I have always been suffering from mild General Anxiety, Most mornings
I wake up with some degrees of anxiety, When things are rough in my
life and I am having a problem my anxiety is worse to the point that I
wake up at around two hours before the time I have to wake up with
strong heart beat, followed by dry mouth and even vomiting and exactly
the same thing happens every day as long as they problem is solved, I
feel much better during the day.

Even when there is no apparent problem in my life most mornings I wake
anxious about the future and life but I don't get as bad as vomiting
or heart beat.
I also always have very strong vivid dreams at night and most of them
very annoying every night.

As a person I am not a depressed person at all, I enjoy life and have
a laughing and smiling character and this is noticeable to most my
colleagues and friends, I am 35 years old, happily married and have a
good job and earn a decent salary.

My questions are:

1-How common is my condition and is there a specific name for it? Is
it physiological, psychological or genetic?

2- What transformation at night during sleep makes me so anxious and
negative in the morning?

3- What can I do to help and be prepared for the next time this crisis
comes along? (I have been treated by doctor with antidepressant drugs
SSRIs Remeron specifically, for 6 months and I do not believe it
helped, it was giving more more nightmares at night and it only worked
while I was on the drug). And When I get it bad (strong heart beat,
vomitting,.. what can I take or do to get relief?)

4- How can I get good night's sleep without having all those
nightmares which I believe are strongly linked to my anxiety? (No
general answers please)

I am looking for logical answers by professionals/ researchers, with
effective (medical, nutritional, hemeopathical,...) solutions (naming
drugs that are specifically for this condition are also welcome). You
can be scientific about your answers I have a good scientific, medical
background.

I thank you all maybe your answer can change the quality of my life.

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Clarification of Question by bliss30-ga on 25 Feb 2005 12:36 PST

I am 35 years old MALE (so don't get distracted by thinking about
menstrual period symptoms or homones).

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Clarification of Question by bliss30-ga on 25 Feb 2005 20:04 PST

mewtwo-ga  Thanks for commenting
In answer to your comment about post-traumatic stress I have to say
no,as far as I know I have not been involved in any traumas, actually
I had a very happy childhood with protective and loving parents, but
the first memory I have about getting this sort of anxiety that woke
me up in morning, was when I was at school , 2 grade and I had not
done my home work over the week end, I woke up a few hours before I
had to wake up and had these symptoms that I expaline above.
The thing that really puzzles me is that I don't really have a good
reason for why should I get these anxiety symptoms in the morning

Some of your symptoms are suggestive of post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) that is common to post-combat soldiers, abuse or rape victims,
etc.  Can you relate to any event like that in your life?

What you have is fairly common. There's all kinds of marketing BS that
takes advantage of people who suffer from anxiety ranging from pills
to videos and books working off mostly placebo effect.


Much of it, really is, all in your head. Smart people complicate their
lives by over assessing their problems and letting them build by
concentrating on them. The reaction is due to a buildup of stress.
Taking a pill to aleviate the condition does not solve what is causing
the problem.


Closely monitor your blood pressure and pulse.

In waking up, take deep breaths and hold them. Notice any pressure you
may have in your heart. Repeat this a few times. At the very least it
will make you a bit  dizzy and relax some tension.

This goes for any time you feel stressed. A few deep breaths can keep
it from culminating into vomiting or panic attack.


You could also try doing hard exercise the night before. Exercise is
very important in releasing built up emotional tension or stress. It
doesn't matter how you do it, but increasing your heart rate as high
as is possible for your age and heart condition usually is far more
efficient than the best kidney busting pill that your doctor could
give you.




Lastly, do something you enjoy. Play chess, read something funny, do
whatever it is that makes you happy, even if it seems like the most
inappropriate moment. Much of it is filling your mind with something
other than worries.

Thank you eliteskillsdotcom

What you recommended works to some extend when I have what I would
call a mild general anxiety, but the real suffering starts when there
is some challenging time in my life, like I have a very serious
deadline at work and my career depends on it and is not going as
planned, or I am expecting the result of some serious medical tests,
then I get it bad, and I noticed at that time, anything that make my
heart race like exercise triggers it and I get the whole cycle (racing
heart, light head, dry mouth, vomiting, trembling) or the hear race is
so strong that I can not really take deep breaths and perform
relaxation exercises.

Sorry then.

Usually taking deep breaths, even if it's really bad, gets me
lightheaded enough to not care about anything for a few seconds and
get my pulse back to normal.

If you can't do exercise while your stressed try exhausting yourself
though pushups, jumprope, or whatever gets your heart rate up on free
time. It can be very likely that much of your problems come from high
blood pressure while your stressed. Cardio exercise will have a good
chance of decreasing the severity of your anxiety attacks.

