severe morning fatigue and anxiety

[Grammy]

I am not sure this is the proper place to put this but I suffer from severe anxiety from my condition and I just can not seem to turn the corner with it. From the moment that I awake each day I am in a constant state of stress. My symptoms are --a feeling of something falling out of my body--pressure at the opening at of the vagina( bottom one/fourth) and of course the burning. This has been going on for so long that it has effected me mentally for sure. I feel afraid all the time. I can not just get out of bed, shower, and hit the door. It takes me hours to get going in the morning and if I have a busy day I pay dearly for it the next. The amount of congestion that I feel in the pelvis is just horrid and Dr Conway told me that in order to get back pelvic strenght I most likely would need to have a vaginal closure. I would do that if I thought that it would stop the suffering. I just do not know anymore what to do or where to turn for help. I am the lady that has had five extentive pelvic surgeries since 1994. I feel all the time like I want to put my finger in the vagina and push up. I do feel that I have a hernia that just has not been repaired and yet no doctor wants to deal with someone who has had so much surgery already. I am disappointed and my life just does not have a purpose anymore. One day just runs into the next and I have tried so hard. Does anyone have these issues and if so what helps? I am in the process of trying a stim sometime this year and I just hope that it helps somehow.

Waking up each day in a state of panic is just plain awful and something that I can not find an answer to. I take many meds that make me tired and to counter that I need to take provigil but drugging yourself is just not the answer. Help me is you have some answers. Grammy

[HerMajesty]

Grammy,

I developed severe morning fatigue while on tramadol, which is a synthetic substance similar to a narcotic, and it went away after I got off the stuff. I believe I had this because I take my last meds at 4pm and my morning meds around 6am, so I think I was actually developing so much physical dependence and tolerance, that I was already starting withdrawl every morning. This is something to consider if you are taking a narcotic for pain.
The other symptoms sound like a trauma reaction to what you have been through and I really think you need to see a mental health professional about it. I have heard of people with PN benefitting from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT); maybe meds too if you can stand any more!

[pianogal]

I used to wake up with anxiety before my pain got severe. Now I wake up with huge fatigue. How is your vitamin D and vitamin B levels? I recommend supplementing with D3 and B sublinguals and liquid B. It perked me up like a flower on days I take it. Also DHEA supplementing.

For the vagina (prolapse?) (hernia?) I recommend finding a doc who WILL do what it takes. Don't give up. How about a vaginal pessary (w/estrogen cream)? Tried one yet? They hold you in.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pessary

For hernia, an ultrasound should show some of them. Have you had that done?

Finding a new doc? Don't give up. When one doc fails, another will fill in. You have to be your own advocate.

Good luck and lots of love...

[Grammy]

Pianogirl suggested dhea--do you get tested for that before you start to take it?

[michena]

How do you control your anxiety without anxiety meds when it gets the best of you? I am pregnant so no anti anxiety meds for me! I should have been on them a long time ago. Sometime my anxiety overwhelms me and I can't stop thinking about people who get to me and who slight me and do me wrong especially family. I can't let things go and obsess over them constantly. How do I calm my anxiety without meds?

[birdlife]

Sometime my anxiety overwhelms me .....How do I calm my anxiety without meds?

You have my total sympathy, Michena. There is definitely a way out, without meds, that's the first thing! Meds are useful in the short term but aren't the be all and end all, you need to learn how to help yourself wherever you are and whenever "it" threatens, without reaching for a pill (there's no magic pill out there anyway).

Little shots of adrenaline get released into the body every time you stress, and so prolonged stress causes the nerves to eventually fire off at the slightest thing and the nerves become sort of trigger-happy. If you then become anxious because you are anxious, that's the point at which you get on the merry-go-round and then this additional stress brings even more exhaustion, and panic attacks and/or weird thoughts, to name just a few

The instinctive reaction is to fight, to try to push it all away (while still looking anxiously over your shoulder!). This is exactly what you mustn't do! This is the key point where I went wrong because the more you fight and push, the more shots of adrenaline are being released and the deeper you go into the anxiety state/nervous illness. Same thing applies very much to obsessions (of any kind), the more you push them away the deeper entrenched they become and that's a physiological fact.

The way out of all this horrendous suffering is by learning to break the cycle of fear=adrenaline=fear. Your body is dutifully responding to the fear you are sending it. When you have leaned not to add second fear, gradually your nerves become less sensitised, so bring less exaggerated reactions, till normality returns. It won't be instant, you will have to work at it. Whatever your body does to you,whatever you think, learn not to add additional fear - so important (though hard to do!). I was shown how to do this in a small book by Dr. Claire Weekes, called "Self Help For Your Nerves". She also wrote "Peace from Nervous Suffering". Her books apply to anyone caught up in nervous illness, and without her I likely wouldn't be here today. Michena, the way forward is to relax towards your obsession and know that sensitisation of your nerves is what keeps those silly thoughts at the front of your mind. It doesnt matter what you think (thoughts can be quite grotesque in nervous illness), if you don't do it fearfully. They are only thoughts and have no importance or truth, and will be gone when your sensitisation goes.
Good luck and feel free to message me.
Take care,