How common is anxiety with Aspies?

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For the last five years I've struggled with what is allegedly anxiety. I have been through a battery of tests over this which indicate my health is in good shape (BP is good, heart is good, etc). Lately I've read some things on the Internet that suggest that anxiety and Asperger's almost go hand in hand. Is it really this common? Do I really need to accept the idea that I have anxiety and it is responsible for my aches and pains?

Right now the doctor (just a regular physician) has me on Fluoxetine and I am interested in hearing from others who may have some knowledge in this area.


Also, is there any correlation to the above with my phobias? I have three major phobias that prevent me from doing things (the dark, unfamiliar adult dogs and murky water). And by phobias, I mean actual fears that engage the fight or flight mode.

Thanks,

I still have a little fear of the dark myself. It's not as bad as it used to be...

But umm... I've never heard of anyone with a diagnosis claiming to not have anxiety...

But personally I think it's fairly likely that there are a number of AS people who aren't getting diagnosed because they're doing well at work and in life and they just don't feel the need to go get a diagnosis. (Not to mention that the DSM-IV wouldn't allow them to have one without symptoms like difficulty keeping jobs - which was my issue.) So I can't say if all those people experience anxiety and we just don't know because they're not getting diagnosed, or if they're relatively anxiety free... I do know that I've had several doctors in the past treat me basically for anxiety - which means they were treating the symptom, not the cause.

Long story short, what you've described doesn't surprise me at all.

Anxiety is not something I've really dealt with, other than the common (among aspies anyway) anxiety in social situations. But then, I'm a rather easy-going and unusually optimistic person, so I'm probably a good bit out of the norm when it comes to aspies.

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Forgive me if I sound a bit preachy or teachy. I don't pretend to know everything, but I like to share what I do know.

I have AS, depression, and anxiety. I take anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medication that works really well. (Amitryptiline for depression and Lorazepam for anxiety.)

For me, the anxiety is kind of like a low-level hum I've had all my life. I count myself lucky that the medication controls the panic attacks, which were physically quite painful. I haven't had any since getting on the Lorazepam a few years ago.

anxiety is pretty much always there. i try to exercise a bit to manage it.

From my experience here, anxiety seems to be quite common with aspies. I've been struggling with it my whole life, along with panic attacks. My meds do help but, can only do so much, plus they leave me sluggish and tired.

I get anxious about a LOT of things. Social situations, obviously, because they're so unpredictable, but also crowded areas (unpredictable), going to a new place (unpredictable)... I think you can sense the pattern here.

Most people find unpredictability to be somewhat stressful, but apparently people with ASDs find unpredictability even more stressful than most. Possibly this is partly because we can't predict many things that others can predict, such as what another person will think or do in a given situation, or even what we will think and do in a given situation. SO much information is coming at us, and we don't know how to process it, so we just overload. So the world is inherently more unpredictable for us (in social contexts, anyway - we can be quite good at predicting other patterns, I think), and therefore we become more anxious.

That's my theory, anyway.

And medication does help - I'm on antidepressants and an antipsychotic, and I find it much easier to function and take on new challenges now. The unpredictability of the world still bothers me somewhat, but I overload less now, and I can filter out some of the information (possibly not the information I should be filtering out, but it still helps).

I've been having problems with anxiety and panic attacks for the last couple of years. And for the last few months I've been having pretty bad chest pains which are probably caused by anxiety. I've managed to convince myself so many times that there was something wrong with my heart but I've had every kind of test done and they all say I'm in perfect health, so it looks like it was just anxiety.

The NAS has an old number of a study:

I've lived with varying levels of anxiety all my life. I don't take any medication though except for amytriptyline briefly for a few months, but it just muddled my thoughts.

I've learned to ignore the anxiety now most of the time because the anxiety is usually worse than the thing I'm anxious about in the first place if you follow what I mean. Sure bad things still happen sometimes, but worrying all the time about things that might go wrong is just self destroying.

i have extreme anxiety, sometimes i get panic attacks and my heart starts racing and last for days and i almost get a heart attack

I have Asperger's, and I have bouts with anxiety on occasion. When I get anxiety attacks, I go to a quiet place and engage in an interest like working on my novel on the computer. Or I play some solitaire on the computer. Or I lay down and darken the room and try to think about soothing things. If I don't do this, I find myself pacing the floor back and forth. The last time it happened, I couldn't find a quiet place, and I went and set down and found myself rocking back and forth. That helped a bit. When my wife got home, we went with our two sons to a steak and rib restaurant. Unfortunately, the table beside us had a noisy group sitting at it, so that dinner is like a blur to me. When we got home, I was finally able to lay down and rest. That helped.

But in response to the issue here---I firmly believe that anxiety is common amongst us Aspies.

I battle with anxiety every day of my life.