Autistic burnout is a right bitch.

And a lot of the medical/allied health profession still don’t realise it exists let alone understand it.

No matter how hard you try to ‘stay regulated’, ‘budget your energy’, or ‘manage your environments’, it can still creep up and take you down hard.

Sometimes you can catch it in the ‘brown out’ phase. Other times it can pounce with little warning.

It can occur in very young children, teens, adults. Particularly late diagnosed adults.

 
My key messages from years of dealing with this in myself and my child?

• Don’t beat yourself up when it it happens (not if, when).

• Drastically reduce demands, don’t try to push through.

• Rest. Deep rest.

• As much nervous system support as you can manage.

• Unlimited time on passions (and yes this may look like screen time).

• Take neuro-normative recommendations with a grain of salt (they may be ineffective or even counterproductive).

• Allow time, you can’t rush recovery.

You and your family are not alone.

Sending you lots of love and compassion.