Aspergers and Anxiety

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I've been having problems with anxiety for the past few years and it's starting to come back again.

It often starts when I hear or read about something upsetting (usually on the news, which is why I usually don't watch the top stories of the day on the nightly news and stay away from the 24 hour news station now). I'll stress about it to the point that I don't want to leave the house and a few times I have made myself physically ill.

Does anybody else out there have bad anxiety? Do you have any advice on how I can manage or hopefully get rid of it?

And if you don't have any advice, could you at least give me a hug? I REALLY REALLY need one right now.

You are not alone. I am almost always afraid though better than I was.

(((((((HUGS))))))

<hugs>

I've been through my share of panic attacks, and they suck. Exercise can help, as well as trying to focus on something else(easier said than done, I know), or medication. Good luck.

You're not alone, AnimeRockstarr. In the last several months I started to have to avoid the headline news also. I used to have no problem having on CNN or starting my morning with a news show or station. But more recently my anxiety thresh hold seems to have slumped lower, and just watching any news seriously affects me, giving me depression worse than I already have, and anxiety and panic attacks also worse than they would normally be for me.

I've had to stop news entirely. It means I don't know what's going on the world at all, which is scary too. But I just couldn't take it anymore.

It also doesn't help that, in my opinion, the country I live in has a cultural style of "laying it on thick" in terms of heavy, scary and doom mongering presentation of any news. I just refuse to be subjected to it anymore, for my own mental health. I've been noticeably better since I turned off all news channels and shows.

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Yeah, I deal with this sort of thing too. I'm caught in a never-ending loop right now where I hear an upsetting health story, get upset, try to calm myself down by looking at something relaxing, then guilt trip myself about doing that instead of something productive. Can't have helped that due to a mix-up at the doctor's I wound up quasi-off-my-meds for the past few weeks and only went fully back on last week, after a few different minor meltdowns in a relatively short period of time.

I struggled with anxieties a lot over the years. Then I finally was given a decent anxiety med. Anxieties are only a fraction of what they were, and the really annoying anxiety attacks are gone.

I suggest you consider that route, seeing a psychiatrist. My family doctor is actually the one the put me on the med I use now, but I already had seen a shrink and tried others (that didn't really work for me).

If you're unexpectedly bumping into these anxiety triggers, it might help to have a "safe space" to retreat to. A little nook that's nicely decorated where you only go to relax.

I have issues with anxiety, too, but other than trying to retrain my reactions there's not much I can do. I focus on how the world will unfold as it will whether or not I'm anxious - so the red alert status isn't actually defending me from anything. I don't keep alcohol in the house in case one drink just to relax becomes two, three, or four drinks multiple nights in a row.

I'm told that anxiety is the fear of something that hasn't happened yet.

99% of the time it will never happen.

I have a fear of doors.
I fear opening them.
I fear entering them.
I can't stand near them.
I can't sleep near them.

It's a door. I'm a human. I'm pretty sure I'm smarter than the door. Yet the door is winning.

Anxiety makes no sense at all when you think about it.

am autie,not aspie but do have extreme autistic related anxiety [based around change,unpredictibility,routine etc] and am highly medicated for it as it causes severe challenging behavior in self every day [thats with meds,it was almost constant without].

good idea to stay away from the news stations and news itself, but it sounds like coud do with the support of a pyschologist, it woud be tough at the beginning but there woud be a better outcome with the anxiety.

have a look into bach rescue remedy,a lot of people here have taken it before and it can be bought from places such as chemists [boots in the UK sells it,depending on the country are in,as have seen it in there before].
sister is aspie and she used to take it years ago and swore by it, its supposed to be very good for anxiety.

also have a look into deep breathing exercises-here is a good guide on how to do it [ignore that its aimed at people with PTSD if dont have it-that doesnt affect the exercises];
http://ptsd.about.com/od/selfhelp/ht/breathing2.htm

Hey everyone,

First of all, thank you for all the advice! It's been a week and a half since my symtoms first started and I'm finally starting to feel like myself again, but it wasn't easy getting there.

