Symptoms accompanying nocturnal panic attacks
Typical symptoms of a nocturnal panic attack include palpitations, shortness of breath and the fear of death. There are also many other symptoms that may occur during such a panic attack. However, each nocturnal panic attack of one person differs from another, so it is difficult to establish a general course of such a panic attack.
In general, however, every panic attack always causes a massive anxiety, which can end in mortal fear. One symptom that is attributed to panic attacks is their duration. A typical nocturnal panic attack begins very suddenly, but also ends again after a few minutes.
A change in the heartbeat and its intensity are often cited as triggering symptoms. Other symptoms include outbreaks of sweating, trembling or even dry mouth. In addition to the typical complaints of the heart, breathing difficulties, chest pain, nausea and stomach pain are often named as the reason for waking up at night.Dizziness, uncertainty and drowsiness are counted as common psychological symptoms of a nocturnal panic attack.
Those affected have an increased feeling of anxiety and perceive the symptoms as life-threatening. In rare cases, the panic attack can result in the affected persons feeling strange in their familiar surroundings. You can read about the individual symptoms and their causes on the respective main articles.
Some of them are listed below: Generalized anxiety disorder tachycardia at night – Is it dangerous? Psychologically induced shortness of breath Dizzy spells, insecurity and dizziness are counted as frequently occurring psychological symptoms of a nocturnal panic attack. Those affected have an increased feeling of anxiety and perceive the symptoms as life-threatening.
In rare cases, the panic attack can result in the affected persons feeling strange in their familiar surroundings. You can read about the individual symptoms and their causes on the respective main articles. Some of them are listed below:
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Tachycardia at night – Is it dangerous?
- Psychologically induced shortness of breath
Besides shortness of breath, tachycardia is the most frequently mentioned symptom of a nocturnal panic attack.
Those affected often explain that after waking up suddenly during the night they have noticed an increased heart rate and palpitations. The nocturnal panic attacks can also occur in connection with physical illness. If, for example, a patient is known to have a cardiac dysrhythmia or an increased risk of a heart attack, this can further aggravate the nocturnal panic attacks or even be their cause.
Breathlessness is the most common symptom of a nocturnal panic attack. According to their own descriptions, the affected persons suddenly wake up at night and find it very difficult to breathe. This subjective feeling of not being able to breathe leads the affected person into a perceived fear of death.
As with tachycardia, diseases of the lungs and respiratory tract can be one of many causes of a night-time panic attack. Examples of diseases that are linked to the attacks are bronchial asthma, COPD or sleep apnoea syndrome. Respiratory distress is a condition that should not be underestimated.
For this reason, we recommend that you deal with this topic. You can find detailed information under:
- Shortness of breath – what is behind it?
- Psychologically induced shortness of breath
The fear of death is a frequently described side effect of a nocturnal panic attack. It is caused by the increasing discomfort felt by the person affected.
For example, a patient who has suffered a nocturnal panic attack feels the palpitations or shortness of breath so intensely that he or she has the feeling of dying from it. The dangerous thing about this fear of death, however, is that it only intensifies the perceived symptoms. Due to the panic that occurs, the heart starts beating even faster.
In addition, the affected person breathes faster and faster in the excitement, which quickly leads to hyperventilation. This in turn increases the shortness of breath. As a conclusion, the fear of death of the affected person increases – a vicious circle is created that is difficult to avert.
