Does anyone wake up with the scared, doom and gloom , panic feeling? I sleep pretty good and then wake up with the worst feeling! Why does this happen?

Hugs Kim from California

This seems to be a really common thing among us peri/meno ladies. I even have this problem when waking up from a nap (although now I have such anticipatory anxiety that I either don't try to nap or I lay down and my heart instantly starts to race.)

I wish I knew what caused it (I'm sure it's hormone fluctuations, just not sure which ones). If I did, I wouldn't still be going through this.

Hang in there.

Ang

I can't tell you exactly why this happens. I think that it is related to vaso-motor storms caused by hormonal flux but it is very real.
It is closely related to hot flushes and a thyroid gland with its knickers in a twist. The adrenal glands are in there somewhere!

The good news is that is gets better. It is just a matter of time. Try not to think of it as some terrible symptom that signals the start of a nasty disease process. Try to regard it as a normal reaction. It is your body's attempt to stabilise itself on lower oestrogen reserves. Each episode signals that you are getting closer to being balanced. Think positive!
I can't remember the last time I had one and at one stage I was getting multiple episodes per hour........ I am starting to feel so calm and balanced again now. It is bliss


XIII

Kim this was one of my worst symptoms! I do still have them but they no longer scare me!

I had for sure had a version of these--go to sleep happy and relaxed and wake up sweating and fearful and doom clouded. I think I read that they are adrenal surges which are meant to get you energized to start the day but with hormones haywire just make you feel panicked.

I also wake up with terrible thoughts in my head, i, simply cannot force a positive thought about the upcoming day, or just upon waking.......i'm already starting to freeze up and freak out! i do hope it's just hormonal fluc's and not a life sentence!

Kim....... I was getting these types of surges, flushes (whatever they were) so often in the beginning of the summer. I would wake up with my heart racing and the worst feelings of doom or panic. They were so hard to shake. My mind was completely consumed with dark and fearful thoughts. When I woke up, it felt like I watched the most horrifying, scary movie. One time, I remember waking in a panic feeling that my house would catch on fire. Where that thought came from, I really don't know but that's what my mind told me the moment I opened my eyes. All night I had to have my husband hold my hand with the door open and hall light on!! Sounds silly but it's true. I really don't know why this happens to us but I do know that it is a hard feeling to shake. Hang in there girlie!!

(((HUGS)))
Denise

OMG...Every morning! I go to bed happy and tired and then morning comes and I'm a wreck. Butterflies every where in my stomach. Even when I try and lay down during the day the panic starts. It's not till evening when it goes away. I can't even go in my bedroom during the day it's that bad. I don't know or understand why this happens. I'm 6 yrs post and never had this happen before. Do any of you take AD's? Sometimes I feel it's the Paxil I'm on. But who knows I'm so confused these days..I don't know if I'm coming or going.
char

Kim,

Count me in with the other ladies. I would open one eye at a time hoping against hope I wouldn't have that "uhhh, I think I'll just curl up in a fetal position and just not move for the rest of the day" Since I started Lexapro (sorry girls I know I post this in pretty much all my posts, lol) it has gradually gone away, I no longer take my morning Xanax. However, until I have several months under my belt with the Lexapro I don't know if my hormones are just giving me a break or Lexapro is my "little helper". I kinda do the think the Lexapro is helping, my health anxiety has lessened considerably, I am able to distract my thoughts a bit easier to other things when I start to go there, as well as the doom and gloom stuff. Still take a Xanax at night though. All of this stuff is weird but as the months go by I guess I figure it is just the natural course of things.... well at least for some of us. Who knows how long this half way balanced me will hang around but I'll enjoy whatever little bit of relief I get. I sympathize with you, the doom and gloom, anxiety and panic thing is a hard one to manage. Have you spoken to your doc about anything to help with the anxiety? Take care, Mich

I'm so glad to hear the lexapro seems to be helping. I've had a couple of ok days in the last couple of weeks on my zoloft, but I sure would like more good days. I'd love to be able to skip a dose of ativan or two. Waking up with the panic feeling sure sets me up for a bad day. I try not to dwell on how I felt when I woke up because that makes me feel SO much worse. The zoloft seems to be helping a little. I really need to look into trying a new bcp. I think it would have helped if I had been able to stick with it long enough, but I think the Loestrin 1/20 actually took my estrogen lower than it had been!

