Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi,
I’m new and glad to be here. It appears to be a wonderfully supportive community.
I’m a 48 year old female who realised I was autistic when I attended autism awareness training and undertook research to support a friend with their ADHD and autism assessment in the past year. I also suspect that I have ADHD.
I’ve previously been diagnosed with anxiety and depression, which I believe to be valid diagnoses, but within the wider picture of autism which I have learned through my research is commonly missed in females.
Since my 20’s, I have had several physically and mentally debilitating episodes of anxiety and depression which have taken from several months to 2 years to recover from depending on their intensity. I now believe these episodes to be a cycle of autistic burnout that have never been fully addressed as I didn’t understand that these episodes were due to autistic burnout.
I’ve had a very stressful year as so many people have with numerous stressors including rebuilding my business post lockdown in a difficult financial climate, supporting an autistic / ADHD friend who has frequent angry outbursts / meltdowns (?) each week which takes a toll on my own nervous system and health, health issues, no access to my GP or support due to the current state of the NHS and planning a move which I was due undertake last week. I’ve also recently experienced floods where I live and during this time became ill with covid and have been in bed for almost a week.
I feel that over the past few years I have become depleted, but more so this year as a result of stressors and feel that I am definitely in burnout again.
Changes that I’ve noticed include autistic inertia, increased effort to do simple daily tasks if I can manage them at all, significantly reduced energy, focus, concentration and functioning, no time, energy or motivation to pursue my interests / self care practices, increased anxiety, depression and shutdowns, withdrawal and social isolation, increased sensitivity to sensory overload, significantly reduced tolerance to stress and the inability to push through and complete tasks that I need to do.
I’ve joined another autistic community and in a recent training of theirs that I attended, a woman spoke of the difficulty in recovering from burnout the more that you experience. This really scared me.
I would appreciate any feedback, personal experience and advice to help me to recover from burnout. I’ve been struggling to complete work tasks and keep up with them for almost a year now. I think that I need to seriously consider taking several months off work to allow my nervous system to recover. This would be difficult in the short term financially, but I think that this may be one of the best options to implement for my recovery from burnout and long term health.
All feedback very welcome and appreciated. Thank you very much
I'm a bit younger but can identify with all the "symptoms" you describe and my period of burnout was resulting from lifelong undiagnosed autism related stress coupled with several life events in a short space of time. I don't think I've ever fully recovered and its likely been a contributing factor in the physical health situation I now find myself in.
I had several months off work and am now part time. Before this I tried to go back on slightly less than full time and had taken around a month off. It was nowhere near enough. I was still pushing through because I didn't understand what was going on. Then my body stopped for me. The several months I had off included a lot of doing nothing at all. Complete rest (this means without low level activity because I wasnt able to read or watch tv). No expectation from myself or others and taking help when it was offered. I was fortunate I could use my physical health situation as a bit of a mask to explain (I don't think anyone would understand autistic burnout).
If you have been in a constant heightened state for so long, you need time to allow this to come back down to a more manageable base level. You also need time to get your head around the fact you are autistic and what this REALLY means for you. In your life and your environment. What your boundaries can be with yourself and others. I can't see any other way to do this other than to rest rest rest.
This might be useful m.youtube.com/watch
What an incredibly powerful video! Thank you.