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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

Parents

  • Personally I would not go back to medication for my anxiety. The antidepressants I was prescribed in the past did not help and the side effects were horrific and frightening. Doctors can be very quick to offer SSRIs but they have not been adequately tested on autistic brains. There is some scientific evidence that autistic people actually have too much Serotonin and actually need something to help with GABA levels instead.

    I have tried mindfulness in the past too. However I found the meditations that focussed on the breathing and on the body too overwhelming for me. Autistic people can already be very hyper aware to internal sensations and exercises that focus on this can have the opposite from the intended effect. What I do find mindfulness useful for is being present, keeping the focus on what I am doing and noticing when thoughts are drifting.

    I have also tried a number of natural remedies for anxiety, some of which have been mentioned and discussed on here in recent months. The ones that I can think of that have been mentioned include St Johns Wort, Lion's Mane, Ashwagandha and L-Theanine.

    We are not allowed to give medical advice on here. If you have any concerns about symptoms please get them checked out by a doctor. If you have a tendency towards health anxiety it can help to seek reassurances from a medical professional, to ensure your symptoms are caused by anxiety and not something else.

  • in reply to Autonomistic

    I'm sorry you've not had very good experiences with medication for anxiety. I'm not surprised to hear it though. I've not tried medication but I have done a lot of research and very few people are "compatible" with medication.. I worry I would be the same as I'm hyper sensitive to side effects so don't really fancy it.

    I've told my mum about my pains and problems and she said she'll keep an eye on me and I've got to tell her if anything gets any worse... It never does though, just hurts, especially when I get stressed and anxious.

    Anxiety and autism are a horrific combination. It would help if I could work out what my triggers are but I literally have no idea at all. I just feel anxious pretty much all the time...

  • in reply to Bees
    Bees said:
    It would help if I could work out what my triggers are but I literally have no idea at all. I just feel anxious pretty much all the time...

    I know the feeling... Often I'll wake up anxious and stay like that for no apparent reason and it can last for weeks. I believe the body gets used to being in that state and it becomes the new normal. I call it my baseline anxiety and when that is high I get overwhelmed by things far more quickly.

    Getting stuck in a hyper vigilant anxious state can be the result of an atypical type of autistic burnout.

    https://emergentdivergence.com/2023/05/12/creating-autistic-suffering-what-is-atypical-burnout/

    I know when I was at school that overwhelming sensory environment was definitely a trigger but I wasn't able to identify that at the time. Much of what I thought was anxiety throughout my teens and twenties was actually sensory overload. Managing your sensory environment is so important. The books by Dr Luke Beardon are good resources for learning how to do this in the battle against autistic anxiety.

    You could try the Molehill Mountain App, which enables you to track your anxiety and try to work out causes and triggers.

    https://www.autistica.org.uk/molehill-mountain

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  • in reply to Bees
    Bees said:
    It would help if I could work out what my triggers are but I literally have no idea at all. I just feel anxious pretty much all the time...

    I know the feeling... Often I'll wake up anxious and stay like that for no apparent reason and it can last for weeks. I believe the body gets used to being in that state and it becomes the new normal. I call it my baseline anxiety and when that is high I get overwhelmed by things far more quickly.

    Getting stuck in a hyper vigilant anxious state can be the result of an atypical type of autistic burnout.

    https://emergentdivergence.com/2023/05/12/creating-autistic-suffering-what-is-atypical-burnout/

    I know when I was at school that overwhelming sensory environment was definitely a trigger but I wasn't able to identify that at the time. Much of what I thought was anxiety throughout my teens and twenties was actually sensory overload. Managing your sensory environment is so important. The books by Dr Luke Beardon are good resources for learning how to do this in the battle against autistic anxiety.

    You could try the Molehill Mountain App, which enables you to track your anxiety and try to work out causes and triggers.

    https://www.autistica.org.uk/molehill-mountain

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