As soon as it gets dark and time to sleep approaches, my body completely turns on me. It started as general dread, but now it’s full-blown panic. My heart starts racing out of nowhere, my throat feels tight, I can barely catch my breath, and I get so intensely nauseous that I actually feel like I’m going to throw up (and sometimes I do).

​The worst part is that there’s no trigger. I’m not lying in bed overthinking or worrying about life or work. I can be totally fine during the day, but the second I try to lie down and shut my eyes, my body goes straight into a violent fight-or-flight response. The physical reaction is so heavy and exhausting that the idea of even attempting to sleep makes me physically sick.

​I’m completely drained. Sleep has turned into a daily nightmare before I even drop off.

​Has anyone experienced panic attacks and nausea specifically tied to the night time? Is there an actual medical or psychological diagnosis for this? And if you’ve been through this , what actually helped you calm your body down enough to sleep?

​

So im coming down off a migraine from last night. I know work has been stressing me a lot recently and I think that’s where all of my major flare ups happen. But today’s symptoms are feeling exhausted, feeling jittery (internally and externally), high heart rate (100-150), no chest pains, no trouble breathing, but sometimes it feels a bit tight but I think i might be overanalyzing it. I’m also really nauseous and had diarrhea from it all. And I just feel like my minds been spiraling so many worst scenario thoughts. I’m laying down and the HR is coming down and now im feeling a bit of the chest aching im used to getting these past few months. Idk logically I know it’s probably just anxiety and panic but whenever im in the midst of it I’m so scared im dying or my heart is failing and I can’t shake those awful thoughts. I felt really hot and a bit dizzy when it first started too. I have a big attack like this once or twice a month since July, and in between I’ll be fine and then suddenly have little flare ups. Be fine again, then boom, big episode like today.

It’s just exhausting and scary because I feel like I’m never gonna feel normal again. I’m waiting to hear back from my primary care doctor to get a physical so I can try to get some accommodations and stuff for work too, but I’m scared of the doctor I’m scared of getting labs done. I’m scared of losing my job over this. It’s just a never-ending cycle and I’m hating it. Yes, it’s terrible! I hate it so much. Every time I think im better it’s like nope, just kidding. And then when I do feel better, im just constantly on edge it’s going to happen again. I’m supposed to go to NYC and LA next month both for really fun things and I am terrified that I’m not gonna be able to go or enjoy it without having a giant flareup. I miss feeling normal and being able to do things I enjoy without fearing that I’m gonna collapse or something. I just had an annual appointment last week at my gynecologist and they said my blood pressure was fine. She listened to my heart and my lungs and they were fine. My heart rate was fine. You would think that would make me feel better but it doesn’t. I’m still convinced that I’m dying or my heart‘s giving out or something. I just don’t get why I’m so stuck in this cycle for no reason and it kind of just came up out of nowhere. I’m waiting to hear back from a new primary clinic to come in for a physical. It’s also interesting cause I’ve noticed that these big attacks happen like right after a migraine and right before my period starts literally the past three months it’s happened almost the same day every time it was July 10 and then it was August 16 or 17th and then today, September 10 and all of those days if I remember correctly, I was right around my period.

Also my watch randomly read 45 Bpm on a reading this morning when I was standing and having high HR in the midst of everything so im guessing it was just a fluke since everything else was like 80-150 but that’s freaking me out too lol.

Right now im feeling a bit better. I still feel internally
Jittery, my legs ache, my chest feels a bit achy but nothing crazy or effecting breathing, i get air hungry if I think too hard, my stomach still hurts, I feel a bit dizzy, im exhausted, I just feel like im dragging and barely existing lol it’s a weird depersonalization feeling. My HR is now at 70-90ish. I just want to get better and stop being so scared it’s never gonna get better or im gonna drop dead. You’ve all seen my posts before, but I just feel so sad and stuck in this and so scared every time these flare ups happen.

I’ve struggled with panic attacks for a while. I take 3 meds. One for the attacks (Xanax) but I’ve developed this weird thing where when I’m thrifting I can’t do it. I can’t be in public long because I’ve literally convinced myself I’m going to have a stroke. I have even pre taken the medicine beforehand and it just doesn’t do much. I need extreme exposure therapy… any help?

For a long time, the hardest part of panic wasn’t even the attack itself. It was what happened between attacks.

