Experiencing daily panic attacks from the moment I wake up.

[Cs131193]

I'm experiencing panic attacks daily from the minute I wake up. It's hard to cope with because I've got 2 young children to look after and a job to hold down. The doctor has put me on 50mg sertraline which is giving me awful side effects (stomach ache, nausea and dizziness), I'm just waiting for them to kick in fully. She advised me that it's stress related because I have a lot going on at the moment (lost my grandfather and auntie just before Christmas, father has just recovered from a major operation after having cancer, father-in-law has just been diagnosed with cancer, partner has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and something major happened at work).I'm just tired of living in constant panic and worrying about the next panic attack, the thought of going somewhere or doing something makes me feel worse but I know I can't avoid things because then I'm letting the panic win. Any tips on how I can keep the panic attacks at bay or just cope with them better?

Thanks!

[FindingTheAnswers]

This is definitely a time where life is ganging up on you. You've got way more than enough to be stressed over. I know this doesn't answer your question, but I want to ask if you're having bad or unpleasant dreams. Do you ever wake up with what I call a 'Dream Hangover.' You may not remember your dreams, but you know that there was something upsetting about them. And it causes the anxiety to start as soon as you wake up. Or even before you're awake. All the stress, worries, concerns, fears that come from all you're dealing with right now (and again, you're obviously on overload) are in your head and invading your dreams? If it is or part of it is bad dreams, there's an Rx called Prazosin that has helped me a lot. It's actually a blood pressure Rx that's prescribed off-label for bad dreams/nightmare.

You may be told that "God only gives us what we can handle.' This was not help for me l at all. Actually made me feel worse.

We all have hard times in life. But as I said before, sometimes life gangs up on us. I understand the Hell you're going thru right now.

Good thoughts and prayers to you.

[Cs131193 in reply to FindingTheAnswers]

Thank you for your reply.No I haven't been having any unpleasant dreams that I can remember.

I'm just instantly panicking from the moment I wake up, even just thinking about looking after the kids makes me panic in case I have a panic attack when I'm with them.

Thank you for your kind words.

[Peacely]

I'm sorry your going through so much. Our bodies are highest in cortisol in the morning naturally so waking up with some anxiety in light of what you may have to face each day I would think that would be expected so don't be so hard on yourself in the fact that you're waking up this way. I used to wake up with anxiety this intense and in addition to falling asleep kind of panicking as well the meditation practices before bed and immediately when you wake up help calm the body and kick in its non-flight or flight nervous system which is the parasympathetic nervous system. so listen to YouTube meditation before you go to sleep if you need that and then when you wake up immediately just sit up take a few deep breaths and begin a meditation for about 10 minutes or more if you have time and what this does is it prevents our brains from starting to think about the panic attacks and everything we have going on including the fear of panic attacks it takes practice to get better and better at it but you'll notice more and more or less anxiety as you make meditation a part of your daily life. So love never worked for me that's the first thing they wanted to put me on to I take a small dose of Buspar and that helped my anxiety more than Zoloft. Also when you do anything in the morning but began to think about your panic attacks you'll use your prefrontal cortex part of your brain instead of your flight or fight part of your brain which is your amygdala and your prefrontal cortex part of your brain is your task part of your brain so even if you got up to read,exercise, clean, cook sing, throw a ball for a dog, play with the kids,and really focus on it, you would help prevent the panic from setting in because this again uses a different part of the brain and the brain cannot physically do both, it has to choose panic or functional..one will over ride the other, you'll see, it works! It takes overcoming the panic through the task you choose a couple of times before you will get used to it and trust that it works. I bounced in and out of it before I really got the hang of it.

[Cs131193 in reply to Peacely]

Thank you, that actually makes a lot of sense. I will try the meditation method too. Also how were the initial side effects of the medication for you?

[Peacely in reply to Cs131193]

If you take more than needed like too high a dose to start you get a headache and get sleepy but nothing else that I've experienced so I started on a low dose 2.5 mg to 5 a day and broke the pill in half and took it when I was having anxiety and noticed a big difference in how I managed through the panic I also is a little bit more hungry than usual but I'm a skinny girl so I appreciate it the extra encouragement with eating and I felt good when I was eating because one of my symptoms with panic attack is I get so nauseous I can't even eat and I gag and so when I'm eating I know that I'm calm and so that was reassuring too. I love my Buspar..it literally saved my life when I first started having panic attacks because they were so overwhelming and I didn't understand what was happening in my head and in my body that I honestly thought I was dying. I know now what is happening and I truly wish I could heal completely in recover but apparently this is just my body's way of responding to the world at this time and I just have to continue to try and improve it and navigate through my body's response and listen to it and make lifestyle changes that allow for me to feel the way I do about life and work within the realms of what I can handle.

[LifeIsThePitts]

youtu.be/TMWFP4VF8no(Not working as expected?)

I know your time constraints are many right now. But I added a Link to my favorite anxiety teacher Dennis Simsek on YouTube. Its 18 mins long and if you search "the anxiety Guy Morning anxiety" you'll get a whole host of additional video suggestions to follow up with if you resonate with his tone and message.

I too wake up every day with dread and feel like burying myself under the symbolic and literal blanket of anxiety and depression. I would prefer to stay in bed, it and excessive sleep represents my safe escape. Although dysfunctional, it's been my #1 lifelong coping mechanism. 30+ years of Depression and Anxiety are exhausting. Learning WHY I do this to myself is a lesson I'm still defining. But I definitely feel your pain and I hope you can find a moment to listen to the podcast....in the car on a commute, on the 🚽 away from everyone, on a break at work...I go back to relisten to his Inner child content as my ego and I have butted heads FOREVER...until I named her, Bertha, and embraced her instead of fighting her. Life in my head has slowly become less noisy and combative.