- Username
- happiness._.123
- Date posted
- 33w ago
Why I have this thing
My anxiety is worse in morning but gets better at night and I feel lively and if I sleep in afternoon and when I wake up I am the most anxious person and feel like crying why so?
My anxiety is worse in morning but gets better at night and I feel lively and if I sleep in afternoon and when I wake up I am the most anxious person and feel like crying why so?
Same! I think the first 30 mins after waking is so hard, then after that it seems to get easier.
Me too! You're not alone with this struggle. It's really frustrating. I recently wrote something about how my OCD thoughts feel like a free alarm clock. When my OCD is really bad, I wake up with racing thoughts that really bring down my mood. I think that the distractions that come about during the day, like school, work, interactions with friends, or tasks like cooking, cleaning, studying, running errands, etc. can definitely dampen the hold that OCD has. It's a lot harder to function with OCD thoughts, so our brain silences them in order to get things done. Of course, these things aren't always fool proof, and OCD seems to have a way to creep back into consciousness regardless of attempts to silence it. I think integrating a mindfulness practice into your morning routine could be helpful? I know people always say blah blah be mindful blah, but what does that really mean? Maybe for you it's taking time to breathe and focus on how that feels for five minutes. Just five minutes. Focus on how the breath travels from your nose/ mouth, down your windpipe, into your lungs. Feel your belly expand, feel your heartrate changing as you inhale and exhale, maybe count the breath. Just focus on that, or something else, like a body scan. Really try to feel your body. Start with your toes, try to feel the joints, how your muscles feel, the sensations in your stomach, etc. I find that this practice to be helpful because I am intentionally redirecting my thoughts to something tangible. I like giving my mind that break, rest from trying to protect me. OCD, for me, seems like almost a coping mechanism. A lot of my obsessions and compulsions have the root purpose of accquainting me with my deepest fears so intimately that I feel a sense of control over the things I cannot change. Appreciate the work it's trying to do, but also recognize that it's not helpful when it's causing distress, like making you want to or making you cry in the mornings. If mindfulness is not your thing, maybe develop a morning routine that you truly enjoy. For me, this tends to look like waking up, cuddling with my cat for 10-20 minutes, taking my prescribed ritalin, drinking a glass of water, opening a celsius, turning on a podcast (typically the Daily), and then getting ready for the day. I love staying occupied on my makeup and hair while focusing on interesting news stories. In the past it has been waking up, washing my face, drinking a hot cup of tea, getting ready, eating my breakfast by the window, listening to a podcast, and then doing the dishes. Having a set routine that is engaging and distracting from rumination is helpful. I wish you the best of luck with your OCD thoughts.
Thanks I am a teenager and I didn't have any treatment for my OCD yet should I go for it and anti-anxiety medications will affect me in any way? Like if my therapist prescribed me that?
@happiness._.123 - Hey! This is a consideration you should talk through with a therapist and/or a doctor for sure. What I take, Ritalin, is a stimulant for ADHD. I've found it to be helpful for my ruminatory thoughts, but some people experience the opposite effect since it is a stimulant. In the past I've taken Lexapro after talking it through with my therapist and my doctor. For a while it was incredibly helpful! My sister, who also struggles with OCD, told me that medication can give you space from your thoughts where you're far away enough from them to reflect and create coping skills. This can be really hard when you're in the thick of it. My doctor told me that if Lexapro was working for me it would feel like fog getting cleaned off of glasses, allowing me to see things with more clarity. A sign it worked for me was that it was far less often that I woke up with racing thoughts. If I did, I was able to notice they were there, but get on with my mornings on most occassions. Or, if I began to feel triggered, instead of spiraling, I could reframe my thoughts. An example: my bf and I worked together at a dog boarding facility. One morning he wasn't helping me at all, was moderately ignoring me, and it really hurt my feelings. I got really mad and my starts started racing to other OCD related feelings of mine (my OCD tends to be relationship/ sexual OCD). I then stepped back and thought, "Well, he didn't get much sleep last night. Maybe being at work today is really hard for him. Although this behavior would be unnacceptable and frustrating if it was regular, normally he helps out a ton. Today he needs space, and while that feels hurtful, is understandable." For me, this thinking was unprecedented. It felt so good to be clear headed. I stopped taking Lexapro because I didn't enjoy some of the side effects. I decided not to take other medications because I wanted to explore OCD management with the help of a therapist, not medication. I didn't want to become "reliant" on it. For some people, it is not reliance, it is a medication that makes functioning SO MUCH EASIER. Consider the side effects, your life right now, what you hope to gain from medication, and how long you want to take medication. Also, medications have been shown to be incredibly helpful initially, but there effectiveness declines after a few months if you aren't also in therapy. Medications are most beneficial if used in tandem with seeing a therapist. If you decide medication is right for you, don't make the mistake I made and quit therapy! I stopped seeing my therapist a month after I started Lexapro because I felt so great. Then it stopped being as effective, I got lazy with how frequently I took it, and it loss its efficiency. Medications can be a great tool in managing OCD. Don't be afraid to try them! Before I tried Lexapro, I had doubts as to whether or not my OCD was "bad enough." If you're struggling, you deserve to receive help. Medication is a huge help. Cheers!
