# Morning Anxiety



## richtung (Apr 14, 2008)

Hi Guys,

just wanted to pick your minds.

To keep it brief: My office has relocated into 2 new office locations. Im in charge of the IT side of the move. The planning and execution of the move itself was a massive stress. The move took place over the course of the bank holiday weekend just gone. As with most things, many things did not go to plan and i just had to deal with as and when things went wrong.

Everyday in the new offices has been spent dealing with teething issues (IT wise). I admit i do get stressed with people mithering me from all directions! I do start the day with a certain dread and its starting to effect my sleep.

During the run up and of the move itself, i would find it hard to sleep as my mind was wired - thoughts racing like mad about the project. Since the move has finished, getting to sleep is a lot easier and near a pre-project state.

however, i still wake up between 4am and 5am with deep anxiety about the day, thoughts racing about the project - a lie there trying to get back to sleep but the harder i try, the more stress and anxiety i experience!
I inevitably get up and head down to make my breakfast. As soon as i sit and eat my breakfast, the anxiety, stress and racing thoughts start to calm down.

In short, i get to sleep fine but wake up very early in a anxious / stressed state.

Im hoping as the teething problems are fixed, my daily stress is reduced, the dread of coming into the office is diminished and in turn, the morning anxiety disappears.... 

Anyone experienced anything similar?

Thanks for listening / reading!

Rich


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

In the worst case scenario stress can eventually take life, either change your job or at least pay your GP a visit if you value your health.


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## DMS (May 4, 2011)

Im sorry to hear you are having a bad time of things

I suffer on and off with depression & anxieties and I can fully understand how it makes you feel. Ultimately visit you're doctor and they should help in a few ways, ie counciling or possibly medication. Not everyone wants to take medication which I understand. Talking helps a great deal for me and ive learnt the signs and strategies to help deal with problems.

Theres absolutely no shame in admitting you have anxieties etc. You have done the right thing by talking about them.

If I can help, even just by talking to a stranger then please feel free to drop me a message.

All the best :thumb:


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## Flakey (May 5, 2013)

I had general anxiety disorder and extreme anger issues and Duloxitine is working beautifully for me. Funny thing is it was prescribed to me for back pain and as a side effect it tackles anxiety very well. Worth checking with your GP.


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## ivor (Sep 24, 2008)

Try 5 htp it's available online and in health shops it shuts you down overnight ,my sister has been going through a very steasful time and was telling me about similar things she was experiencing now she's totally chilled out lol ,I use it myself occasionally 
http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/categories.asp?cid=137


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## beachy (Oct 27, 2013)

You need to see your doctor asap. I have come across this type of symptoms a few times in work. A chat with your doctor will help. you may need something for stress and anxiety for a while. As stated above stress can kill and you may have other underlying conditions such as high blood pressure. No shame in seeing a professional. Hope its sotred for you.


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## richtung (Apr 14, 2008)

Thanks for all your kind words guys.

I just want to stress that the morning anxiety has only been happening for the past 8 days or so - pretty much during the most stressful times of the move.

My theory is that once the teething problems are dealt with, my normal work routine will follow which should settle me and stop the morning anxiety.

I will give it a couple of days and see how i am - if the morning anxiety is still present, i will go and see my GP.

Thanks

Rich


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## Rundie (Oct 2, 2007)

I've had similar for about a year, things improving at work slowly and I have good and bad days now. In all my years of work I've never let anything affect me this way, it just 'creeped' up on me. 
As far as Doctors go, I don't do doctors, I know should but unless I'm in serious pain I never go to them. My way of dealing with it was drink, never been a heavy drinker but several months ago realised how close I was getting to being out of control and the thing was it made things worse. 
Reading this has made me less embarrassed to go and talk to the Docs about it so a big thanks!


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## Zetec-al (Feb 28, 2011)

I totally understand how you feel right now.

I'm in a very similar situation at the moment.

Around 5 months ago I was asked to move onto working nights. This would leave me in charge of a 80,000 square feet shop over night and 15-20 staff members. Now this may sound like a walk in the park and to be honest most of the time it is. 

Now my body obviously wasn't used to working nights so I had to get used to that, sleeping during the day blah blah blah. I would find myself waking up after about 4 hours of sleep and would worry about what I was going to walk into that night. over the last couple of months it got to the point that I could barely sleep which was affecting my work.

It got that bad that I would wake up whilst having some sort of nightmare about work.

So, what did I do to sort it out. Basically I found talking to my friends and family the best thing. If you hold all your feelings inside you it will rip you to shreds. Let it all out to someone. it will make you feel 10x better!

