Waking Up with Anxiety. Why Can't I Just Get Out of Bed?

I've had poorly medically treated depression for almost 3 years. And since about 1 month ago, I have come down with anxiety as well. Thank you for finding me on Twitter. Though I don't follow much on Twitter (I find it all just TMI and not enough time), I did manage to find this one tweet you sent with a link to this, your article. Thanks for caring about yourself and the rest of the world enough to put yourself out here in such an honest and vulnerable way <3

I totally understand. I'm anxious even before I wake up each morning. I actually wake up shaking from anxiety. Where I am lucky, is that I have two dogs that want to go outside and eat breakfast and they keep me busy for a bit. Next, I sit and eat breakfast. So, I do have a morning routine. This in no way makes waking up shaking any easier. It's been going on for so long that I don't panic any longer, but it still is an awful feeling.
A new thing I'm finding is having anxiety in the evening. Same as the morning, everything that needs to be done floods me and I can't relax. I'm hoping to work through this one and maybe get it to go away.

Praticing meditation can really be helpful to improve motivation to get up in the mornings.
Due to the worry aspects of anxiety we can get extremely drained. Sometimes people feel like they have done 10 months worth of hard labour with only three hours of worry.
Worrying may increase a lot during the night just before going to bed because people tend to be less busy at the time.
So this is a really good time to practice meditation. Meditation will allow increased focuss on neutral or pleasing thoughts which then allows for better sleep making you wake up felling more capable of facing the day.

Hi There,
I've been waking up anxious and dizzy for the past few days, which is new to me. I've dealt with anxiety in the past, but usually in the evening and never dizzy before.
Jon

A great way to battle morning anxiety is to work out first thing. It not only will be very good for you, but can help to ease anxiety and stress and is a great way to get the day off on the right foot.

thank you!!!!!!!!! GREAT article. And others that I couldn't stop reading, they helped me so much. Truly.
Judy

I can't focus enough to meditate and, to be honest, all that stuff makes me think about the people I know who have told me to do things like that while simultaneously telling me what a worthless person I am. I think I'm done trying.

I wake up with sickening, physically debilitating anxiety that I don't know what to do about. I feel in severe pain and I'm not even worried about anything. I have bi polar 1 disorder
Please help. Alex.

I loved your helpful hints! Could I be put
On your mailing list. Thanks

interested to know more

I struggle with ocd & depression. Waking up knowing my rituals and intrusive thoughts with be battled with,I just don't want to try. Rough times!

When I wake up in the morning I feel like I can't get. I don't want to get up. I have things I have to do but, it's so hard get. I not sure if it's anxiety. Should I have a talk with my doctor or is it just something else.

I'm so glad I saw these comments. I have had depression for years and anxiety some of the time. About 5 mos.ago had lots of issues going on. Then morning episodes of depression and anxiety started for the first time. Recently it stopped for five days in a row. Something triggered me and it's back.
On medication but hasn't changed morning
episodes. Been researching this and trying
different things but no relief. What a way to greet a new day. To all who are dealing with this, we must keep trying..we can't give up.
You have my love and compassion. I'm praying for better days ahead. Now I know I am not the only one with this problem. Thanks for sharing.
Love & Peace, Susan

Hi, I've recently gone through a harsh relationship break up and these morning anxiety episodes are really affecting my life now. I wake completely stressed and can't get out if the bed, it's gotten so bad now that I can't go to work. Please can you help? Thanks

This is the key that staying in bed is the start of my circle of depression. I keep saying to my just another 1/2 hour (am 67 so I don't have to get up for work. At present I get up at about 4 in the afternoon. I have decided after I have taken my tablet for anxiety I am going to do 3 things ie plant some cuttings in my garden, go to the shop and make a meal for myself. Hoping these ease my anxiety. If these work for a few days I am going to make my self get up a 10-11am best wishes to you all. I'll keep you informed how I go

My name is Mike. I'm 28. I still feel like I'm 18. This is the core of my anxiety. I have lived my life very slow. To me at least. I have accomplished and seen major things since graduating highschool but I feel like I'm still a teenager trapped in an adult body. I have no career but a great degree. No partner but lots of friends. No money but great credit. I'm handsome but shy. I have prolonged "growing up" for years by going to school and considering my self a student. So myself and everyone around me won't expect the next steps I should be taking. I tried to continue my eduction this fall and had a mental break down about the school debt and time to get a higher degree. The life I think I should be living by now took over my mind and gave me such great panic attacks I ha to drop out of school. I've decided to put school on hold as try to get a career with the degree I already have. I work part time because it worked around my school schedule and I never picked up more hours. So I have 4 days off a week to be trapped in my mind by myself. The mornings are extremely tough. I hit snooze until 5min before I have to take a shower and go to work. The day before yesterday was my day off and I didn't get out of bed until 4pm. I sat there with my eyes closed just trying not to worry. I see a therapist and take Prozac so I'm trying to get a handle on it. I'm scared of failure but to anxious to do anything productive. I feel broken. I feel like a need a life coach/best friend/Doctor/financial advisor/personal trainer/guru to literally hold my hand and tell me a play by of how to live and what to do. I'm scared I'm going to be alone,poor, and hated by my family and friends. I've built this façade of being everyone's golden boy and now I can't back it up. I'm am extremely luck enough to have friends and family understand I'm going through something but I feet that understanding will run out and they'll become annoyed and disappointed with me. I know it's all in my head but I can't break through it and obtain my true potential. I see I'm not alone. I'm greatful others have shared their anxiety. I wish there was a foolproof step by step way to just live a normal happy life and wake up everyday wishing my life was different.

