Anxiety really worse when I get up in morning

[slm]

All,

Not sure why but my anxiety is really worse when I get up in morning or even if I wake up in middle of night.

Please help, I can't stand this :cry:

slm

[Marthax]

I'm wondering if the times it happens like for you with it being right when you get up, maybe you were anxious one morning and then every morning you wake up almost expecting it?
Sometimes it's hard to tell when you're anxious if the anxiety struck first or if you thought of it first... but I think we all must think of it first... which then brings the anxiety.

Maybe it's a new habit you have to try and make, try not to 'expect' the anxiety right when you wake up.

I've been having it all day long the past few days and I'm trying to break this cycle, I'm sitting here fine and I am 'expecting' to get anxious and then eventually I do.

I hope you feel better, that's no way to start your mornings. I know caffeine is a stimulant but maybe a nice cup of tea to just try and soothe your senses... and relax... look out the window maybe...
Maybe trying something different in the mornings all together could have an effect.

[Jay12345]

I think Marthax is right... When you wake up your not actually anxious.. And what happens is you'll get an 'Automatic negative thought' "i should be anxious/i'm supposed to be anxious" so therefore it just all comes back.. It's a habbit (worrying about worrying!)

When you wake up.. don't just lie there....... get out of bed, have a shower.. and then get on with your day ahead, stay positive!

[slm]

Thanks for your response, I really don't know how to break this cycle.
I'm on klonopin for my sleep problem and just started Lexapro.

I think Lexapro made things worse. I had it only for couple of days and I had worst negative thoughts.

Not sure if this is really needed or if I can overcome this without medication.

[Jay12345]

seriously, there is absolutely no need for medication in my opinion. You are simply associating the mornings with being anxious which is therefore triggering irrational thoughts... Medication will perhaps put the feelings on hold, but not actually resolve the core of the problem..

What you need to do is not let it bother you and accept the thoughts as simply thoughts and nothing else.. As soon you realise that nothing is going to happen to you, and that a thought has NO relation to either your health and personality you will naturally see a decrease in your response to the thoughts....

[northstar]

there's quite a logical reason why we tend to feel worse in the mornings :) because you haven't eaten all night long your blood sugar is really low when you wake up. low blood sugar is a little known major cause of anxiety.

when you eat food gets burned up in your body and makes your blood sugar high or stable depending on what you're eating and your own body. if we don't eat regularly, or if we're eating a lot of the wrong kinds of foods, then our blood sugars will go on a rollercoaster of ups and downs. when it comes down your body releases a host of chemicals including adrenaline to compensate, this adrenalin can result in all kinds of problems including anxiety, panick, panick attacks, shaking, trembling, sweating, headaches, heart palpitations, muscle twitches, insomnia and sleeping problems, feelings of disorientation and derealisation, brain fog, memory problems, depression and a whole host of other things!

so after you've been sleeping all night long obviously you haven't been eating and when you wake up your blood sugar will be very low. the best way to solve it is to eat a healthy breakfast as soon as you can, i often tend to eat a banana straight away after i wake up to keep me going till breakfast and then have something like wholemeal toast and a boiled egg to get me going for the day. it can really help :) oh and you should avoid things like tea and coffee, they will only irritate anxiety, have herbal teas instead. with anxiety you should also look at cutting out excesses of alcohol, sugar, refined carbohydrates, sodas and nicotine - all of these things will play havoc with your blood sugars or irritate an already anxious body.

discovering about diet and low blood sugar helped me to recover from anxiety, it was life saving! i had to figure it out for myself though, my doctor had no idea about it which is unfortunate because it could have saved me a lot of trouble!

i'm posting a link here to an article i posted up on hypoglycemia or low blood sugar problems, it's worth looking into. i hope this helps :)

http://www.anxietyforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3750

[Jay12345]

Yes, it could well be that northstar.. or both combined. What i do know is that acceptance will have a major effect with anxiety!

[slm]

Thanks a lot northstart and jay12345, I really appreciate your help.

This is my story:

In Aug 08, my ring and little finger of my right hand were totally numb in sleep and I realized it in middle of night. I was shocked and thought that something is really wrong like brain tumor or something...

I went to my doctor and he said that this is because of nerve pinching but I was not convinced. I started to do my own research on google and started believing that I had something wrong with my brain and feared of death and what will happen to my family and so on......

So I started taking over the counter herbal medice like (ginko biloba) for helping me with blood circulation and always worried about this numbness.
Then one night I was not able to sleep and I had trembling all over my body and this absolutely convinced me that there is something really wrong.I didn't sleep for couple of nights and had trembling once.

