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Anxiety at 4 p.m. every day


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Thankfully my anxiety is going down, but I've noticed that around 4 p.m. I start getting it. I don't seem to have it at any other time (unless there's a reason). When I first began Ativan, I noticed that around 4 p.m. I'd feel anxious. I used to call it "sundown syndrome." I forgot all about that when it left, but now it seems that it has come back again.

 

Does anyone have anxiety that shows up every day at a particular time?

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I noticed my anxiety tends to get worse at certain times of the day, too.  Usually an hour or two before meal times.  Wondering if it has anything to do with my cortisol levels or something with my blood sugar??  I am not diabetic, but have had elevated sugar levels a long time ago.  Diabetes in genetics, but proper diet and exercise helped stabilize that problem.  Could hormones or anything cyclical in the body be responsible for your timely anxiety issues?
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Maybe it's cortisol. I find that I don't have any problems in the morning but by the afternoon I can feel it rising up. I've been eating too many sweets lately, too. Maybe that's contributing. I'm not diabetic. I normally don't eat many sweets, but lately I've been eating something sweet every day. The holiday season throws me off. Once I eat dinner, I feel better. But I don't want to eat dinner at 4. Maybe I'll have to change that.

 

Thanks for writing, LynnM!! You gave me some things to think about.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I need desperately to talk to someone about how to navigate this forum.  I also notice that most of the posts I read are often many, many years old.  What's up with that?  I also had a question about any updated versions [other than the 2011 supplement] of the Ashton Manual or something similar.  Has there really been hardly anything new discovered or able to be shared that can help those of us who are suffering so badly?  I have so many questions and would really like to speak to someone who might be able to help me.  Like I said, navigating this forum is very difficult for me.  I am not as literate as I'd like to be with it, plus the drugs during surgery and the benzo's have really messed up my cognitive abilities.  I used to be really "sharp."  I had gotten off of Klonopin and onto Valium June 25, 2017 and then tapered from 12 mg. Valium to "0" on Sept 1, 2017.  My body was burning the whole time from 9/1/17 to 11/15/17 and then progressed rapidly to almost total sleeplessness and "acid" burning over my whole body and inside every "cavity" in the body.  All my bones hurt and everything the dr.'s tried me on did not help: Gabapentin, Trazadone, Hydroxyzine, muscle relaxants, sleep aids, Beta-blockers, etc.  I couldn't even move anymore and was literally dying.  Dr. put me back on 10  mg. valium, but I instantly dropped it down to 6.25 mg.  I take 5 mg. to sleep at night and .25 first thing in the morning.  I desperately want to get off this "poison," but am literally scared to death!  I was told later by a doctor at the Urgent Care I visited that I tapered wayyyyyy too fast.  He said he advises his patients to take at least a half a year.  I did my 12 mg. taper a little over 2 months.  I suffered while tapering, but thought that was all part of the process.  I am really ignorant when it comes to supplements, medications and drugs.  I didn't use them.  I ate very healthy and even taught health and nutrition.  I am told by a new neuropsychologist and all the past doctors that the drugs during surgery [anethethesia, antibiotics, or pain meds such as morphine, oxycodone, etc.] messed up my mind and then all the benzo's and antidepressants [including Mirtazepine] they tried without success, all added to the attack on my poor brain.  Now I am still suffering from a very sensitive brain response and increasing depression because of all of this mess, but see no way to get out of it.  How can I taper when I am feeling so very badly?  Are my symptoms from the benzo withdrawal?  The Mirtazepine withdrawal [did this along with the benzo withdrawal--a big "no-no" I am finding out later]? Or is my brain permanently messed up due to the drugs at surgery?  Since I don't know, I am confused as to what to do.  Any thoughts?  Can someone please at least tell me how to navigate the forum and at least be willing to answer any questions about it if there is nothing you can help me with about my physical/mental condition post-surgery/benzo/antidepressant?

 

Please, please help me.

Thanks,

LynnM

 

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Your brain is NOT permanently messed up, Lynn. You did a taper that was too fast for your CNS to handle. I see that you've been posting in the Post-Withdrawal section. You reinstated, so you can go to the Withdrawal support forum or check out titration plans or micro tapers. From here on out, you may want to slow your taper way, way down. In my mind, from what I have experienced and have read on here, it's not how fast you can get the drug out of your body, although some people do well on fast tapers. But I wouldn't suggest that. It's how your NERVES are doing. If you get an uptick of symptoms, it can be the result of your CNS not handling what you are doing. This is all about the nerves, since benzos have a deleterious effect on the nervous system. Nerves can take a long time to heal. However, again some people can recover very quickly. It isn't known why.