The daily devotional book Jesus Calling by Sarah Young is really helpful.

Mikeny585.
You just made me feel sane.
Ty.

Hi my name is Lisa.
I am 48, I'd really like to pack a suitcase and disappear. I feel like hiding. I wake up every morning in a state of panic and feel like I can cope with life, my head when I'm awake is never relaxed it's always over thinking and it's exhausting. I have been on antidepressants for years. I self medicated with strong pain killers to help me sleep as much as possible to get away from my anxiety. I won't tell the doctor this in case he takes away the pain killers. Today for example is Sunday so I've managed to spend the whole day in bed with the help of the painkillers.Then there's the other me...I will find projects to do and be creative and positive and upbeat for a week or 2 then I fall back into hopelessness panic and no motivation to live my life.

Hi my name is Dave ...I'm a 56 year old male I feel the same way you guys do ...just wish I was my old self again ...but I do sleep good ...weekend is the worst for me ...and evenings ...wish somebody could fix my head

Thanks for your brave comments I don't feel so alone
I live in this small box with terrible morning dry heaves and fear
I work at home and that's getting impossible I'm afraid of loosing my friends family and boyfriend
I don't want to live but I don't want to die either
Help

I have tried to take an overdose of citizen and go inyo a corner and not be found or go to my liaison officer's work anx talk to them but couldn't even do it as i was too scared and anxious to do it and now i am still feeling the same please help me

I relate to this so much. I almost had tears in my eyes when I was done reading it. I'm very high functioning: work 2 jobs, in grad school... coming from a background of almost always having more than one job, or having a job and being in school at the same time. I really struggle to remember, do, or get motivated to do almost everything. It makes me so sad and that makes it worse. I curse myself for not being able to wake up at 6 am like everyone else, I curse myself on days when my anxiety is through the roof and it causes me to miss work or school. I can't do anything about it because since I'm not dying, then it's subjective for most people. I am in therapy (when I can afford it) and I take my medication every day yet this is still a burden for me. When I finish school this time I'm done because I feel it is one of the main contributing factors to my anxiety, and if I think getting my master's is rough, I can't imagine what getting my PhD would be like. I know this was posted a while ago, but if anyone has any stories or tips to help make getting up and doing what needs to be done easier, I am open to hearing it. Again, thank you for this post. Now I feel like I'm not the only one.

Today I lay in my bed and think about how much of a failure I am to myself. I work a $9 an hour job despite finishing a certification for work in a medical setting. Thats a long story by itself. I can't get hired anywhere that'll make me a decent living. I like my life. My boyfriend NY house my hobbies. But everyday I wake up and feel like the Job I am doing is never going to get me anywhere and I'm never going to move up. But suffering with my anxiety keeps me from achieving any other level of success above this. I just dont have the drive, besides I'm not really good at anything anyways. So me days I feel like I should commit myself. And the only reason that I dont is the fear of having everyone in my family treat me like a crazy person and losing my boyfriend and my home.

I literally have to go try to take a Xanax then lie back down while watching TV in order to even be able to get up and turn on the shower or brush my teeth. Monday's are typically the worst with physical stomach aches and racing thoughts.

i'm in highschool and i have been suffering with anxiety and panic attacks since i was in the 6th grade since i started taking medicine years ago i have been fine but recently my my anxiety has been terrible and have panic attacks everyday pretty much. i hate the feeling and o for sure hate it when i'm at school and around other people. so i have missed quite a bit of school and i just don't know what to do i can't find the motivation to get up and go anymore because i worry about having anxiety at school. Not to mention it seems like non of my teachers understand and i know for sure my friends don't understand. This article made me feel not so alone anymore. Thank you

I’m a senior in high school. With person family problems and constant anxiety in school I just want to hide in a ball every single day. When things go too well in the morning, I start panicking because there is always a balance and bad things will happen. My anxiety gets to a point where I feel like I’m fending for myself in a school filled with people who can come after me and say anything to me and beat me down. I get terrified at situations and have to think 50 steps ahead. Lately I have so much work piled on and it’s causing so much stress and my anxiety isn’t helping and nobody seems to understand when I try to vent. Everybody has their own problems so there is no point in voicing out how I feel to my friends. My parents will brush it off and call me lazy and say that I just don’t want to study. At night it’s the worst. I’m left with my thoughts and my anxiety kicks in and I start thinking of school and how I’m gonna fail all my classes and I’m not a good student and make dumb decisions. It’s awful I hate this and and hate coming to school so much. The teachers are intimidating, the staff, the students, everybody in general. It’s like being isolated and having to hide what you’re feeling 24/7. I know I’m going on and on but I haven’t been able to pour out how i’ve been feeling for so long.

It is comforting to see so many others experiencing the same type of anxiety. My typical routine is to get up take a half of lorazepam then catch up on emails etc., eat breakfast, then go back to bed when I can. When my anxiety is really bad as it is today I just want to lay there forever. Eventually I do get up and get ready. The anxiety passes as the day progresses. I am retired so unless I have an appointment there is no reson to get up. I want so badly to get out of this horrible cycle. I have begun to see a psychiatrist and start minfulness classes on Monday. I will be starting CBT as soon as they can get me in. I even feel calmer writing this post to others are experiencing the same symptoms.