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Growing Older and Autism

Bardic Poet

I don't know why but I feel more lonely and anxious as a woman of fifty two, than I did within my thirties and forties, when I had a fewer mental health difficulties.  However then

I was not diagnosed as autistic but thought I was like everybody else and not realising I was different, except in company.  Now I feel more alone as I grew older and am going through

the change, wondering if that has an effect on my wiring in my brain.   Has anyone else wondered what hormones and ageing has upon autism, I am sure that it does not help matters. 

  • I had struggled to relate to other people all my life and had huge problems because of it, and had increasing problems with sensory over load. It wasn't until I got menopausal that I even considered that I might have ASD. I really don't think it was coincidental that it (the ASD) all came into focus and made such perfect sense at that particular time of life. So you're not alone. I really should try to read up on this, but it's been a long time since I could concentrate on reading for any length of time (menopausal brainfade?!) But I will look for the thread Lonewarrior mentions and make an effort.

  • My worry is that I've been coping with social situations through a lot of mental acuity. Now I may get more tired and forgetful, I'm worried I'll cope less well, even if I have learned to relax more.

    Just  wanted to mention there's an autistic trainer interested in autism & ageing, Cos Michael: http://www.autismage.com/

  • One thing is for sure - the older you get, the more you will get to experience significant losses. My father died in 2015, my mother now has vascular dementia, for example. These could be difficult relationships in both cases, but it certainly has made me aware of how brief our lives really are. 

    I have heard that everyone finds it more difficult to make new friends later on anyway. Most people just do get a lot more set in their lifestyles. Work just takes it out of me, for example.

    As for menopause, it certainly does change things. I never realised until afterwards how much is driven by hormones, somehow. It does bring a certain clarity of understanding from that point of view. 

  • Hi, I came across this: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/adultautismspectrum/

    I'm not sure how helpful it will be, but it might be worth a look. It seems that autism hasn't been very well recognized until recently, so how autism interacts with age is less known.

    Hopefully there will be more research in this area in the future!

  • Hi Bardic Poet,,,I just resurrected a thread from long ago,(Help! Are there any women in this community with ASD.),,it is very long but was intended to discuss many of the issues relating to later diagnosed females...it has very useful information. Treat it as a nice book to read as it did stray off topic often. But overall it had many things discussed primarily by women. I was the interloper being a Male,,,,sssshhhh I sneaked in,,,But was made an honorary female Lol.

    It became very popular and indeed new updated versions were started to make it easier to read,,,when threads get long it means a lot of scrolling and hunting to find nested replies.

    good luck,,,

    x()x