So I get what I call my “5 O’Clock Anxiety”, just about most days. It’s like I’m dreading something, and I just wanna go lay down for the night to escape it. It’s kinda weird, because I don’t get it every day, just about 4-5 times a week I’d say. My pdoc doesn’t know the answer, even though we’ve talked about it quite a bit. I just think it’s a quirk of my illness. Anyways, does this happen to anyone else?
Yes I get it in the morning. Anxiety that no one knows how to fix because it’s SZ. BuSpar helps a lot.
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Yeah, I think it’s just one of those bewildering things about this illness that no one can explain
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I use to get it when the sun was going down fear of the night time.
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What time of day do you take your meds?
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Mine starts at 2pm and goes until I start dinner.
I get more anxious,
I feel like I’m useless and should be working,
Just a big ball of guilt until I can do something productive again.
So, I talked to my therapist about it and now I have broken down that time into hours and have an activity and reward for doing the activity planned for each.
It’s working okay.
I still don’t like early afternoon time,
But I don’t feel as bad.
Make sense?
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@everhopeful I take them around 9ish in the AM, and after dinner. So about 6:30ish.
One of my theories is that my meds from the night before are wearing off around 5 the next day, hence the anxiety. But my pdoc doesn’t think so because most meds have a longer halflife than that.
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That’s exactly how I would describe my sort of anxiety, as well! It’s like, damn, another day went by and I did absolutely nothing. Probs why I’m always trying to work – I find working to be rewarding and good for the ole mental health.
I like the idea of finding an activity to do in the afternoon. Whether it be playing some video games, walking my dog, etc. it sounds good. Thanks for the advice, @Charles_Foster!
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This could also be it – I’ve grown to not like the dark too much, haha
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I’ve been getting bit of paranoia/anxiety lately. Stress can do it. Mine really isnt dependent on the time of day, though.
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Yeah,
One of my activities is literally sitting outside with my dogs for 20 mins.
It doesn’t take much,
But just having an assigned task to those times really does help.
And you should reward yourself if you do those tasks instead of just sitting around feeling bad.
I can’t tell you but my reward is but you can probably guess.
Be it a diet soda or smoking some CBD or whatever,
It’ll feel like you deserved it and that’s a good feeling.
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I had anxiety problems with Abilify. I found the following helped
- Cutting my coffee intake down to 1 cup in the morning
- L-theanine as a quick acting anxiety stopper for emergencies.
https://www.iherb.com/pr/doctor-s-best-l-theanine-with-suntheanine-150-mg-90-veggie-caps/12959
If it’s happening at 5pm though and stops when you take your evening meds at 6:30 , would it be worthwhile taking your morning meds later, like at 11am?
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@Charles_Foster These are great points, thank you. I need to get back to smoking CBD – haven’t had any in awhile 
. Certainly a good idea for a reward.
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@everhopeful Pushing back the time I take my AM meds is a great idea. I see my pdoc in like 2 weeks, I will run that by him! Thank you!
Also, the lessening of coffee is another good idea. I usually have a cup at like 1 PM, so maybe I should cut that out. But I just love coffee so much 
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Yeah, I wanted to quit coffee entirely but couldn’t so I compromised on 1 cup a day. It’s addictive stuff !
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I have general anxiety disorder, so i pretty much always have anxiety. And i dont drink coffee. I take buspar and gabapentin to help, twice a day. My anxiety gets much worse in the evenings, around 5 to 6pm, so my psychiatrist had me start taking my second dose at 5pm instead of at 8pm. It helps a lot.
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I take Buspar as well and it is super helpful. 
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I get it around 8 hours after waking up. Used to be 6 and a half hours. When I am doing a multi day trip the first day I get it the worst.
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@everhopeful I’ve cut out my afternoon coffee, and I’ve noticed my evening anxiety has gone down tremendously. Thanks for the suggestion!
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Great to hear !
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