Nocturnal panic! Let’s talk about what to do when it strikes 🛏️

Some of my very worst panic attacks hit me in the middle of the night. 

I’d wake up shaking, as waves of nausea rolled over me and everything tipped and swayed around me. 

My head swam, as if I had drunk alcohol and was in that tipsy, close to full out drunk state, but I’d be stone cold sober. 

The nausea only intensified this feeling. 

I’d sit up hoping to shake away some of the dizziness, but only feel this lurching sensation in my head, as if I was about to tip over, right out of my bed. 

I’d need to pee, but be far too terrified to take even a few steps feeling this way. 

I’d attempt it, literally holding onto the wall as I walked, that’s how intensely dizzy I’d be. 

This may be tmi, but I’d sit on the toilet, attempting deep breaths, tears leaking out of my eyes as fear completely took over. 

While I was attempting to breathe and simply manage the very intense physical sensations, the scary thoughts would slowly start to seep in, despite how desperately I tried to block them out. 

“Maybe this is actually a stroke this time!”

“Maybe you are about to die!” 

“What if this is a heart attack?!”

Ah yes, let’s not forget the intense heart symptoms that genuinely felt like a medical emergency. 

When your heart is racing, as if you’re running a marathon, but you’re just in bed, it’s incredibly hard to not panic. 

Not to mention the intense heart flutters that went either way; sometimes my heart very obviously skipped beats, other times it beat double time, sometimes a fun combo of both 

It would feel like my heart was trying to crawl out of my throat and I’d feel an instinctive urge to cough, as I felt this unsettling tickling sensation in my chest too. 

I’d also get terrible chest pain that was hard to ignore, because it was real, not just in my head. 

I remember many nights sitting in bed, massaging my chest, trying to breathe, as wave after wave of panic hit. 

Then the shakes would really get going. 

My entire body would shake, from head to toe. 

My teeth would even chatter as my body went into full out trembling mode. 

I’d start panicking that perhaps I was ill, that this was a very high fever, and of course these fears only fed into the cycle. 

I remember my legs shaking one night, physically jerking as if I was having a full body spasm, and I pressed down on them hoping to somehow alleviate the intensity. 

The shaking and intense nausea, along with my galloping heart and extreme dizziness, was always accompanied by this overwhelming feeling of impending doom. 

It usually hit right around the time the shakes arrived. 

The feeling of doom, so characteristic of a classic panic attack, is something horrific to experience.

Trying to put it into words doesn’t do it justice. 

Doesn’t truly encompass the feeling of outright horror. 

I remember it all too well, because a panic attack actually hit me fairly recently, after not having one for ages. 

It was intense and brought back all those old feelings of when panic disorder ruled my life and I experienced multiple panic attacks a day. 

I felt exhausted and flat once the adrenaline wore off and decided to sit down and talk about it with you. 

I share it all in this podcast episode 

So what do I do when panic hits? 

Breathe 

Duh, you’re probably thinking, and I certainly don’t blame you 

I know this is so much easier said than done, when we’re panicking and hyperventilating, but focusing on our breathing is number one when panic is in charge. 

I used to try to take deep breaths, but feel like I was getting nowhere. 

Then I learned about different techniques, as the classic “in through my nose and out through  my mouth” wasn’t cutting it for me 

Try breathing in and out through your nose only or in through your nose and out through pursed lips. 

When we panic we “gulp” air, taking lots of shallow air into our chest versus deep into our belly. 

This causes a feeling of pressure or suffocation in our chest, as well as intensifies dizziness and spots in our vision (as our brain screams “stroke!”) and can even cause face tingling and numbness, which only feeds those horrible stroke fears. 

We are safe, but it certainly doesn’t feel like we are. 

I don’t partner with a company unless I truly love what they stand for and use their products myself, which is why I’m always happy to talk about this nifty tool. 

I actually have had it around my neck more often than not this entire year. 

During my panic attack I used it the entire time. It still took a little while for my symptoms to subside, but it felt good having my tool with me. 

I also have adhd and have a hard time not fidgeting so this tool doubles as a “fidget toy” for me too. 

Let the shaking happen, don’t fight it 

The shaking really intensified my fear to the absolute max, as I’d honestly think everything was just getting worse. 

The more I resisted, the more intense it would get and I’d cry with fear. 

I then learned that the shaking is a natural part of panic, and our body shakes to help us physically release adrenaline. 