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I'm spending a bit of time on another forum trying to figure out why the zoloft isn't working yet!

Thank you Ali (since you liked that name the last time, lol)

It sometimes can take up to 6 weeks for an AD to kick in, since you are seeing some improvement hang in there. Every person is different. Give it a little more time. I went into my psyche last week and was saying I wasn't quite as far as I wanted to be still kinda tired and unmotivated and was still experiencing anxiety. So he upped it to 30mg. I decided to put off amping it up figuring that may make it worse, I'm glad I didn't because overall it does seem a bit better (hence not taking morning Xanax). If anything I was thinking I should decrease to 10mg if the 20mg was giving my more anxiety and tiredness not increase it. Zoloft is supposed to be one of the goods ones for anxiety/panic. I've been on the Lexapro (I think) a little longer than you have on the Zoloft it's only been the last 3 or 4 days that I have eliminated the morning Xanax. I hope you start feeling better. I'm not 100% but I'm not walking around in major panic/anxiety and crying and my obsessive health anxiety has abated somewhat too. I don't know about birth control and how that helps. I used to be on them many many years ago and think I actually was more depressed on them. When I got my tubes tied and didn't need them anymore I noticed that alot of my dark moments went away. I know for many women however they are a godsend for peri symptoms. Whatever works, works. (((((hugs))))) Mich

HI KIM IT USE TO BE I WAKE UP TERRFIED LIKE I WAS GOING TO A FUNERAL THE WORST FEELING EVER. BUT SINCE I BEEN ON ZOLOFT IT DISSAPEARED THANK GOD. HUGS BACK FROM SOUTHERN CALIF HIGH DESERT

Thanks, I kind of like Ali.

I think the theory behind the bcps is that they shut down the hormone production from the ovaries so that you get a steady dose of estrogen and progesterone instead of the perimenopause roller coaster. I know the zoloft is helping, although I can't help but think that some of the a.m. shakes and jitters are side effects (and I sure be past that by now), but I can still feel the effects of my hormone levels going up and down. It's really creepy when I rub my forehead or the back of my neck and the skin starts to crawl on my legs.

Tomorrow I will have been on 100mg of zoloft for six weeks and it took over a month to step up the dose. When did you start the lexapro?

Yay, I figured out how to set an avatar! (I'm such a geek!).

Ali

Well, maybe the Zoloft isn't for you, I don't know. Talk to your Dr. about it if you are feeling like you should be farther along on it. It could be your blood sugar being low in the morning could be contributing to the morning jitters, maybe have some cashews or something beside your bed to eat before you get up. I have heard to eat a few before bed or if you wake up. I guess they have a lot of magnesium or something to that effect. The AD won't really affect the hormone levels I don't think. It should (if working) help with the depression/anxiety/panic. I still get strange twitches or what not here and there. I'm not in a perfect place but I'm better. I've been on the Lexapro since 8/6/09.

I had the terrible waking up with dread and anxiety, butterflies and run for the toidy because its all about to come rushing out the backside. Had it during my thirties during a period of illness. I found out that there was no problems for me during sleep. Sleep is the great peace that separates the dread from the dread when you are in constant anxiety. It is the conscious realization that you must face another day with its unknown fears and known fears or anxeities that wakes you in a fit or fits and starts. That is what causes the butterflies, stomach gear up, heart racing, etc. You are waking up anticipating more awful conscious hours ahead without being fully aware that this is what you are doing. It is not anxiety that brings on panic attacks but the anticipation of it. You can have constant niggling anxiety without panicking. ..and many of us do throughout this phase. This waking up in a panic was what I experienced going through graves disease.

