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Medication or meditation

Bees

I'm in 2 minds as to whether I should try medication or take up meditation. I suffer from anxiety, don't we all right lol but recently the physical effects it causes me have increased from pain in my chest to weird jaw tightness which almost feels like it's pulling or spasming. I worry it will dislocate but then that just makes my anxiety worse. I've considered a trip to the dentist but as with doctors I think it would cause a meltdown...so no I don't think so. Lolol.

I have seen my doctor before about chest pain and she was really lacking in sympathy and made me feel like I was wasting her time lol. Most doctors appear to have this approach with me. 

I've looked up medication and it sounds like it works for some but only a few. Most people with autism don't respond well to medication. Meditation sounds like it might be a good approach to take so I am considering doing that, just to see if it actually works or not. I think one of my biggest problems is that my muscles tighten and spasm, anxiety reaction and that's the issue with my chest and jaw. Naturally my anxiety then shoots up and convinces me I'm having lung problems and serious jaw problems.

Hehe you tried medication and meditation? 

What are your thoughts on both?

I'm leaning towards meditation but I'm also considering medication, though I do worry about the side effects as I read most have horrible side effects.

I don't know why my body can't be normal and not cause me all these inconveniences Confused

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  • I realised a few weeks ago that even if I feel completely relaxed and not in the least bit anxious when I fall asleep, I always seem to wake up with my teeth clenched, and with the rest of my body feeling tense. It's caused me to wonder if I grind my teeth in my sleep, and whether it would be worth my while to invest in a mouth guard. If I woke up tense, at least I wouldn't need to worry about whether I had been inflicting damage on my teeth by grinding them.

    As anxiety is something that seems to affect everyone with ASD, I think it can be all too easy for us to conjure up worst-case scenarios and then become fixated on them. For example, I have suffered from migraines since I was a young child, and I can remember going through a phase of being convinced I had a brain tumour. Earlier this year, I had a water infection and noticed faint traces of blood in my urine on one occasion when I used the toilet. In my mind, there was absolutely no doubt that I'd got terminal cancer.

    Of course, the logical thing is to consult a medical professional about any health concerns, but that's something else that many of us with ASD struggle with.

    It's true that anti-anxiety medication can be hit-and-miss for us. I've been prescribed SSRI anti-anxiety medication for a good many years, which seems to help to level out my mood, although not always as much as I would like. If I'm having a good day, I find my medication helps to keep my anxiety at bay. However, if I'm at rock bottom and feeling depressed, they can seem useless. As I understand it, they aren't intended to completely take away my anxiety, but to make it more manageable. The only time my anti-anxiety medication caused me to feel truly chilled out was within the first day or so of taking it. That was when I truly understood the meaning of feeling "spaced out".

    Meditation is something I have tried too, but like , it's something I have struggled to "get into". I either end up falling asleep and not remembering a thing, or else my mind will completely drift off. If it's something like a guided meditation telling me to visualise strolling through a meadow full of flowers, I can guarantee that is when some random thought will pop into my head. Laughing

  • in reply to Sporadic Sparkly

    Teeth grinding sounds horrible. It might be an idea to get a mouth guard for you to use...My mum grinds her teeth at night because of anxiety and she now wears a mouth guard when she sleeps and she's not had a bad thing to say about it. She did say it takes a while to get used to it but I guess that's to be expected. I do grind and clench my teeth but luckily not when I'm sleeping, it's more when I'm doing something which causes me stress, like when I'm out shopping and at school. I think it's my natural reaction to tense up at certain times...I think that's why my muscles hurt so much...My stomach too.

    Lolol Joy I love the idea of falling asleep when you try to meditate. Lol I think that will happen to me too as I fall asleep really easily. It's a bit of a habit. I think my body is always trying to hibernaGrin...I need my sleep Grin I will be giving meditation a go, just to see if it actually helps. I read online it's a luck of the draw thing, works for some but not everyone.

  • in reply to Bees

    Hi have you meditated today? I did this morning, my mind kept wandering, but this is common i am telling myself. I am going to give it another go now, as i need to escape from my mind x

  • in reply to Bees

    Hi

    Thats great. I think what you experienced is very common. I go back to my breathing when distracted, time and time again.

    I fell asleep, but thats ok. Theres no rush. Just knowing that im trying and hopefully the anxiety will ease eventually. Will do it again tomorrow x

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