The Morning Shakes

[laila]

Ok everyone, I need some advice. I am fairly new to this post and like many others have had to self diagnose myself through the years. I have as yet to be officially diagnosed with pots, but I think I may have the tachacardia kind. I am seeing a pots Doc next month. I have been taking xanax for anxiety and panic attacks which the panic is under control. However every morning as soon as I awaken, the moment I am conciously awake I start sweating, trembling and shaking. This morning my pulse went from 60 to 100 in a few minutes. My pulse rarely goes over 110, but I still feel very uncomfortable. Then I slapped on the blood pressure cuff and got a kind of high reading then, 126 over 95. Which fell to 102 over 76 after shower but pulse still high. At night in bed my pulse and blood pressure are low, but the real bad shakiness lasts all morning. I take 4 .5 mg xanax a day and have noticed that if I take 1 when wake up then another 2 hours later I do feel better sooner. Have not had much luck with SSRIS but trying to start on a very low dose of zoloft. And my primary care prescribed atenatol to try.(Beta blocker) I will have to try both separetly, as am like many of you, very drug sensative. Have been repeatedly told this horrible morning thing is anxiety, i Have to go through a whole slow process of getting up, showering, etc. ANYWAY, DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE THIS PARTICULAR PROBLEM???? It is so crappy. I am keeping a log of my wild flucuations. I have had some basic heart tests . I have just always felt like something was not right, why can't they control my anxiety if that is what it is. I am also switching pysch dr, I need to get the "anxiety" under control. THank you again, Laila

[MightyMouse]

I don't usually get the shakes, but that can be from an epinephrine surge--some who are very sensitive to epinephrine can get the shaking upon standing.

I do get the huge swings in bp, from what would be considered high to obscenely low.

Once you see your doc, if an autonomic disorder is confirmed, they can try you out on meds that might help. Keep in mind, some meds don't work for some folks, so there is a bit of trial and error involved. Sometimes the "error" meds may make you feel pretty miserable. Try to hang in there though, as most folks usually *do* find a combination that works for them.

Of course, the low tech stuff would be to eat salty foods before getting out of bed and drink some water...and also keep your lower body and trunk muscles as fit as possible as those muscles provide the veins with assistance in pumping blood back North.

Nina

[Deb]

Hi Laila,

I don't have the exact symptoms as you, but as soon as I wake up each morning I start trembling. It happens when I first go to bed and during the night some, too. I also get the sweating. I don't know if it's anxiety or what. My heart rate seems to be pretty stable, now. I don't think my BP is though. I'd like to get a monitor to see if it goes up and down during the day as I suspect it does.

I take a .5 tab of Lorazapam and my midodrine with a large glass of water before I get out of bed. I wait at least 15 minutes for the midodrine to start working so that my BP isn't too low. The Lorazapam works for the trembling, but not completely. I tremble slightly off and on for most of the morning. I tried not taking the Lorazapam, but I trembled all over all day. It was horrible. I couldn't do anything for more than a few minutes. So I went back to taking the Lorazapam. I'm also taking Zoloft. I'm hoping that when it reaches the peak dose in my body that I won't have to take the Lorazapam any more. If indeed the trembling is caused by anxiety. If it's something else, I guess the Zoloft won't change it.

Good luck with your new doctor. Let us know what he/she thinks the trembling is caused by.

[laila]

Thank you for your replies, Nina and Deb. I did try the Atenolol 12.5 mg last night and this morning seemed a little better!! I was still trembling but my heart rate and blood pressure were ok. It did give me a bit of insomnia and maybe chest tightness, ( I have asthma and copd) (I did quit smoking!) which is why no one would ever prescribe this medicine before. Listen to this though, I went to the DR. for a sinus infection today (not my regular doc,It is hmo, but he did seem to remember me) and I asked him if there was any other kind of beta blocker that would cause less wheezing and he said Tenormin was specifically targeted for heart symptom, did prescribe it. Then I got it filled, and Temormin is the Brand name for Atenolol, the medicine I already had!!! Go figure. This is an older doc too that has been in the hmo practice for at least 15 years. I should become a pharmacist, I swear I have read The Pill Book (a guide to most presribed meds in US) from cover to cover trying to find my own cure!! Well at least he "listened". When I asked him why my anxiety/trembling was not under control, he said,"well you've always seemed overly anxious about your health, its, anxiety, blah, blah. And I said "No this happens every morning for years, I know its something physical". He did pause as I was leaving and asked if I had ever been put on An ssri and I said I would try a lower dose. Good night all! Deb, I seem to tremble slightly all day, and it does get worse after normal exertion.

[joyce]

I am new so if most post is repetitive bear with me.

My husband has a connective tissue disorder and dysautonomia, due to floppy heart tissue.

Over the years all drs have tried anti-deps and told him it was all in his head.

Be careful with anti-deps,he has tried so many and they have caused him innumerable problems.

Doctors are so arrogant, but you have to keep using them, so just keep at it.

Do not believe them when they say it is in your head or you have always been nervous. There are medical reasons and it is their obligation to help not hurt and ignoring is neglect which is hurt. I get very angry about this, as you can tell.

good luck.

joyce

[morgan617]

i get the shakes out of the blue for no apparent reason. in the last week i have burned myself from the iron and boiling water from tremors or just hands giving out. hard to explain. just dropping a lot of stuff and clumsy. my typing is getting awful. have a big list for doc next time i go in. nothing seems to help mine, it just comes and goes as it pleases. and you are right, it's just crappy. morgan and painful recently got two blisters on fingers this morning

[ramakentesh]

For me i awake very shaky and after eating breakfast - especially a saly one - it improves. If i exercise or stand for a long time during the day - sometimes even sitting all day, i get very fatigued, irritable, and my hands tremble quite badly. This is probably my most common symptom - i dont mind it when compared to the insomnia, dizziness, fatigue and migraines!