Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, I'm Sam and a 42-year old male. I was diagnosed at age 37 with 'mild-moderate Aspergers', after spending most of my life wondering why I seemed different and apart from most other people. This came about after having problems at work (Ironically I'm a psychiatric nurse!) and when put in a capability process there I had it suggested that I could be on the Autistic spectrum. One diagnosis later I had the above result, which was a life changer! Things started to make sense, and it explained so much about my behaviour and problems I've had since I could remember.
Joined here after looking to see if there is any kind of support local to me in the Midlands (Apparently there isn't really much!) as having a lot of trouble with low mood and anxiety - which seemed to have worsened recently, especially around coping with work and all the noise and stimuli there. Not to mention all the stress! Tiny things can make me really anxious and I tend to catastrophise things which lead me to a lot of negative conclusions. I'm married, though again there are problems there - mainly worsening problems around touch and anything intimate, but that's probably for another thread!
I have a bit of a tech/gadget obsession, I currently have about 6 mobile phones, an iPad, couple of tablets and my Surface Pro 4. Oh, and an iPod Touch! I have a bit of a spending problem there actually, tends to be my go-to coping mechanism when feeling down. I've also recently gotten into tabletop gaming with one of my few friends, and also Anime - specifically Studio Ghibli and that particular genre of it.
Anyway I'll shut up before I start to ramble, good to be here!
Hi Sam, thanks for sharing - I was thinking around the excess stimuli point you raised affecting your mood as I experience something similar and my fight or flight mechanism gets triggered by ongoing noise. What I've found really help are ear plugs such as Docs Pro Vented Plugs. I wear them every day at work, they're small and clear so they are discreet and I get tired less. I also have breaks where I put noise cancelling headphones on which really help. What I'd really like but I haven't found yet are tinted contact lenses that act as indoor sunglasses, but in the meantime until they're widely available I've been wearing sunglasses out and semi-shades indoors at home, which also takes some of the strain off. Anyway not sure if that's at all helpful but wishing you the best!