Autistic Burnout

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I am putting together a series about how I am affected by Autistic burnout. Just felt like sharing that. Not looking for any particular types of responses. I just needed to get that off my chest.

posted the first segment a couple days ago. Going to try to do the second segment today

Where can we see your segment on burnout, Skibum?

Hell yeah. I noticed it late last night but I'm in such a state of burnout I haven't PMed you let alone caught up on your new topic. I say that sincerely. As you know I've been in burnout for around twenty years and I don't expect to recover, but I'll have lots to add when I get the mental energy to respond.

Love you.

Saw your video, thank you for that. Some very important points.
I have recently started having problems with dysregulated nervous system also, not sure if that is similar to what you have been dealing with. So far it has been episodic and I have recovered each time, but I'm concerned about whether I will continue to bounce back. The last episode was very difficult.

So sorry that you are having this difficulty. Thank you so much for watching the videos.
Are you able to share more about what you are going through? I am very interested in how your are doing and of course, I want to do whatever I can to support you as well. I think it's really important that we share our experiences so that we can learn all the different ways that we can be affected by something like burnout and how we can help each other.

Big virtual hug ((( )))

Third installment in the series posted last night. I think there will be one last one to wrap it all up. Hopefully very soon. I want to make them as close together as I can so that there is not too much lag time in between them.

You're on my list for later today, skibum.
Just need to do about 25 other things first.
25 things x ADHD = 1,346 things.

Sending hugs.

The part where you are talking about masking really resonated with me because I feel the same. Like masking is killing me but at the same time I am forced to do it to get by in the world. It's such a no-win situation, it makes me feel stuck between a rock and a hard place, you know?

Anyhow, yes, recently I had an episode which was not burnout but I'm concerned I might be heading that way, because I had to take 3 weeks off work until my nervous system could reset. I get these episodes which are something related to autism meltdowns or possibly PTSD I'm not really sure. My nervous system gets stuck in flight/fight or hyperarousal for days at a time, it is very tiring. At the same time I get really bad anxiety and its like I become more autistic - I lose all my normal cognitive workarounds. So I ruminate and get hyperfixations and impulse control problems and lack my normal level of judgement, plus I get upset at every little thing. I can't work during an episode becasue I'm too emotionally dysregulated.

I'm going to try trauma therapy to see if that helps, otherwise I'm not sure what I can do. It's like the daily stresses of living with autism has just got too much for my nervous system and it's breaking down.

Edit: sorry I wrote this before seeing the above, will respond to that after

I'll tell you one thing that makes me upset.

I've been having these episodes on and off for 5 years but until now nobody has taken the time to properly listen and try to understand what was going on. I was just put in the most convenient box. So for the longest time I was told I had mixed depression/anxiety and I was given antidepressants and talk therapy and the like, but it was all just standard treatment for NTs, with no account taken of my autism at all.

I've done my own research and realised that because of my autism my body doesn't handle stress the normal way, it builds up and causes these episodes - so essentially it is a kind of stress disorder. But try telling that to anyone in the medical field. It's like they cannot conceive that I might know more about my own body than they do.

My GP just said to me, you know anxiety can create these kind of issues with raised heart rate and immune issues and so on? So she's still got me in the anxiety disorder box. Even though, if you look through the diagnostic criteria for anxiety disorders, none of them actually fit.

Have you read about vagus nerve therapy for resetting the nervous system?

Yes back to Isabella's suggestion re medication,

I'm off antidepressants at the moment because I want to feel my emotions properly to help me work through the issue.
But I take melatonin and CBD oil (mainly for sleep).
During the latest episode I wanted beta blockers to bring my heart rate down but GP hasn't prescribed them yet - probably because the episode was over when I got in to see her, so she couldn't see the need.

I'm finding writing things down is helping me get through episodes.