Oh, and I've just told work that I no longer want to be on nights, as there is no point doing something I don't enjoy.

I'm actually in the process of applying for new jobs too!

Hope things get better for you!


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## Kriminal (Jan 11, 2007)

I was there at the beginning of the year; no job, no income (not claiming), and things to have to pay for. Wondering where the next pennies are gonna come from....wondering if I'll EVER be in another job....wondering if it's all worth it (life).

The thing that got me past it was a change in circumstances - a temporary job offer showed me that I AM a recognised person; that somebody DOES believe in me; and that I have been given another chance.

So the moral of the story is : things WILL get better. Take a look at your life and ask what the one thing is that you need to change to stop you thinking, thinking, and thinking during those early hours/late hours. My presumption from what you have put will be the simple ease of all the pressure at work; for things to start coming back to 'normal' again....and trust me when I say it WILL...

...life is like an ocean: waves of anxiety will rise, but once it settles again, the tide will feel calm. :thumb:


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## Pugnut (Nov 4, 2008)

Kriminal said:


> I was there at the beginning of the year; no job, no income (not claiming), and things to have to pay for. Wondering where the next pennies are gonna come from....wondering if I'll EVER be in another job....wondering if it's all worth it (life).
> 
> The thing that got me past it was a change in circumstances - a temporary job offer showed me that I AM a recognised person; that somebody DOES believe in me; and that I have been given another chance.
> 
> ...


Nice post


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## happychap (Dec 24, 2012)

Would you describe this anxiety as your usual pattern of managing situations. At some level it sounds like a self full filling prophesy. Try to be aware of the talk in your head about what might go wrong, at this point you have a choice, continue imaging what may happen, or wait and see if it happens and deal with it then. Hope that makes sense.


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## richtung (Apr 14, 2008)

happychap said:


> Would you describe this anxiety as your usual pattern of managing situations. At some level it sounds like a self full filling prophesy. Try to be aware of the talk in your head about what might go wrong, at this point you have a choice, continue imaging what may happen, or wait and see if it happens and deal with it then. Hope that makes sense.


I am a natural worrier and in my role providing IT support, I only ever deal with things that have gone wrong - I guess this just hammers the notion into me that things that can go wrong, will!


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## Naddy37 (Oct 27, 2005)

richtung said:


> I am a natural worrier and in my role providing IT support, I only ever deal with things that have gone wrong - I guess this just hammers the notion into me that things that can go wrong, will!


Mate, I used to be like that, natural worrier, and worked 16 years in the NHS doing IT.

Got too stressed, had time off work because of it. Learnt to grow a thick skin, found another career with practically zilch stress.


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## richtung (Apr 14, 2008)

Kriminal said:


> I was there at the beginning of the year; no job, no income (not claiming), and things to have to pay for. Wondering where the next pennies are gonna come from....wondering if I'll EVER be in another job....wondering if it's all worth it (life).
> 
> The thing that got me past it was a change in circumstances - a temporary job offer showed me that I AM a recognised person; that somebody DOES believe in me; and that I have been given another chance.
> 
> ...


Thank-you for this post mate - very insightful! :thumb:

I am getting married later this year but I put all planning with the Mrs on temporary hold until this project was out of the way (im glad I made this call early on!).

I hope I don't come across as some bloke whining about the pressures of his job (I appreciate many fellow members of far more demanding jobs than mine!), Its just that I realised ive been working all the hours under constant stress for 3 weeks straight - even after getting home I wasn't switching off.

As I've mentioned, it doesn't help that I always think the worse case scenarios, that things will always go wrong! This just adds to my stress that in effect, ive created in my own head!! Also, after working at the same office for 11 years, moving to a new office has unsettled me slightly - I don't handle change well I guess!

However, with the theory that once my daily work routine returns to "normal", things will start to balance out! I just need to instigate this catalyst!

Thanks

Rich


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## craigeh123 (Dec 26, 2011)

I suffer anxiety , i tend to way over think things . I actually went through a really bad patch with it last year , pannicking over catching sick bugs . In my head i think ill get a sick bug , be off work not get paid , not pay my mortgage lose my house . Its totally irrational ! 

Even today when going to the Drs to change to them 
as a new patient i was in the waiting room feeling massively uncomfortable due to people in there are ill . Of course again irrational ! 

Best thing to do is talk it out , cbt helped me a lot .


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

I often go to bed worrying about work things, what i have to do the next day and so on.

Went through a similar thing with our office move last year, trying to get everything done, telephones, computers, furniture move, etc etc. waking up in the night worrying about it all and how it was all going to work.

Once we were in and things fell into place, the worrying about the move stopped. The actual move was nowhere as bad as my over active worrying mind forecast it would be!