I still can't see pills as a good solution. It's just not healthy and
anything stronger then tylanol PM can lead to a dependency. It's the
old adage, "If it hurts, stop doing it." Taking pills to accommodate
for the stressful tasks can make your situation worse over time. Talk
with your boss as much as possible about the details of the projects.
If you can't tell him about your stress for fear of appearing a weak
employee you should do your best to have a strong sense of control
over the projects to minimize the dread time brings. If you're always
under this hellacious dread tomorrow, find another job and live poor
but happy.

There's a lot of "miracle drugs" being sold promising the world,a nd
plenty of placebo effect testemonials to back them up enough to
discredit them as flat out scams. If you've already seen a doctor
there's not much we can offer here besides sketchy anecdotal advice.
Anti-depressents usually work wonders. Haha, maybe you could ask the
college students at MIT or Harvard. College students often have the
same symtoms.

Hi eliteskillsdotcom

The problem is larger than stress at work this was just an example of
the last time I had it bad, many situations triggers it off.

I was interested in your question because of my own current anxiety
level.  It's a real battle to keep it under control.

A magnesium drink helps http://www.naturalcalm.net/what-is-natural-calm.shtml

An explanation of "how it all can be" can be found in this book
http://scncatalog.scientology.net/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?section=10252&item=50653

I used to have a "morning" problem and the cause was the electricity
generated by the mixed metals in my mouth.

Hope it all gets solved.

In reply to the above, quoting myself,

"There's a lot of "miracle drugs" being sold promising the world,a nd
plenty of placebo effect testemonials to back them up enough to
discredit them as flat out scams. If you've already seen a doctor
there's not much we can offer here besides sketchy anecdotal advice."

Hi, Bliss30.
I've had sympotms like yours, done the SSRI route and found, like you,
that the nightmares were much worse; I'd wake up disoriented and
crying, nauseous, etc., despite not having a major psychological
issue, just some stress and mild dysthymia  When I described the
"night panic" symptoms, the psychiatrist writing my prescriptions, who
soon became my personal hero for finding this solution, prescribed me
a blood-pressure medicine that I took in a very low dose at night. 
This particular medication has a known side-effect of reducing dreams
(just as the SSRIs instensify them) and, additionally, helped keep my
body temperature low during the night, which seemed to help me sleep
more restfully.  I don't want to perform a hack diagnosis or send you
off to buy internet prescriptions, but if your prescribing
psychiatrist is on the ball, a discussion of this option might be
helpful.
Best of luck.

Thank you twodogday-ga this seems a solution worth trying.

Can you please give me the Generic name of the blood pressure drug
that you used? I say generic so it is not considered advertising and
don't worry I am not asking you to prescribe this to me I just want to
mention it to my doctor and see what he thinks.

I would like to say that I suffer from generalized anxiety disorder,
as well as social anxiety disorder. The potency of the anxiety
fluxuates greatly; at times I am sweating or cant leave the house,
other times I could give a speech to a crowd and not break a sweat.

I used to have severe sleep disorders a few years back, and was sure
it was linked to my other anxiety problems. My specific problems were:
I had a hard time falling asleep due to an overactive mind, and I had
nightmares. I went to see a few different psychologists, and was
prescribed various drugs for my sleep disorders (the most effective
was trazadone HcL), but nothing really worked too well.

The way I beat the nightmares (this is what youre more interested in)
was my ability to recognize (or become aware), while in a nightmare,
that I was indeed having a nightmare. Let me clarify a bit- I would
have recurring nightmares that my entire family had turned into aliens
and were intent on doing me harm. I would wake from this dream often
in sweats and unable to fall back asleep. Eventually, I became aware,
in the dream itself- that I was dreaming. Not everyone can do this,
and I believe there is some kinda technical definition for it, but it
is worth trying to accomplish. Becoming aware within your nightmares
and dreams ddid not solve my problem- sometimes it would make it
worse. the way I beat the nightmares was by crying out for God to wake
me or save my from my predicament. Every time I prayed or cryed out
(while in total nightmare state), I was awakened very promptly. Also,
if you cannot accomplish the task of become aware while in dream
state, you can prevent further nightmares by simply praying. I find
that if I wake from a nightmare in total shock and sweating, I need
only to proay to God that he let me rest peacefully with no more
nightmares until it is time for me to wake up. This has also worked
100% of the time.

Also, if you have trouble falling asleep initially, do not lay there
for hours hoping for the best; it will only make it worse and you will
find yourself staring at your alarm clock two hours before you have to
be into work. Instead, read a book that has small text, and makes your
eyes strain. Eye strain is the #1 way to trick your body into
believing it is time for sleep.

Good luck.

zoloft