Hi All,

I know a lot of ladies here have worsening symptoms around their cycles each month but I was wondering if anyone has a worsening of symptoms around the same time during the day. For me I have a bad bout each and every morning that wakes me up and usually will stick around for a couple of hours. And then I have a short mini bout around 5-6pm. And then I feel almost normal until it wakes me the following morning. Its like clockwork.

Nancy

I WAS WONDERING WHAT KIND OF SYMPTOMS? I USE TO HAVE SAME ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION EVERY MORNING SAME TIME, IT WENT AWAY DURING DAY AND MAYBE A LITTLE ANXIETY IN LATE AFTERNOON. NIGHTS ARE ALWAYS MY FAVORITE. SINCE ON AD ZOLOFT DOING PRETTY GOOD WITH ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION. GOOD LUCK TERRY

[quote name='lizardlover42000' date='Feb 17 2008, 01:24 AM' post='209827']
I WAS WONDERING WHAT KIND OF SYMPTOMS? I USE TO HAVE SAME ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION EVERY MORNING SAME TIME, IT WENT AWAY DURING DAY AND MAYBE A LITTLE ANXIETY IN LATE AFTERNOON. NIGHTS ARE ALWAYS MY FAVORITE. SINCE ON AD ZOLOFT DOING PRETTY GOOD WITH ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION. GOOD LUCK TERRY
[/quote

Lizardlover,

Anxiety and its exactly like you! I started Prozac in November and that helped at least it rid me of the depression that would come with the anxiety and turned down the level of anxiety to this pattern before the AD I have bad bouts through out the day. Its so weird right now at 10:30pm I feel fine and know I am acting like my old self and can almost believe that the corner has been turned and tomorrow will be different. And yet more then likely 12 hours from now I will be so nervous that I am physically shaking and nauseous to the point I retch and almost believe it will never get better. I haven't such craziness since puberty (G).

Nancy

Nancy,

I was also like Liz, and suffered terrible morning anxiety...jitters...(luckily nausea wasn't an issue) and if I was going to have a panic attack for no reason, it would be in the morning. I am taking Paxil, which helped some...and Ativan daily before the paxil started working, after that only when needed...but still I was not feeling great...then I learned about L-theanine, and that really helped a great deal, but I still didn't feel great...so I finally added estrogel & prometrium to the mix (both bio-identical hormones) and NOW I finally feel normal most of the time. Still get bouts of tiredness....but overall pretty darn good.

I am not sure why mornings are so difficult and nights are so much better...but it has to be because of hormones, I am sure of it. The hormones were what finally took the morning anxiety away completely.

Floater

Nancy,

I was also like Liz, and suffered terrible morning anxiety...jitters...(luckily nausea wasn't an issue) and if I was going to have a panic attack for no reason, it would be in the morning. I am taking Paxil, which helped some...and Ativan daily before the paxil started working, after that only when needed...but still I was not feeling great...then I learned about L-theanine, and that really helped a great deal, but I still didn't feel great...so I finally added estrogel & prometrium to the mix (both bio-identical hormones) and NOW I finally feel normal most of the time. Still get bouts of tiredness....but overall pretty darn good.

I am not sure why mornings are so difficult and nights are so much better...but it has to be because of hormones, I am sure of it. The hormones were what finally took the morning anxiety away completely.

Floater

Nancy,

I was also like Liz, and suffered terrible morning anxiety...jitters...(luckily nausea wasn't an issue) and if I was going to have a panic attack for no reason, it would be in the morning. I am taking Paxil, which helped some...and Ativan daily before the paxil started working, after that only when needed...but still I was not feeling great...then I learned about L-theanine, and that really helped a great deal, but I still didn't feel great...so I finally added estrogel & prometrium to the mix (both bio-identical hormones) and NOW I finally feel normal most of the time. Still get bouts of tiredness....but overall pretty darn good.

I am not sure why mornings are so difficult and nights are so much better...but it has to be because of hormones, I am sure of it. The hormones were what finally took the morning anxiety away completely.

Floater

My anxiety was always worse as soon as I started to drive home each day at 5pm. I would get in, walk the dog and then have an hour or so of it really bad until it petered off to normal by about 8pm.

