Menopause Matters Forum

Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: Angel1964 on November 02, 2018, 07:08:31 AM

Title: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Angel1964 on November 02, 2018, 07:08:31 AM
How can I cope with morning anxiety?? I sleep pretty well as think I'm exhausted from the anxiety. I wake around 430am for a wee. Sometimes I go back off til 6am. On waking I sweat, feel like a massive phone has been put in my body on vibrate. I feel nauseous, shaky and that kicks off my anxiety, for sometimes the rest of the day. The vibrations can last til around 9pm and then I'm so tired I can't keep eyes open but fight it til around 1030pm for bed. I have noticed lately I am cold all day too.
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Dierdre on November 02, 2018, 07:27:35 AM
Have you seen your doctor about this?
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Angel1964 on November 02, 2018, 07:39:50 AM
Yes all bloods and everything ok.
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: racjen on November 02, 2018, 08:00:03 AM
Me too - sounds exactly the same. I haven't found anything that helps and it's being going on for over a year now. I wish I could suggest something Angel, but there are lots of other women on here who suffer from this and someone else might be able to suggest something that works for you.
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: marge on November 02, 2018, 08:07:09 AM
Sorry to hear you're suffering.  I, too, had the vibrations during meno and my GP told me it was low oestrogen coupled with anxiety and it would pass and it has.  Hope you're feeling better soon.
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Angel1964 on November 02, 2018, 08:18:33 AM
Do you all feel cold and shivery too all day?
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Bluebell on November 02, 2018, 08:38:36 AM

I too wake around 4.30am because of a nightsweat ... I go for a wee get back into bed then toss and turn feeling anxious, stomach churning and sometimes have to go back to the loo because of my bowels. 😬  I'm 64 and 5 years post menopausal. When will it ever be normal again.
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Angel1964 on November 02, 2018, 09:06:40 AM

I too wake around 4.30am because of a nightsweat ... I go for a wee get back into bed then toss and turn feeling anxious, stomach churning and sometimes have to go back to the loo because of my bowels. 😬  I'm 64 and 5 years post menopausal. When will it ever be normal again.

Hi Carol. I was on hrt patches Femseven Conti and I keep a diary everyday of symptoms. I noticed that I was better on the HRT so yesterday have gone back on it as since stopping it 3 weeks ago all these feelings have come back with a vengeance.  Do you feel cold and shivery with it during day? Does yours subside like mine in evening? Only to start again on waking??
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Angel1964 on November 02, 2018, 09:09:06 AM
Me too - sounds exactly the same. I haven't found anything that helps and it's being going on for over a year now. I wish I could suggest something Angel, but there are lots of other women on here who suffer from this and someone else might be able to suggest something that works for you.

Hi racjen I know it's awful and exhausting. Let's hope someone has a solution as I'm exhausted from all this adrenaline xx
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Dotty on November 02, 2018, 09:21:59 AM
Have you tried Oestrogel? X
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Angel1964 on November 02, 2018, 09:42:01 AM
Have you tried Oestrogel? X

No and GP has never suggested it? Is it a cream? I only know of patches or tablets. Started my Femseven Conti patches again yesterday x
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: SueLW on November 02, 2018, 10:52:50 AM
The vibration, sweating and adrenaline/anxiety all sound adrenal to me and if you go onto any adrenal insufficiency groups you will be told those are symptoms.  When our oestrogen drops all sorts of issues occur with our metabolism.  Our thyroids can slow down and our poor adrenal glands try to keep everything going on their own.  They get whacked out pretty quickly by all that effort and then they go out of sync and you get all these other symptoms.  Feeling cold all day is a thyroid issue, (I suspect your thyroid blood result was higher than it should be, but no GP in the UK will even acknowledge that until you are practically bed ridden these days).  The best way to treat adrenals and give them a boost is to consume a lot of vitamin C, magnesium and a quality sea salt.  Find a food grade Vitamin C and take 1000mg 3 times a day.  Make sure you take a good quality Vitamin B complex and use sea salt either on your food or mix some with a little warm water and orange juice and drink it.  Also use magnesium every day.  Transdermal magnesium oil is a good product.  Or magnesium glyconate will not cause stomach upsets.  After that you need a routine of going to bed and getting up at the same time every day.  Before bed at night practice good sleep hygiene, no computer screens for at least 1 hour before bed (certainly don't do what I do which is stay up raging on Twitter until the early hours!  ;) ) and use lavender essential oil, either in a burner to scent the room or mix with a little carrier oil or coconut oil and rub into your wrists.