Again, I know this is is easier said than done, but if you’re able to just let it happen, it will pass a lot faster and you’ll be shaking out all the built-up adrenaline. 

Our body is always just trying to help us, it knows what to do. 

I actually had a mom reach out to me recently and let me know that her daughter had recently had a severe panic attack and experienced the awful leg trembling and how my Anxiety A to Z helped to ground her in the moment. 

I’ll share her message below: 

Messages like this make me so emotional. During my darkest days, I wish I had had a glimpse into the future to see my life now. 

To know that my story could help others and that I wasn’t alone. 

When we’re in it, it’s hard to imagine life any other way, but just know that this is one chapter of your life, perhaps a few, but not the full story. 

Magnesium glycinate 

By now, if you’ve been here for a while, you definitely know that magnesium is my all time favourite supplement. 

In fact, I refer to it as my “saviour supplement” it’s just that damn good! 

Magnesium is fantastic for helping to alleviate symptoms of both panic and depression along with a heap of other benefits that I talk about in this article with you. 

You can take it every day, forever, thanks to its amazing benefits. 

I do not go one day without it. 

Release tensed up muscles 

When we panic we automatically tense up our body, as a side-effect of fight or flight. 

Remember, our brain thinks we are in real danger and so acts accordingly. 

Were we truly in life-threatening danger, our muscles would tense up to naturally protect our internal organs against harm. 

It happens automatically, without us even realizing. 

By consciously releasing tight muscles you’re sending the signal to your brain that you are safe and so the most intense panic waves may start to ebb a lot faster. 

Long-term tensing up can contribute to quite significant muscle pain so set reminders on your phone if you need to, to remind you to relax tension throughout your day.

Do it right now. Relax those tight forehead muscles, drop your shoulders, loosen that tight belly, breathe out in a big sigh. 

Ahhhhh, doesn’t that feel better. 

Listen to sound frequencies/binaural beats 

Lately my playlist has consisted of sound frequencies, white noise and binaural beats to help to relax my mind and, therefore, my body too. 

There’s actually been research done, showing how certain frequencies can have a positive impact on our brain and how we will feel this in our body. 

Simply search “binaural beats for anxiety” or I’d also recommend sound baths, they are absolute bliss! 

I’m not opposed to dreamy ASMR videos either. 

A healthy bedtime routine that makes your nervous system feel safe

What you do before bed really matters. 

Eating too late or having too much sugar, caffeine or alcohol can all have a significant impact on the quality of your sleep, and may cause you to wake up into panic.

You may also experience hypnic jerks, this horrifying falling sensation as you’re falling asleep that jolts you awake. 

I went through a period where I had them every single night and was terrified to go to sleep, it was awful. 

I share my bedtime ritual on this podcast episode. Make some tea and grab a notebook! I hope it helps 

I also have this free little book for you, sharing my top tips to help with insomnia if that’s something you struggle with. 

Don’t Google 

I’ll never stop saying it… Google is not the answer. 

During my darkest days I lived on Google, always desperately hoping to find answers to my very many daily symptoms, and I constantly sought out sweet reassurance that would hopefully drag me out of the depths of despair.

Of course, Google is not the place to find this, along with all those reddit forums I’d browse like my life depended on it. (To be fair, my health anxiety was so severe, it kinda felt like my life did depend on it )

The point is that Google kept me stuck.

Even though logically I knew it wasn’t helping, I could not stop myself. The addiction and desperation for reassurance is so real with health anxiety. 

Telling you to “stop Googling” is not exactly helpful, which is why, instead, I wanted to give you a healthy replacement aka my Anxiety A to Z Encyclopedia 🙂

My A to Z still allows you to look up anything you need, thus satisfying that overwhelming compulsion, but I will never trigger you like google does.

My Anxiety A to Z is a book you will refer to every single day, multiple times a day if you struggle with physical symptoms and health anxiety. 

I list out every symptom, but I also include calming methods, coping skills, underlying triggers, nutrition and supplement recs and everything in between. It’s over 600 pages of information to help you move forward and I will never, ever trigger you like Google does.

I’d also highly recommend my first book, where I delve deep into my generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder story with you. This is my story and everything I wish I had known a lot sooner! 

Save $19 with my book bundle and get all 3 of my books here.

Please be gentle, so gentle with yourself, if you are currently struggling with anxiety or panic. 

Take it one day at a time and know that you are always safe in this community