• 💖 [Donate To Keep MyPTSD Online] 💖 Every contribution, no matter how small, fuels our mission and helps us continue to provide peer-to-peer services. Your generosity keeps us independent and available freely to the world. MyPTSD closes if we can't reach our annual goal.

Panic attack when waking up every morning

Status
Not open for further replies.

Ruffruff

New Here
Every morning when I wake up I have panic, if I have a dream that’s disturbing I don’t remember or recall it. Then I wake up with my heart racing, panicking and I can’t calm down no matter how much yoga, meditation I do. I started buspar as a medication but it hasn’t kicked in yet. I just can’t get my activation to go away.

What can I do?
 
hello ruffruff. welcome to the forum.

sounds like what i call, "hyper-alert wakenings." i'm sure there is a more clinical term for the phenom, but, by whatever name, it's a gnarly way to start a day. i am unspeakably grateful to announce that it has been a while since i've had to deal with this on a routine basis. anxiety remains a part of my morning ritual, but a ritual of plying anxiety management tools helps me keep my anxiety levels manageable.

for me, a vigorous workout helps me purge those anxiety hormones far more effectively than the more passive tools, such as yoga and meditation. the more passive tools work better for maintenance than for crisis intervention. those hyper-alert awakenings qualify as a mini-crisis inside my own skin.

but that is me and every case is unique. . .

steadying support while you find what works for you. welcome aboard. you are not alone.
 
I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I’ve always called it “morning doom”. I remember very few dreams/nightmares so it was hard for me to tie the panic to anything…now I realize it must be something getting triggered in my trauma history…or possible nightmares that I just can’t remember. I’ve been struggling with it for many years and it tends to ebb and flow in its aggressiveness and frequency. It’s hard to shake and I often feel like I’m carrying it around all day. The thing that helps me the most, like arfie, is getting my body moving vigorously. Humming loudly (or letting out some loud grunts) also helps. These days I try to honor the feeling, do a couple coping skills, and the get up and moving in my routine (and it can be really really hard). I’m sorry you are dealing with this…I know how badly it sucks.
 
I sleep well. The Trouble comes when I wake up. I'm immediately in panic-attack-lite ... "emotional flashback" if we go Walker (guess we should). Fed-up breathing (holding or hyperventilating). NSSI-lite... Squirming, fingernails meet arms, legs, feet, Inner critic absolutely beating the s out of me. Yeah. Doom grunting.

The joyous happy singing of the birds? Give me a f*cking shot gun.

Maybe you know the deal. Seems like its common on this site?

@Georgianne12
 
I sleep well. The Trouble comes when I wake up. I'm immediately in panic-attack-lite ... "emotional flashback" if we go Walker (guess we should). Fed-up breathing (holding or hyperventilating). NSSI-lite... Squirming, fingernails meet arms, legs, feet, Inner critic absolutely beating the s out of me. Yeah. Doom grunting.

The joyous happy singing of the birds? Give me a f*cking shot gun.

Maybe you know the deal. Seems like its common on this site?

@Georgianne12
Hi, I want to let you know that I sincerely appreciate you. I, however, am a little overwhelmed by the site, my reaction to some other folks, etc.... and I am leaving. I read a womans account of her childhood and could not leave the house. Not something I can do right now. Perhaps I will try in the future when I am more stable. Thank you for your suggestions. Stay strong and funny. I think laughter is a good coping starter. Many hugs. Thank you again for Walker, Rosenburg, and the Drawing on the Right.... it is the most thoughtful help I have received.

Take care,
G
 
Hi, I want to let you know that I sincerely appreciate you. I, however, am a little overwhelmed by the site, my reaction to some other folks, etc.... and I am leaving. I read a womans account of her childhood and could not leave the house. Not something I can do right now. Perhaps I will try in the future when I am more stable. Thank you for your suggestions. Stay strong and funny. I think laughter is a good coping starter. Many hugs. Thank you again for Walker, Rosenburg, and the Drawing on the Right.... it is the most thoughtful help I have received.

Take care,
G
Ive read MANY posts like this. Please read Anthony's exposure therapy thread before you go!!!
 
Every morning when I wake up I have panic, if I have a dream that’s disturbing I don’t remember or recall it. Then I wake up with my heart racing, panicking and I can’t calm down no matter how much yoga, meditation I do. I started buspar as a medication but it hasn’t kicked in yet. I just can’t get my activation to go away.

What can I do?
I also - every morning - wake to this. It may sound trivial but i must use the word
agonizing. Im being tortured, by myself or something else. Any thoughts I have are gasoline on a fire. Trying to return to sleep, I am begging god for mercy. I would prefer death.

Maybe we could find a way to support each other.
 
I also - every morning - wake to this. It may sound trivial but i must use the word
agonizing. Im being tortured, by myself or something else. Any thoughts I have are gasoline on a fire. Trying to return to sleep, I am begging god for mercy. I would prefer death.

Maybe we could find a way to support each other.
out of bed (miraculous, but see #3 below)
made / eaten smoothie
taken a bike ride (yes... really miraculous, but I've agreed to meet a buddy for the ride. There is no escape 😟😆)
talked with people at his shop (I used to work there - blow up with boss. Asperger's + empath = meh, not ideal)
showered
idk-wtf - not enough for sure
typing
... not a bad day at all so far.

It always goes like this. By afternoon; functional. By evening; life of the party.
Diagnose THAT! 🤬
please 😐
 
routine. I have some specific things I know will get me out of my panic quickly and the more I use them the more automatic they become. I almost feel like it is a shift change that happens in my head (morning Ralph, morning Fred) between the night time free ranging dream state and the daytime monitored and restricted conscious state. It works for me.
If not having it happen is the goal, I have failed. If living with it and adapting is the goal, I am winning. I am Okay, after a decades long period of not being any fun to be around for the first half hour.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top