What is it about Mondays

Haven't been to the post for a while, since I hadn't suffered an anxiety attack for a couple of weeks until today.  What is it about Mondays?

I have been on Xanax and my therapist advised that I continue taking it until February when we will start the process of weaning off.  However, there are some days especially Monday that even with the medication, the anxiety returns.  Could it be an hormonal thing? 

It seems to ocur at least once a month and then I go back to my usual self any suggestions on why this occurs.  I am stumped as the medication as been working very well for me so far.

Any suggestions advise, hormonal, types of food, what can this be and as any one had any simular situations.  I do notice though if I d not get enough sleep on a given night it occurs more.

Thanks for any advise suggestions.

Dolores55

Hey Dolores
I think mondays are awful too. Infact nearly all of my major panic attacks have happened on Mondays :( I think, for me, its subconscious ( i say that a lot) anticipatory anxiety. While i do bad on weekends, i tend to crash on mondays. I dunno, maybe its the fear of just moving forward? The fear of going to work and going through another week of something i don't want too, or think i don't want to... I think for a lot of people, even those that don't have anything mental going on, mondays seem like the worst day of the week.

Come to think of it, for me a little has to do with the zone I'm in mentally over the weekends. I usually have a lot of ups and downs and am just trying to get by. Once monday rolls around, i face a new battle and thats the week a head. It can be overwhelming for me.

Anyways, not really much here on advice, but i too notice that mondays are hard :(

about the medication stuff. I'm on benzos too, and my anxiety breaks through. I think on most days it holds me, but my anxiety and even panic breaks through. So i think that is normal, and I too am sooooooo effected by the lack of sleep. Soooo effected. Its the worst thing for me, and unfortunately the last few nights (since thursday) have been cut short. Lots of waking in the middle of the night, lots of tossing and turn, and then hitting a point of not being able to go to back sleep so i just get up. This is usually around 6 or 7 AM when i get out of bed, but i usually sleep till 8 and the alarm wakes me up. Now, or for the past few days, i've been awake since 4:30 or 5 and my anxiety cant take the tossing and turning anymore. At that point i get up.

What this means for me is that I know that i'm more vulnerable today and that i will have some ups and downs. So my advice, especially if this keeps happening to you on mondays is (and this is note to self as well):
1. Add something to your monday that will make you feel good. So, if you work and you take your lunch in or eat the same lunch most of the time, maybe treat yourself on mondays.
2. Try and make mondays have a special part to them, and try and see if you can focus on that special part. (I get to see so and so at work today so i can tell them all about something that happened over the weekend or whatever)... I dunno, maybe these are bad.
3. If you don't work then plan on doing something that makes you feel good. You maybe anticipating a bad day ( and not consciously as you mentioned and are questioning why this maybe happening) So on sunday evening, even if you are feeling great, make a game plan for mondays. It doesn't have to be anything big, it just needs to be something that makes YOU feel good. That i think is the key.
4. Sleep is HUGE, at least for me. So i know that sleep can effect anxiety. So try and really get that good night sleep. Maybe add something at night like some chamomile tea or something. I dunno if that would help but it might.
5. And if this happens close to your "moon" as they say in yoga, then yes I would definitely say that it can be hormonal that is adding to the equation... *Just a side note here: When i was in an outpatient program there were a few women there that had issues right around that time, and it is known to effect ones mood, but really I am the last to give any womanly advice from though :). heh


So, here's what maybe is happening. You are on your cycle so you mood and other chemical balances shift. With this there is some anticipatory anxiety about monday or the upcoming week. The combination of the two is effecting your sleep. All three of these put together potentially make your mondays or your monday once a month bad. And lastly, this is causing the break through in your benzo.

So again, totally common for break through anxiety, even on a dose of benzos that hold you most of the time. And yeah, if this keeps happing, maybe expect it, and make a plan the night before.. That may really help.

Others might suggest taking more of the benzo just on that night, or if you wake up early to take a little bit to fall back a sleep But this can only be done with the your doctors advice. *Please never take* more than your doctor has instructed. And give he/or she a call, or mention this in therapy if you go.

To me, i want to start my week feeling good. I feel like if i start on the wrong foot, it lingers and its a bit harder to get back into the groove.

Thanks for posting.

hope this helps, take care!
Dan

Hi All, Thanks for the great advise, what is Lyn's hot milk special Danaxiety was talking about?  I'd like to give it a try.  Firstly, let me tell all that I like my job and that does not seem to be the issue here.  In fact, when I don't go to work it seems that the my anxiety gets worse.  I work in a call center and don't have time to think about this consciously or subconsciously.

I have been told that even though it has been two years since my mother died by BFF as my daughter would say, this is when the anxiety started, being the oldest of four siblings two sisters and a brother, I don't have a sounding board anymore, in fact, I have become the sounding board, especially when it comes to my two sisters who are as different as night and day yet both exactly alike.

Just to let you know, I saw and or spoke to my mother everyday, and had to watch her waste away the last six weeks of her life to stomach cancer.  A woman from Italy, who was a fantastic cook, 5' tall and weighed 200 plus pounds, and may I add was in remission from the disease for over 13 years.  Today over 2 years after her death I cry almost everyday. I miss her so.  Things are not the same and I am told will never be the same.  Very hard on myself, as I feel, I should have gotten a grip on this. However, my therapist tells me not to be so hard on myself it takes some people longer to get over things and through the grieving process.

Also, the death of a loved one is such an adjustment and change, and I do not do change as well as when I was younger.    Spending a lot of time living in the past, not looking towards the future.  It seems my spark is gone sometimes, not always, but sometimes, better than I was at the beginning according to my sixteen year old and husband.  I'm lucky, I have a nice daughter, a good husband that I have known for over 30 years.   And I ask myself why, why am I having these stupid attacks....Can't figure it out.  My head says one thing and my heart tells me another.  Well thanks all for letting me vent, you guys are the best.

Dolores55