Why are mornings so bad?

[TheGruffalosbitch]

Does anyone else experience this? My anxiety is just SO bad in the morning. Instead of waking up refreshed and ready for the day,
I wake up with a tummy full of acid. Heart racing, breathing out of sync and aching muscles. And a real feel of doom/dread

Please tell me I'm not the only one

Mornings are very hard for me too. Even when I am relatively well I wake up with a feeling of "Oh no, it's morning" and want to just stay in bed and hide from the world. I also get the feeling of dread. I usually feel better in the evening.

I totally sympathise - It is horrible isn't it!

I hate it. I just want to pull the duvet over my head, cry and shake (that seems to be what I'm doing lots of lately). Unfortunatly with a 1 & 3 yr old screaming I can't do it.

Totally understand the duvet over the head bit. My children have a two year age gap and really remember what it was like when they were 1 and 3. They are at primary school now. I found that stage so difficult as they are so demanding at 1 and 3 years. It is so hard when you can barely look after yourself and your own needs to look after young children. I felt guilty for a long time as well. Mine are now 8 and 10 and although I still find mornings really difficult but they are alot less demanding now then when they were toddlers. I know this probably won't help much now but it really will get easier on the children front.

Have you been to see a Doctor? Are you on medication for your anxiety? I know that the right mediation can really help with the anxiety.

Have you had CBT? I found that also helped me with anxiety.

Sorry, I can't suggest anything else really but I really do feel for you. Hope it gets a bit easier for you very soon.

I have terrible morning anxiety and depression.

When I wake up I just feel like I don't want to be alive, have the most awful thoughts and just feel like there is no point to anything. But once I am up I feel much better.

I assume it is because your brain chemistry is altered during sleep and your blood sugar drops.

Even though I am well now, this is the one thing that still happens to me - I usually always wake up feeling anxious.

I'm going through a medication change. My previous meds were very good but had awkward side effects so I'm now into week 3 of fluoxetine start up.

I am still not fully recovered from a severe episode of depression 2 years ago and was on psych ward for 3 months. Mornings were/are always worse for me and I tend to get better through the day, and much better by evening. Yes I know only too well about pulling the duvet over your head and hibernating, and I feel so sorry for you young mums suffering with dep/anx and having young children too. I am a grandmother so can withdraw when I need to.

They told me in hospital that some people are better in the morning and get worse as the day goes by and for others it's the opposite (they told me a name for it but I can't remember) I have a friend who is really bad with anxiety in the morning - she is better in the afternoon and not good in the evening either. I hate hate mental illness - it is shite and plays tricks on us just to make things worse. Hope your new meds work for you.

Really bad morning today. Didn't sleep much as I'm scared of how I feel in the morning. I just want it all to stop and for the prozac to start working. I have had to take lorazapam in I bid to calm down and get back to sleep

I am sorry you have had a bad morning Gruffalo. Medication changes are a pain aren't they! My citalopram stopped working for my anxiety and OCD recently and I am been put on Clomipramine. I have never been on a tricyclic before and it is taking so long to work. I hate seeing my children suffer and feel so guilty about it. I have had to give up so many things in my life in the last few months because I was ill and now that I am abit better I am left with the aftermath of cancelled clients (I am self employed), cancelled social life and trying to start rebuilding my life again for the umpteenth time in my life. I agree NanaNina, it is shite. I try to be philosophical about it all but it always seems that just as I eventually rebuild my life and start to get somewhere I go downhill again.

Thinking of you Gruffalo. Hope the prozac starts to work soon. xxx

thanks ninanana and colinfirthsgirth for you wise words and support. Im hoping my prozac starts to kick in soon as I cant go on like this much longer. I just feel like my life is on hold until this crisis is over. Why do meds stop working? why do I need them to function? I look at other people walking along with their kids with out a care in the world whilst im doing my best to pretend im not breaking inside

sorry guys, just realised what self-indulgent "poor me" crap i have just written!