I started getting anxious, I did some research on net and quickly figured out that this might be my own anxiety and took my phyicians appointment as well as phyciarist appointment.Both of them concluded that it is anxiety and my phyciarist prescribed me klonopin (0.5mg) which I take 0.25mg for last 1 month.

But this left me really scared at first,I was scared to go to office and I was surprised how such a small event made me a fearful person. I started doing more research on internet regarding and more research I did more scared I'm of anxiety and panic attacks.

I was anxious person in past but not as anxious as I'm now.I'm constantly a fear body and not what I was before this incident. I'm loosing confidence and sleep, can't work properly or even enjoy things that I was doing before this event. My job is stressful and this adds to all this.

I'm also not at all interested in medications but my doctors are asking me to take klonopin and SSRI's not sure what to do and this makes me even more anxious.

I get scary thoughts in the middle of the night and wake up and then its really hard to get back to sleep. Not sure if this is because of medications.

I need some help guys, I'm getting tired of all this...
Please help and guide me out of this misery.

slm

[northstar]

Yes, it could well be that northstar.. or both combined. What i do know is that acceptance will have a major effect with anxiety!

definitely jay, if you wake up feeling anxious because of the low blood sugar things every day then eventually you're gonna associate the morning times with high anxiety and you'll settle into a pattern of feeling bad whenever you wake up as a result. the best plan is to make sure you eat well as soon as possible and just get on with things instead of dwelling on the anxiety. getting up and about and into your day will provide welcome distraction.

i used to get up and put on my favourite music and dance around the house while i was getting ready for work, it sounds silly but it helped me to cheer up and put me in a good mood, lifting some of the anxiety. i also used to have a chat with my mum on the phone most mornings when the anxiety was really bad, talking to someone supportive was always really helpful :)

[northstar]

Thanks a lot northstart and jay12345, I really appreciate your help.

This is my story:

In Aug 08, my ring and little finger of my right hand were totally numb in sleep and I realized it in middle of night. I was shocked and thought that something is really wrong like brain tumor or something...

I went to my doctor and he said that this is because of nerve pinching but I was not convinced. I started to do my own research on google and started believing that I had something wrong with my brain and feared of death and what will happen to my family and so on......

So I started taking over the counter herbal medice like (ginko biloba) for helping me with blood circulation and always worried about this numbness.
Then one night I was not able to sleep and I had trembling all over my body and this absolutely convinced me that there is something really wrong.I didn't sleep for couple of nights and had trembling once.

I started getting anxious, I did some research on net and quickly figured out that this might be my own anxiety and took my phyicians appointment as well as phyciarist appointment.Both of them concluded that it is anxiety and my phyciarist prescribed me klonopin (0.5mg) which I take 0.25mg for last 1 month.

But this left me really scared at first,I was scared to go to office and I was surprised how such a small event made me a fearful person. I started doing more research on internet regarding and more research I did more scared I'm of anxiety and panic attacks.

I was anxious person in past but not as anxious as I'm now.I'm constantly a fear body and not what I was before this incident. I'm loosing confidence and sleep, can't work properly or even enjoy things that I was doing before this event. My job is stressful and this adds to all this.

I'm also not at all interested in medications but my doctors are asking me to take klonopin and SSRI's not sure what to do and this makes me even more anxious.

I get scary thoughts in the middle of the night and wake up and then its really hard to get back to sleep. Not sure if this is because of medications.

I need some help guys, I'm getting tired of all this...
Please help and guide me out of this misery.

slm

slm recovery from anxiety takes a lot of hard work and lifestyle change, but it is possible. i did it without the help of drugs - except for about 3 xanex tablets i was convinced to take when the anxiety was so high i was a danger to myself. if you want it to change then you'll have to put some work in, but if you're willing to do it then hopefully things will start to level out for you :)

firstly it sounds like you're really stressed out at the moment, you're not sleeping or getting proper rest and trembling really says to me that your body is feeling very on edge. you should start taking a vitamin B supplement, it's very good for helping to soothe a stressed out nervous system. make sure the one you take is compatible with your meds, although really with something like vitamin B you shouldn't have any trouble. ask your pharmacist or health food shop assistant for advice on which one to take. i take vitamin b with magnesium with food every morning if i'm feeling stressed out. oh and just be aware that it will make your urine really really yellow, so don't freak out when you first see it like i did lol!

