phobophobia - fear of anxiety itself?

I seem to have phobophobia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobophobia
My main current symptoms are not listed: fear for not being able to sleep and extreme weakness in the limbs, but the idea describes my recent condition perfectly: I fear not getting enough sleep and then falling asleep at work and it happens: I have to leave work midday citing a headache to take a nap at home. It is not hard for me to take naps, night time sleeping is hard. It is a like a self-fulfilling prophecy: I fear waking at up 2 and not falling back to sleep until 7, then for an hour only, and it happens exactly the way I fear.

Likewise, I develop extreme weakness in the limbs. I fear it in public, primarily at work. I fear that people would notice, that I would not be able to attend a meeting or would not be to think clearly at the meeting, and be fired. I fear, and it happens, especially when I am underslept, so one anxiety feeds the other. I get weakness in the limbs at home as well, and though I have nothing to fear because I am alone, I still get pounding heart and irrational fear.

Anyone in the same boat?

I'm sorry you are struggling.

Anxiety feeds off itself. It is not uncommon to have a fear of our anxiety. Many panic attacks are about that fear. What you describe sounds like panic attacks that I used to get frequently.

Naps interfere with nightime sleep. Some time when you are off work, weekend if you have weekends off, see if you can skip the naps or limit them to a short time - and half hour to an hour. You might also try a sleep aid for a week or two to get you back to sleeping all night. A good night's sleep is so important to feeling good all day, and being well rested definitely diverts panic attacks.

Regular daily use of relaxation techniques/exercises is helpful too. There is a CD that I have and love called "Warm and Heavy", which is a CD with 2 exercises - one is Warm and the other is Heavy. They feel so good to do! It can take practicing daily for a week or so, but then it becomes familiar and feels so good. I bought the CD from www.wholeperson.com.

I hope you find the answers that work for you.

Ugh I know how you feel! I hate it! It's so hard! It's so difficult explaining to people why you're so afraid too. And my boyfriend tries the whole "well you know it's in your head so why don't you just stop it?" It's not that easy. I've missed church because of this fear, I don't go to crowded places, I've lost jobs, I avoid social gatherings with anyone really... I'm so afraid of having another attack that I avoid so much to make sure it doesn't happen. But it still happens because I spend so much time and energy trying to stop it I don't realize that all I'm doing is aknowledging it and feeding into it. It's like being on a strict diet but carrying arround a big slice of double chocolate chunk cake all night. You fight the urge to eat it all night but in the end, since you've been carrying it around all night thinking about not eating it, eventually it gets the best of ya and you dig in and eat it all. Same with this anxiety thing. It stinks, I know! Sorry for all this!

I had it last time at Taco Bell, legs going jelly and heartbeat sped up. Then I tried to reason with myself telling myself that it is taco bell, it is not work, nobody gives a damn about how I feel inside. And I started paying attention to the feeling, to the sensation rather than trying to send it away. It might have been a coincidence but I believe that the sensation that I dreaded went away faster this way. I am hopeful.

You are so right about being restful. My situation has improved greatly, and I hope it stays this way, once I started getting a full 8-hour night of sleep.