How common are panic attacks in AS?

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I really don't know if I ever experienced a panic attack.

I have found that rubbing my hands together vigorously can ward of panic attack or oncoming overload. No idea why. I may look like a total loonie for 30 secs. or so, but i don't mind it seems to work for me.

Anxiety is about thoughts. If you can focus all your attention of something else that helps.

I get similar panic attacks to you, Drekka. Sensory overload has never been a problem but words and ideas can get stuck in a feedback loop in my brain until I'm just shaking and crying in the corner. I have an obsessive tendency to plan out multiple courses of action and do problem solving. I always have to have some kind of a plan for everything I need to get done. If I get overwhelmed by stress, I just have everything I have to do rushing through my mind over and over again keeping me awake and unable to actually work on it.

I also need a lot of control over my life. I am in college and we just had room draw for next year. I was supposed to be in a sextet with the two other guys I'm living with now (I'm in a single and they are in a double next door with a connecting door that is usually open). The sextet has two double rooms and two single room and I was going to get one of the singles. Only one person can participate in room draw for the group and for boring and difficult to explain reasons, we got a quad (two double rooms) instead. When I found out I would have a room mate next year I completely freaked out. Since then, we've worked it out so that I can live with one of the guys I get along with better so I'm hoping things will be fine next year.

I was given a diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder in addition to AS, so I don't know how connected they are.




Simple video games really help the best for me when I am panicking. Super Metriod is the best for me because I've played it so much. The familiarity with where I am and what I have to do calms me down very quickly. Of course, if I start thinking about my own life again, I start to go crazy again...

I have heard juggling works, because you need to use both hemispheres of the brain to juggle.
And during anxiety attacks, one hemisphere shuts down and the other goes haywire. But i can't carry juggling balls around with me; and it is usually in confined spaces with lots of people talking which starts me off.

Focussing attention on something else is fine if you can do it; but not as easy as it sounds.
It's like not thinking about an elephant. Or playing golf and thinking i must not miss this on the left side.

I've read that anxiety and anxiety disorders are VERY common in AS (including things like OCD, post-traumatic stress disorder, etc.)

I frequently (maybe the majority of the time) have a background level of anxiety. I sometimes have what I assume are panic attacks. I just had one yesterday at work because they were rearranging the desks (and sticking my close to someone else).

It doesn't happen much anymore, though I think that's because for me it's triggered by stress, and I have a job I can pretty much handle, that doesn't change all that much.

I do things like pacing, my voice changes (like I think I had a low, flat voice at work yesterday when I called my mom from work, then later when I was trying to keep it together in front of my boss I think it sounded kind of quiet and soft), I get OCD symptoms a lot worse than normal, I sometimes kind of hyperventilate, feel light headed, and I know my thinking isn't the same as it normally is (but I don't think I could describe or understand what's different about it). I sometimes jump really quickly to thinking the only solution to whatever's going on is to kill myself (though I do *NOT* want to, and I don't think I'm depressed).

I don't think I've ever had a "meltdown", though I don't really know what that means exactly. I think I either don't have sensory issues, or they're very mild (I can think of some issues with smell, and I can be bothered by some really high pitched noises other people can't hear, but generally those aren't an issue for me the way my life is structured.)

That is right. You can train yourself so you focus on only one or two things (Vipassana). But you can't go about your every day business like that.

I'm more proactive now. You get better at recognising the signs. When I get anxious walking down the street I take a cab number or number plate and just repeat it over and over in my head.

But yes the panic attack is a symptom of the anxiety. So you have to work on challenging your thoughts and behaviour with CBT, etc. I think knowing NT sufferers they can have more difficulty because a rational approach really helps. Though I think AS has an inbuilt general anxiety in me.

What is the difference between Panic Attack and Meltdown?