Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone
what I’m about to say on here may not be liked by everyone. I hate that I am feeling it myself trust me but I just need to vent. Please try not to judge me I’m struggling and trying to make my way through this as best I can.
i have a son who is 10. I have a daughter who is 7 and live with my husband. Since my son was 3-4yrs he has struggled with things around him and his emotions. He has sensory needs and social interaction issues. He was diagnosed earlier this year with “high functioning autism”. For the past 11months he has turned into the most destructive, hateful, nasty, anxious, disrespectful human being. He refused school for 7months. He doesn’t go to sleep without us there with him. He will kick off, shout, scream, kick, slam doors, break windows etc when he gets angry which can be caused by anything. When we try to teach consequences it will go on and on and he gets over his meltdown but learns nothing from it. My family is broken. My husband is a shadow of the man he used to be. We are both nothing like we were before. My daughter puts up with an awful lot from having her brother destroy everything and shout at her for most of the day. I hate to say it but he’s ruining our lives. We are tired, miserable and just about surviving. Certainly not living.
Im grateful that we are healthy and have an amazing family around to support but I feel lonely confused and unsure how things are ever going to change for the better. My son means the world to me. I love him so much. He’s just become someone else. Someone we can’t go out with, have time off with or do anything without huge outbursts and stress. I don’t understand him. We stay calm, give him space, talk and listen but when we are met with such a power of negativity it chips away and we have become shells of our former selves. I think we have reached our limit. We now have short fuses, raise our voices and go crazy ourselves when we can’t take anymore.
I don’t want to feel like this anymore. I want to be able to enjoy life not wake up everyday thinking how long have I got until the abuse from my 10 year old starts.
We need help before we all break up and bonds get broken.
I myself was more like your son when I ate gluten and dairy, removing them from my eating routine helps me because both of those make me more unstable. Sometimes Autistic people have an epileptic kind of brain where sometimes behaviour that is aggressive or erratic is caused by a kind of seizure in which some control is lost. Epileptic people are sometimes recommended a ketogenic or as it is more popularly known keto diet to control seizures but that is an extreme step some will not be able to manage. It would mean only eating meat and vegetables (excluding potatoes and other complex carbohydrates). The downside of a keto eating routine is that it leads to less physical energy but I know from experience it does make your head more calm. However, ultimately, being Autistic can be a lonely experience, have sympathy for his soul.