Anxiety bomb!

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Most humans can relate to that dreaded awakening in the small hours of the morning when every concern and stress in our lives seems to flood the brain like a tsunami. Is it worse for those on the autism spectrum? Perhaps.

That's been occurring quite frequently for me the past few weeks. I liken it to an “anxiety bomb” going off in my head. The timing is usually between 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. Sometimes it feels like I am quite literally losing my sanity! I surmise that we are most vulnerable to this state in the small hours because our usual defenses remain slumbering once sleep is disturbed. The more stressed out you are, the worse the episode.

This happens to me often also. I wake up almost every night and have a hard time getting back to sleep. I have nightmares most nights. I get what I call the 'what ifs' when I wake up in the middle of the night. I tried taking melatonin awhile back to help keep me asleep through the night (because I would feel tired from the broken sleep, and hoped if I could just get one night of straight through sleep I wouldn't be tired, and would be able to deal with my concerns and anxiety's better), but it made the nightmares worse, and I woke up more often and felt groggy throughout the day. I was tired before the melatonin (from the broken sleep), but I didn't feel groggy/foggy at least. It's a vicious cycle, of broken sleep, then I'm tired and can't deal with stuff, which causes more broken sleep etc etc etc

Yeah, it's been interrupting my sleep, as well. I usually need to roll out of bed around 6:30, so I've had my share of groggy days since this whole thing started. Once the thoughts start invading my mind, I'm pretty much finished with sleeping.

Melatonin has been effective at getting me to sleep, but it does nothing to keep me from awakening in the small hours of the morning.

Yeah....this happens to me sometimes.

Especially when I think about my finances--and have a dream about winning the Lottery or something.

I refrained from taking prescription sleep medication, because I am back in school and didn't want the possible grogginess as a side effect. I didn't expect this side effect from melatonin, it was so bad I would wake up in the middle of the night so out of it I wondered if I was really awake. I will be starting work at 5 am soon, so I hope I will be able to break this cycle. If you come up with any viable alternatives to melatonin, share you experiences, I'd like a solution also.