I would like to say hello to everyone here at Wrongplanet.net. I have been diagnosed with Autism/AS since I was 6 (I am 19 now). A brief history of me, I had a difficult time getting through elementary school. I was often teased and beat up at school and my grades were lackluster. When I moved into Middle School, I was often in trouble. I was referred to the office more than once and I had problems with temper tantrums because I felt nobody could help me. With help from my teachers (thankfully, they were good people) I made it through. In high school, I regrouped and worked my hardest. My freshman year, I achieved a 3.00GPA, and sophomore year I was up to a 3.5GPA. I ended up graduating with a 3.9GPA and in the top 7% of my class. I had a keen interest in Engineering as well as technology and design, so I decided that I wanted to be an Architectural Engineer since I have interest in building design and engineering as well as pure sciences. I am currently in college at a top engineering school and I like it a lot. I am finding that I have a lot of stress which I am dealing with. I am working with counselors as well as with medication (psychologist/psaichaitrist) to help reslove my nerviousness and I am getting better. For a while (and I still do 2 or 3 days a week) I live on campus, but recently the nervous problems have forced me to commute from my home (its a 40 min drive for me). I felt really bad about leaving since I had friends in my dorm and people liked me being around, but my studies were getting difficult for me and I was getting so nervous that in the mornings, I would vomit if I ate any food in the mornings. One of the main reasons was the pace of it. At this school, the professors are all PhDs and the lectures move very very quickly. For someone like me with AS, it is sometimes difficult to cope with this and I try to listen and interpret what the professors are saying, but I had difficulty keeping up in Calculus, so I was adivsed by my counselor to drop it and try it again when I was feeling better and better prepared (I hadn't taken a precalculus course in high school, so I was behind in that respect). I am doing better (in fact, I am getting all As and one B plus)in school, however, Every morning, I wake up very nervous. I'm not sure why, it seems like a physical problem since I am constantly worried about school when there really is nothing to be concerned about. I try to stay well-organized (I use outlook calendars and tasks which I sync to my Motorola Q phone) and I know how to do my work. Even though I know and understand my work, I still feel very nervous in the mornings. Interestingly enough, I always get better during the day. Even if I get a lot more work, I feel better and am able to do the work. In the mornings, my friends notice that I look depressed and "on the edge." It all seems to clear up and I do really well during the day. I am on medicine and I take Zoloft (50mg in the morning and 50mg at night). I also take Risperdol at night to calm me down a little more. Recently, I also have been taking an anti-vomiting pill (which doesn't seem to do much when I am really worked up) but helps when I am not extraneously nervous. It is nice knowing that there are people here who probably experience the same problems that I have.
16 Oct 2006, 9:49 am
. Wish you well with those studies and in managing your anxiety.
