Sensory overload and anger

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i was always flying off in anger and depression and my doctors all agreed i had bi-polar disorder my whole life. i've been on mao inhibitors, ssri's, anti-psychotics, beta-blockers, opiates for pain from accident and surgery, and weed (my own herbal remedy like mental tea - it goes great with music study and concentration). i'm a person who is autistic as well as my brothers, but being bi-polar was the overwhelming diagnosis from "experts". Perhaps my external "faking" passed me off as NT and misled everyone including me.

Anyway, i'm sorry to ramble but i'm just amazed at how many similarities there are between the two (bi-polar symptoms and AS), and how easy it is to confuse the appearance of one and not realize the underlying cause of another.

Please don't try to self-medicate with ssri's and pharma drugs, they are really powerful and can kill you. no matter how much weed i smoke i won't be able to od very easily (if possible, i'll keep trying) and it helps me more than those horribly expensive "legal" killer drugs. That's my experience and i hope anger can be dealt with humor and a good plan of action when it all goes wrong, like a place to retreat to to decompress. I have dogs that are my family and a couple humans that love me and i love them. If you are alone and angry and feel like harming yourself or others, please plan before this happens and stick to the plan. That usually means reaching out and talking to someone...i know, it's really hard to do that, but if you plan ahead who you would call in an emergency, practice it with the person and if that person isn't around have others to call or come over or go out and meet. Just know that you have people in your life who love you even if it's hard to feel their love, it's there.

What helps for me is continuously repeat to calm down, but I have to do it for quite a while.
This afternoon I didn't calm down while driving my car, and someone didn't follow the rules, and almost lost my temper on this fellow-driver and his car, I did shout at him on the parking lot, but he told me to go away, so I did.

When I get overloaded, I get angry. I sit down, close my eyes, put my hands over my ears and wait until calm returns. Then I figure out what overloaded me and avoid or deal with it.

Antidepressants (all SSRIs) would make me hyper and twitchy, which wasn't really helpful. Paxil actually was really scary because I felt confused and had very vivid, gory thoughts about being murdered. Sometimes SSRIs can make folks violent or suicidal...they say it's more common in young people.

I sometimes take kava, or use alcohol and weed, but they don't always help. Alcohol can make me more prone to acting out, and weed and kava can put me to sleep, which is not helpful if I have work to do. Kava is banned in Europe because of the potential for liver damage.

The one prescription antianxiety drug I've had, Xanax, is very effective, but it's a benzo and I don't want to play around too much with it because it's addictive and has very bad withdrawal effects.

Snuggling with my roommate was very effective until I pissed her off. I tried telling her about the monkeys in the Harry Harlowe wire mother study, but she told me monkeys are stupid. I think it was a combination of hormones (oxytocin) and soothing sensory stimuli that made it work.

Now I'm trying to dampen noise with earplugs and forcing myself to fidget more when I notice I'm getting angry or having difficulty concentrating. About the half the time, I'm already fidgetting and didn't even notice, but it really does help if I make an effort to escalate it, with bigger or faster movements.

Im surprised I havent seen many people who use Ativan or Valium. I used to use Ativan but it is not as effective on my panic attacks (which are usually due to sensory overload) as the Valium. I just stim more to get through my general anxiety. When I first started taking the Valium it made me a bit sleepy but Ive gotten used to it. Im not addicted because I dont use it every day, sometimes I go up to a week without taking any.
I am physically addicted to my pain meds by no fault of my own. I have a twisted pelvis...they call it Sacroilliac joint dysfunction. It is so bad that I ruptured a disk in my back three times. I had surgery in Sept...disk replacement. My disk is great but my pelvis is worse and they dont know what to do about but feed me pain pills. I am going to see a new doctor next week. I keep my pain meds at a low dose and I use heat packs and my TENS machine. Im really tired of being this way though...I have to hobble around on a cane. Its not easy handling a 5 year old Autie and a 7 year old Aspie when you can hardly walk around or bend over.

I just discovered today that when I'm in a deep state of anger triggered by online teasing or abuse, I have some sort of sensory overload which is sort of like a rush of energy and makes me react back in a similar way. Crazy, I know. At least I'm glad that I've now actually realised it happens, so I can try and ignore it next time it does.

i know this hair trigger you speak of very well.

medication has never helped me, and i'd rather not take any. i'm just learning to spend more time at home and bring earplugs (or headphones) and sunglasses everywhere. it helps just to know what your triggers are. there is no "managing" anger that has no source (emotionally). i am (and i recommend) learning to manage exposure to environmental factors, and recognize that as the source so i don't blame any people for it.

be easy on yourself: put earplugs in (or go home, if you're able) before you are overwhelmed. assess the situation beforehand, and prepare yourself.

