u/justanotherlostgirl

While I have found EMDR and IFS really useful for some of the traumas I've been to, life with both autism and ADHD is just exhausting my reserves constantly. I really want to explore other tools to feel less anxious and overstimulated without going down the path of anti-anxiety medication - I'm trying to get back on a stimulant, for example - and think the key of this is somatic.

When I'm speaking of somatic tools, I'm think of things like the following although these categories are fairly flexible:

• Movement and sound: sound baths, ecstatic dance, dance classes or dance in general
• Touch and body based: acupuncture, massage, sauna, physical therapy, gym, any kind of body-centric treatment
• Silence or inner work: meditation (which I do) and time in nature (which I try to do, weather depending)
• Sound stopper: Loop ear plugs - not a 'somatic' tool, but a huge, huge help all the time now.
• Etc.: things I don't know about that might be on this list. Even thinking through communities or books or classes to help with this.

Are there other things to explore? I go through periods where I'm overwhelmed, and it's not just trying to figure out what to do, but when. It's almost like I'm constantly struggling to read how many spoons I have, largely because I'm still in a severe burnout.

So for example, I try to go dancing at least every couple of months, which helps - although clubs are kind of a sensory hell with the amount of people. But I'd like to find ways to almost be more proactive about it while also being mindful of budget. I try to go to the gym at least 3 times a week (or at least one longer walk), and I do notice it helps with mood and body-related pain. But I also on some days feel so overstimulated and that my nerves are on the outside, and I want to feel less sensitive to the world. I almost would love to hear how someone has done any of these activities proactively ('regular massages' etc.) and how that has helped your trauma recovery and managing autism in particular.

Any other ideas of what kind of somatic tools I can look into, and how you think about using these and how frequent? I think it's just so hard to figure out 'how much time to be adulting' and 'how much somatic therapy and rest to do'. My tendency is to overwork and burn myself out because I can't read that I'm in burnout, and I'm really trying to consciously schedule intentional somatic work to help release some of the stress on my body.

Thank you!

Hello! I've started researching EDS and POTS as I have been dealing with a lot of symptoms (including mitral valve prolapse - also am AuDHD), and just got a referral to a rheumatologist from my cardiologist (who is monitoring the heart condition).

I've got a list of symptoms (with frequency, severity, when they occur, family history, etc.,) in a Google doc supported by some research from Perplexity. The checklist is now about 7 pages because it's a table with definitions and Perplexity has structured it to show how a physician might ask questions. I can provide a one-page cheatsheet with just the symptoms during the session, but I'm curious what helped you during the conversation to make a persuasive case for evaluation.

I definitely don't want to seem like I'm fishing for a diagnosis(es?), and I feel like this doc would also make the process easier for them, but also want to respect their process. I've had some experiences with medical gaslighting in the past, where people have just said "oh, you're just anxious," and I want to avoid that happening again. What helped you during the initial visit, and would a doc like this seem too suspicious? Or maybe bring it and offer it if it makes it easier but let them just do their own questioning, and just have it as a reference?

Thanks for any thoughts ❤️

My therapist has been sending a lot of different workbooks/worksheets to use, and they've been interesting and pretty helpful - a recent one is based in DBT, and I've found that so much more useful and neuroaffirming than CBT.

My question is do people formally get DBT therapy (groups, therapists etc.) or do they tend to be open to what's in your ND toolkit. I'm an open minded person in what goes in the toolkit, but also find keeping up routines and remembering things exist is SO hard when emotionally dysregulated (thanks, Ms. ADHD! I know you hate checklists). At the same time, I don't know if it makes sense to a) stick to a trauma therapist who's great and is open to different tools, vs. b) getting a DBT-centric therapist and stick with that.

It's not that I want an app, but a better way to manage my toolkit of what to remember what to do in pre-meltdown etc. I have found the Calm Harm app really good - it gears towards self harm, but I almost want to have an app where I can add my own worksheets as well, allows for mantras, photos etc. that is better than just notes or photos (Or is this something for me to build...?)