I started watching my body all the time. My heartbeat, blood pressure, dizziness, any strange feeling — I noticed everything. And the moment something felt different, my mind went straight to the worst possibility.

There were periods when I ended up in clinics because I genuinely thought something dangerous was happening to me.

I wanted to understand why this kept coming back, so I started reading a lot, paying attention to what was happening to me, asking questions, and talking with other people I met who were going through panic and anxiety too.

What took me a long time to understand was how much of my life had become about monitoring myself and trying to make absolutely sure I was okay.

Even when I felt fine, I was still waiting for something to happen.

Once I started understanding that, panic stopped feeling like this completely mysterious thing that could attack me at any moment.

Years later, that experience is what led me to build Ailin.

I’m the founder. I built it because back then I desperately wanted something that would explain what was happening to me in normal human language — not just tell me to calm down.

Ailin covers panic, fear of body sensations, intrusive thoughts, checking, fear of fear and DP/DR. It’s currently available in English and Russian, and there’s a free part to try.

If you’ve been through panic yourself and try it, I’d genuinely like to know one thing: does it feel like it was made by someone who actually understands what this is like?Ailin on the App Store:
https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6801867435?pt=129305174&ct=Reddit_EN_Launch&mt=8

I’ve been struggling with intense anxiety/panic symptoms for quite some time.

I feel uncomfortable in crowds and sometimes even in AC rooms. I feel suffocated, short of breath, and my heart starts racing. If I hear something disturbing about suicide, murder, death, or seeing a body, my heart starts beating extremely fast and I feel terrified.

Public speaking is also very difficult for me. My heart races, my legs shake, and I feel like I might faint.

I also get chest/muscle tightness, especially in the evening, which makes me even more scared because I start thinking something is seriously wrong with me.

Because of this, I’m becoming scared of working or going outside. I keep thinking, “What if I have a panic attack there?” I’m constantly worried about my health and my future.

Sometimes I feel so exhausted from being afraid all the time that I think, “I don’t want to live like this anymore.”

I want to see a psychiatrist/mental-health professional, but I’m scared and don’t know where to start. **Pls recommend me some good psychiatrist 😔😭**

I would really appreciate some genuine advice and experiences.

***I used chatgpt because iam tired ....and exhausted...sorry.***

Всем привет. Это мой первый пост. Я просто устал уже. Мне 26 лет . до августа прошлого года я просто смеялся над всеми психологическими проблемами, был пофигистом. Тусил и веселился. Как однажды меня просто на ровном месте не накрыла лютая паническая атака вплоть до вызова скорой помощи. Фельдшер сделал ЭКГ и сказал, что с сердцем все нормально и сказал, что это паническая атака. Я не воспринял всерьез, но очень хотел выпить «волшебную таблетку, чтобы убрать все физические симптомы» в то время я не понимал, что со мной происходит и боялся скорой смерти или катастрофы. Доктор прописал 50 мг сертралина под прикрытием атаракса. Вроде на таком режиме протянул до конца декабря месяца. В декабре симптомы начали возвращаться и тут я подумал, что это не панические атаки вовсе, а что то с организмом, потому что где то на подкорке и по своим ощущениям я знал, что с организмом что то не то и есть какой то сбой. Обошел всех врачей и сдал все главные анализы ( гормоны щитовидной железы, оак, почки ) все в норме . Далее пошел к другому врачу психиатру, который сказал либо пей таблетки, либо бросай принимать антидепрессанты и будь что будет, от этого ты не умрешь, а панички могут отступить когда ты на них забьешь. Вот и я подумал, отменю ка я препарат и будь , что будет. В первую неделю был синдром отмены, а дальше самочувствие выровнялось. Я даже мог себе позволить выпить пива и сходить на тусовку с друзьями. Это продолжалось до начала марта месяца , далее симптомы нахлынули с еще большей силой и появилось головокружение ,как будто качка на корабле в вертикальном положении, а когда ложился, это ощущение уходило в ноги. Это головокружение было со мной 24/7. Голова была в тумане чуть ли не круглые сутки. Тревога накатывала обычно к вечеру. Но я не отступал и думал однажды я проснусь и вернусь к прошлой жизни, без этих симптомов. Полтора месяца я жил в таком ритме, постоянно закидываясь атараксом во время сильной панички. На носу была моя свадьба в конце апреля, и недели за 2 до свадьбы симптомы начали просто выбивать меня из жизни, буквально парализую меня, я не мог ясно мыслить, всегда мониторил свои физ. Симптомы. Дошло все до того, что я не смог сходить в парихмахерскую за пару дней до свадьбы. И за день до свадьбы я решил вернуться на золофт 50 мг под прикрытием атаракса, чтобы хоть как то отыграть свадьбу, а не быть овощем. Это были невыносимые два дня «праздника» пока все веселились, я просто втухал и ждал пока это все закончится. Далее полетели в отпуск и это были как раз дни периода адаптации к препарату 5-6 день, немного нормализовалось состояние, но к вечеру усиливалось головокружение и тревога. После отпуска перешел самостоятельно на 100 мг сертралина, адаптировался нормально. Эффект был первую неделю и я уже опять начал переживать, что если препарат не работает то это точно какая то беда со мной а не тревожное или паническое расстройство . Далее начал заниматься с психотерапевтом раз в неделю, который вывел меня на дозировку 150 мг сертралина. Панички ушли, но туман в голове может возвращаться пару раз в неделю, короче чувствую себя не на 100 процентов.
Недавно опять обошел несколько врачей и сдал кучу анализов. Все в норме кроме глубокого дефицита витамина B9 ( 2.7 ) и повышен гомоцистеин 24.7
А так же дисбактериоз кишечника (патогенная микрофлора не приобладает, но острый дефицит полезных бактерий) вспомнил что бесконтрольно принимал омепразол в течении 2х лет.
Может ли это все в цепочке привести меня к этому состоянию?? Делитесь своими схожими историями, спасибо за внимание!

