Anyone Experienced A Gradual Decline Over The Years?

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I habe been in a gradual decline over many years and the stresses of life have become more and more. I feel I may have been in, or close to burnout for a decade, and every year I am more and moee fragile. The smallest thing can send me into a partial shutdown after partial shutdown...

Is it possible to recover from this?

Yes, I believe it is. I’ve had family members who’ve gone through what you’re going through. In some cases, the burnout can lead to panic attacks, paranoia, and other mental health issues. All are treatable and can be recovered from over time, provided the right changes are made.

Yes I'm not so resilient as I once was. My sensory issues are worse, so it's harder for me to cope with Aspie-unfriendly situations than it used to be. And being older, though I know more than ever, has made me less enthusiastic and optimistic about social situations.

Not as far as I can tell beyond a possible age related decline . Then I was never jumping over the high hurdles of life anyway .

I have declined so much I am now unable to work.

I've experienced the same. Although I have a little bit of social support, things weren't quite the same after the structure of school ended and I may or may not have emotionally/psychologically declined or stagnated since. I was never really independent to begin with, but I'm still unable to work and entirely dependent on family. Not sure if I could recover from it, though.

I've felt the exact same. I'm quite young (almost 20) so I guess I haven't had an intense full time job to burn me out, but when you're an Aspie (or with significant Aspie traits) the little things like feeling misunderstood in a social context and noise can really take a toll. There was a whole year where, after being bullied at school, my brain sort of shut down and no matter how hard I tried to work much of what I wrote couldn't match up to what I wrote before the burn out - I was inconsistent, incoherent, and I lost clarity in my mind and in my work.

It sucks but I went to a therapist and she noticed I needed to improve my self-care skills, so I really started focusing on things that made me feel good, even if it was just stuff that soothed my sensory overload. I know I really like holding a cup of hot tea as that soothes me if I'm too cold (which happens when I get sad) and a fan when I get too hot, using hot water bottles to soothe funny sensory difficulties...

I always make sure to eat a lot. Some people may call me gluttonous but it really regulates my emotions and gives me a routine! Things like this, whatever you need, can help you regain energy again after burnout

I think it fluctuates over the years.
In some years, I could feel really ill and unable to work or study.
But in some years, I could work.

Yes, I can see a decline.
My guess is that it's been speed up in certain areas by pushing myself in unnatural ways for a person on the autistic spectrum...Trying to normalise myself. In a way what I put myself through was akin to self imposed ABA.

Then there was the reality of needing to live independently, but the foundation of normalising was an unsustainable base, I did attempt to jump those hurdles. Turns out I had limits lol.

Finding my limits, then ignoring/not recognising the warning signs and continuing to 'push through' is what finished me off. By that stage I was in a desperate situation though and no choice but to continue in this vein for basic survival reasons.

It's like I used up my lifetime supply of resources in my teens and 20s. Then real life challenges happened in my late 20s and early 30s and I had nothing left to get me through.

I don’t sense a decline in you, Amity, to be honest.

You had hit “rock bottom” at one point.....but had the strength to rise from it. You didn’t give up.

Perhaps, it’s more like taking two steps forward, and taking one back.

Gaining strength through FEELING you’re “in decline,” you will, I believe, find considerable success.

^Thanks Mr Kortie, I know what you mean about two steps forward and one backwards. I am too hard on myself, I recognise that.

I guess it depends on perspective. The way I am now, maybe since late 2015 is more sustainable for sure.

I do wish I had understood that I needed to keep my supply of resources for survival situations though and not used up so much of my energy on the daftness i went through trying to fit in.

That’s the journey of life—knowing which battles to fight, and knowing which battles to just slough off.

Lol fair point

Graceful degradation

Since college graduation, rapidly declined

Can barely do anything, anymore s**t

Example

Credit card expired. Too lazy to phone

Gainful employment is totally out of question




f**k mister redelings

Do you mind if I ask how old you are? I'm 50 and just diagnosed this year. My entire life explained and shifted into a different context very suddenly. In the last three years I've left the state I was born in and lived in for 45 years and shifted my life from working as a medical assistant with the goal of being a nurse, to owning a small farm and BnB with my partner who is aspie and transgender. My life has radically changed and I have radiaclly changed into the person I really am. I've dropped most of my masks and can't find them anymore. My interaction with other people has reduced to a small handful a day, instead of the constant flow of others I had to deal with my entire life. I am in almost complete control of how much social interaction I get each day. This is the background for my answer to your question.

I'm going through menopause. My memory is shot. My emotions feel more on the surface, more raw, more immediate. I'm stimming like I did when I was a kid. My sensory issues FEEL like they've worsened, but I think it's more to do with the lack of masks. But now I know what to do when I'm overwhelmed to keep from a meltdown. While on the one hand I feel less capable, and that is distressing, I also feel that I know myself so much better and more importantly I accept myself and am learning to be gentle with me. I can't imagine ever living in a city again, or at least I can imagine it but with feelings of panic. I imagine myself as I get older living farther and farther away from the vast majority of people until finally I'm living in an old house on the edge of a forest with my cats and dogs and my wife. A blimp or hot air balloon will drop off food and art supplies monthly because planes and helicopters are too noisy and disruptive. This is my dream! Ha!

I went to WalMart on July 3rd to get some groceries and that felt like the biggest mistake of my life. It took a couple of days to recover from the sensory overload. Now they have an odering service so I don't have to go inside. I guess my answer to your question is yes, I've seen a decline. I am a little bit worried about it getting worse, not because I feel like I need to cope better or spend more time in stressful situations, but because of how I'll be perceived by others. That crazy reclusive old woman with all the cats who lives in solitude. Sounds great to me but other people feel suspicious of that sort of person.

Desert Witch..... I am 47 and a half years old.

Thanks everyone for the replies. My concerns are twofold. One is of income and future pension, as I missed so many years due to being in a situation where I didn't know what was hapoening to me and I wasn't up to signing on as I knew I wasn't able to do full time work (And I am not at the moment I have come to the conclusion that even part time work is beyond me at the moment), but until recently via asking questions on this site so I now believe I know what's going on... So I have not been able to claim sickness benefits... (Not sure but in the future I may be able to).
Now if I am able to recover, then I stand a chance to get my life back in shape. But so far, the more I attempt to take a temporary low hours part time job to test the waters... Though I struggled through I should really have quit half way through as I was really not in a fit mental state due to continual partial shutdowns which decimated my sleeping patterns and made life hell.
So my attempts to get back into employment made my decline worsen rapidly.
I don't like the idea of claiming, and I am absolutely petrified of facing the benefits people and all the forms etc. I may do this if help is available, but if not, I will just write and if nothing can be done via post, I will leave it. If when my Mum dies and so my access to food and shareing her house goes, then I will go. It is the main reason why while I can, I am wanting to be assessed to confirm what is happening with me, and claim some sort of benefit while I am in this position as a stress free way to provide a much needed "Buffer zone" so I have a chance to recover and get myself back on my feet. I am not even going to think about what would happen to me if I don't recover. I can't. I have to be positive.
It was only about 15 years ago I was in a full time job with the ability to mask my way through life as a high flyer in one of my special interest professions. (Connected to my main special interest, but not quite the route I would prefer, but I managed it for a while).
Such a decline from those days!

Actually, I believe when I first started looking up autism (Asperges), it is why I first discarded it even though others said they thought I had it, because some said you cant get any more or any less autistic. And my experiences with what I was battling with (As I didn't know what was going on) tended to be in a gradual but very much noticeable decline. It was why when I heard that statement that my first thoughts a couple of years ago were not acted upon.