Anxiety adrenaline waves every AM waking me from sleep.

I've been dealing with anxiety/depression since traumatic life changes last year, including a cancer diagnosis.
I've been in therapy, but have resisted drugs. My anxiety now seems to come in"spells", including strange sleep disturbances and pre-dawn adrenaline rushes.
Every morning brings a kind of over whelming existential anxiety.
However...some days it dissipates randomly and I'm fine...even kind of happy. I try to hold on to the peaceful feelings, but of course I'm always fearing the return of the creepy spells.
So I guess my question is, does anxiety ever go away without drugs?
I do take supplements,exercise, do some meditation and yoga, and I know that these things help at least somewhat...
I'm just so tired of feeling psychologically "damaged".
Thanks for listening.

I completely relate. I try listening to meditation stories on my phone but still no success unless I take more Benadryl and klonopin.

What a relief to find this thread. I’ve always had some anxiety, and am a therapist, as well.
A year ago, I was given too much estrogen and put on many different medications trying to deduce the issue (like calcium blockers, beta blockers, cortisol reducers/Ashwagadah), which all impacted my sensitive body.
My cycles were waking me throughout the night until I finally got .25 mg of Klonopin to sleep; brought up my vitamin D and found an estrogen/progesterone balance with bio-identical creams.
I now sleep really well and have brought my estrogen levels down, except for the one sneaky thing-these adrenal surges at 6/8 hours of sleep.
When I pandiculate and stretch or move, my heart rate increases to 110 and then lowers and adrenaline surges in cycles that last usually every hour upon waking. I have not had Covid. I have tried every trick in the book. And, ruled out adrenal tumors.
My dreams are pleasant but when this happens, it’s like my mind starts finding negativity to match the adrenal rushes. Then there is the shakes or teeth chattering and need to relieve myself to get rid of the adrenaline.
I’m trying to find more solutions, as I will not give up.
I found a nice 300mg cinnamon cbd oil from “Bottle and Stone” which helps to lower some reaction (because too much Benzos dump me down.)
Let’s keep helping each other because my endo/chiro/gyno/functional/
Primary/cardio/adrenal MDS have all been stumped.

Are you sure you were on 2-4 mg of clonazepam (Klonopin)? That is a huge dose! The usual starting dose for clonazepam is 0.25 mg. twice a day.
Clonazepam is in a drug category called “benzodiazepines,” which includes Valium, Ativan, Xanax and many others. These drugs can be very helpful in the treatment of anxiety. Anxious people, IMHO, tend to be “control freaks” which is not necessarily a bad thing. Yes, benzodiazepines can be mildly addictive, but from what I’ve observed, anxious people find the dose that works for them (usually a low dose) and stay on that dose that helps them. Oddly, from a chemical standpoint, anxious people don’t seem to reach tolerance on benzos. Tolerance is where a person takes a given dose, but in a short time, the drug is no longer effective and the dosage must be increased in order to get the same effect. Tolerance develops quickly with narcotics (=opiates).
An anxious person might need to be on a “their” dose of a benzo for years. If it is a reasonable and effective dose, I don’t see that as a problem.
With the help of a psychiatrist, find the dose that completely relieves the anxiety. Stay on that dose for 3-4 months (or forever if you like). Then start to taper slowly w/ the help of your psychiatrist. With say, Ativan, an anti-anxiety dose might be 1 mg three times a day. Once you’ve taken that for 3-4 months, begin a slow taper (about 0.25 mg a month) until you reach the dose at which the anxiety recurs. Increase the dose by 0.25 mg. That is “your” dose and you can stay on it indefinitely. A great deal of paranoia has developed about benzodiazepines. It is true that IN COMBINATION with other drugs, respiratory depression can occur. Even death might occur but chances are that it is caused by an opiate that was prescribed with a benzo.
On their own, benzos are among the safest of drugs. It is extremely hard to overdose on them and most cause virtually no side effects.
If you have had cancer (or some other major traumatic event) and believe that you are anxious about a recurrence, find a dr. that will work with you on this. During crises, you may find yourself needing to go back up a milligram or two, but when the crisis abates, taper (w/ a dr.) yourself back down to the minimal dose that works for you.
Gabapentin and Lyrica are drugs that can also be used for some types of anxiety.
But some of the substitutions for benzos that I’ve seen cause more trouble than they are worth—far more trouble than sticking with a low dose benzo might.
Some have been prescribing atypical anti-psychotics for anxiety and sleep. These drugs can help, but they can also cause EPS (extrapyramidal symptoms) which are disconcerting muscle movements that can be treated with Cogentin quickly and easily. Less pleasant side effects are tardive dyskinesia, which are involuntary muscle movements—like tapping a finger, twisting a hand, facial grimaces and tongue protrusion. Akathisia, which is involuntary foot tapping, may also occur. These can be helped somewhat with propranolol. Tardive dyskinesia is permanent though. I think few patients are told about the risks of using these drugs for any length of time, even as they are being excessively cautioned about benzos.
If you are anxious and/or depressed, individual psychotherapy can help. Group therapy and support can also be very helpful especially if you are taking the appropriate medication.

tyt : I wish I knew what causes the adrenaline rushes. I think that the pandemic mode really has many of us who are overly sensitive in a chronic case of some level of PTSD. Not that we can compare ourselves to those with truly terrible experiences but I think to some extent the covid news and death of my husband shortly after it started really topped me.

