At the time I was having the panic attacks waking me from sleep, I was going through a lot of massive changes in my life and an extremely difficult time with a failed marriage and 2 very young children who had some special needs. You know how it is... life.

I think, for me at least, the background level of stress and anxiety had reached a limit and the panic attacks in sleep were a spillover from that.

I still remember them clearly. If I have a panic attack in the day (rare lately thankfully ) I am more aware of what is going on and can stop it escalating or avoid dangerous situations until it's passed but having these ones waking me up as full blown panic was just terrifying.

I remember I used to wake with a metallic taste in my mouth and I believe it was related to a lactic acid buildup.

I take a few supplements. I didn't ever have any luck with medications. I think I was taking Zoloft at the time the panic attacks were waking me at night. It didn't help me in any way at all.

I come from a long line of ticcy people so we all know to take extra Magnesium. I take the occasional Tryptophan to help me sleep. I also have a large jar of Inositol and I often take a spoonful of that before I hop in the car to get in the peak hour traffic. I take some other things as well. I'm sure the B12 I take helps me as well just in a general sense.

I don't think it matters what we take or what steps we make... they're all good if they help keep the background anxiety state to a minimum. It's a matter of working it out for our own bodies and minds. I'm much more chilled out now that I'm older than I was when I was younger when everyone always said I was so calm and collected yet on the inside I was a churning, anxious mess just trying to navigate my way through the world. It hasn't happened by accident though. I've had to work at it very hard.

Having said all that I just need to say that I don't have horrific pain.

Sure I have other things going on but I don't have horrific pain like many of you do and I don't have to deal with medications for that pain that may interrupt sleep cycles and background stress. I'm very fortunate in that regard. I think you're all amazing.

The best thing I ever learned about panic attacks was to recognize them. I learned about the physical signs of flight or fight and the aura (in my case) that precedes the attack. By learning about how our body reacts, we can demystify the process and that makes it less frightening for me at least. It doesn't always work, but it does help me.

The problem is that it all goes out the window when woken from sleep in panic so we really have to work on the background stress so it doesn't ever escalate to that level.

Sorry to write so much, it just fell out