I also think it is entirely possible to wake up because of hot flashes, to sleep lightly owing to anxiety or fear and wake up too quickly in fear or panic and to wake up very affected by dreams. The only way that I was able to resolve this waking in panic was to make myself lie still in bed and focus upon being relaxed. Refocus the mind on relaxing the body, reassure yourself you and God will handle anything that happens today. Nothing will be worse today than yesterday and it may just be a whole lot better today. You must learn to talk positively to yourself inside just like any good friend would. If you wake up in the night, take your xanax or what have you so you can rest peacefully and wake up more peacefully.

Think it over...

[quote name='frozentundra' date='Sep 1 2009, 05:14 PM' post='307260']
I had the terrible waking up with dread and anxiety, butterflies and run for the toidy because its all about to come rushing out the backside. Had it during my thirties during a period of illness. I found out that there was no problems for me during sleep. Sleep is the great peace that separates the dread from the dread when you are in constant anxiety. It is the conscious realization that you must face another day with its unknown fears and known fears or anxeities that wakes you in a fit or fits and starts. That is what causes the butterflies, stomach gear up, heart racing, etc. You are waking up anticipating more awful conscious hours ahead without being fully aware that this is what you are doing. It is not anxiety that brings on panic attacks but the anticipation of it. You can have constant niggling anxiety without panicking. ..and many of us do throughout this phase. This waking up in a panic was what I experienced going through graves disease.

I also think it is entirely possible to wake up because of hot flashes, to sleep lightly owing to anxiety or fear and wake up too quickly in fear or panic and to wake up very affected by dreams. The only way that I was able to resolve this waking in panic was to make myself lie still in bed and focus upon being relaxed. Refocus the mind on relaxing the body, reassure yourself you and God will handle anything that happens today. Nothing will be worse today than yesterday and it may just be a whole lot better today. You must learn to talk positively to yourself inside just like any good friend would. If you wake up in the night, take your xanax or what have you so you can rest peacefully and wake up more peacefully.

Think it over...

Thank you ladies so much for all your replies... I feel better just knowing that you all cared enough to respond. This is so tough!
All my Hugs and Love Kim

I have these episodes too....totally related to my anxiety...which there is a question I'd like answered, I am 2 years post now and still get these terrible 'adrenal surges'...when will they ever end?....or is it because my anxiety has been a lot worse since my husband has a 'unfriendly' work schedule and is going away soon for a whole year at the end of October...I'm already dreading it, and yet I don't want myself to think about it.......I can't stop myself thinking about those sleepless nights and nights of anxiety (which did bring along some VERY unwelcome thoughts and scared the living daylights out of me......that's another story).

Another thing that bothers me, is that I once took Zoloft, on 3 separate occasions over 3 years and each time the side effects got worse and made me feel like I was going crazy....lost a ton of weight and was a zombie....and yet some of you girls say it is a good AD for anxiety?!!!!!!

I guess I am not a good meds taker....every little thing I take seems to have the opposite effect of what it is supposed to!

I had a bad night last night....woke in the middle of the night and kept turning over and over and was very hot and then anxious, so this discussion is totally me!

Frozen Tundra, I know what I SHOULD do to make myself better, but sometimes it is easier said than done!

thanks for the comforting words though, they are appreciated by us all.

Caz,

We all different body chemistries. Prozac which is supposed to be the mildest AD put me through the roof, but, it is more of an "upper" AD and SSRI type of AD. But, it helps some people with anxiety. Wellbutrin made me act wacko and I gave that one a good try. Like you most meds don't agree with me. Although truth be told I haven't been on a ton of them. Lexapro, seems to be working for me at this point. We'll see how it progresses. You just do the best you can each day, nobody is keeping score..... except maybe you and you shouldn't be. We all handle stuff different, it doesn't make someone stronger or weaker than another. Take care, Mich

Caz,
I'm so with you!! I wake up with terrible anxiety. I'm 6 yrs post and never had this before. I'm taking Paxil and some times I think it makes my anxiety worse. My stomach is such knots right now. It usually goes away in the evening. I also lost alot of weight and feel weak and legs wobbly. My mind never stops racing. I know all about the positive thinking but I am at a loss right now. I've tried everything to meditation, therapy, reiki, and deep breathing. This time it seems to be at a peak and Im so nervous. I know I say this every time....I WANT ME BACK!!!

