My Sensory Palette ( Living With Autism )

Autism is something many people don't understand , you cant just ask a person like myself who has Autism what is it like to have Autism? Autism is something you are born with , it is something you will have your whole life , but usually will be diagnosed when a person starts to develop or develops in a way society would class as " not normal ." A person with Autism has never been anyone else but themselves so how can they explain what it is like to have Autism when they have never been anyone else to compare it to being someone without Autism. 

          However we can tell you what things we find difficult in day to day life. SENSORY is a big factor for someone with Autism which can make life hard work and a struggle. The simplest things for someone without Autism could be one of the most hardest things for someone with Autism. Every individual is different and we are all sensitive to sensory but we will not all be sensitive to the exact same thing. 

My Sensory Palette

Sound -  Alarms , Lawn mowers , tapping , Scratching noises are some examples I find sensitive to hear. I find it difficult to process sound when someone is talking to me and process the information but may be able to hear the tiniest pin drop on the floor. Depending on the tone of someones voice I can sometimes feel like someone is shouting at me , when they could be just talking normally because the sound can be to loud for me to listen too. When there is too much sound going on in a room it can be come psychically painful and can hurt my ears to listen too.

Sight - It is quite common for people with Autism to be visual impaired and need glasses like myself. However there is many other things that I am sensitive too when it comes to sight. Ever since I was little I have found it difficult to look at the colours orange and yellow as I find it painful  to visually  look at. Which means when the sun is out I tend to get lots of headaches , migraines and feeling faint as the outside is too bright for me , this feeling can also occur when indoor lightening is too bright and can cause sight sensitivity. Which is why I use corner lamps around the house rather than ceiling lights. 

Touch - For someone with Autism Touch is a common sensitivity that we will experience when it comes to sensory. The feeling of dry skin , seatbelts , velvet , wood are some examples of things I find difficult to touch. Sometimes when people touch me , tap me or hug me I feel uncomfortable and it can make me very jumpy. 

Taste - I am not as sensitive to taste as such, however if you have read my blog for awhile now you will know I have  had anorexia for a long time and my food needs to be in a certain order and can be very restrictive at times. Taste wise I find it difficult to cope with alternatives. For example I regularly drink pepsi max ,  if they had none left in the shop I would find it difficult to switch to diet coke or even diet pepsi. 

Smell -  Meat smells have always made me gag ( no offence to anyone who eats meat and it is not a judgement on what someone eats) the smell I just don't like and can sometimes can make me feel sickly. I can often smell different smells before others around me especially smells that progress.

For someone with Autism sensory overload can often cause the individual to be anxious and make them want to isolate themselves because everything becomes to much to process and can be very tiring and stressful for the individual. It is important  for the individual and loved ones to know the individuals triggers of what will overwhelm them and try and avoid sensory overload. 

Thank you for reading :) 

Love  Ava 

xoxo

       

5 Ways Which Help Reduce My Anxiety Symptoms

Hello everyone :)  I hope everyone is well and has had a lovely weekend ! :)
    If you have been following my mental health blog for awhile now you may know I have suffered with  severe  anxiety and panic attacks for a long time and thought I would share with you different ways which help my anxiety reduce when I experience symptoms.

1. When I am at home, mainly during the evening or night time I will get more anxious about things because your body starts to switch off and tend to over think things at night time. I have a news and magazine app on my phone which I will lie down on my side in bed and will read the news to distract myself when I experience symptoms of anxiety , which will help me focus on something else rather than my anxiety. 




2. Crossword or word puzzles are also another way to help me reduce my anxiety symptoms as again it helps take my mind of focusing on what is making me anxious at the time. 





3. If I am at home one of the symptoms I often experience with anxiety is shaking and my body goes ice cold so I have a hot bath or shower with some music on my phone left on the side of the cabinet to help me stop shaking. 





4. In whatever situation I am in , if I am at home or out and about , whenever I feel like my anxiety is increasing I phone my mum to help calm me down. Talking to my mum helps my anxiety decrease and turn my attention onto concentrating on the conversation with my mum. Phoning a loved one or friend who understands your anxiety might help reduce your symptoms of anxiety. 




5. Now I know not everyone has a car , and I cant drive myself but my fiance will often take me on long drives to help calm my anxiety. Ever since I was a child I have always found long drives calming and has often help decrease my anxiety symptoms as I concentrate more on my surroundings of which I see rather than what is making me anxiety at that moment. 








