Pushing Myself

[Aet1985]

I was wondering is this a normal event for being on the spectrum? I at times can't take in a lot of information coming at me at one time. I get very upset with my father because he goes very fast and can move. I can do things but at my speed and detailed. The example is I don't even get out of work, was focused and busy with that stressed, then all of a sudden I am thrown into the supermarket, post office, pharmacy and other stops. I don't understand why I need to take rests during the day. I can at times like tonight get into arguments or disagreements with my father, he doesn't understand, I am not where he is emotionally or mentally. I don't know why he right away says to me ''see a shrink'' or do you want to go to hospital? The message doesn't really get there, that perhaps I am also stressed trying to get my life together, be with my dog, my personal life and so on, he really only sees the world his way or how other guys feel.

 

[Mono]

Normal for me as well. I try not to do/plan to many things on a day / during a week. I also need rests, it's good that you know you need them I'm very sorry your father says these things to you, he probably doesn't understand you. Do what you feel works best for you Though I know that can be hard. Message doesn't really get there, I hear that. My brother would ring my bell every weekend, thinking my 'rules' didn't apply to him. Eventually I ignored him, as I already told him a ton of times I couldn't handle unexpected visits. Eventually I ignored him when he rang the bell, he called me to say he was at my door and I wasn't home, and I told him I WAS home. We kinda clashed, but we have an awesome relationship now He wouldn't get it otherwise... Not sure if this helps you, I feel kinda all over the place.

 

[Jumpinbare]

pushing myself was the only way I could function around people. I needed to earn a living, and while I knew I wasn't like everyone else, in my first few decades I would not have been considered disabled in any way, so I just had to suck it up and function.

The habit of pushing myself became so ingrained that now that I am retired, I can't just be idle. Even while relaxing in the evening, I have to be "productive" on my laptop. At least I don't have to force myself to do the social stuff anymoere.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

@Aet1985,

There are known common metabolic dysfunctions within the brains of many autistics. What this means is that for many of us, our brains are under more oxidative stress, we may not metabolize glucose, fats, and proteins in our brains well, and as a result, when under high metabolic demand, we can become quite exhausted, even suffer from brain inflammation, our symptoms become worse, and must either slow down or stop what we are doing. This is all part of the "burnout, shutdown, meltdown" process that we hate. Recognize the symptoms prior to major events. Give ourselves some time to recover and our cells to metabolically return to homeostasis, then we can proceed.

Now how we manage this is highly individualized, as clearly, genetics will vary from person to person, but none-the-less, we need to have some degree of self-awareness and take care of our brains. We need to treat the brain no different than a heart, a kidney, a liver, a pancreas, and so on. Folks with health conditions in any other organ may have special diets, medications, exercise recommendations, and so on. The brain is pretty important, and I am so sorry for the few of you who are in denial, or have parents in denial, and fooled yourself into thinking ASD is simply a "difference in the way we think", because it is a lot more than that. We need to take care of ourselves to reduce our symptoms.

The following is just a tiny sample of the many articles on why we get so darned exhausted all the time.

Metabolic Dysfunction Underlying Autism Spectrum Disorder and Potential Treatment Approaches - PMC

Oxidative Stress in Autism Spectrum Disorder—Current Progress of Mechanisms and Biomarkers - PMC

Early Metabolic Changes Linked to Autism - Neuroscience News

Neuroinflammation, Energy and Sphingolipid Metabolism Biomarkers Are Revealed by Metabolic Modeling of Autistic Brains

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.4137/IJTR.S11355?icid=int.sj-abstract.citing-articles.148

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I pushed myself very hard all my life and then would have terrible burnouts and be unable to do anything. I didn't understand why I could function so well and get so much accomplished on one day and then be discombobulated the next.

Age and illness caught up with me, as well as learning about autism expression in professional women. Now I have to rest. I can no longer push. I've had to reset everything in my life.

It's sad your father doesn't and/or can't understand your disability and the things you need. I hope over time he can learn. But even if he doesn't, you have to learn how to take care of yourself.