Published on 12, July, 2020
Lights, sounds, smells, everything is extra intolerable lately. I cant seem to make myself do stuff, I cant make decisions. I feel tired and am getting headaches. Words are harder. I keep almost having meltdown/shutdowns (just today I felt like a meltdown every 30min). Im exhausted
I want it all to stop, I want to take a break from everything but I cant. I have homework, I have school, on friday we have an assembly which I always get overwhelmed at but im scared ill have a full on meltdown because I seem to not even be able to handle everyday stimuli so how could I survive a room with hundreds of students with everyone screaming to get hyped for stupid turnabout dance
I started feeling like rubbish for a couple weeks but then the last 3 days have been absolutly unbearable. Why is life so hard
Took me 21min to type this (not even that long of a post...)
Everything you describe is listed as one of the characteristics of autistic burnout listed in this document:
https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/117253/pdf/
It isn't going to get any better while you continue to be put under extreme pressure in an unsuitable environment on a daily basis. Something needs to change and you desperately need the kind of adjustments and accommodations described in the post by Natalie above.
I did just fine with the other 10 years of school, so id probably just be making it up or being lazy.
Burnout has a cumulative impact, so all of those 10 years have built up to the point where you are no longer able to function effectively and mask. It is very real and you're not being lazy. Anyone who may think that is completely invalidating your experience of the world.
As this article explains, you're currently in survival mode. The only way out of that is getting the support you need combined with having the demands placed on you reduced.
https://www.barrierstoeducation.co.uk/burnout
If it is burnout, it says it can last months. If I do have all this for months then how will I pass school?
In my opinion Frozen, I don't think you need to worry yourself about burnout. When most of us experience burnout, we are really buggered and really unable to do anything much at all. That's how most of us know when we have burnt out......we are barely functional.
You're functional and clear thinking from what I see.
In general I think that the time to worry about burnout is before a person loses the ability to function.
Burnout can build up over a considerable period of time when there may be repeated cycles of lots of 'mini' burnouts, with each one taking more recovery time than the last. As mentioned above it can also present atypically as a massive increase in anxiety rather than exhaustion.
I think those of us who have been through severe and extreme burnouts will look back and see that there were warning signs which were not taken heed of. Being able to prevent another person going through something similar is about recognising those early warning indicators and that action is needed to prevent the situation getting any worse.