Anxiety attacks first thing in the morning

[pammypim]

I am having a horrible time with anxiety attacks that wake me up at about 6 am every day.  They create a sick cold feeling inside of me that is awful. Sometimes they will go away somewhat if I lie on my back but most of the time I can't get back to sleep.  I am on 10 mg of Lexapro. Just weaned myself down from 20 but this has been going on before I did that. Also .5 mg Klonipin at bedtime. That's it, other than glaucoma drops which I've been taking for years.

I don't know what is causing this at all. I usually eat a bowl of plain yogurt before I go to bed but no sugar.  Sometimes I get stress attacks during the night & early am when there is something I am worried or upset about but there is nothing now.

Any  ideas or help or sharing?

PP

[Jlo1019]

Hello! I once read that anxiety is worse in the mornings because of our hormon levels; which are higher in the mornings. When my anxiety is at its worst,  I hate mornings because I'm miserable first thing. I used to cry in the shower a lot because I was so miserable before work. In fact,  if you were to search some of my old posts,  I'm sure the theme was morning anxiety.

I always hated that I had a nice nights sleep and woke up to those racing thoughts. Its like I was given a pass from my anxiety and it was taken away from me in the morning.

The only thing that got me through was deep breathing and saying prayers. I used to repeat "you are safe and okay". It helped a bit. Once my anxiety improved so did my morning anxiety.

Take care

[tarynlynn]

I also have bad anxiety in the morning. You're not alone. Which is comforting in itself because it must mean that there's something biological behind it (which makes me feel better to think I'm not going crazy).

I take 10mg of Lexapro at night and I have .5mg of Lorzaepam for when I need it- and I usually need it in the morning. I try to take it as soon as I feel the panic come on so that I can relax before it's time to get out of bed. It's been helping recently, so if you have something like that, or would be able to talk to the doctor about it, that's what I would suggest in the short-term. It's not always the perfect solution, but it's all I have right now. As my anxiety improves, though, I'm hoping to be able to rely more on myself and thought-stopping and hoping that eventually it will start to fade.

[spencer24]

Thankfully I don't feel like I have full on attacks, but I do wake up with nausea nearly every day and a fluttery feeling. Luckily it tends to go away after being up for a little while. Sometimes my breathing and heartbeat are a little fast too.

[the happy planner]

Mornings are always worst for me.  If I wake during the night it's ok, because I'm still safe in bed for a few hours, but once I wake in the morning, it's instant adrenaline and cold sweats, knowing I have to face the world.  I understand this is a well-recognized symptom of GAD.  The good news is that it means things can only get better throughout the day!  Personally, things get much better around 5pm when I can have a beer