I'm with you, Char. I want me back, only a little better maybe. Before December, I always had a hard time knowing how to play with my girls (I'm not really good with Barbies) and I would rather stay home and take a nap on my days off than go somewhere. I know I was grouchy alot. I just don't want to go back to being that person again.

I just seems so strange that you would still be having anxiety 6 years post. What does your gyn say?

Ali

The great thing about all this is that the majority of women who come on here during peri disappear never to be heard again post. Those few that come back post are a minority. Check it out using site stats if you can. A few come back to encourage the others...super job!

There was a benefit to all that premarin given out during the 70's - 90's - women didn't go crazy with anxiety but now they pay with rising cancer rates. There is a strange analogy here some of you who seem to resent every word I keyboard will really find cause for attack, but lets give you that opportunity anyhow. When you spay middle aged dogs, especially those that have had litters...they have a sudden surge in energy once they recover from surgery. They play like puppies, they have renewed drive for whatever it is that intrigues them be it guarding, chasing or chewing. The veterinarians tell us that the energy used for reproduction has been freed. Now the dog is FREE to choose how to use it.

Some say that women in menopause experience horrible anxiety not just owing to hormone surges but owing to fluctuating energy levels. One day flying high and working all day to bedtime, other days dragging from breakfast to dinner. Perhaps our bodies are looking for some way to rechannel that reproductive energy and if we don't find that way it comes out in fat stores (fat is energy) and in hyperactivity. (Anxiety.) You cannot sit still when you are very anxious. One psychiatrist advises anxiety patients to tell themselves, "this is NOT anxiety, it is excess ENERGY." Then decide how best to use it.
Anxiety that spends itself in fretting is one way to use up energy but it creates a tiredness that is unnatural when done. Ever notice that?

Perhaps the worst of our anxiety is not knowing how to rechannel our energy and find a singular focus as we once did mothering or perhaps, career. So we spread it a hundred different ways a get a little of it in everything and none of it applied very effectively. Why not sit down at bedtime tonight and choose to make a singular focused plan for tomorrow? Not next week or next year, just tomorrow. You've been wanting to clean that stinking refrigerator or bathroom for six weeks. So plan it for tomorrow. Get out the proper tools. lay it all out, get the cleaning gloves, put on some nice music and begin with organized confidence. Take breaks but don't allow yourself to be distracted away to the other nine hundred projects calling your name. When finished, give yourself a lovely meal and dessert. Take a hot bath and watch a movie you love. Something to that effect.

Don't like that idea? Well, you could just continue on the way you are...attempting one hundred different projects a day, getting none of them done and ending up spending days in bored, frustrated lethargy doing nothing and completely wracked with anxiety. If fretting appeals to you more than planning an applied effort...go ahead and fret. It is your life after all...

Tundra, if I may, your posts offer a lot of great advice, thank you for that, I will apply some of your advice to my growing "managing Meg" course of action.
"Tough love" has it's place in the world...but when you are terrified and exhausted from "The Strangeness" that has taken over your body and mind seemingly from out of out of the blue, you are already in a very self examining and critical state of being and just trying to figure out what the heck is happening and how can I help myself to get control of the situation to get better! That is why we come here and tell our stories and seek out help and support from one another and I don't personally feel the tough love approach is fitting in this situation, perhaps if when we are all feeling normal again or have accepted our "new normal" and we are all still sitting in here going over it again and again even though we are all BETTER, THEN the tough love can come into play...like "ok ladies, time to stop rehashing and go clean those fridges!" lol, but right now it is time to just help eachother figure out what is going on and what is or is not helping us to feel well, I just want to feel well.

I plan to test out the excess energy/ adrenaline theory and next time I feel like sh-t (should be any minute now) I will get up and ignore the feelings that I am having and turn on some music and start to dance and see if it goes away....wouldn't it be great if it does!

I do not agree that we are somehow making this worse for ourselves by talking about it and not cleaning our fridges instead but I do understand your point of rechanneling the "energy" and I hope that it works, if so, it should be interesting for the rest of my family and the dog to see me up at 4 AM scrubbing the walls..."don't worry guys, mom's just using her energy up so she won't have a panic attack when she wakes up". Yeah, that should work.

