This Morning Situation

I am seven months post jump from 2 MG nightly Xanax (which I took for many years) and am doing well for the most part.  The one thing that I’m struggling with are some rather torturous episodes that I experience in the early morning.  It’s hard to describe, but I typically wake up a few hours before I want to with a sense of impending doom.  I deal with depression, and will say that the thoughts and feelings that I have in the mornings are like nothing I’ve even experienced before.  I simultaneously want to die and am terrified of it.  I am agitated and restless and often sob uncontrollably between urgent trips to the bathroom.  It feels like I am loosing my mind.  I try to practice meditation and grounding exercises…which help a tiny bit.  Even after the episode ends…I am out a few hours of sleep and feel rattled for the rest of the day.  My blood results are normal.  This started during my taper and I had really hoped it would have resolved by now.

 

My question is: Could this be some sort of early morning panic attack?  Anyone have anything similar? Any suggestions?  Anyone benefit from an SSRI or other AD?

 

Thank you all for reading and for taking the time to answer, it is much appreciated.

Hi TikiHut,

 

Those early mornings can be really rough.  I used benzos for a long time also and I also used them at night for sleep.  When I tapered off I had the awful mornings for a while.  The body releases cortisol in the wee hours of the morning which is stimulating and can prevent sleep.  Plus, I relied on benzos for sleep so learning to sleep without benzos has been a process for me and from what I read here, this takes time and probably more than most of us would like.  My mornings are better now except when I haven't slept well.

 

I did a lot of reading here in posts from members who had tried other medications and supplements and decided not to take anything else but not all members make the decision I made.  I'm sure others members will be glad to share their experiences with you.

 

Kate

Thanks for responding Kate.  It’s reassuring to know I’m not the only one who has experienced this. I’m sure there is a connection with cortisol, and hope that it resolves over time.  I will check out your blog.  Do you mind sharing how long you struggled with morning anxiety and if you still deal with it?

Sure, I'll share TikiHut.  No, you are not alone with the morning anxiety; many of our members mention it in their posts.  I didn't do anything special for the morning anxiety, just found that time was the ultimate healer.  I suppose reading the posts here gave me confidence that the anxiety was a transient thing which helped me be less anxious about the mornings; I actually have not had it in many months now.

 

I chose not to take any add'l medications because many of them need to be tapered from they are no longer wanted or needed and I didn't want to go through that again.  I did try a couple of over-the-counter supplements for sleep but didn't like the side effects so I scrapped those.  This post on the Insomnia board was one of the most helpful things for me during my entire benzo-withdrawl journey.  It has been read and relied on by many of our members here:

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=235100.0

 

Keep posting and poing around and asking quesitons.  You will find your way through this like so many of us have or are currently doing.

 

Kate

Tiki,

 

May I ask what dose you jumped from? I am planning to jump at .01mg and I hope that's low enough.

 

I hope your anxiety is getting better. I have GAD that sometimes acts up as I withdraw.

 

Take Care,

 

HM

HM; that’s about where I jumped from.  You’ll be fine!