Panic Attacks in Sleep - Definitions and Treatments

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Often panic attacks are among the most unpleasant experiences one can endure.
A sudden gripping sense of terror is accompanied by racing heart, rapid breathing, sweats, chills--symptoms vary somewhat--a sense of unreality, and a fear of dying.
Most panic attacks occur during the day while a person is awake.
Some awaken the sufferer "out of nowhere" from sleep.
Depending on how terms are used, one can distinguish panic attacks in sleep from night terrors.
The latter commonly (but not always) refer to a kind of nightmare-panic bout while sleeping.
This is most common among young children, or sufferers of post traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD) at any age.
Statistically speaking, the first onset of a panic attack is most common in the twelve to nineteen year range, although they may begin at any age, including younger than twelve.
A child's night terrors are usually temporary, dissipating without professional treatment.
Also worth noting is the problem of sleep apnea, the interruption of breathing while sleeping by constriction in the air passageways between mouth/nose and bronchial tubes.
Sleep apnea often causes the brain to awaken to some state of non-sleep or poor sleep hundreds or thousands of times in a night, and causes all kinds of problems, some serious, but it can mimic sleep panic attacks only where the sleep apnea sufferer wakes in a fright, which is relatively rare.
Or a person may have both conditions coincidentally (and rarely), but in any case the two are separate conditions.
Sleep panic attacks, like their daytime counterparts, are irrational fits of extreme fear.
That does not mean they are without some sort of causative background.
A trauma or cumulative series of stresses can make one susceptible to panic attack.
And they are often associated with larger (or different) psychological problems such as the aforementioned PTSD or agoraphobia, general anxiety disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder.
A sleep panic attack sufferer may be more motivated than most to seek out a chemical means of relieving the terrors that stalk one's night.
Prescription drugs can be effective at treating the condition, if the side effects are not too severe.
Or alternatively, herbs or other natural remedies can be used.
Magnesium supplements may also relax tensed muscles.
Kava Kava and Valerian, for example, are herbs that may help calm nerves.
Skullcap is one of the best herbs for getting back to sleep.
Getting back to sleep after an attack is a considerable problem for the condition.
Cutting out caffeine (including in carbonated beverages), sugar, alcohol, and late night eating are generally obvious choices also.
And if you are taking prescription drugs for anxiety, be sure to ask your doctor about taking herbs or supplements for panic; there may be undesirable effects of taking both at the same time.
It is debatable, however, whether such approaches as the above address the underlying problems.
Certainly getting better sleep is helpful, but adding to the methods of fighting the condition is usually advisable.
To address the underlying causes, one must fight the attacks while one is awake using the same approaches as for attacks that occur when one is awake.
Humans are complex organisms with interrelated systems like nerves, hormones, and feelings.
And some areas of the human creature can be addressed with more success in treating panic.
The amygdala in the limbic system of the brain, for example, appears to be headquarters for the emotion of fear.
When panicking, the amygdala fires signals rapidly, overwhelming other areas of the limbic system.
People with a panic disorder have an overactive amygdala "always in the on' position" (Linden).
Directly or indirectly, chemicals in things like drugs and herbs may slow the firing rate of amygdala nerves, but behavioral approaches may be even more effective over time at re-enabling the gland to move on and off as needed by normal people who might need a "fight or flight" response to a real and present threat, but who otherwise need to be calm.
What may also be helpful or necessary depends on various social or environmental conditions of the sufferer.
For example, it may be helpful to move out of a dangerous neighborhood or change jobs or for a parent of a suffering child to get professional counseling.
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