Yet another question for you peoples!

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I tend to get really bad headaches when I’m around a bunch of people. Does that have something to do with being an aspie? I get really lightheaded and dizzy and stuff. *sighs* We’ve been to doctors about it but they all say there’s nothing wrong. Do any of you guys know anything about this?

Maybe you're overwhelmed? That usually happens to me. Maybe it's a number of symptoms manifesting themselves (exhaustion, fatigue, being overwhelmed, etc.)

I get very tired when I'm around a lot of people.

Maybe it's stress. . .

Yep, though only in informal contexts. When I'm in a class, or giving a presentation, it doesn't happen, but if it's a friendly lunch it does.

My theory is that it's because of all the extra processing I have to do in order to try to process and mimic all the non-verbal and contextual cues around me. NT's do this intuitively, but I can't so I do it cognitively. I've praticed it enough that I can mostly do it without actively thinking about it, like driving a car, but it's still using up some of my brainpower.

Now, with one person, it's alright. With two people, it gets harder, since not only do I have to keep track of each individual, I also have to keep track of how they react to each other as well. With every additional person I try to keep track of, it requires more processing power, and eventually I can't keep up. It's like asking a computer to do many complicated tasks at once- it starts to lag. And when a computer lags, other programs start to go slower. I can't process all the input and output coming at me - I start hearing every sound, sights get very vivid, normal autie stuff.

There's a few senses that people tend to forget about, since they're so automatic. We actually have two additional, non-ESP senses, our sense of balance and our sense of where bits of us are relative to the other bits i.e. even when you close your eyes, you can still touch your nose without thinking, unless you are very drunk.

Now, if sight and hearing starts to go wonky when I'm starting to over-process, why not those two senses? If you started to overprocess the information coming from the structure that senses balance (A pocket of liquid in your inner ear that works like a bubble level ), you'd start to feel dizzy and light-headed, as if you done something to muck with the sense like spinning around in a circle.

It's just a theory, but if it's right then yes, it is an autie thing.

I get this, though not as badly as I used to. Used to be that crowds felt like a constantly inward pressure on my skull. Gave me migraines, visual phosphenes, and eventually would make me puke. As I got older the symptoms got less severe, so essentially I sort of lose energy in the presence of a crowd. I grew up a huge gamer geek, so I tend to think in gamer metaphors; being around people drains my shields. I have to pump more and more energy into them to maintain my "social" face. Eventually I become exhausted, and it's game over.

Game over in this case meaning a pressing, urgent desire to run away from the crowd and hide somewhere to regain my composure.

The reason the DR's haven't found anything wrong is that they aren't good scientest and know little to nothing about AS.

If they want to find out about what is happening to you physiologicaly when you are in social situations, they would need to hook you up to electrodes that could monitor your blood pressure, brain, heart rate and breathing in a social situation. My guess is that you are probably over stimulated by the environment(as mentioned) and the processing difficulties of trying to communicate and decode non-verbal information. You also maybe dissociating due to this over-load and maybe holding your breath, (I do this sometmes and it can cause light headedness from lack of ozygen). You amy also be trying to surpress little stims that are effecting your ability to concentrate and causing more over-load.

Yeah, it Can be an aspie thing.

I can feel tired sometimes.. The last time I was at a pretty high profile party, I started to get this little nervous tick on my face.... That's when I knew I was probably more nervous than I thought... it may not have showed so much in my posture, etc.. but it sure presented itself as that darn little twitch... I wasn't as miserable as I have been at other functions... but wasn't all that relaxed either obviously...

Then again, maybe it's a side-effect of the Adderall starting up? I only take it when I really have to in social situations so that I don't have ADHD problems with talking too much, loosing track of my topic, etc.. I tend to be able to focus better with it, but sometimes I think I might appear silly on it too though... Now, for the first time, I'm starting to have facial tics... it might be a side-effect to that medication... I've been taking it off and on now for all social events for like maybe 3 years now...

I used to get bad headaches, before I started wearing glasses, quite a few years ago.

duplicate post sorry...

Sounds like tension headaches to me. You get stressed out and it comes out as physical symptoms. I can always tell when I'm stressed because the muscles just at the base of my head start to tense up...

In social situations I can get dizzy, my hearing can fade out, it is hard to follow conversations, I can get lightheaded, and queasy to my stomach. I blame it all on being stressed and anxious. Fortunately it doesn't happen all of the time, but enough that I avoid going to parties and weddings.

Z

I have migrene, so i know a lot about headaches. Migrene runs in my family and ive struggled with headaches since i was a kid.

yes me too... I guess is sensory overload... we are getting so many things at the same time that we end up stressed