Has anyone ever felt so anxious and depressed they couldn’t sleep all night? Body tense and uncontrollable shaking? I woke up in the middle of the night and was pacing back and forth in my room, feeling like I was about to suffocate. I haven’t felt this bad in a LONG time. And it terrified me. What makes me sad is that its really just my negative anxious thoughts that caused it.

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I have most certainly had those feelings before. The harder I try to stop it, the worse it gets because I get scared about how out of control I am.

My best advice is to move away from your bedroom (if possible) to another room you feel safe and comfortable. Let it come and turn yourself into a sportscaster type announcer. Just describe what’s happening in the moment. For example, keep the thoughts as neutral as your can. “My arms are trembling right now. It feels like there are butterflies in my stomach. My legs are itchy like they don’t want to stay still. “. I’ll spend 3 minutes doing this just describing the physical sensations as If your brain and thoughts aren’t part of it at all.

Then I’ll switch to a 3 minute youtube guided meditation on breathing to calm down for sleep. Search for 3-5 minute sleep meditations.

Repeat until your heart rate, breathing, and urge to pace subsides.

Best of luck to you!

likehelpful

Sounds like an anxiety attack to me. One popular coping mechanism for anxiety attacks is called the 5-4-3-2-1 technique. Helps to ground yourself and bring you back to reality and the present moment.
Control and slow your breathing, and then go through the following steps:

5: Acknowledge FIVE things you see around you. It could be anything… a spot on the ceiling, a pen, a table.

4: Acknowledge FOUR things you can touch around you. It could be your hair, a pillow, or the ground under your feet.

3: Acknowledge THREE things you hear. This could be any external sound. If you can hear your belly rumbling that counts! Focus on things you can hear outside of your body.

2: Acknowledge TWO things you can smell. Maybe you are in your office and smell pencil, or maybe you are in your bedroom and smell a pillow. If you need to take a brief walk to find a scent you could smell soap in your bathroom, or nature outside.

1: Acknowledge ONE thing you can taste. What does the inside of your mouth taste like—gum, coffee, or the sandwich from lunch?


Seems silly, I know… but when in the midst of an anxiety or panic attack, this can help bring you back down to earth.

likesmart

I’m sorry you went through this. Anxiety can be really awful. What worked for me in decreasing anxiety symptoms is a combination of mindfulness and therapy. I meditate for ten minutes in the morning every day and it’s so incredibly helpful for my day. I recommend checking out the app “Unwinding Anxiety” to learn more about the neuroscience behind mindfulness and anxiety and to get some tools for dealing with anxiety!

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I have pretty intense daily anxiety due to my ADHD. I have found that a low dose of beta blockers has significantly helped decrease my physical anxiety symptoms. This helps me manage my anxiety better mentally.

Also meditation is so so so helpful for calming the mind and body. I suggest listening to the Spoken Word meditation on Above and Beyond’s Flow State album. It’s powerful, calming, supportive and helps keep me going on the worst days.

You got this and good luck! You are not your anxiety.

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Additionally, as others have suggested it also sounds a bit like a panic attack. The 54321 method works great.

Another method is reading directions to anything. Like a recipe or operators manual to a microwave.
Your brain can’t process anxiety at the same time it’s processing simple instructions.

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Yes I’ve gone through years of this phase! It gets better b ur it’s really difficult to navigate when you’re experiencing it. It really has a lot to do with mindset. Definitely try to change rooms here and there. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve tried warm baths at night, extra cooling in my room, journaling before bed, no screens before bed, sleeping with an eye patch, melatonin, deep breathing, meditating. It all works to an extent.

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Please go see a doctor ASAP. The bad news is that this is a panic attack. And the good news is that this is a panic attack - it’s very common and can be addressed in many ways. I In the meantime, focus on your breathing: in through the nose for 4 seconds and out through the mouth for 6 seconds. That should get your heart rate down, regain a sense of control and help you realize that you are definitely not suffocating.

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Been there. Feel free to message me if you want to talk. ❤️

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Not that bad, but I haven’t been able to sleep most of this year. I’m finally working through it (by myself, didn’t see a therapist) by figuring out what my source of stress is and consciously cutting out the things that make me unhappy and also adding good positive things to my life. Been hard but I can’t tell you how good it is to sleep 8 straight hours like I just did. I’m a whole new me

Best of luck OP. Whatever is nothing you, figure it out and address it. Nothing is worth this much agony

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Yes woke up with it this morning so definitely sympathize. I get it worse in the morning which i suspect is due to cortisol levels being off. Everything that everyone else suggested I have tried and works (exercise, breathing, distraction etc) but you also might consider a naturopath who can suggest things to help the cortisol levels. I didn’t want to take pharmaceutical medication unless truly needed (but it’s also a nice security blanket to have one in your pocket to make you feel better about an emergency scenario arising) - but a naturopath can suggest things like magnesium or ashgwanda (spelling?) and etc.
also eating something might help in the moment too in case part of it is blood sugar or feeling down due to hunger. it’s easy to leave an apple on your nightstand to chomp into if you feel it coming on, for example. I just woke up at 5am with racing thoughts and did all I described and feeling better slowly.

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I have felt this way and it is terrible. I’m sorry you’re going through it. If possible, I would suggest taking some time off to de-stress and unwind. Therapy, meds, meditation all help as the others have said. I hope you feel better soon.

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Yes, I'm trying to find better coping mechanisms for my anxiety. For me it was antidepressants, exercise and reading The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown theres a lot of useful ways of reframing your thoughts in that book.

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Hi there! Definitely been dealing with depression and anxiousness. What’s been helping me is talking to a therapist and also meditating like 5-10 mins when I am too overwhelmed.

It’s anxiety for me. When in depression sleep the whole day

I highly recommend doing an SOS meditation during times like this. (Free app: Insight Timer). I personally use Headspace & Ten Percent

If it happens again and you can’t bring yourself down with the breathing techniques described above see a doc about meds.
There are also natural alternatives that can help

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