what can we aspies do to reduce our anxiety

Post Reply New Topic

I take candle-lit bubble baths with a little Enya or Loreena McKennitt playing.

Camomile tea helps a great deal. (It's not only a calmative but also aids the digestion, cures heartburn and gives a clear skin). I drink 7-8 cups during the day and two before I leave the house. I also take one or two valerian and hops pills about an hour before I have to go out, but they make a bit sleepy, so I wouldn't recommend valerian if you have to drive.

Other than that, I avoid food with too much sugar or white flour. Both a sugar high and a sugar crash make me a lot more anxious. I also feel nervous and jittery after heavy meals, so I try to eat healthy and light (unless I'm depressed and just don't give a damn).

going for a long walk alone in nature

having a long shower

focusing uninterrupted on an interest

I find writing stories or drawing pictures of something you're obsessed with/interested in, or doing some other form of creativity that revolves around your interests.

Also watching films in bed can calm my nerves a bit. It gives me a chance to wind down, and then when I finished watching a film I find that my mind is completely clear, and stops all the chattering and pessimistic thoughts. All those start the next day. It's funny because most people I know (even if they're not anxious about much) say that they wake up in early hours worrying about things, but I actually don't. I worry about things all day, then my mind calms down when I'm in bed. Good thing really.

In severe anxiety cases, I listen to Pink Floyd's "The Wall". It's an album I can't really appreciate when I'm in a good mood, though some tracks are cracking good ones at any time.

when anxiety hits I try to modify my environment by making it quiet.

Other things I do:

Crochet
Play with my cat
Listen to an itunes comedy radio station
Take a nap
Make sure I've eaten recently
get into my most comfortable clothes

Since my anxiety level is generally high my doctor put me on 1mg of Ativan every morning and it's helped A LOT.

when i was prescribed beta blockers for my HTN, my intentional tremors went away entirely, along with a good deal of my free-floating anxiety. when i was on strattera, what little remaining anxiety i had in public situations also went away, and my thoughts became much more focused. when group death dropped my prescription drug coverage and i didn't have the $650 per month to pay for 30 strattera capsules i had to drop it like a hot potato, and my only recourse was to get army-fit again via vigorous physical exercise, which seemed to have much the same effect as the strattera minus the GERD [its one main side effect].

Yesterday, I made a chart in Word w/ 3 collumns. One labled "triggers for my meltdowns", the next lables "Why". the next, "what can I do to change it?"

Well most of my meldowns are from silly things like putting things on surfaces that I deam clutter free surfaces. I am not a clean freak but I do not like clutter everywhere. I am the one who cleans the house so I like things a certain way. I have told my husband, please do not put stuff hear and there. I explain, this counter is where I make bread. I do not like to have to clear off the clutter, everytime I want to use it, this is the dirty dish side of the kitchen sink so, please don't put dishes by the dish drain thing. etc.

I do not have constant meltdowns but have not tolerance for feeling ignored when I find clutter on my bread making caounter or dirty dishes by the drainer after I have repeadedly asked him not to. I get so frustrated with stuff like that and before ya know it, I am having a meltdown.

So I made a list of these things in my chart. Then why these things upset me and how I can change it to prevent the melt downs.

Then I did the same thing with 3 collumns of what I like about my husband. (I did not want him to feel hurt. He has Asperger's too. the next collumn, "why I like these things, then "notes"

The list of my neurotic annoyances wasn't very long and the list of the things I like about my husband was very long.

Well, I sat Alan down today and explained that I did this because I know that I am neurotic and I want to try to fix things in our marriage that I don't want to hurt him by yealling, that it is not him that is the problem, it is me. He really is a very kind person and sometimes I feel like I kicked a puppy after having a meltdown.

Well we went through the list together. Going over each thing. I stressed that I was not picking on him that it is me w/ the problem but as long as these triggers are still there, I have uncontrollable meltdowns. It isn't that I want to be mean to him or anything. I love him and adore him.

I was scared of doing this that it would be taken the wrong way.

Well, it went very well and better than I expected. I think it was a mildstone in our marriage. He understands that growing up it was my job to clean the house when my parents were slobs and it was like a slap in the face that I would get the house all clean just for them to junk it up. He understands that when I cared for my Mom when she was dying of cancer, I tried to keep the house clean. (I was living w/ her at the time), there was always clutter everywhere. There was not one clutter free surface in the whole house and she would not allow me to clean the clutter up, she said she liked being a slob. This was tough because she has lung cancer and breathing problems so I knew dust was not good for her.

He now understands that I felt unheard and ignored.

Oh and the next part of the chart was things that I do that he does not like. He was unable to do it. I told him that it was not like the "do I look fat?" thing, that I wanted to know so, I could work on our relationship.

The only thing he could get out verbally and had a difficult time doing that was that when he teaches me how to do something like shoot a gun or go hunting, I seem to ignore what he taught me. I giggled and said, well, I have had that problem all my life, someone teaches me how to do something, then I do it my way. LOLI told him that I was not ignoring him that the wires in my frontal lobe are jumbled. LOL I told him if he catches me doing that to say, no, I said to do it like this.

He didn't like that when I was in my dear stand and got bored, I started target practice at the squirels. It was fun. LOL I didn't shoot any but I was no longer bored. He told me that I will never shoot a deer like that, that they ran for the hills. LOL

What a sweet heart. I can be a raving bitvh once in a while but what I do that he doesn't like is follow, hunter education instructions. LOL

he's a keeper.

Oh and in the "how I can change it" collumn, I wrote over and over, "disguss this with Alan", so I did. It worked.

I like cleaning the house too and walking. Recently I found working with electronics relaxing so will try and do more of that.

I never go out without my ipod, I listen to a lot of electro music or albums like b*****s Brew - Miles Davis tend to have an effect on me. It kinda protects me from the outside world.

I wear dark lenses glasses, it tends to reduce the visual cues.

Being on top of things
having a plan
exersise
hops; (non)alcoholic beer
stoic philosiphy

being mindful and realising when my mind is going into an anxiety causing loop. and distarcting myself out if it.

remembering little victories.

moving farward.