Mornings are awful for me as well in fact I'm reguarly not up before mid afternoon now tend to have no get up and go majority of the time until 4/5 o'clock then have lots of energy I often think its the meds I'm on but not sure maybe its just an excuse.

Gruffalo - please don't ever apologise for what you have written. You are amongst people who fully support you and know some of what you are going through and feeling.

I know only too well that people with mental healh issues have to spend a great deal of time pretending to other people that they are fine or feel that they can't tell people what is truly going on inside. The great thing about forums like this is that you can talk/write freely and know that there is someone else reading that does understand.

I feel alot of what you have just described and I am sure many others do too - the feeling of life being on hold, wondering why life is so bloody hard for us whilst other peoples lives seem to be less of an ordeal and the breaking apart inside bit.

Did your anxiety get worse after starting prozac? The reason I am asking is because SSRI's can make you more agitated. I had to be taken of Prozac after a week as it made me worse. However, it could just be a side effect that will wear off. If you don't think this maybe the case then I am sure that the prozac will start working soon, if it doesn't then go back to the Doctor and explain again how you feel.

I know things are so desperately hard for you at the moment but things will improve and life will get easier.

Hi, I am sure a lot of you suffer much more than I do by the sound of it, but I can empathise to some degree.

My natural state in the morning isn't usually a happy one, my DH says there is no talking to me until lunchtime! Sometimes I do lie in bed feeling anxious and fed up, the cause is thinking thing likes ' ok, what sort of crap is the day going to throw at me today?' what sort of worries, arguments, problems etc or I'll be thinking about all the boring housework that's lying ahead that I am sick of. I don't think this awful dull weather has helped this year, every weekend I seem to look out at grey skies, the occasssional blue one would be nice!

I hope me going on here hasn't made anyone feel MORE fed up, sorry.

Gruffalo as others have said - don't think you are being self indulgent or feel the need to apologise to posters on this thread. As CFG says, this is a place where we can tell it how it is.

When I am having bad days I hate to see people talking and laughing normally and I'm not apologising. OK I do know there are probably thousands of people worse off than me (all the young mums struggling with kids as well as depression for a start) but when you feel so bad and you need to cry every couple of hours tis very hard.

thanks for all the kind words girls. Besides the fact that I have lost alot of weight no one except very close friends and family know what im going through, Ive become a good actress.

My symptoms are caused by the withdraw of paroxetine and the start up of prozac, all which fuel my anxiety. I was worse than this at the beginning of the change over and have now come to a bit of a stale mate, have had a few suicidal thoughts which the gp is aware of but I know Im ok as I havent planned anything just had the "I want it to stop, everyone would be better off without me" scenarios going through my head.

Im going to give prozac a few more weeks, I feel I owe it to myself as SSRI's have worked great for me in the past. Hopefully my 2 dc's (under the age of 3) havent noticed too much, Mothers guilt! there is nothing quite like it!

Yet another bad morning. Bad physical anxiety symptoms. A massive panic attack and suicidal thoughts. Oh the joys! Wish my brain could just turn off and shut up and that the Prozac would start doing its fuckng job!

Oh Gruffalo so sorry to hear that you had another crap morning. I think you said that the paroxetine worked very well but had "awkward side effects" - can you say what they were - if it worked well, I am wondering if putting up with the side effects would be better than trying to get used to Prozac. The thing is as I'm sure you know, it's all trial and error with ADs and I think you can feel much worse when you first start meds.

Would you consider going back to paroxetine (even with awkward side effects) if the Proza doesn't give you som relief soon. Do you feel better as the day wears on..........mental illness is just the worst torment that can be I think...........sending warm wishes and understanding.........NNx

the side effects from paroxetine now seem so stupid and insignificant compared to what Im going through now, It was reduced libido and difficulty achieving orgasm, It laughable because right now nothing could be further from my mind!

