I'm so proud of my boy and how smart he is! I've been having a lot of #SelectiveMutism days because of my #AutisticBurnout I'm experiencing since my father passed. Because I've been mute for a few days I realized I was having issues communicating with my boy Birger. He knows hand signals for things like sit, down, stay, up, etc, but redirecting him and getting his attention I realized I was depending only on vocal commands such as focus or using his name. This was proving to be a problem so I reached out to my trainer and asked for some advice on the matter. He suggested with the focus command that I add a clap or whistle, something I could do that wasn't verbal related. So because I had some words today we worked on him coming and focusing on me when I whistle. And it's working! He went under the couch today and I didn't know where he was. I whistled and he came right out to me and looked at me! Praise and treats were given of course, im just so proud! It's only been a short training session of this and he gets it! #ServiceDogInTraining#ServiceDogHandler#MothersDay#DogsOfMastodon#MiniDachshund#Dachshund#Autistic#ActuallyAutistic
It's World Autism Awareness Day (I'd prefer World Autism Acceptance Day but what do I know), I wanted to post something about visibility etc but I'm in the middle of an #AutisticBurnout😬 hoping someone else's got the spoons😅
Da ich im Ferien-Modus bin und endlich Zeit und Ruhe habe, mich mit einigen Gedanken wieder intensiver auseinander zu setzen, habe ich heute was zu meiner beruflichen Situation im Blog geschrieben:
I'm on the berge of #autisticBurnOut today.
2 long customer calls and 1 long team meeting, and a friend who say she twisted her ankle and can't work and begs me to go fetch her with my car, plus I haven't have time to go to the groceries yet. I'm overwhelmed.
Can't the wsorld forget that I exist for like an hour?
Viele #ActuallyAutistic Menschen entwickeln Kompensationsstrategien, um weniger aufzufallen – so auch ich. In meiner Familie wusste niemand etwas über #Autismus. Ich merkte jedoch schon als kleines Kind, dass alle anderen Kinder iwie "anders" sind als ich.
Einmal sagte meine Oma (sie Jahrgang 1924 (+/-)) nicht zitierfähige Sachen über Menschen mit "#Handicaps". Mir als Kind machte dies Angst, ich beschloss: halt die Schnauze und spiele "normal".
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Was hat mir das gebracht? Jahre des Missbrauchs von Alkohol und anderer Drogen, #AutisticBurnout, zuletzt schwere Depressionen. Im Laufe der Genesung habe ich in oben genanntem eine der Ursachen dafür erkannt.
Hey Oma, wenn du mir heute wie du immer sagtest von einer Wolke aus zuschaust: das hier ist für dich, du Scheiss #Nazi: 🖕🖕
For those with #MECFS, do you find yourself struggling with #Depression and/or #Anxiety since becoming ill, especially if it seems different from depression and/or anxiety that you experienced prior to becoming ill? If so, how are you managing your depression/anxiety? Have medications helped? Are you using non-medication approaches that work? @mecfs
@mecfs For about a year, depression and anxiety have been tough for me. I’ve tried medications, and had to stop each one due to side effects. Medications were not very effective prior to #MECFS but fewer side effects. I wish I knew why I can’t seem to get relief and I wonder if it’s a symptom of #MECFS, if maybe it’s because fatigue makes it harder to emotionally regulate, or maybe it’s due to neuroinflammation. Maybe it’s a form of #AutisticBurnout? #ActuallyAutistic@actuallyautistic
I've seen a fair amount of anecdotal theories that #autistic sensory sensitivities get worse with age; however I'm curious as to whether that may be caused by many older autistic people experiencing #AutisticBurnout which also makes sensory stuff worse...
When I was tired, or burnt out, or couldn't do as much as I saw other people doing, it wasn't because I wasn't good enough, it was because I was using up all my energy just to deal with my environment.
When we have a little fun each day—and it really only has to be a little—there's something to look forward to the next day.
Life then isn’t just dragging yourself from one day to the next, or working towards a future better life; the process of day to day life now becomes more enjoyable.
The phrase "burnt out former gifted kid" has always given me the ick, but there are unique challenges/issues/traumas related to that experience that tend to come up in #autistic discussions and I've never encountered a good description.
Proposal for a slightly less icky alternative:
✨ burnt out former high achiever ✨
There was a time, many years ago, when I intended to go to law school after graduating college. But I suffered #burnout and never followed through. I had already taken the LSAT and been accepted.
I've only just self-DX as autistic. I've been thinking about all the ways that affected my life. I think I am beginning to understand a lot of things that never made sense.
Here are the top ten articles of 2023 collated and made into an anthology eBook. With contributions from Tanya Adkin ND Social Care & Family Services and Katie Munday Autistic and living the dream! The best part is it's free! Let Everyone know!
My new "try to at least stop the descent into increasingly worse burnout" plan is to increase my protein intake.
My theory is that protein is used to make important brain chemicals, so maybe if I increase the available raw materials to make said brain chemicals, I will have more brain chemicals and that might make me less brain urgh.
I can barely drag myself out of bed most days now and there is literally nothing else I can do.
Also realizing how this relates to #AAC use. Adaptive tech - boards where words are there in front of you already and you can choose the right ones for the message out of available options rather than creating all your words out of thin air. AAC makes communication accessible for me post #AutisticBurnout in a similar way to this poetry method. Cool.
What might have been innocuous or neutral before may be more of an issue now (esp. in #burnout), and things that are a big deal now may not always be that way.
Most of the time I can handle eye contact fine but if I’m tired or stressed I find it way to intense, especially if close. Is this common? #ActuallyAutistic
@mxtthxw I think it is pretty common! I used to hate how inconsistent and seemingly selective some of my issues are, because as a kid I’d always be told “this didn’t bother you earlier, stop being so difficult” or “stop faking for attention.”
But now I understand that my sensory & social issues are just extremely heightened whenever I’m burnt out, stressed, anxious, etc. I have a couple autistic friends/family that are the same way too #actuallyautistic#autisticburnout