Increased Anxiety, what to do?

Hey all,

I'm honestly not sure if I'm posting this in the right place so may be giving a bit too much information or it may not relate to here..if it doesn't, I apologize ahead of time.

I've been diagnosed with Aspergers and General Anxiety, and recently have been running into a bit more of an issue. I've been trying to become more in touch with my own feelings, my EIQ (Emotional IQ) is 77...which is very low. In short, I have a lesser understanding on my own feelings. Lately, I've been a bit more confused on what's going on.

My anxiety, around people, has been increasing. I have been finding myself more and more uncomfortable, even with those people who I consider myself "close" to. My mood has been heavily decreased, although I'm not really sure why. I've been ruminating quite a bit lately as well. Along with this, I've been stuck in cyclic thought processes, usually causing daydreaming-like effects that cause me to not really have an ability to concentrate on stuff. This has caused a huge impact on my work and home life because I'll think too much about stuff, have a hard time to concentrate, which causes me to either make mistakes on what I'm trying to do or not finish it at all, which causes more stress which causes me to continue thinking about that, as well as what I was thinking about. It's been a vicious cycle for a few weeks now. I've been feeling "bad" (although I'm not really sure how to quantify that) about this whole situation...so finding pleasure in work/home life has been difficult. I've recently had a cat die, as well as multiple deaths in the family (although those didn't impact me much), and issues with one of the few people I actually care about. Kinda seems like all this came piling down kinda suddenly, and I'm having a hard time adjusting to it.

The anxiety I feel around people is one of my larger concerns at the moment. I have a large personal space, and hate physical contact...but even worse now is I don't like people making any kind of sudden move, or people being behind me. This is the largest issue at my work, where coworkers walk behind me a fair amount...I'm commonly very uncomfortable, and that combined with everything else listed in the last paragraph breaks total concentration on my current task.

I'm not exactly sure where to go from here. As I was saying, earlier, I have a very hard time really identifying with feelings (my own included). When typing this out, some of the specifics of my mood are still very difficult to really make out. I know I feel "bad", but I don't exactly understand why...nor do I know exactly how bad I feel. It feels pretty bad..? but I'm not sure how to quantify it. I really want to figure out a solution, this all is becoming quite difficult right now to manage.

Rumination takes part in the anterior cingulate cortex. Excercise has been shown to be effective in remedying this aspect of depression. Their are several articles about mental exercises and such you can do to increase your ability to control your thought process. Or you may even need to see a doctor and take part in cognitive behavioral therapy. Increasing control of your cognition will give you greater insights and a stronger grasp over your thought processes. The self empowerment that you will gain should alleviate your negative feelings. Hope this helps.

Thanks.

That does help, especially with the rumination thing. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is something I've been reading a little bit lately and plan to talk to my doctor today about it. The bad part about exercise is getting the energy to really get up and do is has been hard lately (most everything's been harder).

The anxiety thing is one area I read that cognitive behavioral therapy can help with more as well. I was out exercising on Saturday, and even seeing people down the sidewalk a few hundred feet away gave me the urge to cross the street just so I can avoid crossing paths with them...and I don't know them. The weekend has been really really bad in this regard. Luckily , I feel considerably better today than I did during the weekend..but mood wise still nada. Concentration is also really still difficult.

A bad cycle isn't it? I make it a point too load up on caffeine on protein bars before working out , seems to gimme that extra boost to get the job done. Though , to avoid the crash I would reccomend Damiana and Ginseng. The adaptogens present in Ginseng make it a much better mood enhancer than anything the government produces.

(^o_._o^)..o0(mmmm ginseng)

GhostofGaia wrote:A bad cycle isn't it? I make it a point too load up on caffeine on protein bars before working out , seems to gimme that extra boost to get the job done. Though , to avoid the crash I would reccomend Damiana and Ginseng. The adaptogens present in Ginseng make it a much better mood enhancer than anything the government produces.

I'll have to keep the ginsing thing in mind.

About 2-4 weeks ago I kinda hit rock bottom, at least in my own feelings anyways and prompted a visit to my doctor. I decided to note down all the things I take (which is a fair amount of "natural remedies") and the times I'm taking it. Trying my best to figure out what works and what doesn't. On that list is Ginsing. About 2-3 weeks ago, I stopped taking it consistently, as well as sam-e. Things got worse mood wise within that time period, so maybe some stuff works for me more than I realized, and being more careful about what I'm taking may help.

The "mood" journal is what I'm trying to settle on. Listing the next 30 days, writing down from a 1-5 level on both anxiety and sadness, and keeping track of what I take. It's unfortunate to have to go through this much work to figure out how to feel good, but meh.