High anxiety days

Does anyone else have days when your anxiety levels are through the roof but you can not find am explanation for guy? You just spend all day feeling completely on edge and wanting to cry but not being able to ?

  • Yes, and I feel that someone will pop up talking about the spoon theory again soon... which I only learnt about yesterday.

  • glad someone understands.  I often don't know why I get that feeling.  I haven't actually had it for a while which is good.  I think it goes in stages.

  • I know what you mean on alot of your points. I usually think what am I guilty about until I find something in my memories :( if I dont brush my teeth or brush my hair on time I hate the feeling I cant describe it.

  • Binge watching tv or going out and try to do something "normal" to try and take my mind off it. 

  • Yes, I get these but usually just for a day or two. I had one a couple of weeks ago actually, rather embarrassingly quite publicly on here! They’ve been more frequent since my diagnosis at the end of last year. It’s horrible isn’t it? Do you have something that your anxiety is focused on or is it more generalised anxiety? Personally, for me, there is usually a focus for my anxiety, usually the realisation of a bit more of how having autism affects me. My anxiety just mushrooms and gets a bit out of control. Luckily I can usually reign it back in again within 2-3 days using a variety of coping mechanisms. What coping mechanisms do you use when your anxiety gets really high?

  • I was so deep in this for a time, I am recovering slowly, but still, it's like ghosts are reaching out from the underworld and dragging me down there. The words are so accurate "through the roof" and "wanting to cry but not being able to ".

  • I'm in a similar position, and can relate to what you're saying.

     I'm having CBT counselling at the moment for severe social anxiety, and showing emotion publicly is one of my issues as well. I was bullied a lot as a child, and the bullies seemed to enjoy my fear and pain, and do all they could to provoke a response they could laugh at. I remember making sustained, conscious efforts not to show emotion, so the b******s at least wouldn't have the satisfaction. (Unfortunately, understanding that hasn't helped me to overcome the fear.)

  • If I haven’t got up and brushed my teeth and got dressed to go straight out my whole day can be ruined.  My clothes don’t feel right, I’m uncomfortable, I’m more clumsy than usual, then I get really stressed and feel so angry and uncomfortable.  I wonder if it is because my routine has changed to normal, as I get up and straight out during the week, and it’s anxiety that I have.  Some days I wake up and have a completely overwhelming sense of guilt, and I have no idea why.  And I lie in bed trying to work out what I’ve done or what’s happened.

  • Yes. I feel on edge most days. I'd also love to be able to cry and let it all out but I just can't.. Even on the extremely rare occasion I feel like I'm welling up I stop myself and hold it in. None of it is very healthy... Whenever I show emotion like that I feel overwhelmingly vulnerable so I stop it almost as soon as it happens. I have no idea what's happened in my past to make me feel this way... I've tried to think of a time I showed emotion and was punished in some way for it...

  • Society has evolved too fast for the human brain to cope with. For me, I didn't realise I was so bad until I hit crisis mode. Looking back I should've done something about it last year, if not 5 years ago. I wonder if this is to do with not being able to understand and interpret ones own emotions and feelings. 

    Raindrops, maybe you need some time out to charge your batteries.

    Something I learned in CBT is to set yourself an anxiety base limit each day. Mine is currently 4/10 if I go above this I need to do something to regain control of it.

  • Yes and Anxiety can be crippling. I'm on medication to help ease mine it got bad about a year ago to the state of becoming paranoid and feeling more introverted than normal and even needing my headphones to mute family life when I get home from work. I accept this will never go away completely for the rest of my life and there is nothing that triggers the reason for it to come on. I am a very active person so there is no reason for it to come on had numerous CBT but it's the way my brain is wired up. The good thing I get with my ASC is alot of determination so no matter what life throws at me I still manage to battle through. Every time I come of meds it creeps back fully so I think I'll be on them for the rest of my life unfortunately.

    Hope you feel better soon and try not to let it grind you down try and stay positive and remember we are a great bunch on this forum with all different life struggles.

  • I already have days where I just can't seem to do anything and even my binge watching of familiar shows doesn't help. 

    Is exhaustion associated with autism too ?

  • You used my exact terminology when I was in your state not too long ago, 'anxiety through the roof', thats the only way to describe how extreme it feels isn't it. You may find in the coming weeks that the exhaustion will hit, in some ways it was a relief because I'd gotten used to the hyper arousal but in another its awful not having any energy to do anything.

  • i agree with this, I had this a few months ago now just feel exhausted all the time from mind and body being in constant fight or flight mode, there's another term for it, adrenal fategue, body and mind still acting as though we are being hunted by wild animals 24/7 in the hunter gatherer times. not a nice feeling..

  • Yes. I was like this a few months ago and still recovering.  It might be that you're so used to being in a high anxiety state for most of the time,  without realising it, anything or nothing will set you off.  

  • Yes, everyday feels that way at the moment.