Anyone dealing with first thing in the morning anxiety? I go to bed feeling fine, then I wake up in the morning with the internal vibration along with anxiety.
What is going on while I'm asleep to cause this? I had to take an Ativan at 4 a.m. this morning because the anxiety would not allow me to go back to sleep. I was finally able to drift off to sleep. As I'm sitting here typing I'm still vibrating. For a couple of hours today I did not have this sensation, but now it's back.

Yes I get this pretty badly on occasion.Magnesium helps,I take 250mg when it starts and usually feel relief fairly quickly.Hope you feel better!GOD-bless

quote name = Simba 2 date =25th Sept 2008

Dear My Faith and Lady E

This morning anxiety feeling seems to be a pretty common feature of menopause but having said that it is really hard to deal with. I have felt it in varying degrees since my periods stopped. It is very very draining to wake up with this fear every morning. It is this sense of an overwhelming feeing of anxiety, as if something is going to happen and you are preparing for it. You can feel the tension pushing out through your toes it is very real. Obviously hormone driven but that doesn't really help you to cope with it. It is really hard to know why more research has not been done into this. Maybe there is not the money or the will but over the years millions of women have been and are seemingly just left to try and deal with it. You would think doctors would be more tuned in to us, many dont seem to be. Often the feeling goes when you are up and moving, sometimes a general jitteriness and anxiety seems to hang around or just overwhelms you with the hot flash, really unnerving. The whole situation caused by the declining level of oestrogen is enough to turn a previously capable and level headed person into a nervous wreck, it is so very unfair.

Hugs from Simba 2

Mornings are often worse anxiety-wise for me too. I have no idea why but it is so.

Hugs to you!

Oh yeah been there i use to wake up at 7am all shaky and full of anxiety and internal vibrations would last till noon. And get better as the day when on. i loved the evenings. but dreaded the mornings. Wake up with terrible horrible thoughts and noise sensitive it was terrible. Since being on Ad alot better. Take care. Wishing you the best.

I'm like you were Lizzie, I hate the mornings again but love the evenings. Must be something to do with high cortisol morning levels and cortisol being low in the evening. What I do know is I HATE HATE HATE it with a vengence and the more I have been worrying about my health the worse I become but it's not that easy to not worry about it. It was better when I started the AD but after 18 months of taking it the feelings came back and now I don't know what to do about it. I have changed my diet dramatically and that doesn't seem to be helping at all yet either so now I have developed a hate hate relationship with food too. Not sure what my next option is but maybe I will be enlightened next week by the holistic doctor I am seeing. If she can't help then I'm doomed for sure to a life of misery

Rox

I AM THE SAME EXACT WAY. SO ANXIOUS AND STRESSED IN THE AM. I RECENTLY HAD SALIVA TESTING DONE AND MY AM CORTISOL LEVELS ARE THROUGH THE ROOF. THAT EXPLAINS IT. NOW I JUST NEED TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET THE LEVEL DOWN. GOOD LUCK AND WISH ME LUCK

I would really like to know what I can do to lower my cortisol levels. I have also noticed that the internal vibration is better in the evening than in the morning.

Rox, please let me know what your holistic doctor suggest .

I most certainly will keep you informed of what she says about it. I will be away all next week so if I can't find this thread I will PM you with any words of wisdom I find out. I'm sure it has something to do with adrenal exhaustion from all the worry and stress over continous symptoms for the past 3 yrs. Not sure if there is much to be done about it but I do know I don't want any pharmaceutcial meds for it. Maybe just understanding it will help and knowing it is not some other dreaded disease I think I have.

Rox

Mornings are awful for me as well. I wake feeling so scared and shaky, sometimes even like I'm going to be sick to my stomach. Immediately need a Xanax...haven't been sleeping at all. When I do sleep, I awake several hours later feeling nervous and scared.

