Published on 12, July, 2020
The amazing expert at my PIP assessment stated that as I was diagnosed at 46, I can't be that bad because I held jobs, had a mortgage, etc, and the condition doesn't change or get worse. I have had the same conversation with my partner recently about this, and am interested in opinions.
The way I described it to her was - when you are younger, you can party all night & work all day - for me there was no partying because I was up a 4am so I could be focused by 9am, then shutdown when I got home. However, as you age, the partying gets harder to do, and recovering from one eventually takes a day or two! So, for me, rather than the condition getting worse, it's the affects of it that are harder to deal with and recover from.
What are other peoples experiences with this? I can't find much about it online!
That’s a good way of looking at it. Did you get awarded pip, by the way?
I wouldn’t say my autism has got worse, but it could appear so as I take down the masking and attempt to live more as me which also means taking better care of me and not putting myself in situations that I know will drain me.
Ooh that's a really good way of putting it, thank you.
I'm only 6 months since diagnosis, and obviously it feels like it's much worse, but that's only coz I wasn't aware of what was going on before I was diagnosed.
Yeah, that's how it was for me. I was diagnosed last October and at first I thought I had regressed or something and then I thought I had got worse. But I eventually realised that the traits seemed more obvious because I was focussed on them which is a good thing as it is helping me to work out how to get a balance in my life and avoid altogether any more burnouts.