I suffered quite seriously from insomnia for a period of years. I tried everything under the sun- medication, naturopathy, therapy - but nothing seemed to work.

I would lie awake for hours- sometimes only getting 1 hour or so sleep a night.

What I did not realise was that I was actually suffering from panic attacks in relation to the fact I could not sleep. Sure, initially it was that my mind was overloaded, and I could not sleep ,but this just became a bigger problem in that I was actually scared about not being able to sleep. It was this fear that was triggering these awful panic attacks, which would keep me wide awake for hours- my heart beating as fast and hard as I thought it could.

Anyhow, I guess what what I am trying to say again is that facing the fear (in my case not sleeping) is such an important part of overcoming your anxiety attack.