Adrenal healing takes a long time, but it can be done gently like above.  If you wake in the middle of the night and feel the anxiety coming back in, get up and apply more magnesium oil or take a tablet, take some more vitamin C and a little salt, reapply some lavender oil and go back to bed.

A few years ago I was in a right mess with adrenal issues.  I'm so much better now.  Ring your GP surgery and ask for a print out of the last test results your GP did for you and go and pick them up.  Keep them.  Look for anything that is low or high in range, especially thyroid and work to normalise those areas if they are something you can do.  I needed thyroid medication but my GP wasn't giving it to me.  So I had to get a private menopause doctor to write me the script at first.  She didn't get the dosing right by a long way, I've had to work that out for myself, but that took the pressure off my adrenal glands, as has getting to grips with HRT.

Good luck.  It's never just one thing unless we are lucky.  It's often a perfect storm.
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Ladybt28 on November 02, 2018, 11:36:31 AM
Hi Angel1964 - you will see from my other posts I have suffered terribly with the menopause(much of it not picked up by a GP and well...I didn't know anything did I - I hadn't been menopausal before!)  - and have had a real problem finding solutions.  I started peri about 45 and am now 56.  I was on prempakc until discontinued then the trouble started.  All the symptoms that yourself and racje have outlined.  My short answer on this is to say that oestrogel has been the answer for me on the oestrogen side because it is a pump gel.  You can start at one pump and work your way up to 4 pumps (according to the GP but some ladies on here use as much as 6 pumps).  Because it is flexible you can work your way up slowly and work out which symptoms disappear at what stage.  As I worked my way up I got sore boobs but that disappears after a while as your body adjusts. 

It is a gel and you pump it onto your inner thighs or upper arms in the morning (sometimes women split the dose morning and evening - you just see how it goes).

My shakes, anxiety, joint pain, waking up nauseaous, sweating panic and agrophobia have pretty much all gone now and I am on 4 pumps and just completed 2 months of a oestrogel/Utrogestan regime. I have problems with the progesterone bit - but that's another story. 

If as I said yesterday your femseven doesnt sort it and it will take at least 3 weeks for those to kick in probably - then try oestrogel.  There is no quick fix when the body gets itself so upset.

Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Taz2 on November 02, 2018, 11:50:03 AM

I too wake around 4.30am because of a nightsweat ... I go for a wee get back into bed then toss and turn feeling anxious, stomach churning and sometimes have to go back to the loo because of my bowels. 😬  I'm 64 and 5 years post menopausal. When will it ever be normal again.

Carol are you on HRT?

Taz x
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Dotty on November 02, 2018, 01:16:34 PM
Oestrogel is  a gel which you put on your shoulders / outer arms or inner thighs.  It has worked wonders for me.  I am on 4 pumps...aged 54 and 4 years post meno.

How many Femseven patches have you got? there have been reports on here about them stopping the manufacture of them and they won't be available until late 2019 x


Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: CLKD on November 02, 2018, 02:49:33 PM
It's probably cortisol, the waking up hormone. All natural! but the effects can be dreadful.  I would wake suddenly anytime after 3.0 p.m. shaking and feeling deeply afraid.  Add to that phobic anxiety and depression  :'(

