This has been getting worse for a couple of weeks now. I’ve been feeling sort of a generalized anxiety - a slight panicky feeling that crops up for no real reason. At first, I assumed it’s because of stress. Like most of us, I have no shortage of reasons to feel stressed out. During the day, it’s not too bad, but at night, it’s making it impossible to drift off. Just now, I think I figured out that it’s something physiological. I was lying there, relaxed and ready to finally get back to sleep, when for no reason at all, I felt this surge of…adrenaline? Maybe not. Some sort of hormonal signal, anyway, fire off in what felt like the pit of my stomach. There was no reason for it at all. I was tired enough that after a short burst of “woah” jolting me back awake, I quickly sank back down to near-sleep. But then it happened again. And again. My mind was pretty much blank. I certainly wasn’t thinking of anything stressful. So I don’t think it’s stress. I think my body is screwed up somehow.
I have sleep problems sometimes. A lot of it is due to anxiety. I think a lot of it is due to overwork. I think sometimes its depression. I’ve never been a great sleeper. Is something bothering you? FWIW after reading your post, I envisioned a situation where you have something you don’t really want to deal with - like you have anxiety about something, but not something you’re ready to confront so its just sort of festering. It could be physiological though - maybe a sleep clinic would be helpful.
Happened to me in my early 50s. I would actually jolt out of bed and feel the need to get up and do something. I really dreaded going to sleep, because I knew it would be horrible.
It was diagnosed as adult onset anxiety. Medication has completely solved the problem.
I don’t know if you’re simply self-diagnosing or subconsciously looking to add to the list of things that keep you awake.
However, this statement caught my attention - I felt this surge of…adrenaline?
My suggestion to you is that you schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist AND with a cardiologist. The first indication that I had heart problems was suddenly waking up feeling very anxious. I didn’t remember a bad dream, didn’t have any meetings scheduled, and it wasn’t opening day. My wife brought me a little medicinal rum, I calmed down and went back to sleep. Turns out I had an 80% blockage in my coronary artery. My body was releasing adrenaline because my heart was failing to pump properly.
This is a good suggestion. See a sleep specialist and get a study done–if you can afford it.
In addition to the potential for cardiac issues, it could also be (but is not necessarily) sleep apnea or GERD. My fiance sometimes jolts up shouting for me. When this happens, it sounds like he thinks he’s dying. In his case, it’s because he can’t breathe while lying down when his acid reflux is really bad.
So, I saw my doc this afternoon, and she scheduled a sleep test to look for apnea. I should have said in the OP that I’m pretty sure I have it. I put on a lot of weight after getting my diabetes diagnosed, and my wife has been complaining about my sudden, huge increase in snoring volume. I would have thought to include that if, you know, I hadn’t written the first post after no sleep. The doc thinks the anxiety is a byproduct of the apnea. So I’m going to get that checked out and treated, and see if the rest improves. Thanks for the advice, all.
When I was a younger and angrier man, I would sometimes indulge myself in interior arguments with whoever I was angry at (often my father). Just like “out loud” arguments, they often ended with my muscles tense and my body pumped with adrenaline. The shot of adrenaline, while not particularly pleasant, can be addictive. If my thoughts drifted into one of these arguments when I was going to sleep, I knew I would be up for a while. I now believe this was the front edge of depression. I got help in the form of Paxil and I also learned to forgive those who trespassed against me (and made me realize I was doing a lot of trespassing myself).
It sounds like you do have some sleep apnea issue going on. As for the anxiety, meditation works very well for helping you get racing thoughts and negative thoughts under control, and helping you learn to relax. Relaxation is not something we are born knowing how to do (well, we lose the ability as we get older) - you can learn to relax again. Meditation, conscious relaxation, listening to soothing music, these things can all help you with sleeping problems in addition to as medications and sleep apnea machines.
Definitely see what you can find out with the sleep study, but I also second the suggestion to explore meditation. It can really help! If you have access to phone or tablet apps, there are some free or cheap apps out there that can help you relax and fall asleep.