Constant Anxiety Problems?

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Do you think that anxiety is common in ASD people, even at times when there isn't any apparent "trigger" or "overload"?

I find it hard at times to tell what is causing my anxiety, while at other times it is obvious (such as the "overload" from being in a crowded place). However I would say I experience a degree of hyperarousal at most times - the exception perhaps being when I am at home on my own doing something extremely relaxing such as sitting and listening to music. Other than that I am generally very "uptight", with tensed muscles and often trembling. Does anyone else here have experience with this?

I think that is very common with us autistics due to us living in a world that is not designed for us & others sometimes react very negatively or even hostile towards us. The anxiety can become chronic kinda like PTSD. The med Buspar/Buspirone helps my anxiety a lot. I still have anxiety sometimes but it's situational now so I know what the trigger is.

I had terrible anxiety through my early teens. I started using alcohol at 16 to deal with some situations, i went fully sober (except SSRI's) for over a decade while married...now I tried St.John's wort which is an SSRI , that helped but had side effects which prevent me from doing certain intellectual things.

I noticed a good reduction in anxiety when on the keto diet and more when eating raw food. Its an insanely difficult diet to keep to though, as you cant go over a certain amount of carbs per day..then you have to rely on coconut milk for 3 days while you go back into ketosis. So if I go to a friend's house and there are cakes I have to resist that.

My brain just overthinks things and it seems to be wired that way, so there's not much I can do to change it. My mum was an overthinker too (but wasn't on the spectrum).

I've had phases where my mind would overthink things & the phases were usually when my anxiety &/or OCD were acting up a lot. Getting on Buspar for my anxiety & Neurontin/Gabapentin for my OCD, majorly reduced my overthinking. One thing that's almost surreal is that I feel smarter & wiser not overthinking & the feedback I've gotten from others jibes with that. I'm still analytical about making decisions but I'm not freaking out getting stuck focusing on minor details & catastrophizing, I'm more level-headed. My mental processing has always been very ret*d/slow compared to my peers & it still is; But when my OCD & anxiety were acting up, a lot of my mental processing was focused on overthinking & panicking instead of being able to think more logically. If this makes any sense

I usually feel on edge and find it hard to relax, even when I'm trying to go to sleep. I never truly get to relax and it sucks, and leaves me feeling exhausted all the time.

Yes i deal with a lot of negative thoughts that cause me anxiety.

I have anxiety but mine is an anxiety disorder because I get the impression here that I feel more anxious and sensitive than the average Aspie.

Most people, autistic or NT, don't understand how frightening anxiety can be for me. People just say "you can't do anything about it so don't be anxious!" That's so easy to say. It's like saying to a grieving person not to cry because crying won't bring their loved one back. While we all know it's true, it still isn't going to stop us from crying or feeling sad for our deceased loved ones. So it's the same with anxiety. All humans feel anxiety sometimes but for those of us with an anxiety disorder it's much more distressing and can feel lonely when people mock us or invalidate our feelings or tell us to snap out of it.

I do have anxiety from time to time as well, but sometimes I seem to be able to get why. Apart from the obvious stressful situations, dealing with people, overloading, etc, it seems like everytime I relax, my mind comes up with something that worries me and that isn't resolved, thus, anxiety kicks in. Other times I do get increasingly anxious but can't pin point to any particular reason and it is super frustrating. For the worse or the better I have a tested defense mechanism for this cases: (maladaptive) daydreaming. It's good because it is quite effective, it's bad because it is very time and energy consuming, and because it is my go to method, it kills productivity big time, sometimes I can control it, sometimes not so much. Interestingly, the fact that I do excess daydream is another source of anxiety but I still can't talk about it other than in this forum. Go figure, my brain seems to like self-sabotage.