Illness from excitement... an aspie thing?
For the past several months I've been excited about Sonic Generations (a video game) coming out, so finally the time is here - it comes out tomorrow. Now with all the excitement building up I found myself earlier just feeling plain ill - nauseous to be be precise.
I can't ever remember this happening to be before from excitement, is this an autism related thing? Or an NT thing?
Anxiety perhaps? There is "good anxiety" and "bad anxiety"; meaning, you can became excited and anxious from negative events as well as from positive events. They can add up and accumulate and just become plain anxiety regardless of the source and triggers. It'll make you feel sick, and have physical symptoms: nausea, dizziness, digestive issues, headaches, muscle tension, etc.
My overall anxiety can go up when I expect something good to happen. For example, I may order some new stuff for my bikes or computers and have anxiety from the expectation. Kind of like what is happening to you. I'd track the package obsessively every day and can't wait until it arrives. The night before the delivery I may not sleep very well because of this. And on the delivery day I can't wait to get home then I will be jumping to the door at the sound of a truck passing by. It's "good anxiety" but still bad for me in the end.
I've gotten sick before from getting overly excited about something. I think this is another form of "anticipatory anxiety" and it's what happens when you don't let your body relax. Getting a stomach ache of feeling nauseous is probably a symptom of stress.
Also, I don't know if this is what you're getting at, but I've gotten sick before when I push myself too far. I need a lot of alone and down time, so when I don't get it, I'm much more likely to catch a cold. I had a stay in Japan for awhile and my host mom was always encouraging me to leave the house, even when I was exhausted. Needless to say, I was sick all the time. Part of it might've been just being in a foreign country, but I think part of it was also the lifestyle I was trying to lead.
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I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.
I've had panic attacks due to misreading excitement as anxiety. They are opposites but both have the same effect on the body in terms of physical symptoms. I have to remind myself constantly when I am excited that I am excited and not nervous. And that there's no reason to have a panic attack just because I'm excited about something. Easier written than done though, as the physical symptoms are the same.
Like syrella, I've also gotten sick before (many panic attacks) from pushing myself too far too fast.
Yes, I do so relate to this and I was alway wondering why getting anxious of something which actually can be plesant. Is it typical for autism or is it due to uncontrolled sensory overload, no matter what is happening the system needs to react strongly?
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English is not my native language, so I will very likely do mistakes in writing or understanding. My edits are due to corrections of mistakes, which I sometimes recognize just after submitting a text.
Absolutely this.
I know about myself that I find it incredibly hard to distinguish between the two emotions. I'm unsure that I can experience excitement without just as much anxiety. I realise that these days I avoid a lot of exciting situations because of this. Its hard to believe most things are worth all the anxiety symptoms- Racing heart and thoughts, nausea, confusion, insomnia....
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