Hello fellow travellers, just need to know not alone

Im an autistic, 16yr female.

Do you know why she doesnt leave the house much? For me it is often for one of two reasons: anxiety, or autistic inertia (when you have trouble starting or stopping tasks). I will ussually have mentally planned what I want to do after school, maybe read, do homework, arrange my stuff, etc, then when my mom randomly tells me we are going to like a church teen hangout, then I just dont want to go because I was in the middle of something else and Its also draining to have to socialise or be in a loud enviroment. Im more open to going somewhere if I know a few days ahead of time, its going to be with people am comfortable with, not crowded, low sensory input, and just if its something im interested in. 

Sleep dissruption could be due to the intrusive thoughts because when you are having a hard time mentally, you can tend to sleep and eat either too much or too little. It could also be because at night is often when we process the whole day, sometimes ill be asleep and then have to get out of bed at like 2am because I need to make sure my book is in the right spot, or to sort through my legos, or write an email to someone, just random stuff like that that probably seems like I could just do in the morning but I wont be able to sleep unless I get it done.

If she is open to doing thearopy maybe you could try that. It isnt for everyone though, I really didnt like thearopy every time I tried it. She may be having a hard time adjusting to her diagnosis, teenagers try to figure out who they are and a late-ish diagnosis probably isnt helping. My psychology teacher told my class that social isolation has the same health impact as smoking a pack of cigerettes each day. Considering she doesnt like leaving the house, I assume she doesnt interact with people much. My mental health was pretty bad last year, I still dont have many friends in real life (my sister has a couple friends her age ((9-10)) in our neighborhood and I hangout with them, dispite the age difference) but I have a really lovely time chatting on this forum. Everyone is really nice and I like how I can ramble without them being upset, we also speak our minds so I dont need to constantly try to predict the NT code :). If you would allow it, perhaps send her on here? I think she would enjoy it to find like minded people, and she could socialise without the anxiety of being in person.

Anyway I hope you figure everything out and that B gets better

Im an autistic, 16yr female.

Do you know why she doesnt leave the house much? For me it is often for one of two reasons: anxiety, or autistic inertia (when you have trouble starting or stopping tasks). I will ussually have mentally planned what I want to do after school, maybe read, do homework, arrange my stuff, etc, then when my mom randomly tells me we are going to like a church teen hangout, then I just dont want to go because I was in the middle of something else and Its also draining to have to socialise or be in a loud enviroment. Im more open to going somewhere if I know a few days ahead of time, its going to be with people am comfortable with, not crowded, low sensory input, and just if its something im interested in. 

Sleep dissruption could be due to the intrusive thoughts because when you are having a hard time mentally, you can tend to sleep and eat either too much or too little. It could also be because at night is often when we process the whole day, sometimes ill be asleep and then have to get out of bed at like 2am because I need to make sure my book is in the right spot, or to sort through my legos, or write an email to someone, just random stuff like that that probably seems like I could just do in the morning but I wont be able to sleep unless I get it done.

If she is open to doing thearopy maybe you could try that. It isnt for everyone though, I really didnt like thearopy every time I tried it. She may be having a hard time adjusting to her diagnosis, teenagers try to figure out who they are and a late-ish diagnosis probably isnt helping. My psychology teacher told my class that social isolation has the same health impact as smoking a pack of cigerettes each day. Considering she doesnt like leaving the house, I assume she doesnt interact with people much. My mental health was pretty bad last year, I still dont have many friends in real life (my sister has a couple friends her age ((9-10)) in our neighborhood and I hangout with them, dispite the age difference) but I have a really lovely time chatting on this forum. Everyone is really nice and I like how I can ramble without them being upset, we also speak our minds so I dont need to constantly try to predict the NT code :). If you would allow it, perhaps send her on here? I think she would enjoy it to find like minded people, and she could socialise without the anxiety of being in person.

Anyway I hope you figure everything out and that B gets better

Thanks so much for your reply. I will tell u more tomorrow,  must go to bed.  Night x