Jittery, Shaky, and Oh So Over It

Why do I feel jittery and shaky? I ask myself that every morning after I wake up. It never misses a beat, it’s like clockwork. So, I hurry and eat my cereal just to take my anxiety med right after eating. It’s the quickest way to get rid of the jittery feeling. For the most part, I’m good for the rest of the day.

I don’t understand the concept of why I wake up feeling jittery and shaky inside, but it happens nevertheless. I think it has to do with the anxiety, but I don’t know why I am anxious when I first wake up. All I know is the med works fast (benzo), so that’s my routine.

Some psychiatric meds can cause jitteriness such as antidepressants like SSRIs, SNRIs, and TCAs, and antipsychotic meds. For example, Prozac, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, and Effexor. Note: My body can’t handle Effexor. I was like a zombie while taking it. So be careful.

Uncontrollable anxiety, whether internal or external circumstances, causes jitteriness beyond measure. It is this anxiety that many individuals deal with on a daily basis.

“I feel busy, but nothing gets done. I feel tired, but sleep doesn’t help. And I feel anxious, but I’m not sure why.” — Unknown

Jittery Meaning

A jittery person feels intensely nervous, anxious, or wound up, and you can usually see it in the body as much as in the mood. Their hands might shake, their foot might tap without stopping, or they may startle at small things and seem unable to settle. This can happen because of fear, stress, lack of sleep, or too much caffeine, since all of those can push the nerves into overdrive.

Some people treat jitteriness like it’s just being dramatic, but that’s too simple. Often, it’s the body’s way of showing strain before the person has words for it. Common synonyms include edgy, high-strung, jumpy, anxious, twitchy, and uptight.

Jittery Symptoms and Common Causes

“Jittery symptoms” usually means your body feels shaky, restless, or overstimulated.

Common jittery symptoms include:

Shaking or trembling
Feeling nervous or on edge
A racing heartbeat
Sweating
Trouble sitting still
Feeling weak or lightheaded
Butterflies in your stomach
Trouble focusing
Feeling like you have “too much energy”
Anxiety or panic feelings

Common causes can include:

Too much caffeine
Stress or anxiety
Low blood sugar
Lack of sleep
Certain medicines
Nicotine or other stimulants
Thyroid issues
Dehydration

If the jittery feeling comes with chest pain, trouble breathing, fainting, confusion, or a very fast heartbeat, get medical help right away.

Perimenopause, Jittery Feeling

During perimenopause, hormone levels, especially estrogen and progesterone, don’t stay steady. They can swing up and down in uneven, sometimes sudden ways, and your body feels those shifts. Because these hormones affect the nervous system, mood, sleep, and even heart rate, you might feel shaky, wired, restless, or strangely on edge for no clear reason.

Sometimes people assume it’s just stress, and stress can play a part, but hormonal changes are often part of the story too. So if you feel unlike yourself, it’s not in your head, and you’re not overreacting.

Feeling Jittery and Anxious For No Reason

You’ve probably heard this a million times, but it’s true. Your body can go into “fight or flight” mode at any given time. Researchers haven’t been able to figure out why this happens, but it just does. You could be sitting there perfectly still, and all of a sudden you become anxious and jittery. No known cause, it just happens. To me when it gets really bad, it’s the “:crawl out of your skin” feeling.

I’m lucky, I have a go-to med (Klonopin) when the anxiousness gets to the point where I can’t calm it down by using my breathing techniques or focusing on my five senses. Like I mentioned earlier, I take the Klonopin in the morning because the anxiety starts as soon as I wake up. If you have really bad anxiety during the day, find a med that will counteract the jitteriness.

Panic Attacks Are Worse

With panic attacks, you feel like you’re having an out of body experience. You can see yourself and everything around you through a lens. Time moves so slow. Then, as quickly as you came out, you rush back in. You may be startled by what just happened, or embarrassed if you’re in a public space.

Panic attacks can be threatening, especially if you’re driving. Always be aware that they can come upon you at any second. I never had one when I was driving, but that is a scary thought if you have no way of pulling to the side of the road.

If you basically have the anxiety and jitteriness under control, you can still lead a productive life. If your anxiety and you keep getting panic attacks, see a doctor. Don’t just think ‘oh, that’s how life is.’ I’m really not a person who likes to take medications, but in the case of anxiety, I’ll take anything as long as it helps. I’m more on the side of meditation and energy work.

Why Do I Feel Jittery After Eating?

Feeling jittery after eating is called reactive hypoglycemia. I know, big word. Essentially what it means is it is a condition when your blood sugar levels drop within four hours after a meal. This occurs when the body overproduces insulin, often triggered by high-carbohydrate meals.

I know, you were thinking this has something to do with your anxiety. I used to think that because I would become jittery soon after eating a meal. When I refined what types of foods I was eating, the jitteriness disappeared after eating. I’m a diabetic, so I also incorporated exercise with it to lose weight.

How to Manage Shaky Feeling

Small, Frequent Meals: Eat smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day instead of three large ones to keep blood sugar stable.
Balance Nutrient Intake: Combine carbohydrates with protein, fiber, and healthy fats (nuts, seeds, avocados) to slow digestion and prevent rapid sugar spikes.
Limit Simple Carbs: Avoid foods with a high glycemic index like white rice, white bread, pastries, and sugary drinks.
Check Blood Sugar: Use a finger-stick monitor to determine if it is indeed a low blood sugar event.

