View Full Version : Why mornings are SO bad?
I can't put up with this any longer, every morning the same: I wake up at 4 with a knot in my stomach, I can't stay still in bed, I feel like throwing up and kneel in front of the toilet but nothing comes out. I normally take 5mg Diazepam but it doesn't seem to be doing much. I don't feel like doing anything and cannot eat.
And then after 2 or 3 in the afternoon it's like I become my old self: the anxiety gives me a bit of room, I force myself to go out for a walk, I am able to listen to a relaxation CD and actually relax, I can eat something and sometimes I can even pretend to be happy with my partner... but the next morning it all starts again!!! Why???? :weep:
Mornings are so hard for me too. I wake at 5am and bam the anxiety is there, like it has been waiting to get me. It takes me all day to feel somewhere near normal, whatever that is. I dread going to sleep because I know what the next day is going to bring me. I hate this anxiety, I hate feeling like crap but I try to carry on as normal, which is a daily struggle. I wish I knew why also because I just want to feel somewhere near normal. I have got through this before so all I can say is hang in there, like me. Try to keep busy, sometimes it helps me. Take care.
Thank you for your reply Lisa. Sometimes it's good to know I am not the only one experiencing this, even though I wouldn't wish this to anybody else.
I am on Citalopram 20mg but only on day 5 and I wonder if it's actually making me worse before making me better. Also, I know Citalopram is also helping Anxiety, but I thought it was mainly indicated to treat Depression, which is not really my main problem right now.
I have an appointment with a psychiatrist tomorrow, so I guess I will have to discuss things with him.
Hi there!
I absoloutely hate mornings too. I wake every day with the same knot in my stomach and feelings of foreboding about the day ahead. It is a really common problem for people who have anxiety and panic attacks. If you type "mornings" into the search box at the top of the page you will find loads of threads about this. You may feel better just reading about how many other people suffer the same as you do and I think you may find some suggestions from people on how they deal with it.
Judy.x
I felt just like that for the first week of taking citalopram, mornings were absolutely awful, but after that I've been feeling much better (apart from this morning I don't feel well because I had a couple of glasses of wine last night!). I've been taking it for about three weeks now and usually I can lie in bed quite happily until about half 7 when the kids get me up. So hang in there, it will pass!!
I felt just like that for the first week of taking citalopram, mornings were absolutely awful, but after that I've been feeling much better (apart from this morning I don't feel well because I had a couple of glasses of wine last night!). I've been taking it for about three weeks now and usually I can lie in bed quite happily until about half 7 when the kids get me up. So hang in there, it will pass!!
Thank you Ginger! That surely gives me some hope!!!
It is now 10am and after 6 hours I can finally feel the anxiety lifting off just a little...
As someone's already said t'is a common problem, but more physical than psychological. At around 4am your body starts waking you by injecting andrenaline (IIRC though it may be cortisol) into your system, and if your already stressed beforehand you may end up with excessive levels present.
Deep breathing will reduce such levels, in for three and breath out for twelve to reduce the oxygen levels in your upper lungs that the adrenaline needs to function. Keep it up for about five minutes and think only about breathing, if anything else interrupts give it the proverbial boot.
Black tea, oddly, is believed to help with cortisol (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol) so why not try setting your alarm to wake you a little early say 0330 before the panic starts and grab a cup of black tea, go back to bed and start deep breathing before the panic normally arrives.
I'd be eager to know if it works.
As someone's already said t'is a common problem, but more physical than psychological. At around 4am your body starts waking you by injecting andrenaline (IIRC though it may be cortisol) into your system, and if your already stressed beforehand you may end up with excessive levels present.
Deep breathing will reduce such levels, in for three and breath out for twelve to reduce the oxygen levels in your upper lungs that the adrenaline needs to function. Keep it up for about five minutes and think only about breathing, if anything else interrupts give it the proverbial boot.
Black tea, oddly, is believed to help with cortisol (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol) so why not try setting your alarm to wake you a little early say 0330 before the panic starts and grab a cup of black tea, go back to bed and start deep breathing before the panic normally arrives.
I'd be eager to know if it works.
Thank you for the explanation about the raised levels of adrenalin. In fact I had already found this elsewhere online and it does seem to make sense. I will definitely try the Deep Breathing technique, however I don't know if I want to get up to have a tea at 3.30 as I am afraid that might actually disrupt my sleeping routine even more. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me.
Hi newbie76, I know how you feel, been feeling the same, i have been taking sertraline 50mg for 8 days now and mornings are still awful but as the days go on i feel a bit better earlier each day, and i find that if i get up and shower straight away i feel alot better. xx
I am struggling with the mornings too, it is quite comforting to know others feel it too...sometimes I just think I cant do it anymore...and so relate to people saying that you kind of dread waking cos you know it will just be there when you wake and why??? Who knows?? It just happens. I guess some people think you are waiting for it but I know you dont!!! I take mirtazipine which makes me sleep well and I wonder if for me it is what is making the mornings feel like they do...this I am going to monitor and see what happens. Anyhow you are not the only one, so hope this makes you feel better knowing that like it has done me.
Jo.xx
Mornings have always been the worse time for me too .I have practised the deep breathing technique for a long time now .As soon as I wake up I start to do this for about ten times and it stops the anx .It does take plenty of practice but its really the best thing ive tried .Once you feel relaxed and get up &.have a cup of tea you feel fine .:D Sue x
relate to people saying that you kind of dread waking cos you know it will just be there when you wake and why??? Who knows?? It just happens.
You "know" it will be there because you "expect" it to be there and because you "expect" it to be there, it IS there.
Are you in a stressful job that you find a chore?
Are you stuck indoors too afraid to go out?
Do you feel palpitations and panicky symptoms all day?
