Asperger's: is it going to be worse with age?

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Hello,
since +/- 1-2 years, I feel the symptoms of my Asperger's are worsening. Especially the last 3-4 months.
Is it just an impression or someone else here has same experience?

Does Aspergers become stronger with age (I am 35 now)? Should I expect that the situation will be worse?

My main concern is my family (my wife & my 2 daughters, the others family members, I have almost no contact with them) - I think the life with me is not always easy but I don't want they feel unhappy because of me. They are probably the only persons that count for me and I don't want to lose them.

For the moment, I feel it's going worse - I don't want to see anyone, When I notice a neighbour in the street, I wait until he left before going towards my home (even if they are all ince people - but I don't want to speak to them).
In the work, we were a team of 5 people since 4 years and I got used to it. Now, since a week, there are 3 new colleagues and I avoid them as much as possible - and I fear it will not last long before the management notice it.

Before, I could cope with people and their illogical behaviour. Now, it's worse and worse. Maybe it's the overall climate here in Belgium (because of the economic crisis, terrorism,...) but people behaves more and more illogically and I can't follow with adapting my patterns. So I avoid people as much as I can. Maybe it's me and my Aspergers is worsening...

But as I am quite lucid, I know this is not a solution. And if it continues, there will not be a happy end

I have no friend(s) to discuss about all that and I don't dare to see a psychologist - I hide my Aspergers and I prefer to do so for some more time...

Do you have some advices, experiences or something that will make me hope for better tomorrows?
Thanks and have a nice day...
M.

PS: I am unable to lie - so that makes things even more difficult for me. I can't tell people that I don't want to speak to them. So I must find walkarounds - I get supplementary work just to avoid going for lunch with the team & so on...

It sounds maybe like there might be an underlying factor like depression or anxiety maybe. Also this time of year with short days and overcast skies can mess up a lot of people. Autism itself is not a degenerative disorder that I know of. It can have ebbs and flows though where symptoms can fluctuate in severity. Most of us I think experience a day or or a longer stretch of time where we feel more autistic.

Most days I feel that my Asperger's symptoms have gotten worse but that's because I waited until my early forties to get diagnosed due to a systematic routine of "arrogance and denial" as Tony Attwood would put it. In my defense, accepting oneself as being both mentally disabled and highly intelligent (a measured IQ of 150) is a daunting task for anyone. Two vastly different worlds smashed into one mind should tear itself apart.

I didn't begin therapy and pharmaceutical drug treatment until my early forties so my case is somewhat on the extreme end of it with my therapist labeling my anxiety status as "inconceivable" due to several other neuroses that have reared their ugly heads.

I would say that if you're getting therapy via registered psychologist and pharmaceutical drug treatments then you are managing your situation quite well as opposed to the brutal route that I took. If not then yes, Aspies can deteriorate rapidly.

_________________
*** High Functioning Autism - Asperger's Syndrome ***

ADHD, OCD, and PTSD.

Keep calm and stim away.

There is what is described as “autistic burnout” that is caused by mental exhaustion from years or decades of trying to “pass” as a neurotypical. For mature adults there are the added factors of increasing expectations and the natural slowing down of aging.

These can be migitated to varying degrees by experience, learning how to do things smarter, and a more balanced approach to life caused by “seen that, done that”.

I'm 58, and in many ways it's gotten much better. Perhaps over the years I might have developed better coping and social skills...or maybe I've just become more practiced at pretending to be a normal, healthy, and well-adjusted adult.

It's definitely been worse for me, I don't know if that's a feature of the condition or just a result of living under such stress my whole life. And the stress always changes, y'know?

I'm a mother of a 3.5 year old girl who I'm almost certain is Aspie too. And she's the very defiant, very loud, very chatty kind of Aspie so it's like constant overload and overwhelm for me.

My partner almost certainly has either ADHD, Aspergers or both, so that's another source of stress. I love them both, but yes, they stress me out a lot.

This, on top of living in a house and area I hate.. struggling to go out, not enough money, struggling to connect with people, a rubbish family that doesn't understand or support me properly and two rubbish parents (one of which is abusive).

And overall.. I'm just tired. Just so tired. I'm always overwhelmed, I have almost no stress tolerance, life is so hard and I just want comfort.

No, it doesn't get worse with age.

It frequently gets better through life experience.

Aspies/autistics are very smart people.

Not sure if aspergers got worse with age but my stress/anxiety levels have.When I was in my twenties living at home ect i never really worried about anything ,now I have a car,house 4 hour work commute ,relatives getting older my body starting to creak already and the expectation that I can handle adult issues ect when I struggle specially socially and I worry about the future now more than ever,but maybe that's just me and other aspies see a good outcome for themselves,happy days.

I'm 34 and find it gets better with age as I've learned new techniques and tactics over the years to cope (through painful trial and error when I was younger)

There also isn't as much pressure to be "cool," fit in or to socialise so much as you get older. You can just become an eccentric old guy.

I have also though recently that my Aspergers is getting worse. I now do my level best to shut myself off completely. However, having read these posts, I now believe that it must be the "burnout" previously mentioned.

Having given up trying to pass for NT, this is making my Aspergers symptoms appear worse.

In my experience, you live, grown and get new experiences, but you still feel the effects of Aspergers.

For me it's social isolation and perma-single life. I see no way out of it and have come to terms with it, i've adapted my lifestyle and don't think much of it, i spend most of my life doing what i want and focusing on my special interests. I have always learned new things and surprise myself for every year i have lived.

That is probably the best one can do under the circumstances - adapt and try to survive.