 

Also, benzos don't do well with any other drugs. Since the CNS has been so compromised by the benzos, any other drug throws the body into an upheavel. If it's absolutely necessary, by all means take something. I've had to take bp pills, but I can tell that the effects of the benzo play off the pills. It hasn't been easy. It's good that you've eaten very healthily, but that in itself won't help this. I thought the same thing: exercise and good eating would heal me. Well, this is another matter entirely.

 

There is newer information about benzos here: https://www.benzoinfo.com/faq, and also here: http://www.benzo-case-japan.com/index-english.php

 

You WILL get well!!! How long it will take - we don't know that. But if you can minimize your stress levels, it will certainly help.

 

I hope you can find some good information at the sites I've directed you to.  Good luck!!! Remember, YOU WILL HEAL FROM THIS.

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I used to have interdose withdrawal and increased anxiety from my coffee/caffeine wearing off around 4-5pm.  Could it be either of those things?
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It could be, because the benzo causes anxiety as it's wearing off (or even long afterward sometimes) and so does caffeine. I was thinking the same thing about my bp pills. Maybe they start wearing off around that time. I have a bp pill that causes anxiety (this is actually documented, that I didn't know about until I was too dependent to get off of it easily) that I take around 11. I'm thinking it's that.

 

Definitely the underground culprit is the benzo, though. You probably wouldn't get the anxiety from the coffee wearing off otherwise. It seems that the benzo picks up the slightest anxiety and magnifies it. 

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If posts are new, or old, I find no meaning. The symptoms are the same even though the posts were written a couple of years ago. I think it's good that all posts are saved, because then there is a lot to read. If there are no new posts, I will return to the elderly.
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Yes, it doesn't matter when posts were written. I find a lot of answers just searching around, and some posts have been from 2011. They're just as applicable today.
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I have a friend who came off benzo's in May and she said she still gets high anxiety in the middle of the afternoon.  She's not sure why, either.
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It's probably the benzo. If she was on Ativan or Xanax, there's more of a chance of it as these drugs seem to cause the most anxiety since they are so short-acting. Did she do a rapid taper or a c/t?
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I have this problem.

My anxiety gets really high around 3-4 pm. Having a panic attack now. It's 2.55 pm in Sweden.

This started about a month ago. Before that I had bad anxiety in the mornings.

Now it's here from 3-7 pm every day.

 

I try to ignore it, accept it. Thinking it's w/d. But sometimes it's pure terror.

Don't know why this is happening. There is no sence to benzo w/d.

 

 

 

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I'm sorry about the panic attack. Yes, it's odd. The symptoms change around for me, too. But the 4 p.m. seems to hold pretty steadily. I don't know why this is. I wish I did. I hope you're feeling better. At least we're not alone with the symptom, but there's a chunk of time I wish I didn't have to deal with every day.
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I tend to get the worst anxiety at night, starting at about 7-9 PM or so and lasts a few hours, or until I go to sleep. I always wondered if this was really a thing, because it feels chemical or random. My thoughts just seem to get really obsessive and fearful and I get a lot of physical anxiety symptoms that I don't struggle too much with during the day.
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I don't understand it either. But knowing that it comes around the same time every day only heightens my anxiety, so that has a part to play as well.
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I don't understand it either. But knowing that it comes around the same time every day only heightens my anxiety, so that has a part to play as well.

 

Absolutely. Although I do notice that sometimes I'm so distracted with something that I don't even think about what time it is and I notice it all starts at generally the same time, regardless.

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The interesting thing about the 4 p.m. anxiety is that I used to have this while in tolerance withdrawal. Then it seemed to change and come a little later. Now it's back to 4 p.m. again.

 

It's great that you can distract yourself at that time, though! I don't have any answers and wish I did. Maybe your cortisol gets higher at night. That's the only thing I can think of. With some people it's high in the morning. Others have it at night.

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I experienced daily anxiety timed at a specific time when taking shorter half-life benzos, in my case xanax, but I think ativan would qualify as well. I felt like my mind/body knew when my dose was supposed to be taken and if I did not take it, or right before I was supposed to take it, my mind/body would tell me to by triggering an anxiety attack. This did not happen with benzos with a half life at or longer than 24 hours such as clonazepam/diazepam.

 

Noticing this was one of the main reasons I switched to the longer half-life ones, and a huge motivation to quit entirely.

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HellTrodden, I think you did the right thing - switching to Valium. I've read so many posts here over the years and have seen that overall a lot of people on Valium fare far better than the other pills.

 

I figured out that one of my pills was causing 4 p.m. anxiety, HCTZ. It wears off about that time. I'm working to get off it but must go slowly. It has as a side effect anxiety, and when it wears off the anxiety ramps up even further.  :(

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