Anxiety wasn’t new to me.

But this felt different — sharper, more physical, like my body was stuck in a state of alert even when nothing was happening.

I felt wired but depleted. Calm on the outside, restless underneath.

And at the time, I didn’t have language for what was happening.

The Nights That Made Me Question Everything

Sleep used to be my escape.

During detox, it became fragile.

I would drift off only to wake hours later with my heart racing and my mind spinning, as if my body had forgotten how to power down.

I wasn’t anxious about anything specific — my system just felt “on.”

That distinction mattered more than I realized.

Why This Happens More Often Than People Admit

Most detox conversations focus on physical symptoms.

Very few prepare you for what happens when detox intersects with a sensitized nervous system.

Mold exposure had already pushed my body into a long-term stress response.

So when detox began — even gently — it added stimulation to a system that was already stretched thin.

A body that’s been surviving doesn’t always recognize “support” as safe at first.

That realization reframed everything.

What It Felt Like in My Body

The anxiety didn’t come with panic thoughts.

It came as sensations.

A buzzing under my skin. A tight chest. A feeling that rest was just out of reach.

Sleep issues weren’t about insomnia in the traditional sense. My body simply didn’t know how to settle.

My nervous system wasn’t broken. It was overstimulated.

Once I understood that, my fear around the symptoms began to soften.

The Mistake I Almost Made

I almost treated the anxiety as something to override.

Something to push through in the name of detox.

I assumed that because detox was “good,” the discomfort must be necessary.

But the more I ignored the wired feeling, the more my system escalated.

My body wasn’t asking for more effort. It was asking for less stimulation.

The Reframe That Helped Me Sleep Again

What helped wasn’t forcing calm.

It was creating conditions where calm could return on its own.

I stopped interpreting anxiety as a detox “side effect” and started seeing it as feedback.

Feedback about pace. About readiness. About capacity.

Detox didn’t need to stop — it needed to slow.

Once my body felt less pressured, sleep gradually followed.

How This Connects to Overdoing Detox

This experience helped me understand why so many people feel worse before they feel better.

Anxiety, insomnia, and that wired feeling often show up when detox outpaces the nervous system’s ability to regulate.

I wrote more about that pattern in Why Mold Detox Makes Some People Feel Worse Before They Feel Better and about pacing in How to Know If You’re Detoxing From Mold Too Fast.

Seeing these symptoms through that lens changed how I responded to them.

Where the Nervous System Fits in My Recovery

This was one of the moments that made me realize detox isn’t just physical.

If the nervous system doesn’t feel safe, the body stays alert — no matter how many “right” things you’re doing.

This understanding is woven throughout The Mold Recovery Protocol I Actually Used (and What I Still Do Today), because healing only accelerated once my system felt supported instead of pushed.

A Calmer Way to Interpret These Symptoms

If you’re feeling anxious, wired, or unable to sleep during detox, it doesn’t mean something is wrong.

It may simply mean your body is asking for a gentler pace.

You don’t have to fight your nervous system to heal. You can listen to it.

That shift was the beginning of real rest for me.