Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello
My 17 year old daughter, who has recently been diagnosed with ASC after displaying various different mental health problems over the past 4-5 years (anxiety, OCD, self-harm and low mood/depression) is trying to make sense of her low mood /feelings of depression. She thinks that she may be having these feelings because of burnout. She is waiting for an appointment with a psychiatrist but her NHS EWMHS (Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Service) key worker has told her that if her low mood/depression is caused by burnout because of her autism then medication will not help. I do not know if medication is the way forward but she desperately wants to feel better about life.
As she has only just been diagnosed she has not received any ASC specific support. Past support groups and strategies for overcoming OCD and anxiety were completely ineffective. Her college is currently putting a support plan together and she is also waiting for her key worker to pass her case over to the 'Neurodevelopmental pathway'. I guess that she was on the 'Mental Health pathway' before but we were never told and she hasn't received any actual help anyway since she was signed on to them in September after self-harming.
Can anyone give us more information about burnout and what causes it for them? Have you used medication? How can we/she improve her moods? Really any advice would be helpful as we put pieces of her coping with ASC jigsaw together.
Thank you
OCD, low mood and burnout are all issues with the nervous system. So looking into natural ways to regulate that can / will make such a huge difference, and should probably be your first step.
Diet and exercise are really important, and making sure she's getting all the different types of rest (especially sensory rest!). Supplements can also make a gigantic, almost miraculous, difference.
I have autism, and suffered with depression, anxiety, ED and intrusive thoughts at her age and throughout my life. I'm still not perfect, but I am now the best I have ever been by far and the main reason for that is supplementation - specifically 5 HTP, which is an amino acid that creates serotonin so it acts as a natural SSRI / anti depressant. Low serotonin causes low mood, and also intrusive thoughts which is essentially what ocd is.
I take a very low dose (50mg) everyday before bed, and just that alone changed my life. I went from suicidal and utterly non functioning to better than I had been in my adult life in the space of a year. Everyone I have turned on to it has been angry they didn't know about it sooner - as was I!
L tyrosine does the same for dopamine (involved in burnout), but I haven't taken that personally.
Mushroom mix capsules (or powder / coffee), probiotics, and magnesium, zinc and b vitamin complexes can also work WONDERS.. You can buy everything I've mentioned on Amazon btw. I'd also check if she was low in iron and vitamin d, because apparently loads of autistic women are.
So obviously do a lot of research - especially if she takes any medication, but that's definitely where I'd start. Also, only introduce things one at a time.
Antidepressants are notoriously unpredictable in women, especially ASD women. This goes even more so for teenagers, with all the hormonal changes going on on top. For me they were always more side effect than actual effect, so I would feel worse overall - and even at the best of times they aren't actually treating the underlying nervous system issues.
Also, look into PMDD - because I have a feeling that might be playing a part here, too.
Hope this helps, sorry it ended up so long