Illness With Autism

I was wondering if anyone experiences pretty severe mental health dips when they're ill with head colds / flu. My son recently brought genuine flu home from school which I got. I tried to battle against it to keep my routines but had to concede defeat and try and unhook myself from my demands and actually try and 'relax'.

I find relaxing very stressful as it involves feeling guilty and not doing and a week of it was enough to make me feel very low. I feel most NT people would find it a problem but would just pull the covers over and watch box sets for a week, not have an existential crisis about whether I'll ever be able to work again or lower my anxiety levels to acceptable levels.

I'm slowly finding my feet but the disruption has affected my sleep, my energy levels, my appetite, blown my anxiety to 11 and has reduced my ability to apply myself to work.

Does anyone else get like this when ill and bed bound?

Parents
  • I have evidence that I have a head cold flu even though now I have had the flu jab. My head can be a bit painful to touch and I have been sneezing. It has been concerning to me and you are not alone in dealing with this. It has knock off effects for my mental health for sure and it can be an extra challenge  for me to live with alone. i think I really need to let my body rest to recover. I wish you well and hope you recover soon.

  • Thank you for your experience. I’m just awful at letting myself rest and recover. I’m worried that if I step off the treadmill, I might never get back on it. 

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