Autism, anxiety & medication

I can identify with many of your feelings regarding the anxiety, and like you it seems to get worse with age. I have tried so many meds in the vane hope of controlling the anxiety, most have been ineffective at best, some have actually made things worse and the few that have taken the edge of the anxiety make me feel fuzzy headed.

I find the most effective solution for myself is to do some activity that I like that requires real focus. For me it's either riding my mountain bike or rock climbing. I seem to get into a "flow state" where my entire focus is on the activity I'm doing. I'm not sure that it's an answer or just an avoidance tactic but I know if I don't do those activities my anxiety goes into that run away state and it's super difficult to get out of it.

Not sure that helps you, but it's my only relief from the constant fight or flight feeling.

I think that activities that really require our full focus (like the things you mention such as rock climbing ) are very much like Mindfulness techniques- in that they bring us really into the present moment and stop us ruminating on the past or worrying about the future. ‘Flow state’ - that is just the best feeling. I think it’s also helpful to be aware that what we don’t want to do is try to ‘fight’ and push away anxiety - because that often makes it worse. It’s much better to just gently turn our focus to something we enjoy or some activity that really interests us - and give our attention to that in a positive way - rather than ‘running away’ from our anxious thoughts. Anxiety is a vital part of being human - it’s there to protect us - and I think we have to sort of ‘make friends’ with the idea that it’s there., we actually need our capacity to be anxious. It gets ‘out of control’ when we start to freak out about the way being anxious ‘feels’ - I start to fight it, or run away from it. It’s a vicious circle. But we can learn to change how we react to it. It takes time though - but it’s definitely achievable. 

I think that activities that really require our full focus (like the things you mention such as rock climbing ) are very much like Mindfulness techniques- in that they bring us really into the present moment and stop us ruminating on the past or worrying about the future. ‘Flow state’ - that is just the best feeling. I think it’s also helpful to be aware that what we don’t want to do is try to ‘fight’ and push away anxiety - because that often makes it worse. It’s much better to just gently turn our focus to something we enjoy or some activity that really interests us - and give our attention to that in a positive way - rather than ‘running away’ from our anxious thoughts. Anxiety is a vital part of being human - it’s there to protect us - and I think we have to sort of ‘make friends’ with the idea that it’s there., we actually need our capacity to be anxious. It gets ‘out of control’ when we start to freak out about the way being anxious ‘feels’ - I start to fight it, or run away from it. It’s a vicious circle. But we can learn to change how we react to it. It takes time though - but it’s definitely achievable.