Understanding Morning Anxiety

[[AN...]]

Hello again.  Yesterday must have been a fluke, because I woke up feeling (pretty) well this morning.  I won't be surprised if that happens again, though.  I have cut meds other than benzos and had terrible problems with morning anxiety.

 

While I'm here, check this one out:  my husband chugged my titration milk this morning!  He says it was an accident and because of the circumstances I believe him.  What a doof!  Needless to say, he slept all afternoon.

 

Thanks for the info!

[[An...]]

Ha ha! Poor hubby!

[[AN...]]

Whoa!  That akathisia anxiety has been awful.  Today my psych doc gave me cogentin to take care of that problem.  I am a lot calmer now, and don't have the constant need to pace.  Both Cogentin and lorazepam are given for problems like that, so it's no wonder I'm having this problem, now.  (Cogentin is not a benzo, it is an anticholinergic drug.)

[[te...]]

Hi ANewOne,

I could google this, but would rather get your take on it, of that's okay. What is 'akathisia anxiety'? I have morning adrenaline surges that make it so very hard to want to get out of bed. Thanks for the posts! T2

[[AN...]]

Hi, teacher2

 

Akathisia is a kind of frustrated,anxious torturous unrest in which you have to get up and move around...in my case, I would sit down for a moment, then get up and pace the house, then brush my hair, then sit down for a moment, and then start the cycle all over again.  For me it was like being in prison and being tortured.  I could walk for blocks and still felt terrible.  It can be a rebound effect when tapering off benzos and some other drugs.  When I developed it, I mistook it for just plain anxiety.  I started taking diphenhydramine (Benadryl) for it, but later learned that it was a distinct syndrome and that the diphehydramine was helping with it not as another "downer" but rather as an anticholinergic drug, which has action against akathisia.  My psych doc prescribed a similar drug called benztropine (Cogentin) a few days ago, and that has worked like magic!  Not only is the pacing and deep frustration gone, but I am just generally calmer  (Most of my anxiety probably came from akathisia.)Starting to taper off lorazepam made the akathisia worse.  Now with the Cogentin, I am fairly calm most of the time.  If you feel a need to move constantly and have inner psychological "pain," you might want to find out about this.  I'm having terrible rebound insomnia from my taper, but not much anxiety is there (at least not yet).  I've been through a few other med withdrawals that were hell and included akathisia as a symptom.  I wish that I had known about Cogentin then! 

 

If you're taking an antipsychotic such as Thorazine, Stelazine, Haldol and other neuroleptics, you might want to check this out, because Cogentin treats side effects from those drugs--side effects that might get worse while coming off benzos.  Akathisia is one of these.  It's so nice to be able to sit down and drink my tea, rather than staring at it and pacing!

 

Best luck to you in your benzo journey.

  ANewOne

[[te...]]

Hi ANO,

Thanks for the information about akathisia. Appreciate your indepthness ....T2

[[AN...]]

Now that I started the Cogentin, most of my morning anxiety is gone.  It must have been mainly connected with the akathisia.  I'm not sleeping very well, but at least I'm calm.  Trouble is, I'm having some rather serious side effects from the Cogentin so I have to cut that down.  Since I have only been on my present dose for 4 or 5 days, that shouldn't be too hard to do.  Nothing like the lorazepam, anyway!

 

Good health to all of you,

ANewOne

[[Ho...]]

I've been off of Clonazepam now for about 3 weeks. The anxiety has been with me since stopping but at a lesser degree to what I have been experiencing. I'm not sleeping well, waking about 3 to 4 am and then my mind races and the anxiety kicks in. It's really bad today.  Any suggestions anyone? It's not helped I suppose because I've started a new job this week and am having to travel an hour each way for work. I'm beginning to wonder if I should start anti depressants and if so, what has been other peoples experiences with anti d's and anxiety?  Any replies gratefully received, thank you.

[[jo...]]

Yes, I have read that adrenaline levels soar during sleep for some reason...I have woke up with a racing heart many many times and it was usually during a dream. But I still hate the sound of the alarm clock.

I dread waking up. The intense anxiety that centers in my stomach and is painful is there immediatly upon waking and at times it wakes me up. It is constant and at the same time will come in very intense waves, making me short of breath, heart palps, shakes, tremors and sound sensitive. The waves feel like being on a rollar coaster when it dips and your stomach feels like it is coming up in a rush. if I get up too fast, move too much, bend over, it makes it worse. I knew about the adrenaline, but didn't know it soars during the night. That makes sense, even after a nap I wake up with it.

 

Some days it lasts all day, sometimes up to 7 hours after waking, sometimes less. Always seems to be right there just waiting to pop out.

 

Feel like this will never end.

Josephine

[[An...]]

Yes, I have read that adrenaline levels soar during sleep for some reason...I have woke up with a racing heart many many times and it was usually during a dream. But I still hate the sound of the alarm clock.

I dread waking up. The intense anxiety that centers in my stomach and is painful is there immediatly upon waking and at times it wakes me up. It is constant and at the same time will come in very intense waves, making me short of breath, heart palps, shakes, tremors and sound sensitive. The waves feel like being on a rollar coaster when it dips and your stomach feels like it is coming up in a rush. if I get up too fast, move too much, bend over, it makes it worse. I knew about the adrenaline, but didn't know it soars during the night. That makes sense, even after a nap I wake up with it.

 

Some days it lasts all day, sometimes up to 7 hours after waking, sometimes less. Always seems to be right there just waiting to pop out.

 

Feel like this will never end.

