Morning Anxiety

[kama24]

I have been waking up each morning with overwhelming "fear" in the pit of my stomach. I use my CBT thought training to attempt control. It has not helped. I've been like this for a year now. I used to shake along with it but that seems to have lessened. I'm also having a lot of issues with consuming thoughts. Thoughts of death plaque me daily. Again CBT thinking in an effort to control them. I find that with age these thoughts have over taken my life. I realize I am wasting valuable time worrying about something I cannot control. I just wondered if anyone else deals with this.

[EleanorRose]

I have seen quite a few similar posts on various forums recently about morning anxiety. Seems to be a common problem in anxiety that mornings are the worst time of day. I too suffer from morning anxiety and also with thoughts of death. I have quite bad health anxiety (coupled with a huge fear of doctors - not a great combination!) and my anxieties related to this make it hard to get up some mornings.

I do find if I can get up, get dressed and get on with the day - battling through the anxiety- I do start to feel better. Determined not to let it beat me.

If CBT isn’t working for you, perhaps you need to find a different form of talking therapy. You could also try mindfulness or other relaxation techniques.

[Beevee in reply to EleanorRose]

...or, you could stop trying to control it and see what happens. You will probably find that your attempts to control is the main reason for keeping you stuck in the anxiety cycle. The anxious thoughts and feelings you are experiencing is just negative energy that wants to be released but can’t if you keep trying to control it through avoidance, suppression, deliberate distraction, fighting or any other method or technique to stop yourself feeling the way you feel. This is why doing nothing about the symptoms and learning to lose all respect for those pesky thoughts, no matter how much they scream for attention, will give your minds and bodies the space they need to fix themselves as nature intends. If you learn to accept/allow and let anxiety do its worst and not resist in anyway, the symptoms will fade away. Time then becomes the great healer, in the exact same way the body heals itself following an injury. The only difference is that anxiety sufferers literally pick and prod at the “injury” every waking hour, constantly searching for answers as to why they are not getting better whilst trying to avoid the pain.

[Jeff1943 in reply to Beevee]

Excellent post, Beevee, this is all anybody needs to know about recovering from anxiety summed up in 7 sentences.

[Djinnx_Trublood in reply to Beevee]

Completely agree. Therapist advise the best to do is nothing. It may sound silly, but anxiety is just the rush of adrenaline, your mind in perpetual state of alert (fight or flight response) and a tired mind. The best thing you can do is to know that anxiety is not an illness. It’s a symptom. Accept the feeling, face it, challenge it and keep trying to live your life as normally as you can. The more you get involved in your regular and daily routine, the more activities you complete to distract your mind and the more social life you have, it’ll make it go away. Trust me, I know is not easy to even try to live your life like you regularly do, but that’s the key. Anxiety wants to keep you trapped, numb, away from that life you had once. Don’t let it happen. You’re powerful and you have power over it. Good luck my dear. Remember, YOU ARENT ALONE!

[kama24 in reply to EleanorRose]

I too have health anxiety. When I did the CBT course we touched on it and how to "adjust" our thinking. I'm afraid it didn't help me. Doctor's visits are a trial for me as well. I have tried relaxation videos and cds....to no avail. Like you, if I can push through the bad first hour + of waking it tends to wean off a bit. I try to keep busy and occupied. I work from home with a local animal rescue and spend a lot of time on the pc. Thank you for replying.

[Beevee in reply to kama24]

Developing a new attitude / beliefs towards the symptoms of anxiety so that you care a lot less about them takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight. If you understand how anxiety can manifest itself and how fear, which is the root cause, clouds perspectives, exaggerates the intensity of thoughts giving them a hugely false importance, you lose your respect towards them. Anxiety thrives on this respect which is why a couldn’t care less attitude while you carry on living your life will win over.

[Agora1 in reply to Beevee]

Thanks Beevee. I think we all have to hear this reinforcement towards the symptoms of anxiety including myself. I made a complete fool of myself yesterday at the doctor's office. Certainly wasn't afraid of the doctor or the procedure he was about to do. Anxiety followed me from home that by the time I got to his office, I had a meltdown. Hasn't happened to be in a long, long time.

The nurses were telling me everything I already knew. How ridiculous to waste their time and having patients looking at me while sitting in the corner of the waiting room crying and shaking. I knew it would leave as it always does but in that moment it took over hard.

Isn't it true that we have to stop that progression of the symptoms before it reaches that point? If not, how do you deal with it when out in public?

Thanks Beevee. I appreciate your insight.

[b1b1b1 in reply to Agora1]

The nurses should not have told you that you were wasting their time. This was quite nasty. I hope the rest of the appointment went as well as possible. xx

[Agora1 in reply to b1b1b1]

Oh no b1, the nurses were great, it was ME that felt I was wasting their time.

Just talked with my social worker who told me to NEVER put myself down or

worry what we look like to others when in a meltdown. It happens. xx

you're a sweetheart for caring. See this happens to all of us at times

[b1b1b1 in reply to Agora1]

Misunderstood You. I probably would have felt the same as you - embarrassed and just wasting everyone's time. So difficult. xxx

[Beevee in reply to Agora1]

It’s not a case of trying to stop it coming. It’s a case of facing the fear, relaxing and standing your ground and seeing it through until it quietens and disappears. So, rather than run from the tiger, it’s all about facing up to it and drawing it’s bite. If you can see it through without adding further panic and tension to the initial fear/panic ( it’s just an energy surge) without trying to do anything about it (not controlling it) you will start to lose your fear of it. Memory of past suffering may also have played a part in triggering anxious feelings but acceptance will see them go.

