Autistic Burnout & School

[Mir]

I've been experiencing an autistic burnout for the last 2 months and on monday i went back to school. I feel terribly overwhelmed and don't know what to do for I am already exhausting myself due to masking, sensory overload etc. Does anyone have any tips (autism-school related or just in general on how I should cope and not be overwhelmed)?

Thank you !!

 

[Xinyta]

Welcome @Mir

One thing to start with is identifying what sensory triggers specifically cause overwhelm and accounting for ways to either regulate them better or bypass them, if it's possible.

Everyone is unique in how they perceive and handle sensory information. And many will either greatly affect us or not at all.

If you would like to mention them. Is there any specific ones you that overly bother you?

 

[Neonatal RRT]

As someone with autism and am a university instructor and someone who works in a very busy hospital with an infinite amount of distractions, I have found a few things that may help:

1. Take "mini breaks". Find a "safe place" where you can "chill out" for 5-10 minutes. It may be a quiet locker room, a break room, even a bathroom stall. Some place where you're least likely to interact with people. Take a drink of water. Catch your breath. Learn to use your relaxation techniques. Some days you might not need those breaks. Other days, you may need them several times a day. Understand your triggers and warning signs that you are reaching those "stress points" and be pro-active with your little breaks.

2. Regarding study habits: 30-45 minutes of intense study, then break for 15 minutes, then repeat. Your 15 minute break is a break from all mental activity. No video games. No scrolling through your social media. Nothing. Rest your brain. You can set a timer on your phone to keep you on task.

3. Sugary drinks and high-carb foods are pro-inflammatory, cause insulin release, cerebral vasodilation, and edema. It can cause a bit of internal pressure within your skull. Not really a headache, per se, but if you are feeling like your head and neck are warm, flushed with blood. You may just feel like crap. If the food is salty, it can also cause a rise in blood pressure that you don't want. Lay off the junk food and drink some water. Flush your system.

4. Get to bed on a regular schedule and try to get in a good 8-10 hours of rest, even if you're not sleeping throughout the night. Keep your biorhythms on a schedule.

5. Most of us spend way too much time indoors, under unnatural lighting, and exposing ourselves to light and electronic radiation from computers and electronic devices. Make time for some outdoor activity. Go for a walk out in the sun, bike, run, bring the dog, do some gardening, mow the lawn, wash the car, whatever it is you can do. Natural light will help your mood and make you feel better.

6. Supplements: L-theanine, chelated magnesium, methylated B-complex, broad-spectrum probiotic, N-acetyl cysteine are helpful for the autistic brain. There's plenty of research on this to look up.

 

[kriss72]

Hi @Mir and welcome

I don't know how much help you have gotten in understanding your autism and e.g. energy management (a.k.a. spoon theory)? It sounds like you are aware that masking takes energy, but other things, even when you are passive might have a cost too. Like being in a room with others, with bright lights, walking in a street, reading a text book for an assignment at home all by yourself.

What costs energy for one might give someone else energy - it is very individual, and only you knows what something costs to you.

You can shield yourself against some sensory inputs, like I always wear sunglasses and earplugs when I leave my home, but you need to shield for what you need.

There will also be things that gives you energy, again it is individual, for me it's things like sleeping, walking alone in nature, building models/dioramas.

What I find useful is to be aware of my available energy and try to make it stay above 20% (that is a number I got from one of my autism counselors who taught me about this) - that often means saying no to things I want/need to do, like spending time with my family/friends, or working. - but as you have experienced with your burnout, going negative on the energy balance is a very bad investment that takes much more to recover from.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

What I find useful is to be aware of my available energy and try to make it stay above 20% (that is a number I got from one of my autism counselors who taught me about this) - that often means saying no to things I want/need to do, like spending time with my family/friends, or working. - but as you have experienced with your burnout, going negative on the energy balance is a very bad investment that takes much more to recover from.

That's really sound advice. I will try to apply that, too.

What costs energy for one might give someone else energy - it is very individual, and only you knows what something costs to you.

Absolutely. During school, it recharged me to spend a quiet day alone studying, as long as I found the study content fairly interesting. Others might find this very draining.

I've been experiencing an autistic burnout for the last 2 months and on monday i went back to school. I feel terribly overwhelmed and don't know what to do for I am already exhausting myself due to masking, sensory overload etc.

If you just experienced 2 months of autistic burnout, as you write, then be aware that right now you're much more vulnerable than you were before. Don't ask yourself to be exactly the way you were before, don't try too hard. I don't know if by school you mean high school or university. If it's the first, maybe talk to your guidance counselor or teacher, maybe they can lay off you a bit with assignments, at least for the first few weeks. Maybe you could only attend half day for a week, to get back into it. You could maybe get a doctor's note for that. If it's university, maybe you have the possibility to not directly go 100% again. Burnout is serious, both autistic and non-autistic. Maybe you could split the current course and only do half now and half next term. Maybe your school can offer you some accomodations, like a quiet room for sensory breaks. There were probably reasons why you went into autistic burnout in the first place. Maybe those things can be changed.
And apart from that: Headphones/earplugs, sunglasses, fidget toys, breaks in quiet spaces (even if those are in a bathroom stall)... Whatever helps you usually.