I,m 3 yrs post (hyster) and still wake up anxious when I was on Hormones that had gone, can,t take hormones due to sideeffects and the am anxiety is there sometimes not as intense, I did start low dose of Elavil 2 weeks ago and have noticed slight changes but the anxiety is always lurking there and anything can send it out of control. Starting to have more positive thoughts but some days that,s hard too. This is a nitemare!!!! But we will all survive, my biggest thing now is all,s I have to hear is let,s go here and bang I don,t know why that happens but it is driving me crazy!!!!!! When will the madness end?????Keep praying and take one datyat a time.Who knows what tomorrow may bring????????

Meg

I have long suspected my viewpoint is as valid as anyone elses, but you may prove me wrong yet. If you read through many of these threads and posts, you will hear long lists of symptoms, all myriad and some vague, and the accompanying feelings and you will find armloads of comfort. If you read back on some of mine you would find posts of exasperation where comfort was also sought and appreciated. I do not deny anyones need for comfort and it should be given as well as encouragement and other forms of support. But what if months and years go by and as the case of this woman three years past meno and there are no answers? No resolution? Only more anxiety, discomfort and fretting. There is a point at which comfort is no longer comforting and where something more than a pat on the back may be more valuable in a given situation.

Your menopausal transition is TEMPORARY. If cleaning the fridge or scrubbing floors at 2AM does the trick for you as it did for my sister, the nurse, then so be it. If a hot bath and a good book does it, go for it. I tried dancing and that helped ALOT. I danced to the disco music I loved as a teen and it brought me back to the time when I felt confident about my life, as if it was all fresh and exciting and before me just waiting to be lived. It was good. I hope it does that for you also. Whatever it takes to get through this with sanity and intact self esteem, do that. But....

If you are one, two, three and five years past your last period and STILL facing all the symptoms of ROARING hormonal upheavel, words of encouragement are insufficient treatment. It's time to fact facts and look at options. Nobody is more drug sensitive than my own family that I know of and we abhor medical treatment in general. But if this HELL continues past the time the periods end, I will GO and GET SOMETHING more substantial than a pat on the back, words of encouragment that I WILL SURVIVE and find a way to live the abundant life I was promised. Not by Obama, that's a pathetic joke if ever there was one, but by the Creator.

IF I have tread upon any feelings, I do apologize. I had not yet begun tough love in this thread. Trust me on that. If this is tough love then I had better move on....and let more capable and sensitive folks reply.

This is SO me, too!! And I'm not on AD's so I don't think it's that. My anxiety abates towards the night and then in the morning BAM! It hits me. My therapist said it's because the stress hormone 'cortisol' is always at it's peak in the morning. I think all of my stress led to my adrenal glands saying 'tilt' and now I'm in the anxiety cycle...but I am starting to break out of it, praise God. When I researched it, it said between when the adreanls get fatigued and go haywire it causes a 'loop' in the brain - the adrenals tell the brain fight or flight, the brain tell the body fight or flight, the body tells you something AWFUL is going to happen, you respond and tell your brain, something awful is going to happen, the brain tells the adrenals...and so on and so on. All the while you think YOU'RE nuts because you can't stop stressing out or panicking about the same darn thing...why am I stuck in this loop? But it's NOT all in your head.

And why is anxiety and panic one of the most complained about and common symptoms of peri-menopause/meno-post-meno? There are other hormones in the body than estrogen and prog. And hormones out of whack can affect how the adrenals operate. If the adrenals are not operating well and you throw in some life stress or MORE hormone imabalance...BAM! Adrenals start to freak and the brain says FEAR and you're in the middle of a panic attack. This info made me feel better because I really chastise myself a lot while this happens. The fact that these things are chemically real in the body and that it's not just me not being able to 'snap' out of it as my husband says sometimes REALLY helps.

The good news is it's starting to get better for me. The good moments are getting longer and gathering knowledge about why I feel so crappy at times REALLY helps...coming on here is like taking a xanax...lol Love Power Surge and all you great gals here!