I'm sure this topic has been covered here before, but I am very interested in this phenomenon and am increasingly convinced that this is what recently lead me to realize the massive effect autism has had on my life.
Without going into all the details, I started to go through some highly unusual and highly stressful events at work about a year ago. Not remarkable in itself as many of my NT co-workers were in the same boat as me. But what distinguished me from everyone else over the next several months was my reaction to these events. I literally became obsessed with what was taking place and could think of almost nothing else. I have always had difficulty sleeping but now I flat out couldn't sleep and finally started taking OTC sleep aids just to catch a few hours. I shut out and permanently broke off contact with several acquaintances and mentally placed blame on people who had nothing to do with my situation. My thought process became erratic and I really had no idea why. It felt in many ways the same way as it did before I dropped out of college and "crashed" for over a year. But with a family I am 100-percent financially responsible for, I knew I had to push through it this time. Things finally started to get better a couple of months ago following a major change in my work assignment. During the worst of it, I told some of those close to me that I was going through a midlife crisis and no one argued because they knew how wild my thoughts were. But it wasn't really a midlife crisis in the classic sense ... there were no fast cars or hot babes. I was just imploding.
So anyway, when I finally started to come out of it, I became determined to find out what the hell was going on with me and as I researched Aspergers and HFA, the light went on. I now believe I was going through at least the beginning stages of midlife autistic burnout. I think I've stemmed the tide at least for now but fear it could resurface.
I am interested in what kinds of experiences some others here may have had and what helped you get through it ... or if you crashed entirely.
Last edited by Catamount on 12 Apr 2011, 2:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
12 Apr 2011, 9:45 am
