High Anxiety and other night terrors

It's a reoccurring dream that I'm told lots of people have in one form or another. I have a final and show up having forgotten to put on any clothes. Or I suddenly realize I have enrolled in a class that I forgot about and it's the end of the term. Or I am late to take the final for an important class and no matter how much I rush, I never get any closer to the building. Usually I wake up in a sweat then get back to sleep relieved that the bad old days are behind me. Only now they are not. And this is no dream.
It's a week into school and I am a month behind. How can this be? As if in a dream, I read and read but I get no closer to being caught up. There are questions to which I should have already responded. I read them. I read pages to which they refer. I read them again. Nothing. Nada. Not a single light in the darkness of my brain. There are plenty of thoughts though, like "I am the stupidest person in the entire program" or "I am so far behind I should quit now and stop torturing myself." These are generally followed by rationalizations such as, "Even if I am the stupidest person, there are plenty of stupid people with PhD's and/or "I can't be irrevocably and hopelessly behind. It's only a week into the semester."
My panic stems in part not from being behind, but from what's ahead. My husband has surgery in the morning. Although we seem to be working as fast as we can, the film projects are getting log jammed again--one due now, another due at the end of the month, a third due in October and let's not even consider the pig piece. The newspaper is coming to do a story on the house (intended to spark some business for some of the local craftspeople)--yes, the house that hasn't been cleaned since July. There's too much junk to hide by Wednesday. The animal shelter is still overrun with cats. There are five of them in one of the bathrooms--also too many to hide by Wednesday. And the assignments get bigger and bigger by the week. Okay, so my life is actually no different than anybody else's. Blog-whining is so tasteless.
One idea might be to go to the drug store and buy a case of those 5-hour energy drinks, drink at least one, speed read the research assignment and this time stay awake past page five of the first article--then jump on line and write something, anything, no matter how inane. This will give the professor a sense of real accomplishment at the end of the term (assuming I have a clue by then). Drink the second energy drink, finish the reading for the next class and respond to those introspective questions regarding "self and organization." Sleep deprivation could be just the ticket for thwarting anxiety.
On the other hand, I should probably be conscious when I take the girls to school and drive Jim to the hospital in the morning. I'll need a steady hand for the camera work later. Kittens need love,too. And somebody has to be the last to turn in the assignment. At least one of my fellow students will feel better thinking, "At least I'm ahead of her."