Autism Burnout

I'm really struggling.  I'm heading to the place I was in a few years ago. I had to take time off work. I don't know if it's the 'spergers, anxiety or post viral fatigue from covid. I think it's a mixture. The fatigue is making everything worse. I cant focus and its all consuming. I can't reduce my workload anymore.

I've got a referral to the long covid clinic but I don't know if it's long covid or mental health and neither does the doctor. I've got a massive questionnaire to fill in.

My body is telling me to stop but I am not listening.  I keep powering through. I don't know where to turn. The local mental health place isn't helping, I'm on a generic online CBT programme. They're ringing me this week for a review. They didnt listen to me in the first instance and they talk too fast. I've referred myself to Acess for work but still waiting on that as applications are behind. I've contacted the Autism and ADHD centre (which has been recommended to me by the mental health team) to chase up the waiting list and was told that I'll get a letter when they get round to my name. They cant tell me when this will be, if it's next week or next month or in 6 months because "everything is in a mess". The place I had my private assessment haven't got any capacity at the moment.

I'm trying to help myself. My partner and i are trying to problem solve to hrlp reduce demands. I'm fed up of going round in circles.I find it difficult to ask for help or saying I'm not right (to friends or colleagues and to the professionals), and difficult to articulate what exactly is wrong and sometimes my point is lost.  I'm trying to seek help but not being able to get anywhere.

I feel like my body cannot carry on. It's telling me to stop.

I'm a fully grown adult with a professional job.

‘I’m trying to help myself’ seems to be a theme on here. A consequence of the paucity of good mental health services in the U.K. right now. Actually I think it’s also a result of a capitalist society that places making money and maintaining the system above the well being of it’s citizens - but that’s a whole other story!
I think often what autistic people need is to have all the pressure removed - but how many people can realistically  do that? Most have commitments or demands on them that are very hard to escape from - even temporarily. My mother-in-law recently died and I feel that ideally my husband would have a break from work to fully process that and grieve, and organise her affairs. But it’s just not possible. The more we force people to continue in situations they are unhappy with the more deeply our problems go and the longer it takes us to recover.  

I thought the pandemic might have ever so slightly redressed this imbalance but it hasn't.  Everyone was wanting to return to normal so they could work themselves to death to buy shite they don't actually need.

Also it's a double bind. I've got where I have in life not knowing I was autistic. I'm finding it difficult because part of me wants to / feels like I should carry on as before. But the other part of me says I don't need to put up with it anymore.  I've always said however, that I don't want to limit myself because of a diagnosis. I'm trying to live life as before but be more informed and aware.

Yes. This is why there’s a huge amount of energy being directed at preventing meaningful change in our society - because those with the power and the money want to keep it that way. 

Normal for a lot of people and those in power is about money.

One of the few silver linings of the pandemic could have been that as a society we re-assessed what really mattered to people and started to build a better society that prioritised people’s well being. That didn’t happen though did it?! As you say - there’s this thing of everything ‘getting back to normal’ - but lots of what was ‘normal’ was actually awful.

One of the few silver linings of the pandemic could have been that as a society we re-assessed what really mattered to people and started to build a better society that prioritised people’s well being. That didn’t happen though did it?! As you say - there’s this thing of everything ‘getting back to normal’ - but lots of what was ‘normal’ was actually awful.

Yes. This is why there’s a huge amount of energy being directed at preventing meaningful change in our society - because those with the power and the money want to keep it that way. 

Normal for a lot of people and those in power is about money.