I've found that exercising a lot...for me at least 4 times a week on an elliptical machine for an hour or so...helps cut down the sensory overload. I've also been on Aderall for a while and that helps me when I'm working and other things invade my concentration....Even still, whenever I walk out of a store and get into the peacefully quiet car I get a feeling of relief that is like being able to breathe open air after being trapped under blankets for hours.

But honestly, the anger thing never fully went away until the first time I tried smoking weed at age 27. In all my life I'll never forget that moment. I actually spoke the words "I'm home" aloud at the feeling of tranquility that came over me. I've tried to describe it and deleted the attempt 3 times at this point....suffice to say that the sudden knowledge that such quietude was even possible was like a religious experience.

I still get angry.....and still have to apologize a lot, but even if I don't smoke anything, I can usually get myself to the "happy place" if I can run to a bathroom or sneak off to a quiet corner for a couple of minutes....And the exercise really does help. I'd say that its a close runner up to weed for efficacy.

I've found that exercising a lot...for me at least 4 times a week on an elliptical machine for an hour or so...helps cut down the sensory overload. I've also been on Aderall for a while and that helps me when I'm working and other things invade my concentration....Even still, whenever I walk out of a store and get into the peacefully quiet car I get a feeling of relief that is like being able to breathe open air after being trapped under blankets for hours.

But honestly, the anger thing never fully went away until the first time I tried smoking weed at age 27. In all my life I'll never forget that moment. I actually spoke the words "I'm home" aloud at the feeling of tranquility that came over me. I've tried to describe it and deleted the attempt 3 times at this point....suffice to say that the sudden knowledge that such quietude was even possible was like a religious experience.

I still get angry.....and still have to apologize a lot, but even if I don't smoke anything, I can usually get myself to the "happy place" if I can run to a bathroom or sneak off to a quiet corner for a couple of minutes....And the exercise really does help. I'd say that its a close runner up to weed for efficacy.

I do the same thing!

As a former medical professional, I really have to correct this - sorry Willard. Although a few antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds could be classified as stimulants among other things, most antidepressants are in fact NOT stimulants. They work very differently than that.

Because of the high incidence of depressive illness in people with HFA or Aspergers, I hope people here will be open to the idea of antidepressants. They have saved my life, and those of many others.

As far as them "Causing" violent behavior - there is no real evidence of that, only anecdotal. These experiences have been researched and studied, and the jury is out on what exactly causes the violent rage in these very few individuals. In addition to being on a specific antidepressant, the age of the person, previous history, and other things come into play in each of those cases.

I do totally concur that mixing any antidepressants or an antidepressant with another substance without first consulting a pharmacologist or doctor, is dangerous and can encourage psychosis in some individuals.

This is every brain-med I've ever taken: risperdal, buspirone, and three different antidperessants. Not at the same time! Over a period of years. My problem with meds was remembering to take them. Doctor said to get an alarm or a watch with an alarm setting on it, but alarms piss me off. I have to wake up to one every morning, and respond to one when I bake, so having another alarm going off every day would have me breaking an alarm with a hammer. Or something else equally heavy and smash-capable.

I want to hire a death metal singer to follow me at a discreet distance at all times (except when i'm at home, that's private time) and then he could jump out whenever someone annoys me and go "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH" right in that person's face!

Today, a neighbor was trying to pressure me into having a conversation to clear the air with another neighbor that I do not like to be around for many reasons. I tried to explain by email--and reluctantly in person-- that it would be easier just for them to drop it and leave me alone.

Well, he wasn't budging (maybe he had nothing else interesting to do, i don't know) so i agreed on the conditon that if i freaked out on this other person face-to-face he would be partly responsible.

What do you do when you know you're gonna get pissed off, but people won't back off and leave you alone? Maybe if I finally "out" myself as an Aspie, they'll go away for good-- ha ha.

You got to find your chi. I've spent my whole life finding my zen center. Anger isn't an equation in my life even if there are plenty of causes.

I've found that Yoga, breathing exercises, and meditation help me when I reach sensory overload. They are much better than screaming.