Josephine

 

Yes I still get it too quite badly.  I am finding that it is worse if I focus on it (it is hard not to but ..), just get up, make a cup of tea and eat something (important), and not make too big a deal of it otherwise it ruins my day.  I am trying this new "positive" tact now!  See my thread under Accentuate the Positive.

 

It is awful though ... I have been suffering since the morning too but have forced myself to do nice stuff and it has helped.

 

Angel

 

[[jo...]]

Yes, I have read that adrenaline levels soar during sleep for some reason...I have woke up with a racing heart many many times and it was usually during a dream. But I still hate the sound of the alarm clock.

I dread waking up. The intense anxiety that centers in my stomach and is painful is there immediatly upon waking and at times it wakes me up. It is constant and at the same time will come in very intense waves, making me short of breath, heart palps, shakes, tremors and sound sensitive. The waves feel like being on a rollar coaster when it dips and your stomach feels like it is coming up in a rush. if I get up too fast, move too much, bend over, it makes it worse. I knew about the adrenaline, but didn't know it soars during the night. That makes sense, even after a nap I wake up with it.

 

Some days it lasts all day, sometimes up to 7 hours after waking, sometimes less. Always seems to be right there just waiting to pop out.

 

Feel like this will never end.

Josephine

 

Yes I still get it too quite badly.  I am finding that it is worse if I focus on it (it is hard not to but ..), just get up, make a cup of tea and eat something (important), and not make too big a deal of it otherwise it ruins my day.  I am trying this new "positive" tact now!  See my thread under Accentuate the Positive.

 

It is awful though ... I have been suffering since the morning too but have forced myself to do nice stuff and it has helped.

 

Angel

Reading I find helps. Taking my mind off of it. So I spend a lot of time reading, sometimes all day if I have no errands to run. The gym helps too. Takes it down a few notches.

[[jo...]]

I have been researching this and have found that Gaba receptors, increase in adrenaline and other factors cause this anxiety. A very good article on this that is easy to uns=derstand is here. http://www.lifehealthsolutions.com/calm/pdf/benzooverview.pdf

 

Josephine

[[jo...]]

Don't go back to sleep in a morning if you are feeling anxious. You will just feel worse when you wake up again.

Trying to sleep the anxiety off just shunts it further into the day.

[[ha...]]

Agree journey - it sometimes even shunts it into sleep.

[[jo...]]

Taking naps increases it for me. Any time I sleep I wake up with it worse than it was when I went to sleep

[[ch...]]

I posted something on the insomnia discussion board earlier today regarding poor sleep and morning coping! Although this is touching base a lot with anxiety, I've also found it really really helpful for getting energy levels up or motivation after a rough sleep and waking up feeling poorly in general. Thankyou very much!

[[Iw...]]

ok I see that the blood sugar drops while im asleep and adrenaline goes up during sleep. For some reason i cant figure this one out. I wake up and feel ok i do feel a bit sweaty at times, and i do wake up a couple times in the morning and go right back to sleep for another hour or so. When i do wake up i eat my breakfast, thats the first thing i do. Then from breakfast to lunch i still feel that morning anxiety and adrenaline. Then is when i start to feel a bit nauseated, and i have anxiety. Get some mental confusion and almost sent in to a panic attack if i dont eat my LUNCH in time or basically just a couple hours after my breakfast?? i dont understand it at all. its like even if im sort of full i have to eat my lunch  basically 2 hours after i eat breakfast even if im feeling nauseated just to avoid going thru a panic attack?? why is that??

[[...]]

thanks for being there buddies

[[te...]]

Someone posted concerning not going back to sleep if you awaken with anxiety. This is So very true! I did that today. And have felt horrible all day long and my bp has been high all day as well. Thanks for the info!..............T2

[[ve...]]

The posts for establishing a positive morning schedule with snacks, affirmations and positive ritual are great!!!!  Just what I need.  I will be following that to reprogram myself.

 

I just want to add that morning cortisol spikes, forming during the night or upon awakening can be a physiological part of the picture. They have created nighttime insomnia and morning terror for me over recent years. I recently started taking Seriphos (phosphorylated serine) to regulate my cortisol production, which is high a night and extremely high upon awakening.  I have used it for a week, and it is definitely helping.  I am getting progressively better each day.

 

For me, the Seriphos plus snacks could be a big part of the picture.  The positive reprogramming should take care of the rest.

[[...]]

jessie is that an item from the health food store?  thanks for the info

[[jo...]]

Someone posted concerning not going back to sleep if you awaken with anxiety. This is So very true! I did that today. And have felt horrible all day long and my bp has been high all day as well. Thanks for the info!..............T2

I have terrible morning anxiety and it takes at least three hours for it to settle before I can do anything. Moving makes it worse, as well as sound, talking. I wake up with it and when I try to ignore it and go back to sleep it makes it worse. Same if I take a nap, I wake up in a terrible state.

Not sure what to do about this.

[[Ch...]]

Pamster,

 

Love this!  Thank you for sharing it.

 

Challis

[[te...]]

Hi Joaskren!

I, too have this adrenaline surge about 3 to 4 hours each and every day It's particularly bad during the weekdays as I have to get up at 5:30 to drive to work. Have not found a solution yet. Am so relieved when it wears off and then the joint pain begins. You're already benzo free aren't you? I'm still tapering   You're just like me--going back to bed does not help and those toxic naps Keeping the Faith..........T2

[[Pa...]]

Pamster,

 

Love this!  Thank you for sharing it.

 

Challis

 

Hi Challis,

 

I think it was one of our former admins, Theresa2 who brought this article to my attention, she was kind enough to find it, I just stickied it. 

 

Pam