Jump to content

Understanding Morning Anxiety


[Pa...]

Recommended Posts

Hi All,

 

I've now been on 150mg Zoloft for 4 days and have been feeling much better. That's relative of course as I still have anxiety, depression, tinnitus, nervousness etc but it's much better and what's really great is that I'm sleeping better and waking up with less anxiety. So my anxiety in the morning is much much better. It's not full of dread and not thinking about getting a heart attack or stroke to put me out of my misery. Again it's not perfect but it's much better. So I want to summarize that I'm taking 150mg Zoloft in the morning, 6mg diazepam around 9am and 50mg Trazadone at bedtime. I also take magnesium, vitamin d and Omega 3.

 

With that said, I slept well last night and woke up with less anxiety again however I have had anxiety and nervousness most of the day today. I believe that this is because i had too much sugar last evening. I ate 2 pieces of cake, some chocolate and three glasses of OJ. For the last 10 weeks I've been trying to keep my sugar intake to a minimum as I believe it effects my symptoms considerably.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
I wake up most mornings in a state of "fight or flight" even before i was using bento's. Trembling, nausea, anxiety through the roof, dreading the day. Makes sense that it is cortisol or low blood sugar. I don't sleep very good. I usually wake up every other hour and sleep talk a lot which tells me that my mind never completely shuts down. It is frustrating and makes my mornings that much harder.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I attest I also have it worse in mornings. Was always an afternoon person, (if not an owl), but i didn't have a horrible stomach feel before taking benzos, or morning intense depression and stress, before starting benzos. Was always sluggish in morning unlike other people who are most energized in mornings, but with benzos morning have become a nightmare.

 

I yearn for the day I will wake up and feel energized (even if sluggish) like when I hadn't touched that evil drug yet. :thumbsup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
Certainly benzo withdrawal presents a unique experience and some of these tips won't put a dent in the anxiety it produces, but if someone starts practicing them now, there will be little need to reach for a pill in the future.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Intense morning anxiety was what made me realize I had become dependent on the 'occasional use' of Xanax. I recently started seeing a new ND who recommended I take Cortisol Manager by Integrated Therapeutics at night before bed, and now I rarely wake up with the morning anxiety buzz.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I C/T'd 9 weeks ago now and my morning anxiety has been getting better and better ever since. In fact the last week I haven't had anything. I believe once you get off benzos you will all be better.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

It's now been 6 months free of Benzos and I'm getting more windows and less waves. When in a window I usually sleep better and wake up with less morning anxiety. When in wave I don't sleep as well and suffer from morning anxiety. I hate it and I can't seem to control it. For me it usually lasts through the morning and sometimes into the afternoon.

 

Has anyone learned any new tricks?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

This morning was the worst morning for me so far. I think for me , it is finding out just two months ago from my new doctor what I have been taking all these years. And finding that I must now endure a withdrawal, and for all of us <Its a huge guessing game. And a lot of fear.

So I have stressed and stressed over this, and the whole pill cutting tapering thing... And finally this morning I woke up with depression and anxiety that was off the charts.

This was MY waking up problem.

The day and the bright sunlight seem to freak me out worse than the night.

I guess its my own feelings that now what felt like a care free life, is not ..I have this taper to do. And all the things tapering can cause..

its real fear of the unknown for me..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
Some mornings I am very anxious. When I was very depressed and in the early days of tapering off a high dose of Valium I wanted to just stay in bed but I didn't. Even though I was off long term sick from work I still got up early. I tried to keep to some sense of a routine. Now I'm at a much lower dose, 2mg working down to 1mg I still get anxious but can keep it under control more. Friends have recently said I seem a lot calmer than I was. If only they knew . Most days I'm finding it hard going with withdrawing and the side effects ...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...

My experience is puzzling me. Every morning is an absolute nightmare, but not for the same reasons.

Sometimes, it is anxiety that wakes me up too early in the morning and nothing helps... even going out running... If I'm lucky, it will disappear after 2 or 3 hours... It is really physical more than psychological.

Some other times, I wake up fine and within 15 mn, the anxiety appears... And this one seems more psychological.

 

I experience an awful nausea and I start to have my hands sweating like running water...

 

This morning issue prevents me from going one step further in tapering my daily benzo dose...

 

The alarm has nothing to do with it. On the contrary, when I am in a rush, it helps dealing with the psychological anxieties... but if it is a physical one - then I am doomed, sometimes for the whole day.

 

Does anyone else experience both?

 

Are they different causes?

 

Thanks for your advice...

 

I am experiencing both right now and some of the time it’s physical and most of the time it’s psychological. It’s really awful and I don’t know how to deal with it very well. If it’s psychological I start to think about something and whatever I think about is either upsetting or it becomes really upsetting because of the anxiety I think. Once I start thinking about this “upsetting” thought or negative thought, the more I think about it the more upset I get and then it comes to the point where it starts to cause distress and turmoil then emotional pain and suffering!!! It’s absolutely horrible and no matter what positive things or affirmations I tell myself, it stays in the back of my mind the whole day or for continues day after day until I find a solution or figure something out that will make me stop being upset about this. It’s such torture and so stressful!!! And every morning is like a reset for me. If I stop being upset about something then a new thing/thought comes and starts to make me really upset. Some of the time the initial thought will come back another day even after I got over it and start making me upset again and start haunting me. It will start the whole process all over again when in the end I’m suffering so much because of it! Any advice? Has anyone experienced this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
OMG I am SO glad I read this, THANK YOU.  I could not understand why my mornings were so filled with Anxiety!  Just a dread.  It is SO good to hear I am not alone, and this is experienced by others.  It has been bad for a while, but really really bad since I went cold turkey.  This makes me feel so much better.  Tomorrow, when I wake up and have the anxiety and feeling of dread I will know it is an actual experience and not my head playing with me.  Then I’ll get through it.  Thanks again for posting. 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Wallace,

 

Morning anxiety and nausea are two of the most common issues when dealing with benzos. Tons of people suffer from it, me included.

