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What to do about three o'clock in the morning panic attacks?
#11
RE: What to do about three o'clock in the morning panic attacks?
Melatonin gives some people nightmares or more vivid dreams, so watch out for that.

One suggested experiment. Set an alarm clock half an hour or so before your panic attack time. Get up, walk to another room, etc. for a few minutes. Enough to wake up all the way. Then go back to bed.

See if this makes a difference. It's not necessarily a solution, but it might give you a clue.
Get the free OSCAR CPAP software here.
Useful links.
Click here for information on the main alternative to CPAP.
If it's midnight and a DME tells you it's dark outside, go and check it yourself.
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#12
RE: What to do about three o'clock in the morning panic attacks?
Thanks for the kind replies. I have an appointment with my DME tomorrow and they will be reviewing my data on the SD card. The weird thing is that these sessions ALWAYS occur between 2:50am and 3:00am. No other times. Oh-jeez

I have tried varying my supper times, different foods, room temperature. No change. I have a hearing loss. We don't uses alarm clocks (retired). There seem to be no repetitive extraneous noises. My wife would hear them when I have my hearing aids out at night.

It seems there is some external stimulus waking me, but can't pinpoint anything. We live in a warehouse. The walls are two feet thick. Very quiet. The bedroom has no windows or external lights. No nearby neighbors.

Here are some of the settings on my S9. Anything unusual I should change?

Mode: Autoset
Max P: 20.0
Min P: 11.8
Max ramp: Off
EPR: Full Time
Epr Level: 1

Climate Ctrl: Auto (set at 86)
Sleep Quality: On
Smart Ste: On

Mask: Pillows. (Swift FX)

I am uploading my ResScan data to see if anyone can determine if there are some kind of "clusters" around 2:50-3:00am

Unable to upload Rescan Report. It is about 900kb, pdf file. What do I need to do?
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#13
RE: What to do about three o'clock in the morning panic attacks?
I convert the PDF to JPG images; and push them up to a photo sharing site. Then use the IMG tag to place the images inline in a post.


I convert them by doing a copy in Adobe Reader, then paste new image from clipboard in adobe photoshop.
There are other ways -- depends on what SW you have available.
If you have Adobe Acrobat (not just the reader,) you can open a PDF and then save as JPEG images directly.

[Image: doubletrigger.jpg]
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#14
RE: What to do about three o'clock in the morning panic attacks?
(07-14-2014, 05:20 AM)Dolla Bill Wrote: Good idea, will check to see if there are any unusual events happening at that time.

I am a young 70. Business problems are not really very big. During the day, we take care of the few that arise. Just at night, they seem much bigger.


When did this start? Was it recently or since starting with CPAP? Is there anything else that may be 'stressing' you in your life? Have you tried keeping a journal of the dreams for a few days? This may give you insight as to what may be the re-occurring theme.

While this may be CPAP related, I would still encourage you to explore other theories. If you weren't on CPAP, we would all be suggesting other possibles causes.
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#15
What to do about three o'clock in the morning panic attacks?
(07-15-2014, 08:38 AM)Dolla Bill Wrote: Thanks for the kind replies. I have an appointment with my DME tomorrow and they will be reviewing my data on the SD card.

Many DME's aren't smart enough or interested enough to do more than check that you're using it for 4 hours to meet insurance requirements, ring the cash register, and then tell you that you're doing fine. Many doctors aren't any better. Unfortunately, we often have to learn to read our own data.

If you think there's some external cause, try getting up at that time some night, and sitting up to see if anything is happening.

I suspect something internal like your biological clock.

Get the free OSCAR CPAP software here.
Useful links.
Click here for information on the main alternative to CPAP.
If it's midnight and a DME tells you it's dark outside, go and check it yourself.
Post Reply Post Reply
#16
RE: What to do about three o'clock in the morning panic attacks?
(07-14-2014, 03:47 AM)Dolla Bill Wrote: I am waking up at 3:00am, weirdly enough almost exactly at that time each morning with my mind racing and trying to solve problems. Yet each problem leads me to another even greater problem. None of which are big problems in reality, but I take them to extremes, begin to panic and can't go back to sleep.

My S9 seems to be working properly though I am thinking about replacing my Swift FX with a Resmed P10.

During the daytime I am fine. These attacks happen about two, or three times a week. Other nights I sleep fine. My diet is pretty much the same, so I don't think it is food though sometimes I eat too late, but have not really tried to make any correlation.

