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New here and looking to hear from others who have experienced autistic burnout

coolbanana

Hi everyone,

I’m new to the community and wanted to introduce myself. I’m a 52-year-old man, and I’m trying to understand and recover from what I think may be autistic burnout.

I’d really like to hear from other autistic adults who have been through burnout themselves. I’m especially interested in what it felt like for you, how you recognised it, what helped, and what didn’t help.

I’m not looking for medical advice, just lived experience and peer support from people who understand. I’m finding it difficult to explain this to people who haven’t experienced it, so I thought this might be a good place to start.

If anyone is comfortable sharing, I’d be grateful to hear how burnout affected you and what helped you begin to recover.

Thanks for reading.

  • Hello, I'm also new to the community here! 

    Burnout for me has been mostly depressive episodes in my youngers years but it escalated and changed to panic attacks, anxiety and agoraphobia in later years. I'm still living with the residue of this at 48. 

    When I've been in complete and total burn out, I lose most of my ability to function and just go into a total freeze state. All self care grounds to a halt. Basic tasks become impossible such as getting dressed or washing. Mood becomes erratic and irritability increases massively.     

    I was lucky enough to have been given some support during my last acute burnout episode and I've spent the last 6 years recovering from it slowly. Good solid routines have helped. Having a support person come round regularly each week has helped. She is able to tackle real world things that overwhelm me. Prioritising my physical health with good sleep hygiene, diet and exercise has helped. All these aspects took years to evolve into the routines I have today.

    Learning to be compassionate and caring towards myself, especially when I have a negative critical dialogue in my head, has helped. Meditation has helped, although I couldn't do it at the start due to a lack of focus and no motivation. It's taking a number of years to get any degree of focus back when undertaking tasks. 

    I live alone and solitude helps a lot for me, especially when my central nervous system is activated. Peace and quiet is also very healing for me and I'm finally in an environment where I get enough quietness (mostly!). 

    I started off with one small thing to change so as not to overwhelm my already overwhelmed system and gradually built up from there. It has taken time but it all adds up. My last burnout was so brutal (I ended up in hospital for 4 months) that I've vowed never to allow myself to get in that state again. This motivates me with my routines for maintaining good health and wellbeing.

    I'm sorry you have experienced burnout. It really is a brutal awful experience that most people have no clue exists! I hope you can find a way out from it soon. 

  • For me it was when I couldn't process simple things so had to put some things off. I had to stop doing more than basic things. Any chores were done in small stages, so changing the bed meant keep stopping for a rest. I had to rely on others to help. I had to lie down for a rest during the day. 

    I tried to keep going for walks but found I could only manage only short slow ones  Any sudden noises made me jump. At first if I watched TV it had to be quiet programs. My sense of smell became extreme and lots of clothes felt scratchy.

    I found talking to family tiring and if people offered to visit I had to say not at the moment as my speech became slow and I kept forgetting words. It was also very tiring.

  • I'm beginning to recover after 2 years. I couldn't leave the house for a while. Sensory input was breaking me. I couldn't function. 

    What's helped: reducing demands and pressure. Stopping trying to explain and convince other people that it actually is a thing and that I'm not depressed. This includes health professionals. Other people who understand,  I've only found this online not in person but going to groups for me is draining. Food deliveries. Making one room in my house comfortable and clean, the rest of the house is a mess.

    What hasn't helped: NHS. So called friends who were only in it to make themselves feel good. Trying to push through when I actually need to rest. 

    How's it for you?