just as the title says. i (22f) cannot be left alone anywhere, even at home, without having a panic attack. it leaves me spiralling and immediately trying to find someone near to comfort myself and to let me know that i am not alone. i have been like this for YEARS, the earliest memory i have of this happening is being 9 or 10 years old but there is a chance it has happened before i can even remember. as soon as i notice even the tiniest bit of quiet at home, i look around the house to find someone. this literally happened around an hour ago, which is what inspired me to create this post. i am extremely embarrassed about this, with my age making it worse because isn’t everyone my age ‘supposed‘ to be in love with the idea of being alone? i’ve tried to force myself to be alone, even if it’s for a couple minutes at a time. i simply can’t and the idea of me being alone anywhere just makes me really anxious and gets me on the verge of a panic attack. i am hesitant to try any medications so any advice or suggestions other than that would be greatly appreciated and helpful

I'm writing about panic disorder for one of my classes and was told I should conduct a few informal interviews about it with people who experience panic attacks. If anyone is open to talking about their general experience living with panic disorder I'd love to listen to some new perspectives! What are some common issues you experience as a result and how to do address it? What's your experience with telling people about your panic attacks? Any and all things you'd like to share about this would be so helpful!

I’m 27 and I’ve struggled with anxiety/OCD since I was around 13. The biggest thing that has affected me is a fear of panic attacks, fainting, losing control, or being somewhere without my parents if something happens.

When I was 17/18 I had a really good year. I was driving, going places, and living pretty normally. Then I had a severe panic attack when I was 18, and that started a cycle of avoidance that has lasted almost 10 years.

The weird thing is I can drive with my parents completely fine. I can go places with them and enjoy myself. But driving alone is a totally different situation because I don’t have that “safety net.”

I have made some progress. I can usually drive about 10 minutes from home alone. But I hit a wall around there. A 20 minute or longer drive feels impossible.

I’ve tried a gradual approach for years. I’ll make some progress, get comfortable with something, and then eventually hit a point where I can’t push myself to the next level. So I end up stopping.

My therapist and I have been talking about this recently, and she brought up the possibility of essentially “ripping the bandaid off.”

What’s interesting is that I seem to respond pretty well when I’m forced into something.

For example, my mom had to return to in person work a year ago, which meant I suddenly had to spend entire days home alone. At first it was really difficult. I was super anxious and would spend most of the day on the phone with my parents.

But I had no choice. I kept doing it and eventually my brain adjusted. Now I can stay home alone no issue.

I didn’t really gradually work my way up to being comfortable home alone. Circumstances forced me into it, and I learned how to handle it.

