Dealing With Chronic Anxiety Causing Wakefulness

[Silverbirch]

Apologies in advance. I know I have written about this in previous posts, and wondering if anyone can make suggestions. Over more than the last 12 months, I've had a lot of stress in relation to work. I've taken a lot of steps to rectify my work situation (and consequent financial situation). It's going to be at least a few months until everything is sorted out. In the meantime, I would like to be able to deal with the chronic anxiety caused by this. Most mornings, I will wake between 2 and 5am with this terrible anxious feeling, especially in my stomach. I'm sure it's related to the instability of work and it's financial effect on me.

 

I have decided that I don't want to leave my present job, and have taken steps for it to work better for me. The organisation has gone through a major restructure which has caused a lot of problems in relation to allocating hours, but eventually this will be sorted out. I'm also in the processes of re-signing an employment contract which will bring more job stability Like I said though, all of this is taking time. I kick myself for having moved into a temporary position over a year ago within the same organisation. It was a poor choice as I gave up my old job to do so and of course, somebody moved into my old job. When the temporary job finished, I decided to go work for them on a casual basis as I was promised there would be a lot of work for me, but then bang, with this restructure, that fell apart and a lot of staff left.

 

I'm about to sign for a significant amount of hours and will still need to take casual work with them until I can get full permanent hours so I have to basically wait for someone to leave to get my hours up. I do know at least one person who is talking about leaving in August.

 

I just want to know how the heck to deal with this anxiety which is awful. I started to take an anti-depressant and only took it for a few days as it gave me nausea and headache. I just want to know if anyone can recommend specific self-talk or meditations or anything which might help me get a full nights sleep and not wake up feeling like this. Thanks again.

[Firiel]

I'm going to watch this thread... I have this problem too. I've used melatonin to fall asleep, but it doesn't help me not wake up in the middle of the night. Something that I've considered (but haven't actually tried) is setting an alarm for the middle of the night (a bit before you usually wake up with anxiety) and taking melatonin then so it will help knock you out during the time of night you usually wake up... but like I said, I've never tried it.

[michelemybell]

Silverbirch, I know every job has some kind of stress, but if you're at the point where you have physical ailments and you have to resort to taking medication, really take a look at the job and if you really want to stay there. I'm in a high-profile and often challenging job that brings on normal kinds of stress/anxiety that makes me do a better job. I've had other jobs where there was so much stress and drama and I wasn't really happy what I was doing, so I would get horrible migraines and other symptoms that weren't too pleasant. I was going to resort to taking medication, but then realized that I just needed to find a new job.

Other than that, you might want to try getting massages, taking yoga or doing other types of exercise. Maybe take a hot bath or shower before bed to calm you down. And whatever you do, don't drink caffeinated drinks before bedtime. That makes anxiety and insomnia so much worse!

[Silverbirch]

Hi Firiel and Michelle,

I have given a lot of thought about whether to stay or not, and at least for now, I will stay. It isn't the work which is stressing me, it's been the mess of the organisation due to the restructure, and this is slowly improving. Right now, I can't bear the thought of starting again, and with what I've heard and my own experience of other organisations, it is likely to be similar due to government funding cuts. I feel too old to go to another field and I put so much effort into this.

 

I cut back a lot on the caffeine and last night, I had porridge before going to bed as oats seem to always help my with stomach probs. It did seem improved. My dog woke me in the middle of the night. The anxiety was there this morning, but definitely not so bad.

[Silverbirch]

Just thought I'd pop in to say that last night I went a lot better. I have greatly reduced my caffeine intake.