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Fatigue

HP35

Does anyone else struggle a lot with fatigue? What are your strategies for managing it?

I'm asking here because I'm fairly sure it's related to autism. Social activities and any kind of sensory discomfort or pain tire me out much faster than they do my NT friends. However, it's also getting worse with age. When I was in my late teens, I could focus for hours, but these days I find myself having to take breaks during the day (I work from home) where I lie down and basically do nothing, sometimes even fall asleep, for an hour or two.

I sleep well, eat well, supplement B12, and exercise outdoors daily.

Has anyone managed to optimise their environment/routines to overcome this?

Parents

  • I keep reaching long stages of burnout that is debilitating.. to the point that tasks like brushing my hair, cleaning my teeth and even eating is difficult. I'm currently taking time-out of life in general and staying in a dark room or in the bath for hours at a time to focus on special interests and stimming when I need to. I also need to remove as much sensory stimuli as possible when I'm like this as I'm getting frequent shutdowns and meltdowns. If you work.. sometimes taking time off is a must to recover. I'm at a loss at what I can do to avoid these episodes.. as in general even when well the fatigue is difficult.. but I never used to un-mask which is something I am trying to do now. Purple heart

  • in reply to Char

    It's interesting you mention unmasking. I only recently found out about being Autistic. I am unmasking at home with my boyfriend but I have an internal struggle if I speak with other people. I'm now aware of my Autism and I feel more anxiety and stress trying to present myself and communicate well.

    Before I knew I was Autistic, I just masked snd played a role I played for years. Now that I know, I'm over-analysing myself and I find it more difficult to interact/communicate. This newer anxiety and stress about who I am and worrying how to relate to others could be causing me more fatigue. I hope this makes sense!

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  • in reply to Char

    It's interesting you mention unmasking. I only recently found out about being Autistic. I am unmasking at home with my boyfriend but I have an internal struggle if I speak with other people. I'm now aware of my Autism and I feel more anxiety and stress trying to present myself and communicate well.

    Before I knew I was Autistic, I just masked snd played a role I played for years. Now that I know, I'm over-analysing myself and I find it more difficult to interact/communicate. This newer anxiety and stress about who I am and worrying how to relate to others could be causing me more fatigue. I hope this makes sense!

Children
  • in reply to dopamineplz

    Exactly! I always think I'm happy within and by myself. It's other people who've negatively affected me. Take care!

  • in reply to Kitty Pes

    I'm sorry to hear this is happening for you too, we have so much trauma that's being unpacked every day.  I hope in time we can settle into ourselves and be content no matter what environment we are in. :)

  • in reply to dopamineplz

    That's my dilemma too. Who am I? I accept my Autism but I want to be comfortable too. I'm ok indoors unmasking but I think I still revert to the masked "me" when I'm outside. I also get overwhelmed with anger at birth family and relationship dysfunction and being treated terribly in some of my past work environments. That rubbish can stop me falling asleep at night. So there's more fatigue!

  • in reply to Char

    Very true, I'm home except for medical appointments and it's hard to be outside after unmasking for so long. I remember my first outing after finding out that I'm Autistic, I kept repeating in my mind "I'm Autistic" like I was in shock. It's getting easier, slowly. I'll look for the book Unmasking Autism. Thanks for the reference to it Smiley 

  • in reply to Kitty Pes

    makes total sense and this is how I am at the moment .  I have this sense tgat i want to be back to my 'old self' but I don't really know who she was as she had high energy and being everyone's clowCherry blossom Now this new me is knackered and lost and watching endless late diagnosed female autistic youtubers to somehow get a clue of where I go from here, whilst being angry that my birth family treated meCherry blossomrap all these years. utterly exhausting jist existing some days Cherry blossom

  • in reply to Kitty Pes

    I get this 10000% I feel I'm at the over analysing stage.. it's cause a bit of depression naturally as I can't function because of it.. but from speaking with my therapist this is part of the process following diagnosis. I started finding life more difficult after lockdown because of being able to unmask for such long periods of time and putting the mask back on used more and more energy. Unmasking Autism is a really interesting book and is really validating for what we are going through.