Anxiety when waiting (anticipatory anxiety)

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I think this must be related to ADHD, but I'm gonna ask anyhow... anyone else get extremely anxious when waiting for something to happen?

If there's an event in the future, I start anticipating it. When that happens, I will focus on little else until said event occurs. I've wasted an entire day by waiting for someone to call (they said they would), for example. Another example is if I order food delivery- I won't be able to do much between the span of calling and the delivery guy arriving because I'll be hyper-aware of when they are going to ring the doorbell. I'll listen for cars. If I'm feeling very anxious, I'll go out and stand outside hoping they will show up. I hate the sound of the doorbell (it's this horrible buzzer noise), so I try to catch them before they need to press the button. I've had similar anxiety even surrounding microwaves before, too. I'll try to rush back to the microwave before it dings.

By far the worst for me is alarm clocks, though. I avoid using them most of the time. However, since I've been needing to get up earlier recently, I've had to use them again. I can't afford to be late. The frustrating part is that using them sometimes causes insomnia. If I wake up too early, I won't be able to go back to sleep because I'll be anxiously looking at the clock every few minutes to see what time it is. If I manage to go to sleep, I'll dream about the alarm going off.

Can anyone else shed light on this behavior? Does anyone else do this?

I think part of it might be sensory-related, since it seems to revolve around my dislike of loud and sudden noises, but I suspect most of it is just anxiety-driven. By precisely what mechanism, though, I'm not sure.

Last edited by syrella on 18 Oct 2011, 12:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm very patient but I can't stand waiting if that makes any sense.

People think I'm patient because I can do the same thing over and over again but I'm not patient with waiting.

I've been waiting 6 months on a waiting list for a new apartment and it's driving me nuts. I feel like my life is on hold until I finally get it and things will be so much better then. It doesn't help any that when I got on the list I was told I'd have to wait 2 months.

In my experience the longer I have to wait for something the more disappointing it is when I finally get it.

Yes, that makes sense. I think it's the same for me too. Being on a waiting list must be really frustrating. I'd probably be going nuts, too. It's hard to make plans when you don't know when or how something is gonna happen. Once that step is complete, then you can move on with your life.

I'm actually very patient in some ways, also. I don't have a problem with waiting in lines, for example, because I know I'll get there eventually. Waiting in traffic is also not an issue. The rage that people express when driving never ceases to amaze me. It doesn't seem to affect me at all, though. But all the same, something about expecting an alarm to go off is enough to ruin my day.

I don't use an alarm because I never have to be up a specific time and I could have my mother wake me up.

When I was locked up a couple times I hated having them wake me up and after I had been there a while I usually would just automatically wake up an hour or two before I was supposed to get up which gave me time to wake up slowly and have some time alone with my thoughts without being interrupted.

My sleep schedule is slowly adjusting to the new time. So, pretty soon, I'll be able to stop using it entirely. My mom can sometimes wake me up still, but not all the time. She likes to sleep in, too.

As for being interrupted, I hate it when that happens to me. That might very well be why I hate alarms so much. I don't want to go to sleep because I'll just get woken up. In regards to waiting-- I don't want to start something if I'm just going to get interrupted in the middle of it.

"Anticipatory anxiety." Probably a-typical in our ADD context.

Yeah. I get this from time to time.

The thoughts are weighty or have a momentum quality about them that supersedes the present.

It's the polar opposite of side 2 of coin, that under aroused other state.

I believe it is executive related. It's an infusion of nor-epinephrine, causing hyper- awareness.

You hear every sound, all input to the senses is exaggerated.

I start stimming when my thoughts are charged up like this. I pace the floor or go for a walk, even drive, while I'm hyper thinking.

It's an adrenaline blast. Mouth gets dry, etc.

Last edited by Mdyar on 19 Oct 2011, 8:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

Yep, that is exactly what happnens to me. I pace around and stim like mad. Nothing gets done because I'm too busy obsessing.

So it is probably executive function related, then? it's like some kind of event planning function gone haywire.

Hmmm....... haywired planning.

What is it not? This does not come from conditioning as in experiencing 'hard knocks' in life, it doesn't spring from bad experiences causing worry.

The thoughts that we have are "normal" by content, but the charge on them is extra-- too much. There is that nor-epinephrine (im)balance that is implicated in ADD. We know when"speed" supercharges this hormone, symptoms lessen.

Not enough of this, and we experience under arousal. The outside of you bounces off of you-- the outside effect makes its way in with less force than our NT counterparts..... low epenephrine.

When the thought is our own, it has the extra charge that is now opposite from the low condition in the other opposite state..

Fundamentally, it's a messed up system of a cognitive/ emotional bias type axis.

I couldn't have said it better myself. I'm the same way. And it's interesting that it is mentioned as being executive related. I have executive dysfunction with my Asperger's.