Anxiety and Fear

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I generally feel very anxious regardless of what I do, but I tend to feel extremely anxious and fearful at night in particular. I have nothing concrete to fear, yet I get this overwhelming sense of fear even when I'm doing absolutely nothing and I know I'm in a completely safe situation. Is this typical for individuals on the spectrum? Or something else? I'm still awaiting diagnosis, but it's not necessarily a state of paranoia, just fear.

I can also have fear at night, but I do not know if it's linked to autism.

That sounds more like an anxiety disorder than Autism........I feel that way to more than I should and I have Generalized Anxiety and PTSD which I know are likely the reason.

Okay. Yeah, I still know I'm somewhere on the spectrum, I just wasn't sure if this had anything to do with it or not.

well you can have anxiety and autism, but the anxiety is going to be what causes you to feel that way.

Okay, thanks for clarifying I also have OCD, so my anxiety is due largely in part to that, I believe, though the sense of fear seems to be inexplicable. Maybe I'll do some more research. I don't have my initial appointment for diagnosis until April, so I have quite a while, providing no one cancels(which I secretly hope they do)

I know a lot about irrational anxiety, you always feel that something is going wrong or is about to even if you know everything is fine, right? Sadly the only thing I've been able to do to stop it is keep myself occupied with projects when I feel anxious, anti anxiety meds(all of which have some particularly uh... interesting side effects. And then there is that time tested practise of self medicating with alcohol. Oh, right, can I recommend my little pony as an anti stress tool? It''s really great.

I suffer from anxiety and personally have not noticed much difference between day or night.

As a theory for why you might feel worse at night I could imagine the same reason why practically all pain (toothache or earache, say) feels worse in the night - it's quieter, dark, and there are fewer distractions at night. It's a bit of a cliché but daylight usually makes things better, perhaps even your anxiety? Just a thought.

It seems a lot of people with AS have anxiety, but so far no one (to my knowledge) has successfully linked the two.

I was diagnosed with both AS and an anxiety disorder.

I think it's generally accepted that aspergers and anxiety go hand in hand. Anxiety is a near inevitable outcome of aspergers.. Anxiety is treatable though, whereas there is no cure for aspergers. which is why the anxiety diagnosis is helpful.

Sunday nights are the worst for me, falling asleep while dwelling on the week ahead, really hard to sleep. When I'm anxious even falling asleep is distressing and the split second where I fall asleep jolts me upright...

Jason.

Like many here I've had to deal with anxiety and I've been a quite highly strung ever since I can remember. I've been on various things to combat it: paroxetine (seroxat), prescribed by my doctor made things infinitely worse and since then I haven't trusted the psychopharmaceutical industry one bit. That stuff put hell in my head . I never again want to feel like the way I did on SSRIs. I've been down the self medication road: alcohol, diazepam, codeine, cannabis, dextromethorphan, diphenhydramine and others I can't remember how to spell and they all worked for me on a short term basis but at some point I started getting into diminishing returns and eventually it got worse.

My martial arts instructor told me about some meditation techniques he used to get himself through a messy divorce. Now I'm the true definition of atheist and about as spiritual as a lump of cheese but I gave them a try very sceptically and I have to admit they are the one thing that's consistently worked for me. What I do basically revolves around a set of breathing exercises and I think they work at the physical level more than anything. I can feel my heart rate drop, chest pressure lifts and all the adrenaline and cortisol in my system melts away. I like to do a set before I go to bed and often they send me to sleep and I wake up on the couch the next morning wondering why I didn't go to bed

In a quiet, low lit room you lie down straight on your back, eyes closed, arms by your sides. Take five deep long breaths in and out and concentrate on making each one longer and deeper than the previous without exerting yourself. Then place the tips of the first three fingers of one hand onto the ridge at the top of your skull. Take ten deep long breaths, focusing on the feeling of contact betwen your fingers and your head. Repeat the ten breaths on your forehead, the gap in the middle of your collarbone, your sternum, navel, approximate genital area and your coccyx. When you're done return to the starting position and repeat the five breaths. I'm done in about 15 minutes. It takes a bit of practice to get right and find the right spot, but you'll eventually notice a weird feeling around certain areas of contact you make with your fingers. everyone's different but I find the areas that are most "active" for me are the top of my skull, forehead on my brow ridge between my eyes and especially my navel. To me it feels like a cross between pins and needles and a mild electric shock and I take it to mean that I'm fully tuned in with the exercise.

I'm certain that this functions at the endocrine level. It's like adrenaline and cortisol are replaced by serotonin and testosterone. I'm sure many people have some idea of the importance of serotonin in happiness, but I feel that testosterone is equally as important, for women as well as men. It plays a key role in mental resilience which is crucial in staving off anxiety. Less anxiety means less adrenaline which in turn means less cortisol and the quality of sleep I get improves so another vitally important chemical process can take place which is dreaming but I think I've tl;dr'd everyone to death with my so called expertise so I'll leave it at that for now. It's worked for me and I never would have believed you if you'd told me this ten years ago.

I sometimes am afraid of the dark when I'm alone. It feels like right after watching a Horror movie, when you expect monsters to pop up from every corner.

I'm generally really easy to scare.

I love the night because almost all other people are asleep, thus less vexing.

Present company excluded of course.