I’ve had trouble sleeping for the last few nights and I’m a little worried as to what’s up. Once I’m asleep I’m fine, when awake I’m fine, but when lying in bed trying to get to sleep I’m getting very anxious and finding it hard. I’m not sure if it’s some sort of anxiety, mild panic attacks, sleep apnea, some sort of myoclonic twitch, or what.

So I go to bed and no matter how tired I am I find it hard to sleep. I think it’s anxiety related as I tend to worry about my health, in particular my heart, which sounds typical of anxiety/panic. Last night in particular, it was almost like a sense of foreboding, as if any minute now I was going to have a heart attack, or something. I think if not for the fact I know about the health issues outlined above, if not for the fact I think i might well have gotten up and gone to hospital, because something didn’t seem right. But I assured myself and troopered on, otherwise I was thinking, should I wake my mum? Because I was worried.

Here is what happens:

Just as I drift off to sleep it’s like I’m zapped, it can be like a zap in the heart or sometimes in the head. Just like a jolt of energy(but more of a shooting sensation to the heart), it hits me, I’m suddenly conscious and aware. I worry for a few seconds – wtf was that? Panic for a few seconds. Here’s the thing, after the jolt/zap, after those brief seconds of worry that I’m about to have a heart attack or something crazy, after that brief moment I’m awake and I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong with me. Heart seems fine, head seems fine, everything is okay – okay, try and get to sleep again. Again I drift off, I’m woken up again in the process by the same thing. Worry for a few seconds, no I’m good, I’m relaxed, I’m tired, think positive thoughts, I’m going to go to sleep. Drift off, ZAP. Repeat that process. Finally after maybe 3-6 times (over say 30 minutes to an hour) I fall asleep and I sleep like a log, for however long, 8-12 hours. I can wake up within my actual sleep, go to the toilet, go back to bed and I’ll fall back to sleep no problem. It’s the initial getting to sleep that seems to be the problem. The shocks I’m feeling seem real, which make me wonder if it’s some sort of muscle twitch.

But they never happen in the day, they never happen when I’m awake and aware, only when I’m partially asleep. Sometimes when woken up by w/e it is, or sometimes even before I first drift off, I’m worrying about my health, for some reason, particularly my chest/heart, which leads me to think it’s some sort of issue based on anxiety. Perhaps even a mild panic attack.

I’ve never had panic attacks of any kind in the day, I’ve always been a champion sleeper, but I have had anxiety in the past. A few years ago I was socially anxious and depressed and was taking Citalopram.

I know that sleeping problems of this kind are associated with all sorts of causes, but what about specifically what I’m feeling, has anyone experienced the same? It’s like a shock to the heart and a tight chest as i’m drifting off, i wake up heart racing for a few seconds expecting something to happen, nothing happens, and I’m relaxed(sometimes I’m not relaxed, sometimes I’m worried obviously wondering wtf happened) and we just recycle the process. This is like targeted jolts, around my heart and sometimes my head, it’s not the normal body jolt that people sometimes get(where you feel like you’re drifting from your body and jolt back).

This has happened for the last 3 nights, and I’m really, really hoping it’s just a brief spell brought up on by my whacky sleeping routine(work from home late nights/mornings sometimes on the computer) and too much caffeine.

I’m going to call the doctors tomorrow, but I want to know if any of you have experienced what I’m experiencing? Should I be more worried or do you think I’m right to think it’s a problem of anxiety or panic and not worry myself too much

I’m 23.