@happiness._.123 - Side effects that can come with medication, in my experience: First week, headaches, nausea, diarrhea, but already noticeable improvement in my obsessions and compulsions. Second week, headaches, nausea and diarreha subside a bit, and more improvement in OCD. Third week, bad side effects should be gone. OCD feeling more and more manageable. After that, the OCD continued to be managed for a while, but then I started school again (I began taking Lexapro over summer break) and the stress of that made my OCD return with a vengeance. I also was not in therapy anymore, my routine changed, my classes were new, I was living in a new apartment, blah blah... it was a lot! And it is also normal! Take into account life changes if your OCD gets worse despite medication and/or therapy. Over time, I had some sexual side effects that really impacted my ability to enjoy intimacy with my boyfriend. Of those, delayed orgasm and decreased feeling in my genital region, both which made me feel really self-conscious whenever my boyfriend and I were intimate, which made it really unenjoyable for me, thus for him. He was really understanding, though, and anyone should be if you're experiencing these side effects. For me, my intimate relationship with my partner is of paramount importance, and I did not find the benefits of the medication to be outweighing the negatives of the side effects. That's ultimately why I decided to stop. Keep in mind, not everyone has these side effects! I had a friend who experienced them, but they went away after taking the medication for a few months. Don't stop cold turkey. It sucks. Taper over a month time period with the guidance of your doctor.
I’m the same way, mornings are the worst but by evening I am feeling like myself again. It sometimes makes me not want to go to bed because I know that if I sleep at all I’ll wake up with intense anxiety. I’m sorry to hear this is happening to you too, it’s really not a good feeling!
Omg, I can’t believe I’m saying this but this used to be me. I thought I’d struggle with this forever, but your post made me realize how much I’ve healed. Work with your therapist, because they’ll be able to give you customized advice. Try doing Breathwrk when you wake up, and incorporate a morning stretch into your routine. Starting the day on a calm note helps a lot in the long run. It’s a different journey for everyone, but I hope that you’ll find relief from your symptoms!!🤍
I am wondering if this is just me. I have been having intense anxiety in the morning that last for the first part of the day. Slowly throughout the day the anxiety lifts until by the evening I am feeling pretty much like myself again.
I know this may seem silly, but I'm afraid to go to sleep, because I know that when I wake up I'll feel terribly anxious. It happens each morning. I feel awful from the moment I wake up until like 4 pm, and on the mean while, I can only be on freeze mode, scrolling on my phone, trying to make the ugly feeling go away. And by the time night time arrives, I feel a little more stable, but regret that I didn't more during the day other than suffering and procrastinating. Has anyone ever dealt with this? If so, do you do something to feel better?
I've discovered recently that around a few hours after waking up my OCD and anxiety flares up and even when I'm "done" with a compulsion, it just keeps going regardless, because my brain is active and goes back to the thought and keeps adding. The different thoughts are spread out through different hours of the day, but in the morning I can resist, then more in the afternoon it's like I don't have the ability to resist anymore and the anxiety takes over, even if I'm out doing things. It always calms down when it's the next day in the early hours of the morning, the time I also feel the happiest or calmest too. If I "finish" a compulsion or ritual, which is a compulsion, or tell myself this is the time to stop, and wait around 1-3 hours the feeling wears off, but i still get scared I'll do it again which most times i don't do because the anxiety leaves, only at night tho when my brain gets tired. I don't go out a lot so that's the reason I think my brain is becoming more active, and maybe a bit too active. It's become manageable and predictable but obviously still irritating.
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