Mike, Hi. Just read through this post and your struggle with morning anxiety. In everything I've read it's not to unusual to have more anxiety in the mornings than any other time. Just letting you know that. I've had a relapse of sorts, with a lot of negative thoughts. I call them obscessions, but either way it's negative thinking. What have you done to work on the thoughts? Anyhow, just letting you know you are not alone.

I didn't want to suggest the Xanax to you but now that you've decided to take one in the AM I'll go ahead. When I was only taking Xanax I got up to taking 7 mg/day. That's really too much. I started taking Nardil, my wonder drug, and have done well for 17 years now on it. I still take .25 mg of Xanax every morning when I get up though. It gets my day started off on an even keel. I also take .25mg before special things like dentist appts (yich), meetings, and other things that make me particularly anxious. So, yes! It's a great drug to take as a prophylactic.

You are so right Mike that Time is the best medecine. I find in the mornings that I just have to bite the bullet and get out of med and moving. If I lie there thinking about it the worse it gets. SO I get up and do "busy" work before getting boys ready for school. I am on clonazepam now and try not to take it till after boys head to school. Your "rambling on" is very inciteful thank you =0)

Im still here. :) My mornings have gotten much better, in fact I have not had any symptoms at all for some time now. As for the mornings...I found that a good nights sleep and some meditation or nature music before sleep helped me wake in a better state of mind. Also I would use 15 minutes in the morning to play the music again before getting out of bed. One thing I can tell you not to do for sure is to lay in bed thinking. That is no good. I would have a Xanax ready each morning too and gradually found that I could do without them. In fact, I dont take them at all anymore. Not even to sleep. I still have them handy just in case but it has been several weeks since I have used one. Good luck and hang in there. Time is the best medicine. Mike

Mike unsure if you are still around. Was reading through some past posts to the site. Your mornings sound like mine. I had my relapse nearly 4 weeks ago now. I go to bed feeling at ease as if I will beat this stuff and wake up feeling like i am back at aquare one. If you are still around how are you doing???? And did you find anything to take away the morning stuff??

I am still chugging along. I have had almost no symptoms for quite some time now. I expected the start of school, some additional pressures at work and the beginning of cub scouts (I am an adult cub leader) to trigger some anxiety. I was prepared for it though. I read some of my "Dont Sweat the small stuff" book in advance, I began listening to the meditation CD in the morning again and I continue taking my medication. I was pleasantly surprised that although I would feel stress, I had no anxiety symptoms during back to school startup. Last week I had some activity each night after work. That annoys me no end. I like to come home from work and wind down, not leave after dinner to do something else. One night a week I can handle but 5 gets a little much. Still, I did get annoyed and stressed but I did not suffer the anxiety. Interesting that when I am prepared to combat it, it is afraid to show its face. :) Everyone have a great day today and remember that we create the thoughts that cause us problems so we have the power to ignore or destroy them too. Mike

Thank you very much. I am happy to have helped in some small way. Congratulations on your success! I am still running pretty evenly. The therapist will now be working with my wife and I on our relationship in an effort to further reduce stress for me. I am enjoying life a little more each day and am finding it easier to cope with the things that would have caused me distress several months prior. I will be careful not to become too comfortable though as I am well aware that panic and anxiety can come at any time and for no apparent reason. On my next visit to the psychiatrist I may request a medication reduction. Obviously since I am feeling better I dont feel the need to post as often, but I do read every day and will report periodically on my continued progress. Mike

Mike, I would just like to thank you for your posts. They encourage me to test my boundaries. You seem so in tune, and analyze what may be the triggering factors, and work towards making adjustments. After reading thru periodic updates of your progress, I tested myself to mow my lawn yesterday. The heat used to cause me to feed into the panic of I cant do this. Well it gave me an outlook of Im going to try this today, and well if I get hot, and tad bit short of breath this isnt my panic, its expected, its 80's degrees and Im dragging a pushmower for goodness sake. So I did it, yes I got hot, but the thoughts of Oh No, its my panic coming back, did not enter my mind, I simply told myself, Im working in the yard like others, took a break, drank a glass of water, cooled down in the AC for a bit, and went right back to finish it. Just to let you know, your post encouraged me to complete this task!!! God Bless You!!! Trish

Not much news to report here. I switched my intake of the Lipitor to the morning and havent had the problems on the "morning after" again. Im not sure if that means the Viagra was interacting with it or not but I do know that the morning "edge" has been removed and that is a good thing. My wife and I will see the therapist together today for the first time. Based on my past experiences with this it should make an improvement for us. One thing I have noticed that perhaps many of you already knew....we just got a kitten about a month ago and that little bugger has the most calming effect on me. I lay in bed at night watching television and she snuggles up to me purring loudly. It is quite soothing. Another observation I have made recently is that when I watch a drama (like Law and Order or CSI) before bedtime, I have a different quality of sleep than when I watch Home and Garden Television. It seems that the murder and violence seeps into my subconsious and causes restlessness. Now I watch a home decorating show and play a peaceful nature sounds CD through my headphones while I drift off. I seldom wake in the night anymore...except when that snuggly little kitten jumps on the bed and nestles next to me. But, thats OK with me. Have a great day everyone. Mike

Good morning everyone. I had a bit of an issue this morning again. Nothing major but a small speedbump. Now I believe I see a pattern here. I usually have these slight issues on Sunday mornings. Looking back, Sundays have usually been the worst days for me anyway. The Effexor is helping tremendously and what would normally have turned into a day of "couch laying" is overcome with the ease of swatting a mosquito. So what is it about Sundays? Some theories.. It is the secind day of the weekend. There is alot of stress in the house for me on weekends. I am interacting with three people and the children are noisy and very active. They are...well...children! :) Sunday is my yard work day. Mowing, trimming blowing the roof and driveway etc. Im not a lazy fellow but Im not crazy about doing yard work in the extreme heat. Still it has to be done. Both of those may figure into this but the next one is what I think is the trigger. Saturday night is the night my wife and I usually are "ahem" intimate. I had prostate problems some years ago and I have used Viagra ever since. I think the Viagra may be interacting with the nightly Xanax or maybe the Lipitor I take in the evening to cause this bump in my road. I had used the Viagra/Xanax combo before with no issues so this points me to the Lipitor. [i]Good news on the Lipitor though is that my doctor said there have been some preliminary studies done and Lipitor is thought to actually help the Effexor to work better. She has promised me more info on this my next visit. Anyway back to the matter at hand...[/i] If the Viagra/Lipitor combo is the culprit, I will try to make an adjustment of some kind. I'm not going to discontinue the Viagra so my first step would be to take my Lipitor in the morning and see if that helps. If that doesnt work I will just need to make sure I realize that the speedbump will be there and learn that is just part of my life now and ignore it. So, tomorrow I will start taking the Lipitor in the morning and make note of the response the next "morning after" :) Other than this small issue I have been doing great and enjoying life. Still doing the M and M and I listen to the nature sounds while I fall asleep every night. I find this extremely soothing and it really helps me