The anxiety can come for no reason at all. But thankfully disappears during the morning. Nausea ditto.

Sometimes lately though it's back for a while in the afternoon. That's new for me, don't like it one bit.

Do you have inner trembling?  Mine is there every morning,  but goes away during the day. Evenings are by far the best part of my day.

Which is the case for many others too. Benzos are bad!

 

Hope we may all feel better again soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Thanks for your advice Pamster.  The article had many good points, & I intend to incorporate some of them in my routine.  I think my main problem is I go right into obsessing about my physical symptoms he minute I wake-up, & that makes everything worse.  (Stomach gurgling, constant burping, & gassiness).  I’m just about 2 1/2months out from jumping, & I think I’m expecting too much improvement too soon.  Like everyone else, I want to feel better NOW!  &, it will take time.  I appreciate the support. -JS
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
Waking up around 4 am.  most of the time.  Waking up because of nausea, muscle stiffness and pain,  feeling sick.  This is not getting any better, it's getting worse. Takes all morning to slowly improve.  I wish I could do something to make these early morning symptoms go away.  Any suggestions?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Troch, I had the same thing for like a year. Huge bummer! Nausea was by far my worst symptom. The only thing that kind of helped me was Promethazine. It's an antihistamine and antiemetic. I took 25mg up to 3x per day (sometime I even took 4 though it's not recommended) Ginger tea is also very helpful for me when I am feeling that way. The good news is, it went away for me long before I got to 0. Hang in there!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi OliveKittty,

 

Thanks. It's getting worse: when I began my taper thirteen months ago, it was a couple of times a week around 10 am. I took tea and a banana and the nausea was gone. Later on it was every single morning and started earlier. Then it became waking up to it around 4 am. And lasted till after tea and more to eat with the banana. Then ginger tea was needed. And it did help.  Now it's every morning around 4 am and nothing will make it settle until I have had my warm lunch. Today is a really bad day. The nausea lifted only minutes ago. Again after I had eaten. I am underweight but can not gain any weight. ( IBS and Fibromyalgia restrict my diet).

I read somewhere carbohydrates and fat make nausea worse. You should eat more protein.  I can't see me having chicken at breakfast. But if it works, I 'ld do it.

I will have a look at the meds you mentioned. Hope it works.

At what point did your nausea go?  ( mgs).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ugh that's awful, I can totally relate. I lost about 20lbs and I was only 120 to start with. I could hardly eat for that year or so. It was with me from about 5mg-2mg. That's when I did the long 1.5 year hold at 2mg and it lifted sometime in that first year and did not come back even when I tapered the last 2mgs. Now I weigh 130!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, gives me hope.

 

Not much nausea this morning,  but now there's a sharp stomach pain.  I even feel it in my back. Hope it goes away soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

:smitten:I have wondered for some time now why I wake up in a full state of panic. I mean I have the most vivid dreams and most of the time they're great. I love to dream. Sometimes I have dreams that wake me up crying hysterically but not as much as.the good dreams but when I wake up, I am in attack mode. Sweating and asking why?? This post is very helpful and eye opening.

Although I don't wake up to an alarm. I can't work at this time but I wake up suddenly. Sometimes i pop up from my lying down position. I'll lay back down and start dreading the day ahead of me. Thank you so much for sharing!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Does anyone know if this morning anxiety disappears totally when you are fully-recovered or have the benzos damaged to you to an extent where you will always have it .. Even if you never had anxiety before??

 

If you didn't have it before benzo's, you won't after you heal.  It all goes away Angel, all of it, well except the memory of course.  But that memory loses it's power after awhile too, I don't have PTSD or any other labels from this experience, just profound gratitude to have learned a valuable lesson.

 

This has set my mind at ease more than anything. I wish I knew whether to reinstate and taper, or to just leave myself cold turkey after jumping Lorazepam at .25mg after 3 months use. The morning anxiety got me feeling like groundhog day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
What morning snacks do people try to keep by their beds? I'm really nauseous but I'm trying to do applesauce and a few bites of toast. Protein in tricky. I'm DF and a lot of nuts give me migraines.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

I know this has not been commented on since April, but I just have to chime in. I'm suffering with this so much right now.  My mornings are wild.  Can't eat, can't rest.  The only thing that helps is EFT tapping, but sometimes takes a half hour or more just to get it down to where I don't have to constantly twitch and hyperventilate.  Then I have to lay there with weak twitching limbs and keep telling myself that the burning acid feeling in my muscles is not going to hurt me and I have to accept it.  And if it's really bad, it spills over into the afternoon as well.  Horrible days. 

 

I have lots of food allergies, so it's very difficult to find protein to eat in the mornings.  It's such a nightmare.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm new and I want to find a way to deal with my anxiety. I have been prescribed benzos since the age of 14. I am 40 and just got a new job with the state and this will be a life-changer. But My issue is my doctor retired and the new one does not prescribe clonazepam. I had to find a way to get my meds I still take the same amount, 1 2mg tab 2xdaily. WHY CAN'T I GET THIS FROM MY DOCTOR. OH YEAH, I've been abused physically mentally and sexually, attacked, etc.. no excuses. but give me my meds and I can make it to work, I can work, be normal, travel home, have dinner, do my school work, prep for the next day, and be a productive member of society .. help MEEEE. also I have gotten pills that had been laced with synthetic opioids.. i need help...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
×
×
  • Create New...