Don’t accept these early AM anxiety quirks. Not normal at all. I’m 73 and know that anti depressants like Imipramine, elavil, lexapro, etc all for relief of anxiety, will relieve you of these early morning awakenings.

I have tried all three of those medications but did NOT find relief for the early morning anxiety. Everybody is different. It's not fair to tell people what to do. I don't think that is appropriate for a SUPPORT GROUP! Judge not lest three be judged.

Are you sure you were on 2-4 mg of clonazepam (Klonopin)? That is a huge dose! The usual starting dose for clonazepam is 0.25 mg. twice a day.
Clonazepam is in a drug category called “benzodiazepines,” which includes Valium, Ativan, Xanax and many others. These drugs can be very helpful in the treatment of anxiety. Anxious people, IMHO, tend to be “control freaks” which is not necessarily a bad thing. Yes, benzodiazepines can be mildly addictive, but from what I’ve observed, anxious people find the dose that works for them (usually a low dose) and stay on that dose that helps them. Oddly, from a chemical standpoint, anxious people don’t seem to reach tolerance on benzos. Tolerance is where a person takes a given dose, but in a short time, the drug is no longer effective and the dosage must be increased in order to get the same effect. Tolerance develops quickly with narcotics (=opiates).
An anxious person might need to be on a “their” dose of a benzo for years. If it is a reasonable and effective dose, I don’t see that as a problem.
With the help of a psychiatrist, find the dose that completely relieves the anxiety. Stay on that dose for 3-4 months (or forever if you like). Then start to taper slowly w/ the help of your psychiatrist. With say, Ativan, an anti-anxiety dose might be 1 mg three times a day. Once you’ve taken that for 3-4 months, begin a slow taper (about 0.25 mg a month) until you reach the dose at which the anxiety recurs. Increase the dose by 0.25 mg. That is “your” dose and you can stay on it indefinitely. A great deal of paranoia has developed about benzodiazepines. It is true that IN COMBINATION with other drugs, respiratory depression can occur. Even death might occur but chances are that it is caused by an opiate that was prescribed with a benzo.
On their own, benzos are among the safest of drugs. It is extremely hard to overdose on them and most cause virtually no side effects.
If you have had cancer (or some other major traumatic event) and believe that you are anxious about a recurrence, find a dr. that will work with you on this. During crises, you may find yourself needing to go back up a milligram or two, but when the crisis abates, taper (w/ a dr.) yourself back down to the minimal dose that works for you.
Gabapentin and Lyrica are drugs that can also be used for some types of anxiety.
But some of the substitutions for benzos that I’ve seen cause more trouble than they are worth—far more trouble than sticking with a low dose benzo might.
Some have been prescribing atypical anti-psychotics for anxiety and sleep. These drugs can help, but they can also cause EPS (extrapyramidal symptoms) which are disconcerting muscle movements that can be treated with Cogentin quickly and easily. Less pleasant side effects are tardive dyskinesia, which are involuntary muscle movements—like tapping a finger, twisting a hand, facial grimaces and tongue protrusion. Akathisia, which is involuntary foot tapping, may also occur. These can be helped somewhat with propranolol. Tardive dyskinesia is permanent though. I think few patients are told about the risks of using these drugs for any length of time, even as they are being excessively cautioned about benzos.
If you are anxious and/or depressed, individual psychotherapy can help. Group therapy and support can also be very helpful especially if you are taking the appropriate medication.

the problem with klonapin is i get tired and sleepy. i feel like no one cares everyone says your doing this wrong etc. right now i have stomach ache. don’t know if it’s from food or the meds or anxiety. yesterday i had no stomach ache. i ate i piece of duck with bun , wonton mein soup and 1/2 c sprite. this morning woke up at 230 am took carafet and nexium, couldn’t sleep took klonapin .125,
got stomach ache. took luvox, then tylenol 500.
i have mild gastritis. i don’t know if the stomach ache is from food, meds, anxiety. now im asking if there’d is a way i can track food drugs and symptoms on cell phone and have my providers check it so i can get better input cause i have not been able to figure it out myself. when i get stomach ache i think is it recurrence of something. anyone have similar problem and get better. i took tylenol 500 at 5 am and then again at 10. praying alot
thanks