Massive Anxiety At The Same Time Every Night

[BlueB21]

Hi!

This is my first post here but I wanted to put this question out there to see if anyone has any tips or insight: every night around 5PM I start to have an anxiety attack. I've journaled to try to figure out what the common denominator could be in causing it, but nothing seems to be there. I've had these maybe 3 times in my life before COVID happened, so I'm guessing there's some correlation there, but I'm so frustrated that without cause almost every night, I get these debilitating attacks where it feels like a shot of adrenaline fires through my body. Sometimes feels like I might throw up (which is a fear of mine), always affects my breathing, my limbs feel cold, and I feel nauseous. Usually goes away in a couple of hours, but I'm getting really tired of these attacks that debilitate me.

Again, any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Much love to this community!

[JoeS00]

Is your anxiety related to something specific?

[BlueB21 in reply to JoeS00]

Honestly, I'm not sure, it seems to be a ton of things recently: some issues with my girlfriend, COVID, stress of career, and some existential worries/fears I won't bore you with. I started EMDR therapy recently so I'm hoping I can really get to the root of what these are and isolate the common denominator. Thank you for your reply!

[JoeS00 in reply to BlueB21]

Good that you are seeking therapy. Wish the best for you.

[Hidden]

Maybe something big used to happen at 5 pm? And/or maybe you didn't realize it was a big thing at the time when it happened.

[BlueB21 in reply to Hidden]

I've been thinking on this for the last day or so, I know that that's when meal time was growing up, and I used to get anxiety around then. I also had/have a phobia of throwing up, so eating in general would kind of be a trigger ("If I'm eating, I'm technically giving myself the fuel to throw up") and can remember bursts of anxiety around that time. I'll look into that more.Thank you for your response!!

[StuckForYears]

Are you sensitive to lighting? It's common for people's moods to dip as the sun goes down (although I guess that's later than 5 pm right now!)

[BlueB21 in reply to StuckForYears]

I've thought about this too! I definitely think sunlight is a factor; I tend to get depressed during sunset-times and especially in the winter when there's less sunlight. Also when the sun starts to set, I think my brain goes "well that days over, did you do enough?"Thank you for your reply!

[Hidden]

In my opinion it may be that you are having hypoglycemia which is low sugar….I have hypoglycemia at times and I get some of your symptoms and after I drink or eat something it clears up in about 15-30 minutes

[BlueB21]

I haven't considered that, but I'm going to look in to it. Is that something that needs to be tested by a physician to determine? I looked up some of the symptoms and many felt familiar.And thank you for you reply!

[Hidden in reply to BlueB21]

I'm not sure, but you may have to do a fasting blood test (so you don't eat anything for like 8 hours, and then you go and get your blood drawn). That's probably the simplest way to know, if I haven't gotten that wrong.