Could someone elaborate about the cortisol connection, not sure what this is. Also, I think someone posted about adrenal fatigue...how is that diagnosed? One last question, what about saliva testing? Is it accurate? I know a health management pharmacy offers it here for $100, not covered by insurance just wondering if it could help me determine what is going on and validate my concerns since my dr. will not test me and continues to think I'm too young for peri -although I'm not sure that she even buys into the whole "peri thing" as she puts it.

Will appreciate all of your wisdom and thoughts.
Thanks,
Tracey

Yes, I also have the internal vibrations. Docs all think I'm nuts, but it's real! And, not in our minds! The most difficult time is sleeping. Everytime I doze off, I start vibrating, especially around my neck down to the pelvic region. I also am vibrating as I'm typing right now. I think it's definitely hormonal imbalances of some sort, and I'm doing research to find out what can be done. I've been on the Combi-Patch (HRT) for five years - maybe it's time for a change. If it's of any relief for you, this will go away. I had it in 2005 for a short time which went away but now it's back again. I think these symptoms are CAUSING our anxiety, not the other way around as the docs always suspect when they can't figure something out. I wish I could find a good GYN that knows about this. I saw one post that said she found a doc that knew who said it has something to do with the hormonal changes and affecting the nerve fibers. Hang in there - I think the less anxious we feel about it, the better it will get. I'm trying to not think about it and if I can't sleep, I'm going to try to just get up and read or something, rather than take the drugs such as Ativan. I think after the drug wears off, we feel even worse.

There is another thread on the board with an article about seratonin deficiency, and it was just fascinating. You should take the time to read it but here is what I got out of it....call it the condensed version!!

When our hormones go out of balance, we suffer from seratonin deficiency.

There are many awful symptoms relating to seratonin deficiency, anxiety, panic attacks being among them.

I always believed that the anxiety, depression and panic attacks that come with peri and menopause had to be caused BY the change in our hormones....not that we suddenly become mentally ill. I mean it never made any sense to me that I would suddenly develop an anxiety disorder for no reason. After reading the article, I feel vindicated. There is an actual physical change in our brains (seratonin deficiency) which makes us feel like hell. Also seratonin deficiency can cause digestive problems, aches and pains, muscle problems, heart problems, I mean it is amazing what this stuff (or lack thereof) does to the human body!!

There is so much information in the article that I can't put it all here. I highly recommend reading it.

I also suffered from horrible morning anxiety when I was at my worst, I would feel a little better later in the day. Mornings are still not my favourite time, but they are no where near as bad. Infact I think it is more a case of me being afraid of ever feeling like that again and I feel safe at home. Stupid, but maybe some Post Traumatic Stress left over from that horror!!

My anxiety and internal shaking is actually worse at night when I am trying to relax and/or go to sleep.

I wish I had an answer for you all, but I am still searching too. It seems to be that alot of us are experiencing this, at least you are not alone..we are right there with you

Floater, does the article say what if anything helps?

Sunny~

THANK YOU! I am so glad I found this message board! I, too, have suddenly began experiencing these horrible bouts with anxiety and internal shaking -- by mid-afternoon I'm usually fine, sometimes earlier. I've dealt with depression for the past 20 years or so, and have been on Prozac pretty successfully (it helps with the serotonin uptake). But this anxiety is throwing me a HUGE curve! I tried progesterone cream, but it just made me bleed. I'll be watching this thread like crazy to see what help is out there!

Blessings to you all!

Okay, for the last two days or so I have been waking up around 3-4, anxious, nervous, and taking deep breaths. I've had to take an Ativan to fall back asleep and to rid myself of the anxiety. The internal vibration is still there. The other day I tried taking a extra dose of compounded progesterone and biest and I did notice that I felt calm within a few minutes and it helped to substantially lower my blood pressure. Before the hormones my bp was about 150/95 within thirty minutes it ws 115/75!!!!!!!!!! Although the Ativan and compounded hormones help in making me feel calmer and lowering my bp, I still feel the internal vibration so I know something else is going on. Maybe I need to talk with my ob/gyn about going back on an AD.

