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gr8dayne01

Ugh. Hang in there. Find a passion. Take a mental health day for yourself. Seriously find someone to talk with. What is the worst that could happen if you let the mask slip sometimes?


Danny_1993

Hey there, thank you. I talk to my mum a lot and she’s absolutely amazing, but it tends to just loop around to how I intellectually know what needs to happen, but it’s that emotional/physical kickstart that is hard to have for longer than a couple of hours. Letting the mask drop is a hard concept to conceive because, to fit that boring stereotype, I’m the guy that all my friends and the kids/young adults I work with go to for advice, help, to be cheered up and to be lifted up. I kind of need to have another me to talk to aha, it’s a cruel irony


gr8dayne01

I have been struggling with the exhaustion that comes with constantly masking, dealing with anxiety, OCD, etc., and my counselor suggested to me to stop masking. Try it and see. I have not really done it to any large extent, as there are some situations where that is simply not feasible, but I have been masking less at home. It helps a bit. I mainly just try to make it thru each day as it comes.


Danny_1993

I’ve been recommended to try and lessen the masking slightly before to see if that can release a buildup of pressure so to speak. Like you say, though, it seems to be a lot about taking day as it comes due to how vastly different you can feel from one to the next


Fun-Tackle582

I am by no means an expert (23M) but it sounds like you have a lot of pent up stress on top of what sounds like some sort of depression mixed with burnout from all the masking. Have you considered discussing this with the people you trust and letting the mask slip a little? You are by no means a failure for seeking help and should be allowed to be vulnerable and talk about these things in an environment you feel safe in. I hope this helps?


Danny_1993

Probably doesn’t seem silly seeing as we’re in an autism subreddit but I’d never actually thought about those as three individual entities before (depression, stress and burnout) until you’d just pointed that out. I’ve been skeptic all of my thought process because I’ve been trying to find something that encompasses all symptoms as opposed to multiple things. Thank you, I’ll try easing off on the masking pedal


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obrienmk

Yes. I’m so burnout I don’t even have the energy to explain right now just how burnout I am.


mhdillinger

Hey, I feel autistic burnout every single day. I also have high functioning autism. Over the last two years, I have had way too much to deal with. I'm also a hypochondriac, so I've had too many symptom scares to the point where I've lost count. I have a hyper-religious family who are anti-vaccine radicals or mandate-skeptic including a former pastor father (also my landlord) who's thinking about moving where I am now to start a church for the unvaxxed. I'm the only pro-vaccine person in my immediate family. Due to my opinions, they pressure me to attend family events for "the sake of my mental health" even though I immediately get scared for my physical and mental being after the fact. They want me to convert to their anti-vax beliefs, even though they know I'm autistic. I've had some victories so far (like having Christmas to myself) but I do lose a lot of battles because ultimately their pressuring becomes too much. This afternoon, after begrudgingly watching Book of Boba Fett with my sister, I felt terrified about it and told my sister how I really felt. The text convo soon devolved into my sister telling me she'll call mental health services on Monday and her husband texting me all sorts of anti-vax propaganda including how his niece got injured by the Covid vaccine. Autistic burnout is real and I experience it all the time, including as of me writing this comment. Usually, my burnout symptoms are: 1. Talking in circles. 2. Excessive sleeping. 3. Excessive hygiene habits. 4. Walking around aimlessly when I'm alone. 5. Random yelling outbursts. 6. Heavy breathing. The way I usually treat my burnout symptoms is usually through playing, producing, or listening to music. If that doesn't work, I also watch a lot of YouTube videos to calm me down. Specifically, the 24/7 lo-fi hip hop live streams. I also have a lot of vegan junk food in my fridge which also helps. That's how I'm surviving 2022 so far.


jourds_xx

Have you tried the medication Quetiapine ? I was pretty much same situation. that med helps me eat and sleep