Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone!
I want to talk about Autistic Burnout. I have been dealing with Autistic Burnout at different stages of my life, but I've hit a dead end with it and I think advice from others that have had a similar expereince could help me to better regulate my emotions.
I work full-time 42 hours a week. The only way I can earn enough to pay for my home, my car, my family, etc, is through full-time work. As an adult with responsibilities, I can't just "switch off" when I come home, there are chores to do, meals to cook, the dog to walk (FYI I love my dog, its just after an exhausting day of work I sometimes just have no energy). Its become so much that I've been off work for nearly a week on sick leave just so I don't completely lose my marbles (thanks brain).
I can't keep doing this otherwise I'm going to lose my job, which will affect all that I've listed above.
I've been to my doctor and I'm now on medication for anxiety and depression. Hopefully this will help me through my anxious and depressed times. However, I know full well that medication isn't the fix to my autistic burnout. I've been in touch with a number of autism charities in my local area and have appointments booked with them, so I'm making a start, but I would like to know how any of you copes with autism burnout.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I know its long winded, but I feel talking to others that go through the same "turbulence" may help myself and others to understand themselves more. Thanks again!
Two years ago I worked a job that was more 60 hours a week, and I still felt like I had to keep on top of other stuff afterwards. Put it this way, I jumped before I sank (or whatever the saying is).
Finding ways to work through it for myself has been hard, as I've just not stumbled on the right thing. Often what is suggested is spending more time on the things you enjoy but there's not many of those anymore.
I do have an autistic therapist though, and that's probably done more for me than most things.
Hi, thank you for sharing your expereince. 60 hours plus other responsibilities sounds terrible.
I hope speaking to your therapist is helping you. What are your hobbies? Do they at least give you some comfort and downtime?
I worked on a TV production. I wanted to do it but I didn't pay attention to the impact it was having on me.
I surf YouTube, watch telly and game occasionally. They help take my mind off other things briefly. Talking to my therapist gives me a safe outlet to just talk about stuff, as I lost all my friends 4 months ago so there's not many outlets for that.
That's plenty. Honestly, eventually, it comes good.
I wish I could move forward without fearing that a riot could start if I as much as made myself visible online again. I deleted my socials and I'm basically only on message boards now. I had to change my phone number, and I was one step away from changing my actual name.
Mobs like that won't let you forget it. The one person who messaged me specifically to tell me how grim I am and how "it'll never be forgotten" makes me feel like there's no point.
There was no correct way of doing it. "It's not that bad" would have made me feel rubbish and "you're a disgrace to humanity" wouldn't have been much better either, but there weren't many people striking the middle ground.
I have a therapist and one trusted contact. There's three other people who reached out to me at the time and I speak to very sparingly. That's all I have.