Do you look forward to each day or dread them?
All reasons why mornings are so bad because no matter which one applies on the list above, they ALL cause us to feel anxious when we wake because we fear getting through each day because we know it's going to be a struggle.
If every day was a good ay full of enjoyable events making you feel completely relaxed, every morning you'd look forward to getting up and not even think about being afraid of each day.
If you go to bed dreading the next day, your mind will be anxious while you sleep causing you to have a restless night also making you feel tired. As soon as you wake, your subconscious mind reminds you that you've got another day full of anxiety to get through which triggers all the anxious symptoms before you get up.
As soon as you wake, get up. Don't lay there because the longer you lay there the more anxious you'll feel.
Sometimes I also feel that anxiety loves attention because the more attention it gets, the more it can make us feel anxious. Sometimes I think techniques and meds make us focus on our anxiety so we "expect" it to always be there to fight against. Anxious feelings are fueled by anxious thoughts. They Love attention to be given to them.
I often feel the best way to tackle anxiety is to try to ignore it and learn to say "so what" to it because then it really does go away.
Remember, if you go to bed expecting to feel anxious in the morning because you fear getting through each day then you Always will wake feelin anxious because your fear creates your anxious symptoms.
Instead, think about what you need or can change to create days to look forward to and you then won't go to bed thinking about waking feeling anxious.:hugs:
[QUOTE=Bill;653207]
As soon as you wake, get up. Don't lay there because the longer you lay there the more anxious you'll feel.
Sometimes I also feel that anxiety loves attention because the more attention it gets, the more it can make us feel anxious. Sometimes I think techniques and meds make us focus on our anxiety so we "expect" it to always be there to fight against.
I often feel the best way to tackle anxiety is to try to ignore it and learn to say "so what" to it because then it really does go away.
Hi Bill, the quotes that I have copied apply more to me and are SO true!
Last night my partner said: "tomorrow morning, whatever time you wake up, just get out of bed and go out in the park for a walk or gentle run, don't just lay in bed". So today I did it!!! At 5.30 I was running in the park, absolutely nobody else around. It was really hard to push myself to do that, and I know that this is not the "REAL" me. The real me would be in bed until it's time to go to work! But it was a step in the right direction.
I stayed out maybe 20 minutes then came home and took a shower and now I am here and even though the anxiety is not COMPLETELY gone, it is more of an underlying feeling rather than an overwhelming one like it has been for the past 3 weeks.
Also, who knows, maybe because of the run tonight I will be so tired that tomorrow I won't wake up so early; and if I do, I'll run some more!
I urge who feels this way to try it as I didn't want to do it, but I have to admit it really does work!
like one of the posts says - its because stress hormones are present to literally get us going - with no anxiety/stress hormones present - we would not get out of bed! its just because we are sensitized that we feel it much more x
that is why we feel better as the day does on and the body starts preparing to wind down x
Just a couple of thoughts based on what you've said Newbie.
Exercise is certainly good against anxiety because I always think it burns off excess adrenalin, distracts you from worries and so as a result helps to relax you. Tiring yourself out also makes you sleep better. Be interesting to see how you feel in the morning!
The other thought you've made me think of is how a day in our lives is like running a race. The night before, we go to bed thinking about the race we'll have to run in the morning so we prepare our minds in anticipation. In the morning we wake feeling anxious because immediately we're aware of the race to begin.
An athlete would then start running down the track attempting to focus on only the finishing line. He tries to ignore the athletes running with him and the crowd cheering as he passes them. All he thinks of is getting to that finishing line so he can collapse and relax.
In the same way, we set off to work on our race but we get distracted by our environment and the crowds around us which trigger our anxiety but if we could run our race as an athlete by concentrating only on what we're doing whilst ignoring our feelings and the crowds around us, we keep focused on our race and before we know it the finishing line turns up without suffering any anxiety or panics because we've trained our minds on only running our race regardless of everything going on inside us and around us that try to push us off course. An athlete calls it tunnel vision and it helps them to focus on winning their race because all they think of is their lane in front of them, their technique and each step they need to run without anything else deflecting them off their course.
It's what I try to do in shops. Think about what I need and where I need to go without thinking about how I might be feeling or the crowds around me. If I start feeling anxious, I always look for something to take my mind off my feelings and they always then go away.
As Joannap says, we all need a little stress to get the adrenalin pumping because it's a natural chemical that helps us to cope but sometimes we forget just that - that feeling anxiety symptoms when we feel worried or stressed IS perfectly normal. We only make it worse by getting frightened by them because we love to worry. If we treated them like sneezing, we'd forget all about them just as we forget about a sneeze!:hugs:
Hi there Newbie76,
I am sorry to here of your terrible mornings but glad to hear of all the responses you have recieved. I myself am on day 19 with 20mg. My mornings have been hell. Every negative thought I can imagine is in my mind. The pain in my chest is the worse you can imagine. From what I'm gathering this is still the early side effects ( I hope) So far I don't seem to have any of the side effects subsiding, hopefully soon.
Keep us in the loop and let us know how your making out.
Hang in there,
Ronster
Hi all,
Well this morning I woke up once again at the dreaded 4.30! But I just closed my eyes again and although it wasn't a peaceful sleep, I managed to stay in bed until 6am.
By then it was too late to go out for exercise so today I am just going straight to work.
I don't feel 100% and the anxiety is there, but it does allow me to function, like writing on here for example, which is something a week ago I wouldn't be bothered doing early morning when anxiety is at its worse.
So judging from yesterday and today, I want to believe that I am on my road to recovery. It's Day 12 of Escitalopram so I know things are bound to improve anyway and just trying to keep upbeat and optimistic.
Oneofus,
Thanks for that tip. I'm going to try it. I really struggle with mornings sometimes.
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