When i worry about work now, i try to tell myself i can't do anything about sat here in bed at 1pm so try and forget about it. I sometimes email myself from my phone in bed so i have an email waiting for me at work to deal with what i was worrying about, or write to down on a bit of paper so i don't forget to deal with it in the morning. This really helps.

Not that it ever helped me, but a wise friend of mine once said _"the inevitable is going to happen, those that worry about it have a worse time getting there"_.

Hopefully as things settle down at work, so will your worries and you will sleep well.


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## seaneyb (Mar 26, 2009)

I had the same thing insane panic attacks for no reason and got worse when i was ill. I still get them now if i do a heavy gym session and sometimes before bed or staying somewhere where i haven't been before. It's all about training the mind its all going to be okay. Just relax, take it easy and it will get better over time. It's taken me 14 months to get in a stable place of mind with no help from the doctors, talk about it and you'll realise your not alone.


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## Kiashuma (May 4, 2011)

Shiny said:


> I often go to bed worrying about work things, what i have to do the next day and so on.
> 
> Went through a similar thing with our office move last year, trying to get everything done, telephones, computers, furniture move, etc etc. waking up in the night worrying about it all and how it was all going to work.
> 
> ...


Ahhh, the notepad by the bed when you wake up and remember things, glad its not only me :thumb:


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## Ge03 (Jul 19, 2011)

Having lived and worked in a similar situation I can only offer some practical advice that helped me. Assuming that your work is pro-active rather than reactive (ie. Known work and not firefighting problems all the time). 
At the end of every day set aside 15 minutes to mentally organise what you have done that day and what you need to get done the following day. Then write down the next days tasks as a prioritised task list. Leave the list on your desk ready for the next day. Then mentally your subconscious can forget about it as you have written it down. It's a simple trick but it can work.

Cheers

Geoff


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## PaulN (Jan 17, 2008)

Hopefully its a short term issue with the new move bound to happen, but again as ive said before mention it to work and your boss.... 

Do you train at the gym or do anything after work to wear you out? Im training hard and when me head hits the pillow im out cold, dont even hear text messages or anything.


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## richtung (Apr 14, 2008)

PaulN said:


> Hopefully its a short term issue with the new move bound to happen, but again as ive said before mention it to work and your boss....
> 
> Do you train at the gym or do anything after work to wear you out? Im training hard and when me head hits the pillow im out cold, dont even hear text messages or anything.


Yep, i go 3-4 times a week after work which helps calm my mind but was still finidng i would be awake way before the alarm and thats when the negative thoughts / worry / stress entered my head.


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## richtung (Apr 14, 2008)

Just an update guys.

The pressure is definitely easing off at work - im finding my feet, adjusting to the changes that comes with commuting to a new office, acclimatising to my new surroundings plus the pace has slowed right down.

Although there are a few teething problems still to be sorted, I'm not being pressured into getting them sorted yesterday.

The morning anxiety is pretty much gone - i still find myself waking up at 04:30 or so and have trouble getting back to sleep again. I guess as i find balance again, the normal sleep pattern will come back.

I've booked the Friday of the Bank holiday weekend - we're going to Anglesey for a few days - no emails / smartphones - nothing. Just me and the Mrs enjoying the relaxing pace of life there!

Rich


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## beachy (Oct 27, 2013)

Great news. Hope it helped with everyones views.


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## richtung (Apr 14, 2008)

beachy said:


> Great news. Hope it helped with everyones views.


Definitely a massive help! :thumb:

Just being able to talk about it and not be judged - especially on essentially an open forum!

Its almost made me realise as invincible I like to think I am, Im just as human as anyone else and stress effects just the same!

Rich


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## Grommit (May 3, 2011)

A couple of things to add, that hasnt been mentioned.

What is your diet like? Do you drink energy drinks and lots of coffee?

Your cortisol levels may be all screwed up, and instead of having a steady stream of it, you are spiking in the morning......this can give you anxiety as too much cortisol, is just like pure adreniline, only your body can't get rid of it fast enough. Fight or flight type stuff.

Glad things are improving sir, but worth considering your lifestyle. x


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## organisys (Jan 3, 2012)

Just to add, as a close family member suffers...

1. Notepad by the bed is essential.
2. No Caffine or Electronic devices in the evening / bed time
3. Black out Curtains or an eye mask. (morning waking maybe due to dawn?)
4. Ear plugs
5. Talking - preferably with an expert. The NHS does have some good services in this area.


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## bigfoot007 (May 12, 2013)

I used these :
http://www.nottinghamshirehealthcare.nhs.uk/our-services/local-services/lets-talk-wellbeing/


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