I know that there are medical professionals on this site and would appreciate any help.

Any advice, direction would be very much appreciated.

This type of thing was happening to me when I first started treatment. Mine was more along the lines of I was panicking because I had something strapped to my head that way blowing air at me. I would wake up freaking out and rip it off and usually not use it the rest of the night. I spoke with my doctor about it and the prescribed me Citalopram (which is an anti-anxiety/anti-depressant type drug that I'd been on in the past) and it seemed to help at least until I got used to the machine. That may be something to consider and to speak with your doctor about.
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#17
RE: What to do about three o'clock in the morning panic attacks?
(07-14-2014, 03:47 AM)Dolla Bill Wrote: I am waking up at 3:00am, weirdly enough almost exactly at that time each morning with my mind racing and trying to solve problems. Yet each problem leads me to another even greater problem. None of which are big problems in reality, but I take them to extremes, begin to panic and can't go back to sleep.

(07-14-2014, 04:12 AM)DeepBreathing Wrote: G'day Bill. The type of thing you describe is (I think) not uncommon. It used to happen to me when I was younger (late 30s to late 40s) - I'd wake up every night worrying about work. Problem clients, things I'd forgotten to do, mistakes I'd made. Now I'm in my early 60s this never happens, though quite a few of my younger colleagues talk about similar things happening to them. (We're in the consulting engineering business which isn't quite in the lawyer league but is still pretty stressful at times).

(07-14-2014, 05:20 AM)Dolla Bill Wrote: I am a young 70. Business problems are not really very big. During the day, we take care of the few that arise. Just at night, they seem much bigger.

(07-19-2014, 05:13 PM)jbuchanan6196 Wrote: This type of thing was happening to me when I first started treatment. Mine was more along the lines of I was panicking because I had something strapped to my head that way blowing air at me. I would wake up freaking out and rip it off and usually not use it the rest of the night. I spoke with my doctor about it and the prescribed me Citalopram (which is an anti-anxiety/anti-depressant type drug that I'd been on in the past) and it seemed to help at least until I got used to the machine.

I'm 59. About 35 years ago things like this started happening to me. At first I would wake up wondering what I'd done or forgotten to do. I had no explanation for why these questions were showing up in my mind, and that just added to the anxiety.

As the years went by this became worse. I developed chronic headaches that required the same type of medication used to treat anxiety. I had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. I would also wake up early in the morning and not be able to get back to sleep.

When I was diagnosed with sleep apnea almost three years ago and started CPAP therapy I noticed that I started to have some headache-free days.

The experience of your mind having to wake your body up to breathe is an anxious experience. I think it's one source of the anxiety and as I adapt to CPAP therapy the anxiety and insomnia fade.

The anxiety and insomnia developed during decades of untreated sleep apnea and it will take time for CPAP therapy to reverse it.
Sleepster

INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#18
RE: What to do about three o'clock in the morning panic attacks?
(07-19-2014, 05:39 PM)Sleepster Wrote: The anxiety and insomnia developed during decades of untreated sleep apnea and it will take time for CPAP therapy to reverse it.
In my limited experience, this is absolutely true. Like most of us, I want and expect a quick fix when something seems wrong but have grudgingly accepted that in CPAP therapy, results take time.

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#19
RE: What to do about three o'clock in the morning panic attacks?
For some people it happens quickly, but many of us are not that fortunate.

But on the other hand we are far more fortunate than many others. I just count my blessings and take things one day at a time.
Sleepster

INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#20
RE: What to do about three o'clock in the morning panic attacks?
Exactly the same problem here with terminal 1:30-2:30 wakeup and never getting back to anything called 'sleep'. After 6 months of cpap, I thought it would go away. I've tried everything (well, at whole lot of things) and resorted lately to keeping sleeping pills nearby (dare-I-say). There's the one sleeping pill that's light-duty and with a short half-life to make it through the rest of the night. When I get really behind on sleep, I reach for something like Lunesta to get me that knock-out for 6 hours (but groggy the next day). But now, I'm trying to get off the sleeping pills again (starting tonight) and go through torturous nights again.

If I could only duplicate the quality of sleep that takes place in the first 3 hours (with no meds), I'd be so incredibly happy. But, I'm beginning to think this might just be the way it's going to be. BUT, I thought I'd never get below an AHI of 10 and now I'm at 3-4, so all things are possible I suppose.
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