Sometimes eating would help, other times it would not. It went on for about two years before it improved and even now I still get the odd surge to my legs and numb lips on the drive home buit nothing so much now.

It took Anxiety pills and CBT to help me and I still am on the pills, but half my original dose on alternate days now, getting ready to stop once the nights are shorter as I find also I get a seasonal blip early December time to just after Christmas.

Amanda Mx

Yep same here. I wake up in the morning and as soon as my eyes open it's nervousness, anxiety...(sigh) then it abates and I feel less anxious, but like clockwork it returns again around 3. Not sure if that's when my energy is at it's lowest or what, but by nighttime, I feel much better. I know, without doubt it's all hormonal - I'm beginning to believe I'm in estrogen dominance and have adrenal burnout, but I'm hoping to have that confirmed this coming thursday. I know some thing is off kilter...have no doubt about it, and the more anxious I get the stranger the 'symptoms' get. Like I sometimes feel like my eyes jump, just for a second...it's scarey yet I think it's all related to anxiety. Either it really does happen, or I just imagine it - not sure which, but....sigh....

Nancy

About your symptoms early in the morning when you awake and around 5-6 ish. I am wondering if it might be related to your blood sugar. About a year ago I started to get energy crashes about mid-morning and mid-afternoon. What I started to do was eat protein snacks in between meals (like an egg or yogurt, or anything with protein) around 10:00 and 3:00 and it did start to settle the crashes down. When I got the crashes I felt so awful. It came on as feeling anxious, depressed, weak, sometimes dizzy.....just generally felt like I had been hit by a semi-truck.

I had all kinds of tests done, but of course nothing showed up as been wrong. I started eating those protein snacks and it has helped me.

I think you should talk to your Dr. about how you are feeling at those times, which seem to about the same time every day.

Hope you feel better soon. I know how it feels and it certainly is not a picnic.

Floater,

It certainly makes sense in my mind that it is hormonal because it seems to follow such a consistent pattern. I wonder if it has something to do with the circadian rhythm. I tried the L-theanine but it didn't work for me. I have been on BHRT for a little more then two weeks and except for the mornings I am doing better. I see a new doctor on Wed so hopefully she will have some answers.

Nancy

Amanda,

What are CBT? Eating sometimes helps me too. Its so weird because it feels like my body has developed a mind of its.

Nancy

Tay,

I see a new doctor on Wed and am hoping to get some answers then. I am convinced its hormonal now I need to find a doctor that believes me. The worse thing is that the anxiety feeds on itself even though I know it follows a pattern I have to fight myself from making it worse by panicking over the thought that "this time it won't stop and will get worse" This all has thrown me for a loop I have always been healthy as a horse.

Nancy

Maxxy,

This has been one crazy ride and so totally unexpected. Finding a doctor that will even consider that this is hormonal has been a nightmare. I don't know where I'd be if it were not for this site it helps so much to know I am not alone in this and that I am not going crazy because when things are bad that is exactly how it feels. I'll give the protein snacks a try thanks.

Nancy

Hi Nancy,

CBT is Cognitive Behavourial Therapy, it's kind of like seeing a shrink but it is more positive, it gives you coping strategies and helps you analyse and act upon why you are feeling like you do and accepting say for example a panic attack is horrid but it is not going to kill you, as you may think.

Low blood sugar plays quite a part in all this I suspect and I try to eat every four hours, not lots, just some seeds or crackers. Anything with a low GI value to keep your blood sugar stable. I also read your hormones are lowest at 4 in the morning and about the same time in the afternoon so that could explain waking up funny and getting all weird again later on in the afternoon.

Try eating regularly and see if it helps. One thing I read was to take some fruit juice with you to bed and drink it as soon as you wake up to stop the early morning jitters, it's a shot of sugar in a good form to help your low sugar from the night in bed.

Amanda x

Nancy, I really do believe it is a cycle, because not only does it happen at the same time each day it's also reflective of how the worst of my meno symtpoms started 4 years ago. I had these exact same feelings - anxiety, nervousness... Now, I'm exactly...what - 5 days post meno and for the last 3 - 4 months it's all came back. Almost like I've gone full circle.

