Morning anxiety

Mornings always seem to be the hardest for me even after a good sleep. I wake up with dread and fear, perhaps because of facing the day, husband leaving for work and being alone to care for the kids. My stomach and muscles knot up, my throat closes, I feel shakey and out of control. What a way to start the day!! The symptoms immediately start the fear of panic cycle. The panic may fade, but the symptoms and edginess remain for hours, sometimes all day. My go-to is to "sleep it off," taking naps whenever I can. Anyone else suffer worse upon waking? I tried breathing, any other tips?

Hi EM.,

Yep, the Cortisol is a stress hormone, and like adrenaline, can cause residual symptoms like you described. Cortisol helps us to get up and go after sleeping all night, so it is by nature, stimulating. Unfortunately, it is often to much for the anxiety sufferer!

Exercise can help to burn off this effect. Of course when you are feeling awful, it can feel impossible to get going with any activity.

Therefore, if you can try to get in a calm state with some of the coping skills I will post below...and then use your exercise as a secondary defense against the anxiety...I am pretty sure you will see it lessening in time.:)

Self Help sites with breathing/relaxation exercises instructions

Panic attack relief exercises:

 

http://www.healthcentral.com/anxiety/c/73076/34334/breathing-lessons/

http://www.healthyplace.com/

http://www.stress-relief-exercises.com/

http://www.ehow.com/video_4405003_breathing-exercises-panic-attacks.html

http://www.psybersquare.com/anxiety/panic_relax_I

 


Best wishes and keep posting!

S.C.

I was just about to post about this same issue, ElleMM, and the first thing I read is yours! I am beside myself lately with the morning anxiety. I too have rapid heartbeat, shakiness upon waking but the adrenaline rush (butterflies feeling) that constantly sweeps over me continues until I get up, move around, take my meds (which don't always help) then subsides for a short while only to return on an off during the day. And being a person who suffers from health anxiety only makes it worse...I've determined in the past few days alone that the edginess is a result of either thyroid or Lyme Disease and God forbid I have a neck pain or trouble with bowel movements....that sets me off for the day thinking it's Colon Cancer or Lung Cancer! It just seems endless. I should be looking forward to my two weeks vacation with the family coming up this weekend and I almost hate to go...the weather for the week doesn't look promising and I'd be driving up 3 hours by myself the first day because the rest of the family all has "plans" for Saturday night which would leave me, at 67, to unpack everything, do all the shopping, blah blah. But when I'm plagued with this constant shakiness and adrenaline rush pouring over and through me all the time, it makes all the normal or even fun tasks seem so much more difficult. I hate anxiety.

Oh that butterflies feeling is so unnerving! I dread it every morning. I have IBS as well so it doesn't help. It just starts the day off on such a negative note. Does anyone else find it hard to eat for a while until their body/stomach relaxes? I've definitely lost weight since this episode of anxiety started due to this and loss of appetite.

I've also had health anxiety in the past. Over the course of 10 years, I've seen numerous docs and specialists for a random assortment of ailments. Nothing concerning, but got a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. At this point, I find comfort in believing that I'd be extremely ill if I was dying from a disease. I think my search for medical answers was in part because I didn't want to accept that anxiety was the cause of the symptoms.