Don't go paying for any blood tests.  How is your diet overall, sometimes when the body is hungry in the early hours it reacts - I have to eat every 3 hours 24/7 including in the night!
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: aspie65 on November 02, 2018, 04:16:35 PM
I agree with CKLD it is cortisol.  Keeping blood sugar levels under control is important but you may need to do more than that.  I have found a drug called pregabalin has helped me enormously (HRT wasn't enough on it's own for me).  It is safe to take long term and is well tolerated in most people.  It works by calming our parasympathetic nervous system and that will get to the root of the cortisol surge in the morning.  If you want to know more feel free to DM me.
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: CLKD on November 02, 2018, 04:21:13 PM
Tnx aspie65 - wish I had been aware of that in the 1990s  :'(. 
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Dierdre on November 02, 2018, 07:54:54 PM
Hopefully now you're back on HRT you will see an improvement but if Femseven is not enough  it sounds like there are other options you can try.  It was mentioned on other posts Femseven is low on stock so you may need to try an alternative anyway that suits your needs better.
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: CLKD on November 02, 2018, 08:43:52 PM
Hopefully this will be sorted as I remember how awful the early morning waking was  :'(
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Angel1964 on November 03, 2018, 10:51:53 AM
Thanks again Ladies. I had a better day yesterday. Went to work which has been very hit and miss since June. Patch is in place and will change Thursday.  Bad day today. My mind won't stop worrying that something else is wrong with me.  Hospital on Monday said all is fine. ECG was fine they listened to heart and lungs. All bloods fine at obs.BP was through the roof initially but then dropped to 143/85 and they said not concerned.  Told me I had gastritis and it's common with menopause.  I done some housework today and I felt breathless, heart pumping so that has made me panic again!  I don't exercise as I'm so worn out and anxiety kicks in  if I have to go in shops or think about getting  on a bus etc. At doctors on Thursday she had no concerns either.  My partner does not understand why I feel so ill and anxious each day which doesn't help as I try and hide it all. He says there's nothing wrong as hospital on several occasions have told me that.
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: BlueButterfly on November 03, 2018, 12:43:16 PM
Definitely print out the Advice for husbands and give it to your partner to read. We really do feel absolutely awful during this time.
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: CLKD on November 03, 2018, 01:25:25 PM
You tell us why you don't believe the medics?  Some feel that it would be better to have 'something' that justifies how they are feeling so that they can be treated.  After I finished cancer treatment I felt bereft as the appts. stopped  ::) and it took some adjusting to.

I found keeping a list of things to do, written each evening, helped as I could see what I had actually achieved the next day.
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Bluebell on November 03, 2018, 07:57:55 PM


No Taz2 I'm not on HRT. I tried it last year but it gave me insomnia and even more anxiety.
I've tried taking magnesium etc. But I think I just have to ride it out. I'm five years post menopause so surely it's coming to an end. 😬
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Taz2 on November 04, 2018, 08:38:44 PM
I just wondered as HRT stopped that morning sweat/anxiety for me. Such a horrible way to start each day. Although you are post meno the oestrogen level continues to drop and, for me at least, it was the low oestrogen causing the problem. Which types of HRT did you try?

Taz x
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: CLKD on November 05, 2018, 11:30:23 AM
No need to 'ride it out' unless symptoms are tolerable  ;)
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Angel1964 on November 05, 2018, 11:38:36 AM
Had a good day Saturday. Woke up the same but it eased during day. Sunday horrendous awake at 5am fast heart all day. And again last night awake at 4 this morning, sweating, nauseous, vibrating, it's still going on now at work. Been on the patches since Thursday.
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: CLKD on November 05, 2018, 11:44:56 AM
Would you consider a beta-blocka.  I take Propranolol at night to ease those early morning anxiety surges.
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Angel1964 on November 05, 2018, 11:51:26 AM
Would you consider a beta-blocka.  I take Propranolol at night to ease those early morning anxiety surges.

I have a real bad phobia of tablets due to having anaphylactic shock years ago :(
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: SueLW on November 05, 2018, 12:06:49 PM
I did post quite a detailed response about this on page 1.  It tells you how to start trying to help yourself out of adrenal cortisol issues.  Please do go and read it and put the simple things into action.  It will help in time.  I would ask your GP for a morning cortisol test just to rule out serious adrenal issues, but you can start the recovery steps before that is done anyway.
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: CLKD on November 05, 2018, 01:25:28 PM
Have a chat with your local Pharmacist about the pros and cons and risks of anaphylactic shock.  Some are senstive to the fillers or packaging and not the active ingredient in medications.  Then you will be informed.  Also, make sure that you have supper 40 mins. B4 bed time as low blood sugar can cause anxiety surges in the early hours.  I know.  I had 'em  :'(
Title: Re: Morning Anxiety
Post by: Ladybt28 on November 05, 2018, 01:39:02 PM
Stick with the patches Angel - I would say you are unlikely to get an immediate response - it will be really up and down - one good day - 2 where it's all back again.  6 weeks of more struggling is likely before you will really know if anything is settling and then it will sort of creep up on you.  Stick with it however hard because if you give up, you will never know if it settles.