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Autism, anxiety & medication

femininecomplz

Hi all,

I've found that my anxiety has worsened over the years, and since being diagnosed I now know a lot of it comes from needing routine (and just constant overthinking!).

I often get overwhelmed even from the slightest changes now and I don't know how to help it. For example, my family are coming home today from holiday earlier than expected. I have been living alone and have gotten used to the quiet alone time. Knowing they would be home soon talking, playing music and doing their own thing really caused me to freak out. I love my family but I find that any slight changes now really get to me!

I have started propranolol as the GP said it can help with physical symptoms. I was wondering if anyone else takes it and found any difference? So far for me I cant really tell.

Also what do people do to manage anxiety? I feel like once I get anxious I get stuck on it and find it hard to get out.

thanks allwhite heart

Parents

  • Hi. I’ve spent the vast majority of my life struggling with anxiety. I think the root causes of this stem from a few things in my formative years - such as spending three months in hospital as a toddler, having parents who were dysfunctional and not very loving, and having lots of autistic straits that made many aspects of life very challenging. I was once prescribed propranolol because my GP had prescribed an anti-depressant to help me with my anxiety and I had a very bad reaction to the medication (becoming hugely more anxious and extremely freaked out and suicidal) and the GP gave me a benzodiazepine and propanol to ‘bring me down’ from the side effects of the SSRI. I found it helpful for a while. I remember going to the dentist and realising that while I was mentally anxious in the dentist chair my actual body was actually relatively relaxed. I only took it for about 3 months though. 
    I also had PTSD after a serious illness a few years ago - and my anxiety got extremely severe around that time - and I thought: I’ve really got to deal with this because it’s become completely overwhelming. I had therapy for the PTSD and that helped - but the general anxiety remained.

    As I couldn’t tolerate Anti depressants I looked at trying to really understand the things that were driving my anxiety. I tried to understand the root causes (as mentioned above) and then to understand how the anxiety arises in me day to day. I read and listened to a lot of Eckhart Tolle and he is great at explaining how we get into these mental states, and how to gradually become better at managing our own reactions to the things life throws at us. I had to give a lot of time to learning about this but it was really fascinating and I really started to get better at noticing what I was ‘doing’ that was making me react so anxiously to life events. For example: realising that dwelling on the past and looking ahead to what MIGHT happen is a cause of a lot of unhappiness- and if you try more to ‘live in the now’ - that really helps reduce anxiety. 
    From Eckhart Tolle and moved onto to studying Buddhism and that really delves into what are the causes of human suffering and gives lots of ideas about how to reduce it. Lots of Mindfulness techniques, and understanding about how attachment and aversion cause suffering etc etc. I listened to to loads of Thich Nhat Hanh talks and found these made Buddhist philosophy very accessible. This greater awareness and understanding has really reduced my anxiety. I still struggle with anxiety but it’s much less severe - because now I can understand it and realise what’s happening - and somehow that alone makes it easier to manage, because it makes it less overwhelming- and I have some ‘tools’ to help me to deal with it when it happens. For example if I become aware of myself worrying about something in the future I think to myself: right now you can’t do anything about that, come back to the present and focus instead on what you are doing today. Stop projecting into the future and worrying about that because it might not happen at all in the way you are worrying that it will. Let go of thinking about a future you cannot control. Come back to now. Over time you get better and better at becoming aware of the patterns of thinking that drive your anxiety- and ways of looking at things differently and in a way that reduces your anxiety. Buddhist teachings are very like CBT - but ( in my view) much better! 

    I’ve really learnt so much, and although it’s been about three years of learning about these things the ‘results’ are really long lasting. I’m definitely a happier person for it, and when I get anxious I manage it much better, and it improves much more quickly. So I always say to anyone who struggles with anxiety: take a bit of time to understand the roots of your anxiety (which are normally formed in childhood) - but most of all try to understand how the way we think is the fundamental driver of heightened anxiety. We can change how we think and react to things, it takes time but we really can change our habitual ways of responding to life. 

  • in reply to Kate Kestrel

    Hi Kate, thanks! Yes I agree it can help with the physical symptoms which I am glad about - but the mental part is the hardest for me. I think understanding the root cause like you have may really help, thanks for your recommendation. Definitely not a quick fix but seems like over time it can really help

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