it might also help you to take a multivitamin supplement, lack of nutrients can also really stress our bodies out, we need to make sure we have a proper level of our daily nutrients to feel out best. speaking about nutrition, it's incredibly important to eat healthily with you're suffering with anxiety. like i said in the post above, eating healthy foods on a regular basis will keep your blood sugars stable and make you feel more comfortable. it will also provide your body with natural nutrients. like i said above avoid excess sugar, tea, coffee, sodas, refined carbs, junk food, alcohol and nicotine - all of these things will drain your body in different ways and irritate anxiety. read the article i posted the link to on hypoglycemia, it's got lots of good advice on eating healthily and keeping blood sugars stable.

try to avoid stress as much as possible, now i don't mean avoid situations that you might find stressful but reduce as many stress factors in your life as you can. if your job is stressful then look at what you can do to help with it, talk to your boss if you trust them and feel they will understand. learning some relaxation techniques can also really help, go to a yoga or meditation class, find an outlet for the stress and learn about the breathing techniques they teach that can be very helpful.

you also need to so something about the irrational worrying, this is a very very common anxiety symptom, you wouldn't believe the amount of anxiety sufferers who are convinced they have a brain tumour, i even had that worry myself when i was suffering! i found that psychotherapy really helped me with this. other people find cognitive behaviour therapy very excellent help. one way or another speaking to a professional and learning to deal with the worry can be an enormous help. if you're not already seeing a therapist then i'd seriously consider it :)

getting daily exercise can also really help, it promotes the production of good hormones in your body that will naturally help you to feel better. it will also tire you out so that sleep comes a little easier in the evenings.

its up to you to find your way out of this, but it is very possible to get better. as you can see there are lots of things you can do to help yourself :) i really hope you are feeling better soon, make sure to let us know how you're feeling!

[t-bone]

Hi SLM,

You and I are kind of in the same boat. I too have been having morning anxiety for about 3 or 4 weeks. However those anxiety attacks progressed to more attacks at various times and an almost constant level of anxiety and worry. I saw a psychiatrist about 2 weeks ago and she started me on Lexapro also. I've been through two other periods in my life where I started off with anxiety which progressed into depression, so I kind of know how all this is going to play out.

Anyways, back to your issue. I would start by following the advice of trying to eat something before you go to bed. This will help you feel more relaxed and sleepy, which may help you stay asleep. And it will also help to prevent blood sugar crash in the morning. I've been doing this and it has helped considerably. I'm also drinking some OJ very first thing, which helps too. This in turn makes me feel like I'm actually doing something to reverse these feelings, which starts the snowball thinking effect in the positive direction.

You also might want to think about doing something that I'm going to try to start doing soon. As soon as you wake up, occupy yourself as one of the other posters suggested. I'm going to try to start a relaxation program from a book I bought (Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne - it's excellent!). You could do this, or go for a walk outside, or exercise, do crossword puzzles, etc. I would recommend doing something different than just starting your normal morning routine (showering, eating, etc.).

Please don't be discouraged. As someone who has been through this twice before, I can tell you that this anxiety will pass. Also please stay with your therapist/psychiatrist and give it time for the Lexapro to work. If some other posters say that they did it without medication, then that's great for them, but for you, me and a LOT of other people, taking and anti-depressant is a HUGE help. When I took anti-depressants before they really helped me to calm down my racing mind and helped me to start thinking more clearly and objectively. They do not turn you into a zombie as many people incorrectly think.

Keep the faith. Take care of yourself, and most of all believe in yourself - you can make it through this.

[Punk Rock Steve]

Hi SLM...you said a key word earlier in this thread that is a big problem for a lot of people with anxiety...RESEARCH! I too am totally guilty of doing way too much research on the internet, so much so that it has become an obsession with me and has DEFINITELY made my anxiety worse as I get completely consumed worrying about every friggin' pain and ache in my body...be careful of the amount of "research" that you do :) Hang in there...we all seem to most of the time.

[slm]

Thankyou all for your replies.
Yes, when I sleep well my day is good but when I just get 2-3 hrs of sleep next day is worst.

I'm taking Klonopin 0.25mg before bed but I think it doesn't help me much.
I would like to get OFF my medication and would like to treat this naturally but can't make my mind :(

Doctor has prescribed LEXAPRO but I took it once and was very sleepy and I'm scared of it for some reason. I think I might get crazy dreams/thoughts.

[northstar]

Thankyou all for your replies.
Yes, when I sleep well my day is good but when I just get 2-3 hrs of sleep next day is worst.

I'm taking Klonopin 0.25mg before bed but I think it doesn't help me much.
I would like to get OFF my medication and would like to treat this naturally but can't make my mind :(

Doctor has prescribed LEXAPRO but I took it once and was very sleepy and I'm scared of it for some reason. I think I might get crazy dreams/thoughts.

slm you can do all the natural treatments along with the medication so that you are more prepared for when you come off it :) there's no harm in trying it both ways at once!