Autistic sensory overload question.

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Please bare with me while I give you a brief history.

I quit drinking almost 20 years ago. It was then that I first discovered a lack of social skills that I blamed on the drinking. I figured that my social skills would improve with my recovery and didn't worry too much about them. Mean while as part of my recovery, I set goals for myself, including get a degree, a good job, meet a lady and marry her, have kids... you know all that American dream stuff.

Well, I did sober up, and still haven't touched alcohal since. I actually did meat all of my goals. I met a blind lady and wasn't intimidated by her eyes, so I married her. Upon the birth of my first son though, things went down hill fast. I started experiencing hearing and balance issues mostly caused by migraines issues.

As time moved on, I took on more. While working my new job, I started taking night classes so that I could continue advancing myself and my career. Then we bought a house, had a second child, and my hearing and balance continued to get much worse.

When ever we left the house as a family I felt overwhelmed EVERY time. Having to guide my blind wife, keep track of two kids, navigate to where we were going, decide which line to stand in, who we needed to talk to and so on. At work, things kept requiring more of my focus. I had to keep track of how much time I spent on each project as I switched projects through out the day, kiss up to people so that I would get a good review at the end of the year. At one point I was put on notice for a bad review.

Oooh, and I can't forget about keeping track of the family finances, retirement savings, the kids college savings.

One day I finally walked into my bosses office and told him that I couldn't do it anymore. He asked what I meant by "it," and I told him everything to do with the job, except the work itself, which seemed like a small part of my job. I am currently on disability.

Hopefully you made it this far... lol.

Then a couple of months ago I discovered Asperger's, HFA, and ASD in general. I've been doing research on it ever since, and have decided to call myself self diagnosed. For the first time in my life, I feel like all the puzzle pieces are there, and they all fit together to make up the picture that is me.

One of the topics I found that seems to explain my balance and hearing issues is sensory overload. Looking back on my life, it looks like I've been taking on much more than an Autistic person can deal with. Considering my balance problem is tied in to migraines, and sensory overload presents itself in much the same way anxiety does, and migraines and anxiety are tied into each other, I believe that I have been keeping myself in a constant migraine state for almost 14 years.

I am curious what other on this forum think. Does this sound plausible?

Definitely plausible.
ASD or not, diagnosis or not, you need to better manage your stress, deal with what you can, and not take on more than you can handle.
Only by rejigging your life, accepting your limitations, and finding tools to help you better cope, such as focussing on your strengths, acknowledging and addressing your weaknesses, and getting help from those qualified and able to help will you make your life easier.

You should also consider getting some outside assistance with your wife and kids; not that you can't do it, but to have some reprieve and be able to get yourself some breathing space whilst someone else deals with it will be immensely helpful.
You can't help others if you don't look after yourself first, as if you exclusively look after your wife and kids and you end up giving yourself a stroke or heart attack there will be no one else there to look after them.

Thanks benh. I became so unfunctional that I have given up most of my load. Thanks to modern technology, my wife was able to take over the finances digitally. I was beginning to try to get out more and socialize with people again when I started having meltdowns at my lack of ability to socialize. Thanks to my recent discovery, I am cutting back on the socializing, and now trying to refocus getting out into smaller groups, in more controlled surroundings. I think I will look into your suggestion and start looking for ways to get breaks from the family as well.