[Karly1964]

:help: I have been having a series of anxiety attacks and they usually happen whenever I am trying to lay down and rest. I lay there for a minute or two, but they I feel all creepy inside, and usually start talking to whatever is on my mind unyil I cannot lay still anymore then up out of bed, chair or off the couch. I feel like one of those rats in a cage with the floor with electric currenr hooked to it. Every few second it feels like something is setting the anxierty of just as if someone turned on the floor of a cage with one of these experimental rats inside. I jump up from where I am siting or laying. Then i can't sit I pace and walk around almost pullingmy hair out. i take ativan for anxiety, maybe it'd the lack of sleep I am not getting.. But I am so jumpy and listless, it has taken me abut a half hour to write this.
Karly

 

[elisabethm]

Hi Karly are you on sleeping tablets if not why do you not ask the doctor to give you something that will help you sleep and keep your anxiety levels down.Can you phone your gp and see what he says as you are not getting enough sleep to keep you going in the day.I have sent you an email have a read at it and get back to me Elisabeth

 

[sadieone]

Cymbalta worked great for my anxiety and for my sleep.

I realized a couple of years ago that i would have panic attacks when every time i drove closer to a green light my heart would race until i got past it. There would be a fear that the light would turn red just before i got there and i would have to slam on my breaks or go through the red light.
Cymbalta helped me with that.

 

[lauralee77]

Karly,
I suffer from panic attacks, too. They started a couple of years ago when my lupus got more severe. I just felt like I wasn't in control of my life. I began seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist to talk. I take Valium now when I need it and an anti-psychotic med at night that puts me right to sleep and helps with anxiety. It is called Seroquel. If I don't take something to help me sleep, I will stay awake all night.
The Ativan is obviously not working for you. Maybe you need a stronger med. I always hate to advocate more meds for us lupies, but if they help you, then you should take them. You shouldn't have to live the way you do because I know how terrible it can be when you just can't calm down and you all you want to do is go to sleep.
Good luck and keep us posted on things.

 

[chilli]

karly, im sorry you are having a rough time at the moment. i have panic disorder with agoraphobia so i know only too well what you are going through.

so i'd like to share a few pointers with you.....lets call it 'panic 101'!!!!!!

firstly, even though you may think you are not triggering those feelings of panic....believe me you are.

panic can be triggered by a thought, image, feeling....anything really that you attach meaning to.

for you it is seems like your panic can be triggered by lying still, so anytime you lay still or are still, your body will automatically remember those panicky feelings and they will reappear.

one thing about us 'panickers' is that once we begin that cycle of panic our bodies become almost super sensitised to the least amount of stimulus....thats why we get agitated so quick, cant concentrate, or even queue!!!!

i know its easier said than done to tell you to 'ignore it' because thats not gonna happen!, so all i can tell you is to just allow those feelings to pass and try not to attach any feelings of fear or panic to it. let it just wash over you. or even try distraction....i often try to count back in 7's from one thousand. if you have to get up, find something else to do....this is to help block any unconscious links you may be making with the panic feelings.

try to establish a night time routine; take a hot bath and add a few drops of lavender oil, listen to some soothing music..........if you are anything like me then reading wont help because the mind wanders and you will end up reading the same line over and over again.

the key to breaking the panic cycle is to dispel the fear feelings and examine your thoughts around it.

it takes some time but it will get better....or you will get better at dealing with it. i have learnt the hard way.....panic will be as fierce as the power you give it. read up on 'panic/anxiety attacks'......in this instance knowledge really is power! and will help to demistify what is happening physiologically.

take care karly...i hope you get some peace of mind.....and most importantly rest.

feel free to pm me if you, im here if you need me.

 

[Karly1964]

Sleeping finally.......ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Well, my recliner arrived the other day, and ever since I have pretty much slept all day and all night, not techinically, but I would say about ten hours at night and six hours during the day. Just sleep and sleep and sleep, very restful, but a bit hard to rouse myself, but I have gotten my car back after taking it to a different repair shop, so whenever I feel tired or the least bit sleepy I get in the recliner or on the couch and sleep away, I figure I have a lot to catch up on. So at least I can drive without fear of falling alseep. Anxiety is way, way down, especially as my sleep goes up. Thanks for all your support and suggestions, I am yawning now so it is about time for sleep.:yawn: :asleep:

 

[halfpintfl]

Hi Karly, just wanted to let you know that I am also driven crazy by anxiety. I take valium, when I need it during the day, and I need sleep aids to help get me to sleep at night. There are days that I look at all the meds
I am on and I wonder, "gheeeesh, what would some stranger think if they saw this? But it is the only way we all can make it. Please get well soon. :wink2: ​

 

[lauralee77]

Halfpint, I agree. You have to do what you can to control your anxiety. I also take Valium during the day and serious sleep meds at night or I won't go to sleep. I'm also trying to be more spiritual and talk to God more which I feel is helping me as well. I'm on 60 mg of prednisone and my first week of Cellcept, so I feel like I deserve the Valium when I get anxious. I have been in this flare now for 3 months and the docs are having a hard time controlling it because it has not been responding to treatment (i.e. steroids) for the most part, so of course I am anxious. I was an extremely anxious person before I was even diagnosed with this. Us lupies should never have to justify taking any of these kinds of anxiety meds. This is a horrible disease and to whoever commented on taking lots of meds, you should come see my "bag o' meds" as I call it. When I got out of the hospital last week for the second time, my husband looked at my bag and said I need to graduate to a bigger one :hehe:. So I did.....