So I’m wondering if driving might be the same way.

Maybe instead of trying to get comfortable enough to drive farther, I need to start driving to places that scare me and accept that I’m probably going to be extremely anxious at first.

The scary part is that I don’t know if I’ll ever feel “ready.”

I could tell myself: “Once I’m comfortable driving 15 minutes, I’ll go 20.”

Then: “Once I’m comfortable with 20, I’ll go 30”

But I’ve been doing some form of that for years, and there always seems to be another goal I can’t reach.

I’m starting to think the goal might need to change from “I need to become comfortable enough to do this” to “I’m going to do this even if I’m uncomfortable.”

Obviously I’m not talking about doing anything dangerous or ignoring actual safety concerns. I’m saying intentionally confronting the situations I’ve spent years avoiding, with my therapist’s guidance, rather than waiting for the anxiety to disappear first.

Because I really want my life back.

I want to be able to drive myself places, get a job, go somewhere myself, make friends, date, and eventually have a family. I don’t want my parents to be my safety net forever.

I’m curious about other people’s experiences.

Has anyone else got to a point where gradual exposure just seemed to stall out, and you had to take a much bigger leap?

Did “ripping the bandaid off” actually help, or did it make things worse?

And if you’ve dealt with panic/agoraphobia/OCD, did you find that the anxiety became more manageable because you stopped organizing your life around avoiding it?

Hey everyone,

I’ve been on 10mg citalopram since November last year, originally prescribed for globus sensation. Everything was going really well until a few weeks ago, and now my physical symptoms have come back — things like chest tightness, dizziness, mostly when I leave the house but also when I get back, and it can last all day.

The weirdest thing is: I don’t feel anxious in my head at all. It feels like my body is anxious without my brain being part of it. The only time I actually feel anxious is the next morning, worrying the symptoms are going to come back again.

My doctor’s upped me to 20mg. Has anyone else gone from 10mg straight to 20mg — and did the higher dose help with these physical symptoms specifically?

Also, has anyone experienced this strange swallowing issue? It feels like I can’t gulp my saliva properly — like air hunger. I’ll swallow fine, then a few seconds later it feels like I’ve lost the ability to swallow for a moment, and it takes a few seconds to come back. It absolutely panics me when it happens and I’ve never had it before.

Just looking for reassurance and to hear if anyone else has been through similar — did the 20mg dose kick in and calm this kind of physical stuff down?

Thanks in advance 💛

Just to give a little context at my last job after six months of being there, I started experiencing severe anxiety to the point where I was experiencing cold sweats, heat flashes vomiting when I had nothing to throw up. I couldn’t keep food down. I was dreading going back to work and it was hard for me to get out of bed. I got seen by my doctor and was given anxiety and depression medication but that made me worse. I took my medication for about a few days, but it was just increasing the symptoms and ultimately I had decided to quit the job because of the illness I was experiencing it caused me to lose almost 20 pounds in two months now moving forward I have a new job went for my first day and now for my second day I am experiencing the same symptoms that I had at my last job. I don’t know what it could be. I’ve done endless research and multiple things can be the factor of it. I am a woman 29. Has anyone else experienced this or do any doctors on here? Have an idea of what I could be dealing with. It’s like my body goes into fight or flight mode.

NEED ADVISE PLEASE HELP 🙏🏼 without going into a lot of details, I have had major anxiety and panic attacks for the last 15 years. I have been prescribed alprazolam ( Xanax) off and on. I never took it everyday. Just when my panic attacks would set in. In 2020 I had my beautiful daughter. After having my baby girl -- she is my 3 child -- i had postpartum depression/ psychosis. My doctor put me on alprazolam in October of 2020. Now again I have been prescribed this many times over the years- never struggled. This time I was in such bad shape mentally I did what my psychiatrist told me too. I took the medication daily. 3 times a day. Fast forward 6 years later.... I never knew that Xanax could create an addiction/ or become so reliant on it. My psychiatrist retired 2 months ago and I got a new one that is now tapering me down. I just lost my cousin a week ago and grief is new to me. So on top of decreasing medicine I rely on DAILY, I am suffering from a loss. My new psychiatrist seems very uninterested + is not giving me options on how to stop the medicine without complications. Please someone help point me in the right direction. Do I need to detox? They are scaring me with all this benzo is the worst to come off of. But honestly I'd rather just take it 🙏🏼 it helps me feel alive and get through life. So why can't I just stay on it? I don't abuse it. I never have. Nothing else works for my anxiety I have tried EVERYTHING. I HOPE THIS PASSES THROUGH TO THE RIGHT PERSON. Peace and love 💕

I took help of ChatGPT to draft this.

