"Adrenaline Rush" sensation as I drift off- Sleep Apnea? Need Relief

No but I'm not even getting to the sleep stage...i just start to relax and am aware still and the surge comes on. I know it's anxiety but now that it happens over and over with no breaks, it's like my body waits for it. I know that sounds weird but it's caught in the "flight or fight" mode and won't let me even start to doze off. So basically it's my subconscious's fault....really bad loop.

The flight or flight response is caused by activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Diaphragmatic breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which makes you relax and gets rid of the flight or flight response:

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it's not sleep apnea! that's completely different!

i had exactly the symptoms described - alongside other symptoms for apnea. the two consultants i saw both felt that the symptoms described above were consistent with apnea. so yes you may of course get the symptoms independant of apnea but they may also indicate it . so they ate not completeky different but can be connected. I mentioned it as a means of excluding possibilities . it matters little as Heather's connected it to anxiety - which i hope is more easily treatable

Thank you so much! Just knowing I'm not alone helped. I'm so happy to report that last night, after 3 days of virtually no sleep, I slept...all night long! I think the relaxation exercises really helped. I think being so sleep deprived made everything worse. Again...thanks for all the responses. They truly helped!

Great to hear Heather 😃 if this truly is fight or flight them anything relaxation related will help quite a bit. Always take that hour before bed to relax, meditate, bath, slow breathe etc to help get your nervous system to tone down and move into para sympathetic.

keep us apprised how the next few nights go and again don't over think it if one night is less effective than another. Its a gradual process of 2 steps fwd, 1 step back and then forward again. Be patient and your mind and body will respond in kind.

So I thought I was better. Had 2 nights of sleep...the first being a great night and feeling rested when I awoke. The second night I was kept up pretty late and woke up with a nervous feeling but still slept. Last night, I'm back to square one...fight or flight all night long...almost asleep and wham. Tried reading until I could barely hold the book, tried deep breathing while tensing muscles and still, the adrenaline waves would come all night long. I has confidence that I knew how to beat this but that is gone now. I'm so tired and hate to think if what tonight will bring...such long nights of exhaustion and the adrenaline rushes just wear me out. They can't be good for my long term health either. It's almost like my body remembers what my fear is and is now stuck and I can't erase it from my subconscious. I ended up taking 1/4 of Klonopin which is an extremely small amount but it did give me an hour if sleep before I woke up nervous again and the cycle repeated itself. I'm afraid of taking any pills for fear of dependence...just one more thing to worry about.

I know it seems hopeless when you go back to square one 😦 as mentioned it will be 2 steps fwd 1 step back for awhile. What did you do those 2 nights that made it different? Do you recall?

The confidence to beat it will also come back as long as you accept that it will take months to start to see good positive and consistent change. Dont let one night back deter you from making those relaxing changes before bed.

Keep with it. Also the same bed time and pattern makes alot of differnce. i remember even sleeping 30 min later than my usual and adrenals started kicking out and bam...crap night.

Yes the mind and the organs have a form of muscle memory so you are retraining both again. it will be slow and steady progress. but 4-6 months from now you will notice the diff. amd a year later even more. Anxiety takes years to get the body to that state and could be similar to get out of it. The meditation, dark room, no blue light, same bed time etc all help and will all contribute to recovering. The more you think abt what will occur, the more your mind will make it happen. I also used to fret all day abt the upcoming night and I essentially primed my mind to accept it would happen. As soon as i started changing my thinking pattern to 'who cares...ive had late sleepless nights before from being out too late, as a student with exams, early travel flights etc etc. and that even if you have some, its not the end of the world. Start saying to yourself all day..' im going to sleep amazing tonite!' Repeat every hour on the hour. Youll be planting a seed in your mind.

keep trying and it will get better 😃

And try to grab a nap if you can!

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to this. It just helps so much to have someone understand. We had Christmas with my family this weekend and are getting ready to leave town for the holidays. I think maybe some of this started due to stress from the holidays. The other 2 nights that I slept I believe was because it had been so long and my body just crashed. I didn't sleep great the next night due to being awake because if company, however, I didn't panic. I think I started to think "I didn't sleep the best last night so I hope it doesn't happen again tonight."

The other 3 episodes I've had have always resolved for a long time once I've slept through the night so it's just disheartening that I've had this happen again after just a couple of days.

Do you still have this happen? Did you ever take any medication to get you by? Did you ever have nights where you've gone with no sleep at all and had continual adrenaline rushes? It's such a lonely and isolating feeling. It also makes me angry when just last week I was fine and didn't even think about this.

Thank you for taking the time listen. You have no idea how it helps!

Hi heather! As someone who suffered through this for about 4 years now (not the whole four years but on and off, usually only a few nights every year), I may have some tips that can help.

First of all, see if you can get a prescription. Trust me, knowing there’s something there that will get you to sleep will ease your mind so much. Knowing that I have them on my night stand is what really helped me the past four years. After an attack, I would take something for a few nights to a week then returned to normal. I usually take zopiclone or Ativan. Right now however I’m looking for an alternative because after taking them about 6 weeks, I’m afraid I will get dependent on them. But if you’re only taking them 2-3 weeks you’ll be fine.

Also make sure your room is COOL. These adrenaline rushes will make your body feel like it’s on fire. Which leads me to my next tip, buy a fan! Have it facing your head and it’ll calm you down quite a bit. I remember when I was younger and would get blood work done I would always have a panic attack, and the nurse would get a fan for me and it would help so much.

I’m still fighting this battle myself. The last month been so hard, but I’m trying to fight it in new ways. If I ever come across something that helps me I will be sure to let you know 😃

I was prescribed Klonopin (which is a benzo) when this first happened but after reading all of the literature on them I'm afraid to take due to being potentially addictive. Also, I feel when I take them, even though I get a few hours of sleep, I wake up nervous and disappointed that I couldn't get to sleep on my own. Then I worry I'll never sleep on my own and become dependent. Again, the anxiety getting the better of me!

You’re describing everything I feel lol. You feel defected because you had to take something to go to sleep, then you start future telling thinking you’ll never be able to sleep again with em, etc.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had this mindset, but oh boy, it’s been so many.

don’t beat yourself up too much about it. Like I said, if you’re taking it for 2-3 weeks you’ll be fine. I know people who take this sort of stuff for months to even a year, and don’t have many issues coming off of them like some people claim. I’m not saying taking them for that long lol, but don’t get too upset over the fact you had to use them for awhile.