[bertieb]

I've been on 25mg zoloft for 2 weeks now and taking Ativan .5 mg once a day if I need too. My anxiety had peaked this month and I've lost weight so I went on the meds again. I had a good day yesterday, took a walk with my dog and husband, my daughter cooked dinner and we had company stop by. I ate well but had coffee so I had a glass of red wine to make me sleep and went to sleep about 11:30. Sleep aids make me groggy in the am. so that is why I tried the glass of wine. I didn't have any Ativan yesterday.
I started waking up and at 5:30 I woke up with that nervous anxiety in my stomach and my arms shaking. Then I started thinking about my son who lives several states away and got myself into a panic that it was all intuition and something was going to happen to him. I do this a lot, wake up and the nerves are already there and then something to fear comes. It doesn't happen during the day to that level of panic attack. I guess I have generalized anxiety disorder and I'm really getting tired of dealing with all the stress and drama in my mind. I don't have bad dreams that I recall but a lot of my dreams are about my mom I lost a couple of years ago. I feel like there is no help for this kind of panic and I'm so alone with it when everyone else is asleep so that makes it worse I think. How do you ever release anxiety when it works on you while you are asleep even after a good day?

[jerrymichele]

I have GAD and I don't wake up scared or shaking, but I do shake when I go into a panic attack. I end up being a mess really bad. I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but I think drinking any alcohol can trigger anxiety. If it was me I would give your Dr. a call and tell he/she that I need better meds, because these meds aren't cutting it. There are meds out there that can eliminate most of the anxiety.

[healed84]

Yes, especially when I am in a bad place with my anxiety.. I wake up all worked up about things. I did this morning actually.. All it takes is one anxious thought and it snowballs from there. It took about three hours to calm down and I am still a little on edge. Have you woken up scared before or is this new thing?

[bertieb]

Originally Posted by healed84

Yes, especially when I am in a bad place with my anxiety.. I wake up all worked up about things. I did this morning actually.. All it takes is one anxious thought and it snowballs from there. It took about three hours to calm down and I am still a little on edge. Have you woken up scared before or is this new thing?

No, I have before. It happened 15 years ago so often that is when I finally went on zoloft and it stopped after awhile. I was on the zoloft for 13 years and stopped last year. I just went on 2 weeks ago because all this is coming back. The shaking started about a month ago, almost always in the morning and just in my arms. Sometimes I have it without the big panic.

[lancetrot]

Shaking can occur in the presence of anxiety or during panic attacks; it can also happen during drug withdrawal. If this happens to be drug withdrawal, Only time will tell about this and then you'll need to try to find out the possible cause.

[Rosie23]

Ativan does that to me. I can take it once in a while if I have a panic attack.
But not more than that. If I do and then miss a day, I do what you described.

Long term, Ativan makes my anxiety worse. It keeps it there all the time. I do better without it.