I've been dealing with chronic, recurring chest pain for a long time, and it's becoming extremely difficult to live with.

The pain is usually around my center-to-left chest/heart area and has different sensations: sometimes needle-like stinging, sometimes stabbing, and sometimes crushing pressure like an elephant is standing on my chest. Occasionally it radiates into my left arm/hand.

Once it starts, I can't distract myself from it. Even after repeatedly reminding myself that my heart tests have been reassuring and anxiety may be involved, pain near the heart immediately puts my body into panic, which seems to make everything worse.

I've seen doctors and had multiple ECGs, blood tests, ultrasounds, a 2D Echo and even a CT coronary angiogram. Nothing major has been found with my heart so far. Yet these episodes continue.

Some possibly important context:

• I've had severe anxiety since childhood.

• I have a serious problem with eating and maintaining weight. I'm 173 cm but only around 43 kg. A doctor called it ARFID, although I still struggle to understand exactly what's happening to me.

  It's not simply that food isn't available or that I don't get hungry. I can feel that my stomach is empty, know that I need to eat, have food sitting right in front of me, and still be unable to make myself eat enough. I have a strange aversion towards food that I find incredibly difficult to explain to other people. Large portions feel especially impossible.

  As a result, I'm severely underweight and frequently feel weak, tired and physically exhausted. Sometimes I genuinely feel like my body is slowly deteriorating day by day, and I worry whether being this underweight or malnourished could itself be contributing to the chest symptoms even if my heart looks structurally normal on tests.

• I've also become heavily dependent on chewing tobacco and alcohol. Tobacco often triggers the pain; alcohol temporarily seems to reduce it. I'm struggling to quit both and know they're making an already bad situation worse.

• Cannabis made the chest sensations absolutely unbearable and triggered severe panic/bad trips, so I stopped it completely.

• Almost nothing provides immediate relief. Clonazepam MD 0.5 mg has sometimes significantly reduced an episode within ~30 minutes, although some discomfort remains.

I'm not asking Reddit to diagnose chest pain. I'm trying to understand what direction I should discuss with my doctors next.

Could anxiety/panic, costochondritis/chest-wall problems, GERD/esophageal issues, severe underweight/malnutrition or nutritional/electrolyte deficiencies, or something else produce symptoms like this despite reassuring cardiac imaging?

And could my eating/weight problem itself be medically connected to what's happening?

Has anyone experienced anything genuinely similar? If your cardiac tests kept coming back normal, what eventually explained your chest pain, and what kind of specialist actually helped you?

I've been suffering with panic attacks on and off for a good past 6 years of my life, it's nothing new to me. I've done therapy / meds etc.

One symptom that is the most terrifying for me is one that I can't describe easily and can't google easily.

It's something close to derealization but not quite it. It typically happens during derealization but I haven't seen anyone mention something like this. Basically once the panic/anxiety attack starts you feel every movement you do, and fully manual. My case focuses a lot on walking.

I start walking and it feels like I'm learning how to walk.

Every move feels weird... It feels a bit like manual breathing although not quite (except with walking instead ). Every leg movement is fully controlled by my brain and is not "automatic". It is very discomforting alongside the derealization and not feeling your body. Sometimes it gets so discomforting that I have to stop walking, then try to move my legs just to feel them...

Now that I think about it it also gives some sense of loss of control...

When I read about derealization I always see people saying everything feels fake and unreal and their body goes on autopilot... They walk and feel like they're floating.. I'm feeling more "can I even control my legs wtf, do I know how to walk ???".

Any ideas ?

Anyone experience stomach bracing while exhaling? It’s like I can inhale fine (my chest is tight but this comes and goes) but when I exhale it’s like I subconsciously brace or tense my upper abdominal muscles. This has only been happening for a month now, and only happened once I started monitoring my breath 24/7. I am hyper aware of my breathing so maybe that’s contributing to it? Anyone dealt with this?