In addition to the anxiety, I also having a bout with depression (which usually happens when I get these kind of attacks). It got so bad that I didn't want to get out of bed, much less leave the house. My appetite also disappeared during this time and most days all I ate was a couple boiled eggs and some watermelon (I just weighed myself and I've seriously lost about 10 pounds).

Finally I asked my mom, who is a trained hypnotherapist, to hypnotise me because I didn't want to go on meds until I tried all other options. The morning afterward she did, the anxiety was gone, but the depression hit me full force, causing me to have an overwhelming feeling of sadness. The day afterwards, the anxiety came back. I tried getting sun and exercise, but neither of them worked either. My family was getting worried about me and my mom decided to download the Audible app and some self-help audio books onto on my phone (we all share the same account) and told me to listen to them.

Well, the first book I listened to gave me the answer I needed.

The author talked about how she had suffered in silence for years with the same anxious thoughts that I was having, though every psychiatrist she went to said that she was fine. Finally, she found a good one that diagnosed her with Anticipatory Anxiety and after using the coping methods that were recommended to her and she finally started feeling better. The second I heard that, I went online and looked up Anticipatory Anxiety and found similar methods I could use. I did them last night and this morning, I woke up feeling better than I have been for days.

I'm going to post an article that describes what this kind of anxiety is, hopefully it can help some of you who are still suffering.

http://www.drmartinseif.com/resources/a ... xiety.html

Thanks again everyone for all your help!

Hey everyone,

First of all, thank you for all the advice! It's been a week and a half since my symtoms first started and I'm finally starting to feel like myself again, but it wasn't easy getting there.

In addition to the anxiety, I also having a bout with depression (which usually happens when I get these kind of attacks). It got so bad that I didn't want to get out of bed, much less leave the house. My appetite also disappeared during this time and most days all I ate was a couple boiled eggs and some watermelon (I just weighed myself and I've seriously lost about 10 pounds).

Finally I asked my mom, who is a trained hypnotherapist, to hypnotise me because I didn't want to go on meds until I tried all other options. The morning afterward she did, the anxiety was gone, but the depression hit me full force, causing me to have an overwhelming feeling of sadness. The day afterwards, the anxiety came back. I tried getting sun and exercise, but neither of them worked either. My family was getting worried about me and my mom decided to download the Audible app and some self-help audio books onto on my phone (we all share the same account) and told me to listen to them.

Well, the first book I listened to gave me the answer I needed.

The author talked about how she had suffered in silence for years with the same anxious thoughts that I was having, though every psychiatrist she went to said that she was fine. Finally, she found a good one that diagnosed her with Anticipatory Anxiety and after using the coping methods that were recommended to her and she finally started feeling better. The second I heard that, I went online and looked up Anticipatory Anxiety and found similar methods I could use. I did them last night and this morning, I woke up feeling better than I have been for days.

I'm going to post an article that describes what this kind of anxiety is, hopefully it can help some of you who are still suffering.

http://www.drmartinseif.com/resources/a ... xiety.html

Thanks again everyone for all your help!

Sorry about the double post, the website kept sending me error messages and I thought my posts wasn't going up when they obviously were!

I have a history of worrying from a young age. One of my treasured objects as a child was a Worry Bird <click>.



1. There?s a pretty good book on this topic entitled, ?Asperger Syndrome and Anxiety: A Guide to Successful Stress Management? by Nick Dubin.
2. Exercise. It's probably the one thing that keeps me sane.

i understand exactly how you feel. But no hugs. i never hug people and when they hug me i tense up and break down inside (I haven't been hugged in since i was 5 that's why i break down inside and i tense up because it's a foreign concept for me)

Anxiety has been a part of my life since I was in elementary school. Now it is to the point where I become ill whenever I leave the house. The medication the doctors have put me on helps however when confronted with the harshness that is reality it tends to come back again. My therapist said it is normal because it is just how my body deals with stress. Doesn't mean I like it any, but I learn to cope with it.

My anxiety seems to have gotten worse this year and recently yet, it sucks since it's so irrational and you know it but it doesn't go away. Things seem to be getting harder, even every day things. The way I dealt with things before was to avoid and withdraw, I can't do that any longer and I don't want to. It's definitely anticipatory, hardly anything goes as bad as I expect it. I scare myself into avoiding everything.