Fantastic Article - has given me hope

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I have been going through one of these phases right now since the past couple of months. I thought I was literally going crazy and would need to check myself into a mental hospital but I just found this article and it changed my whole understanding of what is happening to me. I am so glad I found it. I feel like I have some hope now and I am not losing my mind.

http://musingsofanaspie.com/2013/12/19/ ... daptation/

Musings of an Aspie is a fantastic site. I was sad when she announced she was going on hiatus. If you haven't read many of her other posts, I would highly recommend her book, which is basically a collection of her archives, reordered and slightly edited for better readability.

This video goes over similar material as the article

I had never heard of Musings until just now. I will definitely read her stuff. Thank you for the video post too. I will look at it now.

That was an excellent video and after I watched it I looked up more on the subject of Aspie burnout and I found this article which I think is absolutely excellent and I think should be a must read for all of us and for people who are close to us.
http://archive.autistics.org/library/more-autistic.html

Re-reading the Regression piece at Musings reminded me of just how much I miss being able to read new posts from Cynthia. She's a really good explainer and advocate.

I really hope someday she can overcome her language struggles and contribute to the community at her previous level. I know that's a bit selfish of me, but oh well.

I hope she will be okay. I just discovered her today so I don't know anything about her. I do wish her the very best and hope that she will be able to have whatever she needs to be well.

I've experienced regression before. Sometimes it's for a few hours or days, sometimes a few weeks. Every so often, I get a random and inexplicable drop in my coping abilities that returns to normal shortly thereafter. For instance, the other day I was sitting at home by myself not doing anything, when I started feeling tight and wound up, like I do right before a meltdown. I managed to avoid hurting myself, but there was a lot of screaming and pounding the floor with my fists. Afterwards, I spent a while just lying on my bedroom floor because the idea of speaking or moving was too physically overwhelming to think about. It had no obvious trigger and seemed completely random, and a few hours later I was fine, and it was like it never happened. Very strange.

I've read a few of Musing's articles as well, and I like her writing style. She has an in-depth series of articles about her experiences with self-diagnosis and the diagnostic process, which would be worthwhile material for anyone considering the pros and cons of being diagnosed.

Yes, that was an excellent video.

I am experiencing a bit of burnout myself, and trying to regain some energy. But summer is not long enough to recover from the onslaught of the school year. I even told a friend that I wish I could declare a "year of no school". But, it is what it is. School will begin in a couple of weeks. I have thought about not going back myself and focusing only on my own kids' schooling. But, I really don't have that option because I then would not be able to finish in a timely manner myself. So, it's suck it up for one more year and hope I don't lose my mind in the process, or quit before finishing. I have to do my best to go forward.

Although I am not diagnosed (though I think I would have been had Aspergers been a diagnosis when I was still young), my parents did help me through some burnout. I got extremely stressed out in high school, and a few times a year my mother would tell me to stay home from school in order to take a break. I wasn't sick, but she would tell the school I was. I asked her once about the "lying." She said she wasn't lying - my day off was for mental health.

I have realized I need to buy myself a stim toy. I can't take my rocking chair with me everywhere, lol.

Very interesting and helpful. I like the comments about "disruption" rather than "regression" and I like disruption more than burnout, because it doesn't sound permanent. This thread makes me want to get the book.

Thank you for posting this skibum. I have been going through this too. It helps to understand what it is.