Feeling Jittery All the Time

If you’re feeling jittery all the time and you’re not on any meds for it, talk to your doctor. Feeling calm can help in so many other avenues. No brain fog. You actually want to be around other people. Your’re not afraid of every situation you encounter. Being on the other side of the coin is so much healthier (mentally and physically).

Being on Medication

I was on high speed all the time, and the jitteriness just wouldn’t go away no matter what I tried. Then, I begged my doctor to put me on a benzo. She was reluctant because I became addicted to Valium. Never want to go through that again. But Klonopin made all the difference.

If you don’t like taking meds either, sometimes you’ve got to give a little in order to feel good again. It can be like night and day. The jittery feeling will dissipate and hopefully you’ll start to feel more like yourself. You can actually feel yourself start to relax, and start to enjoy life again. Just don’t become too dependent on the benzodiazipam (benzo) because it really sucks trying to ween yourself off of them. With the Valium, my doctor quit it cold turkey. Wrong move on my part.

“Anxiety is not being able to sleep because you said something wrong two years ago and can’t stop thinking about it.” — Unknown

How to Stop Feeling Jittery

You name it, I’ve tried it to make the jitteriness go away. I’ve searched on Google over and over during the past few years. Here are a few ideas that have worked for me and hopefully for you.

Medication

Of course as I mentioned, medication. Just make sure you find the right one. I was put on several that only made me more jittery. Sometimes you have to outweigh the benefits with side effects. If you can handle the side effects, go for it!

One of the downful about meds (besides side effects) is you have to keep trying different meds for the right one for you. You might have to try many or you may get lucky with just a few. Sometimes the side effects are so rotten (like extreme jitteriness), you have to try a new one.

But, you’ll eventually get there. You just have to have faith. Like Isaid, I’m not a fan of meds, but I’ll take them if it improves my quality of life, or other measures don’t work.

Meditation

I threw meditation in here because it has helped me in the past. If the jitteriness is moderate, meditation is your go to. It has helped me not so much focus on the jitteriness, but focus on my breath. When you calm the mind, everything else will follow. I will say that if the shakiness is so high, it’s hard to get into a meditative spot. If that happens try another tool in your toolbox.

Always keep a toolbox with measures of stopping or slowing down the shakiness. For me, meditation is in there because I have found that it slows down my heartbeat and all those thoughts swirlling around in my head. I never mentally go anywhere without my toolbox.

Use Cold Temperature

Cold temperatures distract you from what’s going on with your body. Take an ice cube and hold it in you hand. What do you notice? Your mind focuses on your hand and how cold it is. The shakiness starts to lose it’s power over you. Your mind is focused on how stinging the cold feels. It can’t wrap around all the thoughts swirling around in your head, which is anxiety.

I have used this many times, and for the most part it has worked. I will say if the anxiety and jitteriness is very strong, take your med. All these techniques don’t work 100% all the time just like many things in life. But it’s enough to refocus on your hand, and not how jittery you feel.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)

Many times I’ve used this to get me into meditation mode, or it works good just by itself. You start with the top of your head, and relax the muscles. Then you move to your shoulders, and relax those. You do this till your at your toes. You imagine all those muscles loosening up, and relaxing.

When your done, your mind won’t know what hit it. A few minutes ago you couldn’t stop shaking, now you feel completely calm. Again, it’s changing your focus from “I’m jittery” to “I’m completely calm.” Distraction is the name of the game.

How to Stop Feeling Jittery From Medication

There are meds out there that can cause jitteriness. First of all, tell your doctor. Don’t just suddenly quit taking it. Maybe they can find a different med. I made the mistake of stopping the med, and the jitteriness was ten-fold. So don’t do that. If you’re taking a med that is the only one that works, then ask for something to counteract the jitteriness.

I say this because I’m on Zyprexa (for schizophrenia), and it’s the only one through a long train of meds that has worked. Big but, it has side effects that mimick Parkinson’s Disease. So, I decided to stay on Zyprexa, and take a med to help with the movements. I’m learning to live with this and the short term memory loss.

Sometimes, you have to play devil’s advocate and choose what’s in your best interest. For so many years the schizophrenia ran my life because no med worked until Zyprexa. So I said the hell with it and stayed on course with it, and couldn’t be happier.

“If I ever completely lost my nervousness I would be frightened half to death.” — Paul Lynde via BrainyQuote

Conclusion

Being jittery is no laughing matter. It can push you to the brink of going over the cliff. I felt that way many times,more than I care to count. But, if you find ways of dealing with it, then use those tools repeatedly. And yes, medicine works also.

I put that first on the list of how to combat jitteriness because that is what helped me the most. I’m not a fan of medications because of their side effects, but if it works, use it.

So keep your toolbox mentally handy the next time an episode starts, and watch it go into remission. Do the research to find out what works for you. In the end, you will have your anxiety under check, and live a very much needed productive life. Goodbye jitteriness!

Cindee Murphy
“One voice whose jitteriness almost cost me my life.”