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Post-sleep anxiety?

TheAppleCore

TheAppleCore

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Joined
Jul 14, 2007
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The first thirty seconds or so after waking up from any sort of sleep, whether a quick afternoon nap or a full night's slumber, are usually incredibly paranoid and anxiety-ridden for me. It's as if my foggy and confused awakening brain automatically assumes the worst: footsteps of roommates become the sound of an approaching mortal enemy; news commentary on my alarm clock radio becomes vicious verbal attacks targeted directly at me; etc.

This has been happening as long as I can remember. It's very short-lived, and I'm totally fine when I come back to reality, but I'm just really sick of it. Advice? Empathy? Sympathy?
 
I kind of know what you mean. I can wake in a mode where the world seems malicious and hostile. Doesn't happen all that often.

Does this happen equally when you've slept a long time as opposed to shorter sleep periods? Does it get less intense or more intense for any reasons you can discern? I hope this thread or something helps you get a workable solution to this problem.
 
If I manage to get an uninterrupted ten hours of sleep, and I wake up simply because I've gotten all the sleep I need, then I'm usually fine. But this is really difficult, because at about T + 6/7 hours, the slightest noise will instantly jar me awake.

Right now, the only solution that I'm aware of is to simply allow myself to get a good ten or eleven hours of sleep per night (I tend to sleep a lot) by scheduling my bedtime early enough that by the time I wake up, my roommates will still be asleep.

Easier said than done for such a night-owl as myself.
 
Great. So I actually muster up the willpower to get out of bed early yesterday morning so that I could go to bed early and get on this new schedule, in hopes of maybe preventing myself from having a stroke by the time I'm friggin' 30. By some miracle, I actually fall asleep -- only to have my fire alarm go off in the middle of the night and damn near send me into a panic attack. :| :(

Grr... can't seem to win here.
 
I often wake up being concerned with a lot of problems. Upon a few minuets of being awake, I realize the imagined issues are from my dreams, any that everything is actually fine. So yes, I can kind of relate to what you're saying.
 
Fuck. Seems like it's only getting worse. I am now waking up with anxiety even in the dead silence of night, multiple times per night.

I haven't used ANY drugs since I posted this thread. Literally not even a drop of a caffeinated beverage. Been getting to bed early too. I'm trying to live a clean lifestyle but I still feel so unhealthy every morning... :(

If this "illness" is not going to be healed naturally, then I feel the need to turn to chemical intervention. Some sort of herbal remedy at the very least. Are there any fairly safe sedative plants that will just allow me to get a full night's sleep without interruption?
 
My worst anxiety comes when I wake up in the middle of the night. whether its cuz I had a stomach ache or am dehydrated or whatever, when I wake up at like 4am or something I freak the fuck out and my heart starts racing and it usually takes awhile to calm myself back down. Mine just kinda comes and goes depending on how stressed out I am in life. I mean you could always take Valerian root or something, but you should try some relaxing and meditation or something to calm down the rest of your life before you'll be able to be calm all the time.
 
TheAppleCore said:
Fuck. Seems like it's only getting worse. I am now waking up with anxiety even in the dead silence of night, multiple times per night.

I haven't used ANY drugs since I posted this thread. Literally not even a drop of a caffeinated beverage. Been getting to bed early too. I'm trying to live a clean lifestyle but I still feel so unhealthy every morning... :(

If this "illness" is not going to be healed naturally, then I feel the need to turn to chemical intervention. Some sort of herbal remedy at the very least. Are there any fairly safe sedative plants that will just allow me to get a full night's sleep without interruption?
Click to expand...

cannabis, passionflower, skullcap, melatonin, l-theanine, gaba
 
Thanks for the suggestions.

Firefighter, the problem seems totally beyond the reaches of meditation. I can go to bed feeling completely at peace with myself, and wake up in fight-or-flight.

I did a little more research and decided that Valerian root deserved a trial, so I went and picked up some capsules.

Tonight I'm going to try combining the Valerian with some melatonin to see if I can get an interruption-free slumber.
 
I wonder if this is somehow related to sleep paralysis? Those sound like the exact feelings that I get when it happens to me. There was a month long period where it happened almost every day, it was a horrible time.

I found that sleeping on my side or stomach greatly reduced these occurrences, I havent experienced it (thank goodness) for several months now.
 
^ That's so weird -- I'm prone to sleep paralysis too, and I've also noticed that sleeping on my side or stomach helps. I have no idea how that works.

I dunno if you could call these experiences night terrors. I mean, it happens when I'm woken up by an external stimulus as well. I understood night terrors to be caused internally during sleep.


So I tried the Valerian and melatonin combo last night. I'm actually headed in the right direction. I still woke up a couple times, but my anxiety wasn't nearly as profound as it normally is. I took the minimum recommended dosage of Valerian, so I'll try doubling up.
 
My insomnia is what started my drugs problems :( tramadol addiction now and due to tolerance I need benzos or z-drugs to get me off to sleep.

Valerian and herbal remedies never did anything for me. Certain opioids do wonders for me, others make it worse.

Tramadol = Perfect sleep!
Codeine = No sleep!
Dihydrocodeine = No sleep!
Morphine = Lovely sleep!
Buprenorphine = No sleep!

I know that I've gone totally down the wrong road but now I'm so dependent on the meds to sleep it's going to take a lot to get back to normal.
 
Funny you're discussing chemical interventions. My very first question to you was going to be if you're taking any cns-depressants.

I have found that, although with (very) sporadic use, benzos and some opioids can allow you excellent sleep, IME as a recovering benzo, tramadol, and codeine addict that these substances will invariably and consistently cause panic (and muscle-pain) upon waking up, probably due to inhibition of deep-sleep. This has been mine and several others' experience. I highly discourage their chronic use for that purpose (or any other, really).
 
I am trying to discontinue, it's not easy though. However I've never experienced panic or pain upon waking up. Probably due to the long half-life of tramadol and its M1 metabolite. In fact I don't notice any signs of withdrawal until around 6pm the next day after dosing.
 
^ Sorry, my post was directed at the OP :).

But to reply to you: I have personally experienced this panic while hooked on tram. It is not early-stage withdrawal, but rather a temporary state that goes away once you've fully awakened and left the bed.

Besides sleep patterns, I'm also tempted to blame bowel-irregularity affecting all nerves attached to the bowels (which in turn affect the majority of the body).
 
^ Thanks for the info on benzos and opiates, Jamshyd. I admit I became very very tempted to start experimenting at a certain point, but I'm glad I decided against it.




I can't believe I'm saying this. But the past three evenings, I took 3 1g fish-oil caps at bedtime. And the past three mornings, I woke up with literally almost zero anxiety, which is kind of astounding considering how impenetrable this anxiety appeared. Could my odd disorder be caused by deficiency in Omega fatty acids? Or is it coincidence? I'll have to continue this little experiment.
 
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