is this some form of severe anxiety attack?

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Alright my severe form of being afraid of dying came back last nite, i can thank this all to christianity and wackjob ministers from what was said to me when i was a kid, but the anxiety im feeling is getting to the point of me mistaking falling asleep as dying and it feels like i catch myself and bring myself back into coinciousness. its pretty scary and in the past i used to take care of this by having a few beers right before i went to bed so i wouldn't think about dying. does this happen to anyone else?

no sounds like something else. just can't think of the name of it. its like a paranormal thing where one levitates out of the body as they fall asleep. my psychology teacher talked about it a lot. do you feel you're heart speed up alot as you drift off? this is a sure sign. i used to do it as a kid a lot.

astral voyage ?

myoclonic jerks ?

yeah coyote the first one. actually i remember now in the 70's it was called astral projection.

well whatever it is i don't want it happening to me beause it feels to me like im dying. hah

take some valerian before you go to bed and maybe it will relax you. just don't take it with beer or you'll have a nasty headache when you wake up.

dude...sounds iek sleep apnea to me....aspies are prone to this..you drify off to sleep and waken..leaves feelign tired during the day..i can tell your tired during the day as your not mentally fit to match my wit.
a lot of aspies have what is a c-pap and you can get a sleep study doen to see if this is you.

I had religious training in my childhood and those teachers will roast for the terrors they gave children. Well, they lied. Can you bring one of them to mind and go, "You lied" ? And then a quick jab in the ...

er. sorry. got carried away.

I have fear of letting go, fear of relaxing. There's nothing like a nice yoga class to give me a panic attack. Could letting your guard down be a problem? I sleep well since I got a dog. That's because humans will cower in bed, or maybe faint - but a dog will bark his blame fool head off. So I can let go now, I've got a furry early warning system.

Peace and rest to you and all.

It does sound like a classical severe Anxiety thing. And I agree with Claradoon - your body is a bit overly vigilant, doesn't like the idea of you going to sleep and "giving up control" and tries to stop it in a manner that, to you, is rather unpleasant. It's a symptom that is quite common with anxiety/panic issues.

I have these issues as well every now and then, especially when I am more tired than I am usually. When I am very tired but "get over" my sleepiness during the daytime, it's as if my body seems to be intent to not let me fall asleep under any circumstances. And that's when things like this occur.

You are very fortunate that none of your ministers were wackjobs. There are some pretty bad examples out there.

It sounds to me like sleep paralysis (a normal part of the sleep cycle) kicking in early before your completely unconcious.

It happens sometimes and some people are more prone to it than others.

The side effects of being partially concious while sleep paralysis is in effect is a feeling of floating, not being able to move, and often hallucinations.

If its just for a couple moments though you usually only get the floating sensation and trying to move results in your body jerking (usually just once not like a seizure or anything) as control is restored and often causes your heart to start racing.. its very much like a panic attack.

If I try to sleep between the hours of 6 and 10pm I have that same thing happen to me about every 15 minutes.. Im also in a cold sweat the entire time but its not due to fear its just a manifestation of "errors" and abnormalities in the sleep cycle.

Your perfectly safe its simply a little weird and disturbing if you dont know whats going on.

Fraya: that sounds very close to my subjective experience of these kind of attacks at least. And it would also explain why, for me, they often come when I've had a lack of sleep and am deadly tired.

I get this too, as I'm falling asleep or as I wake up I feel that I am "in death" and snatched back by life in the brink of time. I seriously "feel" death and it is absolutely terrifying. What I don't understand is that when I'm awake I don't particularly fear death. I figure it will happen when it happens... but these moments at night are impossible to describe and leave me with unbelievable fear.

It is not astral travel/ lucid dreaming, I have experienced that a lot too and it is very different.

Whilst I'm sorry I can't be very helpful and supply an answer, I can understand what you are going though as I have very similar experiences.

I will often jerk out of just-falling-asleep violently, as though I've just been defibrillated, or I will jerk awake out of a dream and wake up in the middle of a panic attack feeling sick, shaky, dry throat, irrational, etc.

In fact, I am typing this now because I just woke up in a panic after one hours' sleep!

As far as I can tell, with me it is anxiety related, and if my anxiety levels are up, I'll have more episodes of this. When I'm relaxed, it happens less often (though it still happens.)

I honestly don't think it is a psychic or paranormal occurrance, I think it is entirely a biologically based reaction to a psychological state. (Psychosomatic - though that word can have negative connotations as it has often been used to tell people they're making stuff up.)

SOrry you're having difficulties

Take care of yourself

Robin