YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

Dear Diary
thought i would try you It is 3 am here everyone is asleep,this is the third night in a row i have had a panic attack and cant get back to sleep.
Everyone is sleeping so i have no one to talk to. The panic attack is settling but the anxiety is through the roof.
I know where the panic attacks are coming from I was on a train 3 days ago and the person that sat next to me smoked the same smokes that you smoke when you molested me.
I know i have dealt with this though counselling and say its PTSD and that the smell triggers me lucky its an unusual smoke.
The worst part was my daughter was with me i had to get out of there when it this person sat down, bless her she realised what was going on and to snap me out of of the flight or fight response she turned the music up veryyy loud which grounded me.
This doesn't help at 3 am when everyone is asleep and i have had 2 hours sleep a night for the past 3 nights.
I have tried all my usual things Meditation,warm bath, warm milk, reading, No luck.
Putting this to words is helping im trying to breath slowly while typing and the panic is going but the anxiety is still to high for sleep
Thanks for listening Diary, its bad how alone you can feel at 3 am in he morning.

Dear Lost, my heart breaks for the trauma you experienced. Some triggers like you expressed are hard to avoid. I understand what being alone when everyone is asleep feels like and it can be terrifying. I am glad you wrote your experience down. Every day that progresses grants you more strength to make it through until tomorrow.