I am so glad I found this site!!!! I have been ging crazy for the past four months! I am 35 but have had hormone imbalance problems (along with infertility) for years. After I had my daughter 2 1/2 years ago things started going south...I religiously skipped every other period, having the worst PMS type symptoms the month I would miss (retaining water, mood swings, etc..) Then I finally started to get so fatigued it was ridiculous so I thought it might be my thyroid...after a year of this my doc finally put me on a low dose of thyroid med and I began to get better (skin changed for the better, no more extreme moods, like a new person!) Until this past June up to now. I had the worst medical "event" I have ever experienced with extreme elevated blood pressure and pulse, anxiety, I thought I was having a heart attack or something. Went to the ER and they gaveme an ativan said "panic attack" and sent me home. Then it happened again four weeks later to the day...and again on schedule in August. This (of course) made me think it was connected to my cycle to problems therein. This ride has been horrible. I also wake with the morning axiety, nervous stomach, etc...finally, I went to see a naturopath in desperation....we discussed the link to all of this with cortisol. By the way, I learned something new, if your adrenals are fatigued they can "steal" hormones from your reproductive hormone supply. As perimenopause puts more strain on the adrenals with fluctuating estrogen and progesterone this gets disrupted further. The adrenal rule the "flight or fight" response with includes anxiety. The naturpath immediately had me change my eating habits...lower in refined carbs (which I was already doing) BUT the big one was eat every three hours in small amounts and make sure to have a bedtime snack. Just this change made it ease up a bit...I still had "hell week" the week of ovulation (or attempted ovulation) but it was not as bad...still had the adrenaline surge but it wasn't so debilitating as the months before. I am also taking calcium, magnesium (this at bedtime with the snack), B complex, and vitamin C. I am hoping this is the road to straightening things out. I have learned more than ever about the fine balance between girl hormones, thyroid, and adrenals...it is delicate! I know this is a huge post but I was so relieved to see other women having the exact same things happen and still be ok that I could have cried. This has all been so stressful for me that I can only hope some of the things I am learning can help someone else.

Oh, I'm so happy to say that I did not wake up at 3 or 4 a.m. this morning vibrating and feeling anxious. Matter of fact I woke up feeling calm and at peace, excluding the hotflash. Unfortunately, around 11:30 a.m. the anxiety started. I tried deep breathing, neck massage, and other techniques, but in the end I had to take an Ativan. Last night around 11 p.m. I had to take more of my compounded hormones in order to calm down. I took just a dab, but that was enough to settle down the jitters and anxiousness.

I will be so glad when this subsides .

**
Dear My Faith:

This sounds like the early stages of hormone imbalance, and the body telling you to use some low dose natural bioidentical hormones, and depending on your age, to cycle them. I can help you figure this all out, if you want to do a consultation? Anxiety is a typical symptom of low estrogen, and not balanced with progesterone.
Sincerely,
Pete Hueseman, R.Ph., P.D.

Pete,
I am many years past menopause and I still get the morning jitters.....I was without symtoms for years and then went thru a period of prolonged stress.....and viola, the anxiety reared it's ugly head! Many of the post meno ladies here have told me the same thing...without hormones to protect us stress can be a real killer. I am not sure at this point after so many years I would want to consider hormones as an answer. I am doing my very best to reduce my stressors and use relaxation methods. BTW, I am 54 and went thru meno at 40 (tubal ligation after a multiple birth, both of these can do this I am told). It took me years to 'settle' without messing with my body's natural way of handling this mess and I am trying to do the same thing now and am making progress in baby steps and feeling pretty good. I would like to not always be worried about daily stress tiggering the anxiety but am extemely reluctant to not let my body and mind heal with anything other than tender loving care.

I would be curious to hear your opinion, thanks!