                                   Thank you for reading :)
                                          Love Ava
                                               xox

                                      

10 Annoying Things Which Are Said To Someone With Autism

 1. So what is it like being Autistic ?

( Because clearly someone with Autism just woke up one day and decided they are going to be Autistic for that day ? ) 

2. You look" normal " , you don't look like you have Autism.

( What is a person with Autism suppose to look like? )  

3. When someone is introducing you to someone and says " Oh she is Autistic so she wont speak very much. 

( Really? Don't even say my name first or say who I am ) 

4. You must be really good at Maths. 

( Not everyone with Autism is a mini Albert Einstein ) 

5. You can have sex right? 

( This is one of the most stupidest comments I have heard , Autism does not affect the capability of  your lady or man parts having sex with someone , however the communication skills of psychically meeting someone to have sex is a completely different story. ) 

6. " My friend's sister is autistic , you seem nothing like her." 

( Not everyone with Autism is the same! We are our own person and we all have different traits .) 

7. " Why aren't you looking at me when I am talking to you?"

( Did you know that for someone with Autism that eye contact can be very difficult and can actually sometimes be psychically painful for a person like myself who is more sensitive with sight .) 

8. Can you work? People automatically think you are incapable of being able to work or hold onto a job. 

( Many people with Autism can work , however there isn't always enough support for those with autism in employment.)

9. Do you have feelings? 

( Of course we have bloody feelings , just because we find it harder to express ourselves doesn't mean we don't have feelings.)

10. But you are not a child , how can you have Autism? 

( Because we clearly have been an adult all our lives...) 

Love Ava

xoxo

ANXIETY

Hello everyone , its been about 6 months since I posted on my mental health blog ,if you are someone who regularly read my blog I apologize for the none existence posts over the last 6 months. 
    Truth be told I haven't had time to blog , being a mummy to a 1 year old takes up a lot of time but now Daisie-Mae is getting more settled into a routine I am able to sit down once in awhile for 10 minutes or so. 
    Over the passed couple of months haven't been easy and my anxiety is worse than ever and most days I feel like I cant breathe. Planning a wedding , being cheated on , cancelling a wedding , my mum losing her job and coming to terms with being " disabled " I know as her only child it is my role now to help take care of her but I am worried I wont be good enough and will feel useless to help her needs , being accused of something that wasn't true and been reported to social services , death in the family , my daughter constantly being in pain with her tummy due to constant constipation with several trips to the doctors and A&E and still been in pain from birth from over a year ago because my lady part  stitches healed to tight which causes pain going to the toilet and intimate pain.
Lets just say I have had my hands full. 

     If anyone suffers from anxiety you will know understand what I mean when I say you don't know how to control it. Over the past couple of months my anxiety has increased and become worse. I feel like I can't breathe , I feel like someone is choking me constantly and I become scared that I am going to stop breathing. 
My anxiety attacks can happen at any time of the day but happen regularly during the night while I am in bed and I start shaking and become cold , I end up waking up and disturbing my partner because I cant calm myself and become tearful , my chest starts hurting and I feel like I am having a heart attack , I feel dizzy and faint and start screaming phone an ambulance because I become fearful. Anxiety mimics the symptoms of a heart attack so it becomes hard to recognize when you need medical help and when you can't calm yourself you don't know what to do. I am scared of being alone and I feel like I am becoming a burden to those around me and feel like everyone is better off without me , but I have to keep going for my daughter. I am fed up of constantly feeling in pain having body aches and pains , feeling like I am not in control of my body . I haven't been on anxiety tablets for two years and I am really trying my hardest not to go back on them as I suffered with side effects with them such as feeling sick , migraines and headaches. I am at a loss at the moment and feel fearful of my anxiety. I have always been able to help decrease my symptoms in the past , but recently I feel like I cant help myself or do not know what to do anymore.

Anxiety is something I have had since I was 9 years old or at least that is when I was diagnosed with anxiety. During the past year I have experienced different symptoms to anxiety which is very new to me and is scary to experience which makes me feel less in-control of myself  because I cant always predict when an anxiety attack will occur , previously I could recognize symptoms to get myself out of the situation that was making me anxious , where as now my attacks can happen spontaneously and sometimes I dont even know why I am anxious. 

I wish there was a magic wand that could make anxiety disappear  but there isn't. I am sure many of you who suffer with anxiety understand how I feel , anxiety is a lot more common than people think and it is important that it is talked about its something people all ages and all genders deal with and no matter how scary it is , it needs to be talked about to help each other. 





                     

Ava 

xoxo