I too experience morning anxiety just like you describe often, it usually coincides with a physical sensation. I have learnt to notice my thougths....so I question them, some days its easier than others, but it always works. Just this morning I had some intestional distress, and then negative thoughts popped in to my mind (I'm sick, I can't get up, even as drastic as I must have cancer) Some serious negative thinking! So I asked my thoughts if they were really true...of course, they are not, I decided not to "over-react" , and am doing fine. I still have a bit of nausea, but I'm not allowing myself to obsess over it. I don't know if this helps you or not, but one thing...you are not alone in suffering from morning anxiety!
Hi: I wasn't well a lot of the summer and I did wake with a bit of anxiety in the a.m. knowing that another day of pain was starting. Gentle stretching and some mindfulness - some deep breaths before getting up helped me face another day. I think stretching was good - I still do it at times - because it focused on other areas of the body and got the circulation going.
I like what you said and I should repeat to myself the notion that I'm getting better and my mind just needs to catch up to what my subconscious already realizes.
Ashley -
I'm trusting that continuing to work through the program will continue to help, and that eventually this morning anxiety will go away too, just like the daily panic attacks have.
Red -
It's always reassuring to hear you aren't the only one who has dealt with something like this! It usually goes away for me too after I'm up for a while.
I get this type of anxiety in the mornings also. It usually goes away after I am up a while. It would be nice to just lay in bed for a while and not have to get up because of this. I think for me this may go back to my past of me being a caregiver on duty 24/7. I really don't know for sure. I too don't want it to turn into a panic attack. I really have no answers for how to deal with this morning anxiety. I just wanted to let you know you are not the only one having this problem. Maybe someone else who is having this problem has some ideas on what works for them?
Try not to be too hard on yourself different things work for different people. Keep trying and also keep trying new thigns you will find what works. Whatever you did stick with the program as CBT is proven to be most effective when dealing with anxiety.
How have you been using the program to address what you are going through?
This is fear of fear. You are getting better and subconsciously you know it, so you wake up feeling fine, but then you think "this can't be true". Because it never was in the past but because you subconsciously know you are getting better it never goes from anxiety to panic. You can make it panic if you think on it hard enough. Accept the fact that you can actually get better and see where that goes. I'm cured but still once in a while when I know I have to face a different situation I wake up just like that, fear and racing heart for a bit. I think it is a normal reaction.
For the last week or two I have had a strange feeling when I wake up. During the first moments of waking up I feel totally calm, then as my thoughts start to get going I literally feel anxiety enter my body like a wave. It's not a panic attack, just a heightened state including an acceleration of my heart rate.
I've had a more challenging couple of weeks with my big trip to visit family and now my boyfriend's family visiting us here, which has been stressful for several reasons. The accelerated heart rate is a sensation I take as a cue that my body is getting more worked up. I'm not to the point where I'm having panic attacks, but it's telling me there is something going on I need to address and take care of.
I try some of the breathing exercises I have learned but they don't seem to help my heart rate, and I'm not sure what else to do to address this now before it spirals further out of control into panic. I remember reading from others that they had to practice breathing for a long time, maybe even months, before they experienced the benefits. I've practiced it off and on for a long time but still haven't noticed the benefits, but I feel like I'm missing something because so many people say deep breathing, box breathing, center point breathing, etc. are a huge key to their recovery.