[Agora1 in reply to Beevee]

Oh I forgot All rational thoughts went out the window at that moment.

Thanks Beevee, there will not be a next time. I've got it this time.

[Beevee in reply to Agora1]

Understandable really. Primal instinct preparing you to fight or flee and seeking out the perceived danger, which there isnt. Just a case of retraining the brain to see that thete is mo threat and no need for protect you from the danger. If you react to the panic attack by adding more fear, the brain still thinks there is danger so keeps the mind on full alert and protecting you by flooding the body with more adrenalin to make you run or fight. This is why continually allowing it all to happen and coming through the other side with a loosened attitude towards it all will gradually take away its power to shock. As with anything, stop feeding it and it will die!

[Agora1 in reply to Beevee]

I know that's true Beevee, I've been living my life like that each day but there must have been an oops moment yesterday. You and Jeff need to keep reinforcing us. It's never too many times to hear. Thanks again

[Lin1944 in reply to Agora1]

I always read Beevee and Eric’s posts as I get bouts of anxiety which have ruined holidays, and lots of occasions. I have Claire Weekes book but finding it hard to practise what she says.

Best thing for me is to get up and go out and be sociable and chatty. Even if I just feel like sitting quietly once I start chatting with friends I feel a lot better .

[Pontiac1979]

Every morning it's the same with me until i finally get up takes about 4 or 5 hours before I'm so called normal but before that time i don want to see or talk to anyone then I'm fine until the next mourning then it starts all over again

[Djinnx_Trublood]

Last year my anxiety went to the roof thanks to my ex. A month ago we broke up I baker acted myself, not because I wanted to commit suicide, but because my head was so foggy and confused. I found out he was cheating on me after 4 years. But the best thing of my life happened. I went to a resting clinic and my psychiatrist bumped my lamotrigine dose from 200 to 400 mg a day. I have never felt better in my life. I have been battling with this mind-eating bullshit for 18 yrs. I’ve been in treatment before, but nothing worked as marvelous as this new pill dosage. I know this can’t be cured, BUT IT CAN BE CONTROLLED!!!! I promise you that my dear. You just need to find your right path and the right meds that will help you beat this monster. I know how it is, and trust me, I know how you feel. But please, keep on fighting, keep on having faith and don’t lose your hope. When you find the right psychiatrist, you will feel so much better. Don’t let this burden eating you inside and don’t feel afraid to ask for help in your weakest moments or when you feel you can’t go on. Suicide is NEVER THE ANSWER. Even if though you don’t feel it right now, YOUR LIFE IS PRECIOUS! Keep smiling, keep shining and if you need an ear(or eyes, lol) I’m here for you to help you to vent. I have a lot of material about anxiety that I can share with you (or anyone else who’d like it). Get in touch with me so I can send it to you. I’ll keep you in my prayers and good luck. I wanna hear from you soon. Hugs and we are together in this battle.

[Alun001]

New resource, might be of interest.patientsonly.org

By Michael Mahoney the guy I travelled to see for both my IBS and Anxiety. I have no vested interest here, just sharing.

The site has some fee resources including the full introduction to his IBS and Anxiety programs, something here might interest you.

Peace!

[azmarktb]

Yep as I've aged, it's worse. My impending doom consumes me. Lol. That's why I drink. Sad I know

[Hollick]

I'm sorry, yes, I can relate. Been suffering with morning anxiety a few years, overwhelmed. CBT can be beneficial, although it takes time, patience and consistency has to be ongoing..it's the same as positive thinking, self talk right? Using positive affirmations, mantras etc...one that gives me comfort is, 'this too shall pass'..it's so true to all aspects of life. Wishing everyone well.

[Hidden]

Yes, every morning! So this morning I went on a walk which I haven’t done in months. I am relaxed and not fretting. I think I burned off the chemicals like cortisol that make me so anxious. I’m going to be consistent and start walking at least 3 times a week. I cannot reason with my anxiety or meditate out of it. I cannot medicate it away. Going on a walk is taking action and it seems to be one thing that is working for me.

[designguy]

I found that using CBT for my anxiety actually made it worse and perpetuated it and prolonged my recovery. CBT is a way of actively engaging and wrestling with the negative or frightening thoughts that create the anxiety and all it does is make them more frequent and magnify them into being more frightening. It then becomes an endless cycle of self-perpetuating thoughts that create a cascade of fear and mentally and physically drains you. When I realized that my anxious thoughts at one time had a job to supposedly protect me that was now no longer necessary, i was able to stop fearing them and believing them and think of them as lies that my fearful brain was telling me. I started actually mentally calling out my fearful thoughts as lies when they would come up. It was difficult initially but knowing and trusting that they were just lies helped as well as resisting the urge to engage or resist them. Over time they became more infrequent and powerless. As Bevee and Jeff have said, surrender is the key. The saying "what you resist must persist" is so true about anxiety.