need, not Xanax if possible. Also 1,000 - 3,000 mg. of powdered inositol (I haven't tried that yet).

And yes, adrenal exhaustion is probably a large part of it. Which is cured with rest. Which you can't get if you can't sleep. Which is why the sleeping pill for a time.........oh dear!!!!!!!

All the best to you all.

Patti,
That is what happened to me last Jan. I started to have terrible insomnia and didn't get any sleep for 10 days and finally ending up in the hospital. Felt like I couldn't breath and like I was going to pass out. Not sleep is nothing to take lightly. It can have a serious impact on your whole body. This was the point where all my peri symptoms (mostly anxiety) came to a head after 3 1/2 yrs. After seeing an endo. dr. and ruling out anything else being out of whack I finally went on Lexapro and started seeing a therapist. After 5 weeks I felt like myself and this past year has just been the best. I sleep great and all my anxiety issues and panic have went away and I am leading a normal life again. No dark cloud following me around anymore. Seek out help from a good dr. who will listen and get the relief you need.