Exhausted on the spectrum

I've read a lot of books written about the Autistic Spectrum and Asperger's and notice that many people with these conditions get exhausted a lot. This is said to be because trying to be "normal" takes so much more effort for us than for neurotypical people.

  I get more tired than everyone I know, including my mum who is 85. It is embarrassing at times. For example recently my sister wanted me to come to a concert with her. It was really enjoying it but at the half way interval (around 9 pm) I was overwhelmed with exhaustion and had to apologise and go home. She was understandably quite shocked.

I can do an energetic things for short periods but tend to need long recovery times.

When I get into a subject - like family history- I can do it for hours and hours at a time with intense concentration - far more than most people can. But then I burn out - it might be months later but then my brain just seizes and refuses to work for me. Not ideal when trying to hold down an office job!

Most tiring is social events - visiting an aunt for a weekend, a family do or similar. It can leave me wiped out mentally and physically for a day or two sometimes which is very frustrating. I think its to do with the effort the drive and the interactions with people take. I need a huge amount of social down time.

A few hours physical activity leaves me exhausted to the point that I just can't even watch TV. I have to sleep that moment and not a moment later, its almost like being really ill and is bizarre. When I get this tired there is no arguing with it, everything just shuts down.

I have to really make myself stop sometimes. I work from home so this is easier than for some. Half an hours break morning and afternoon, a whole hour at lunch, and stop everything at 4 pm (until I have to make tea!). I'm trying to rest properly on Sundays. It does give me more energy for the following week.

I have a wheel suggesting ideas for how I feel and also ideas for fixes. It was given to me by the clinical psychologist who diagnosed Aspergers for me. I don't find it easy to recognise lower levels of tiredness, I just feel I can't cope. I do find this wheel very helpful but I do feel quite thick for not being able to do this process more automatically.

I feel:
Unmotivated
Demoralised
discouraged
Sleepy
Exhausted
Tired

Therefore I need;
Time alone
To take a break
To set time limits on the work I need to do
Rest
Sleep
Watch a light film - escapism
To thikk of my acheivements
Be kind to myself
Be patient with myself

Here is a link I found on the subject

http://adultswithautism.org.uk/autism-tiredness/




Take care
Caroline x

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