I say hormones have to be the most bewildering thing on the face of the planet and any doctor who thinks it's a walk in the park is nuts!! It's like I said yesterday - I know I'm post meno, but apparently my body hasn't taken notice of it yet... And what's even more belwildering is how you somehow don't feel sick - just lousy - drained....

Tay,

Starting every day light this is just awful I want to sleep but my body won't let me and every time I do manage to drift off again I get maybe another 20 minutes and wake up again feeling worse. And like you said I don't feel sick just lousy and so nervous that I am nauseous. Its so discouraging.

Nancy

i too seem to have axiety at certain times of the day. but i am wondering.... was the aniety one of your first symptoms of perimenopause or had you had other symptoms for a while and then developed the aniety? i think , looking back, that i've had symptoms for a while (couple of years) but never really took the time to notice until a panic attack stopped me in my tracks.

I'm not sure who your question was to Disco, but I'll answer about myself. I was in peri LONG before I ever put to 2 & 2 together. I can remember telling my hubby down in mexico in 1998, that I liked going on vacation because I didn't have my period that month. Over the years, I'm certain other things 'came to life' but I just put it down to some other cause. (like couldn't sleep...musta had something on my mind etc., I always explained it away). Then 4 years ago I was taking down the christmas stuff and bam! My heart started to race, I felt like I couldn't breathe, I got light headed and everything suddenly seemed very far away. I looked at hubby and said - help, I think I'm having a heart attack and sank to the floor. It wasn't - it was the onset of anxiety so bad it was overwhelming, and since I'd never had it before, I thought it was a heart attack. I kept that feeling for 3 or 4 months, then the other 'woes' started. The headaches, tummy 'issues', feeling dizzy, nervous, ringing the ears, bad allergies - the list is endless, but I went through most all 34 of the signs. About the only difference for me was, as opposed to hot flashes, I had cold ones - I'd feel like I was submerged in ice water, then I'd break out in a sweat. (finally figured out that's where the old saying comes from...breaking out in a cold sweat.) Then I began having days where things would feel somewhat normal, just a day or two, but long enough to make me believe the worst was behind me before my hopes were dashed. Over time I learned most everything comes back, it's like a cycle, but the good news, the next time it happens, it's never quite as bad.

Yes, the anxiety I'm feeling now IS awful, but I at least recognize it for what it is, as opposed to the first time when I thought I was going to die. Right now I've finally hit 'post' meno, so hopefully, sometime this year, things will start to even out. ("I hope"...she says with a prayer on her lips...)

I ALSO WANTED TO ADD I USE TO GET ADRENALINE RUSHES SO BAD AND FEEL SO CRAZY FROM ANY MORNING SOUND LIKE MOTORCYCLE ARE CARS GOING DOWN STREET. IT WAS THE WEIRDEST THING.I ACTUALLY FELT SO CRAZY AND FELT LIKE HITTING SOMETHING THATS HOW BAD IT GOT.

Hi,

I had fewer and fewer periods first then sporadic hot flashes which were starting to increase right before the anxiety and nausea hit me. I never saw it coming. I never even had much in the way of PMS.

Nancy

Hi Nancy,

You know I thought I was really nuts when I thought I noticed that this comes in a pattern but I did notice that..... It seems it always happens at certain times of the day and the only thing that ever really changes is the severity and that usually coincides with where I am in my cycle...... By that I mean that the intensity always ramps up around ovulation and then about 4 days before my period and then the day my period stops it will also be more severe. But I've definitely noticed that it ramps up at certain times during the day and usually for me that's when i'm first waking up and around 3PM...... I really thought it had something to do with my sugar levels but I check them and they are fine and when I noticed it was hitting around 3PM I was making a point to eat something around 2 to head it off but it didn't work.... still happened anyway. And it usually lessens by 5 and I feel the most normal at night.

Rox

Hi Rox,

The severity changes with me too. I haven't had a period since June had some break through bleeding when I started the BHRT and I had a real bad day when that happened. I keep trying to make sense out of all this to find something I can do or change to make this stop.....I hate this feeling of helplessness whenever the anxiety ramps up.

Nancy