I think I owe it to myself to try 6 weeks on prozac (im entering week 4). As if I go back all of this will have been for nothing. If it doesnt work then I have come to terms with the fact I will need to go back onto paroxetine.

Thanks for the sympathy NanaNina it is very much appreciated xxx

I had a feeling what you meant by "awkward side effects" but as you say nothing could be further from your mind now. Yes I think you probably do need to give yourself 6 weeks on Prozac and if no joy, then if it were me I'd be back on the paroxetine asap........and then of course that might take a while to get you back where you were, cus your brain will have to re-adjust to another change of drug.

Are there not other ways that you can increase your libido (of course I am 68 and haven't had sex - nor do I want it!) for about 10 years, but it's different when you are young.

No problem about sympathising Gruffalo. This MH thread on MN has got me through many a dark hour and still does when I get the ba days. I've decided my life is like a game of snakes and ladders, I go up the ladders and then down the snakes, and on it goes - you don't have to throw a 6 to start though!!

Yep mornings are rubbish. The day head seems so long and empty, even when it isn't. Sat on my bed knowing I have to get up and dressed when really I want to crawl back in and stay there.

The constant battle is very boring and tiring. Your not alone

I'm in a really bad place right now. I just want to go to sleep and not wake up. Dh has taken the day off work to look after the dcs, whilst I weep in the bedroom

Look love I know exactly how this feels, but you appear to be getting worse on the drug change, though this can happen before you reap the benefits. Oh god I know so well the feeling of wanting to go to sleep and not wake up or the nights and nights I have hoped for a heart attack in the night, and still do when the days from hell descend upon me.

If I have it right this week will be the 4th week on Prozac, and you are getting worse. Do you have a system at the GPs that you can phone in and ask for a GP to telephone you. We do but you have to phone before 11. I think you need to see the same GP if you can sometime this week. Also I think you need to ask for support from your Community Mental Health Team, and this can be arranged by your GP, or I think but am not sure you can refer yourself. Ask your DH to look into this for you today. The CMHT is staffed by social workers experienced in mental health and Community psychiatric nurses (CPNs) who can visit at home. Think your DH should get on the case and phone the surgery and explain the position, and get an appt. It really does sound like Prozac is not suiting you.

I won't say "hang on in there" (well I've said it) because that's what everyone says when you are in this state, but there is no option really. Hopefully you will lift a little as the day goes by. Have you got any other support from family or friends who could look after the children while you are so bad. What is your H's job - is there any chance of him taking more time off (even if it as to be unpaid leave)

Sending you lots of hugs and knowing SO WELL the awful bleak thoughts that are overwhelming you. However hard as it is, don't lose sight of the fact that this will pass and if you have to go back on the drug that suits you so be it and to hell with the lost libido!! NNxx

Post again and let me know how you are.

Hi Gruffalo, this could have been me writing this 10 years ago, I really do think the drug change is not working out for you at all. With regard to the side effects on libido I don't think Prozac will be any better than any other SSRI either, sadly in my experience they were all the same. I think NanaNina's advice is really sensible. I would also seriously think about going back to paroxetine, and insist on the liquid, stabilize yourself, and with the liquid you can leave the door open to taper off it really really slowly. The libido issue was hugely important to me so I know how you feel but it's more important at the moment to get yourself stable and well again. For what it's worth, when I started a taper off liquid my libido came back quite quickly into my taper.

Hi gruffalo Ive replied to your PM but just thought id check here too.

Hope things improved a bit today.
Try not to give yourself too hard a time whatever you decide to do. Quite a few of us have been on a bit of a medication roller coaster. As i mentioned to you I did stay on the prozac in the end although it did take a very long time for me to settle on it. But it didnt actually help in the end because when i reduced slowly off the prozac i had the same withdrawal problems as with seroxat (paroxetine).
I know you are doing this for other reason (to reduce side effects but rather than to get off ) but as other have said the SE tend to reduce significantly when you get onto lower doses so if you do go back to the seroxat that may be an option for you.