Posted by jasmineneroli on March 23, 2005, at 21:53:51
In reply to Re: Anyone feel miserable, anxious on waking, only? » jasmineneroli, posted by KaraS on March 20, 2005, at 17:42:53
Kara:
Yes, I've read that Cortisol is supposed to rise in the morning and "activate" your body to get roused for the day.
Mmmmmmmm, I'm wondering if it does, and in people like us, it simply causes anxiety. I don't know if it relates to other brain chemicals. For instance, does higher cortisol levels USUALLY increase dopamine and/or NE, so drive and reward centres are activated, thus the "rise & shine" effect..that I'd like to get back :).Perhaps, for us "female" hormones are at issue. High progesterone causes lethargy, sedation and depression. Maybe it's an early am increase in Progesterone!!
I've often pondered about the HPA being a really key part of my problems. SOOOOO many things to consider always. Woiuldn't it be great if we could be hooked up to machines every night for a week, that analyzes blood/brain tissue levels of all hormones, neurohormones and neurotransmitters.
And also measures brain electrical activity, muscle activity over the entire body. Plus, skin temperature and body temperature. Oh yeah, don't forget blood sugar and electrolytes!Then in the mornig we press a big red button and get a complete print-out of what was happening physiologically and neurologically overnight. We could addd in our anecdotal observations about how we feel both re emotions/mood and energy.
What fascinating reading it would make, and how our Pdocs would hate it, when we show up with sheaves of paper to analzye! But it would be VERY helpful.
How long have you been taking the Doxepin? What dose do you take and have you noticed any side effects?? I'm glad it's helping the anxiety, because it's so wearing.
At my Pdoc's last week, he felt that the symptoms I described in my original post are due to a developing depression (my GAD does have depressive periods, for some reason i never recocgnize them coming!). I'm now on increased tryptophan for a few weeks. There's probably a seasonal aspect to this too.
And yes, I've improved a lot overall since my first GAD "blow-up" 4 years ago. So I do have to remind myself about that every now and then. But like all of us, I just wish I was WELL!
Warm wishes,
Jas
poster:jasmineneroli
thread:468963
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050322/msgs/474804.html