Anxiety Support Group
Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...
OK - so you go to bed at night. Calm. The day was good. Not really a success but not a disaster either. And then you sleep, somewhat restful, and then you awake. The world seems like this huge thing you cannot face. You dont want to get up. You dont want to leave your bed. You dont want to go to work and fight traffic. It becomes scary. And the worst part is that these things are everyday things! You can't really change them nor should you have to. Waking up and doing everyday tasks should not send your nervous system into a frenzy. But lately, it has with mine. I wake up and within seconds, I start to shake, my stomach gets upset, I have shortness of breath -- the whole thing seems so incredibly scary. Why is there so much unnecessary anxiety that the body goes through!? Totally unnecessary and for no reason! Has anyone felt this? Any recommendations?
Copy 'n Paste job starts here:
Yes, depression and anxiety are worse in the morning. That is when your body's cortisol level is the hightest(cortisol is stimulating) and that accounts for probably part of what you are feeling. Cortisol is the stress hormone, your body produces when you are under stress.
The paradox of stress/cortisol is that anxiety produces cortisol, which produces anxiety which produces more cortisol, which causes you to feel more anxious...etc....
Soon you find yourself in this never ending cycle of anxiety and depression.
I try to meditate or force myself to to at least 20 min. of exercise to help get my mind out of that rut.
Lukoi, I am especially interested in what you copy and pasted about cortisol. Thank you for the information. May I ask if you've gone through this and what have you done to bring the cortisol levels back into balance?
Thanks!
I could take care of everything on my "list" of stressors, but I still felt anxious. So I would try to find other causes of stress to try to get rid of those as well. But then I'd still feel anxious... and on and on. Considering it a problem caused by irrational thoughts, I had tried to avoid medications as much as possible.
Once I started to realize it was more of a physical problem, I made an appointment with a doctor to talk about treatments along the benzo line (Valium, Klonopin, Xanax, etc). I'm currently taking .25 mg of Xanax up to twice a day and my quality of life has significantly improved. The Xanax doesn't completely rid me of my anxiety or stress, but it brings it down to a manageable level.
Interestingly enough, I've found that my mental processes stem from my already existing level of anxiety. Say I'm having a panic attack. During this time, even the smallest things in daily life seem impossible or life-threatening. I take a Xanax, and suddenly everything is in perspective again. I may still feel a little stress depending on what I'm dealing with, but it no longer seems like the end of the world. I can face it.
In my opinion, these meds don't do jack for anxiety. But then, that's just me.
I got help from his website. I was having panic attacks and shortness of breath, and heart palpitations... and very tired too. Check it out! hope this helps!