Why Are Mornings So Difficult?

[cmreber]

Hello everyone!

I haven't been on here too much lately and I'm happy to say that's because I've been feeling a lot better lately. The one thing that I still experience that doesn't seem to change, though, is feeling so lousy in the mornings. I've tried more sleep, less sleep, everything I can think of, and it still is so difficult for me in the morning time. On the flip side, late at night, especially from around 10 to 2am, I feel the best. I know the morning thing is common among us POTsies, but I've never really understood why that might be, other than having been lying down for so long and suddenly changing position. But, when I sleep in till 10/11:00, I feel so much better than if I'm trying to get up at 8. I was thinking about things that change in the body from morning to night, and I started wondering about Cortisol levels. I know they are at their highest from around 6am-8am, and lowest at around midnight, which makes me wonder if that has anything to do with it. Has anyone been tested, or looked into how these levels might affect how they feel in the morning vs. nighttime?

Hope you all have a good day!

~Christine

[Bigskyfam]

Tis true I feel so good typically before kids go to bed. Frustrating knowing I have to get up early the next day to shuttle the kids/ work/etc

[looneymom]

Your cortisol levels should be at their highest in the morning before you get up. They help with the sleep wake pattern. Tyler has been checked for this when he was in the hsopital. The test is a blood test and might be helpful to have done if you think you have low cortisol levels. I thought this was the problem in the beginning, but Tyler was having trouble falling asleep. His problems were related to low serotinon, dopamine and high norehpinephrine levels. Might want to check out the neurotransmitters levels also.

[gjensen]

I have been doing a little better. Until this morning.

I had the most uncomfortable and painful chest pains I ever had this morning. They were crushing, and wiped me out. I could not even see. My Hr was running 175 just laying there.

My point is that morning are certainly a challenge for me, and I do think that cortisol levels plays a part in that.

[LastUnicornLady]

I totally get where you're coming from, sister. Mornings are NOT my friend. Lately I've been on a really weird schedule that I'm currently trying to get out of where I end up waking up around 8 in the morning through no conscious effort on my part, stay awake but in bed till between 10 and 12, then go back to sleep and wake up around 3ish. Then I fall asleep pretty late, wake up early, and the cycle starts all over. I'm not really sure what cortisol levels are, but I may have to look into them.

I also noticed that taking a melatonin drink every night helps to some degree. At least it means I fall asleep earlier.

[sue1234]

I am the same way...mornings are my worst time of day. I actually have had my cortisol levels tested a couple of times in the mornings for endo testing. The last couple of years have shown my cortisol to be at the very top of the normal range, along with a high-normal ACTH. You would think that would mean I feel energetic, etc., but I feel lousy, no energy, etc. I do feel ALOT better by mid-late afternoon and evenings.

[Lethargic Smiles]

For me, it's dehydration because I need to get in my morning sodium/fluids and also because I haven't had all my medicine and supplements yet.

I keep the medications on my nightstand and lay in bed until they start to do some good.

[lifeandlifeonly]

Often I'll feel okay when I wake up, but after I get out of bed my symptoms will gradually get worse and worse over the first two hours. Even when I just sit down at my desk with water, not doing any standing for two hours. I have no clue why it happens. Closer to bedtime the better I feel, generally speaking.

[imapumpkin]

my neurologist said that the body has a natural blood pressure rhythm that is at is lowest between 4 am and 10 am so it's makes sense that that's when people with POTS feel the worst. I also feel better between 10 PM and 2 AM.

[targs66]

As a chronic night owl (and someone who feels wretched in the morning), I've been reading with interest some articles I've seen lately about how some doctors now theorize that people are either "owls" or "larks" by nature and that it's very hard to change.... I've always struggled with mornings/daytime, even when I worked office hours for years - my body never adjusted. In one article, it said that this can make you essentially jet-lagged all the time, but unfortunately, there was no suggestion that they could cure this.

I once did a self-administered saliva test for cortisol levels (you take saliva samples at 8 am, noon, 4 pm and midnight). No suprise there - my cortisol was low at 8 am, lower at noon, a bit better at 4 pm and highest at midnight. It finally explained, to some extent, why I feel so worn during the day. My blood pressure follows the same pattern - very low upon waking and throughout the day and improving toward bedtime.

Hope you can find some answers!

[targs66]

Found it! I think there was a similar article in the New York Times:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25777978

[cmreber]

Thanks everyone! I always love getting all of your input because there is so much we can all learn from each other's experiences. Also, it's always nice to not feel alone in these things.

Bigskyfam, I feel for you! I don't have children and can't imagine how much energy that must take (that you don't have)!

looneymom, thanks for the info, I might just look into all of that. I have always had trouble falling asleep (always have been the last one still awake if there's a room full of people).

gjensen, sorry to hear that! Not only does that make the day (and sometimes the following days) difficult, but it can be scary too. Hope you keep feeling better.

sue1234, interesting that they were in the high range. But, who knows, our bodies are so complex anything can throw them out of whack. I would be interested to see if mine were, normal, high or low.

LastUnicornLady, I totally understand, especially with a schedule change. One of the hardest parts about traveling for me is the time changes that go along with it! I never have tried melatonin, and may be something else for me to look int.

Jackie M, it's interesting you bring up dehydration. I know that I don't drink nearly enough before bed or during the night and that at least part of it is probably because I'm dehydrated by morning!

lifeandlifeonly, I tend to be the same as far as mornings=worse, nightime=better, but am opposite in the fact that I feel awful when I first wake up and for the first hour or so, and then I start to do okay, and then get even better on towards evening (with exception to a 3:00 crash where I can barely keep my eyes open! lol)

imapumpkin, that makes a lot of sense. My blood pressure has a tendancy to go from low, to high, to low, to normal, to high, etc. throughout the day...but without a doubt it is at its lowest in the morning.

targs66, thanks for the article! I will definitely have to look it over! It is so true. My family, including me, have all always been night people, and I never was a morning person. I never enjoyed getting up early, though I never really had a problem with it, physically, until POTS. The "always feeling jetlagged" is a very good description. That's exactly it. (And sometimes I have nausea and some other things that make me feel like I'm hung over, even though I didn't drink anything!) Now, I really would like to test my levels and see if the same is true for me.

Thanks again everyone for your very helpful responses!!!