I suffer from "burnout" in conversations

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I have acquired enough knowledge to carry on simple conversations, even small talk. However, in conversations of the most frivolous or most profound character, I tend to lose energy very quickly and feel the need to wander off and stare at an inanimate object. I feel lonely and rude when this occurs. what shall I do?

this happens to me a lot ESPECIALLY when I am nervous. i'll talk for awhile and then hit a wall where i don't want to communicate anymore and want to stare at something for awhile

my friends used to think it was rude but then i explained it to them and they accomomdate it now. with other people i usually just excuse myself and go to the bathroom or something

I don't have that exact problem, but I do have a similar one. When I am conversing with my friend (whom I strongly believe has AS too), the conversation inevitably comes to the point where neither of us knows how to prolong it in a meaningful manner. Then one of us just says "This conversation is going nowhere," and we say goodbye. It's been that way for years.

I can relate to this, yes, I tend to find that my conversation works in occasional bursts, rather than flowing normally and naturally. I think more than anything it's simply a symptom of trying too hard

I have the same exact problem as the guy above.

I tend to burnout and lose interests in many things that is not related to my strong interests (football, history, some music). I even find it difficult to even keep up with my course work to be honest (just finished an I.T course).

Yeah, it happens to me too. Usually it doesn't bother me - I use the bathroom excuse, or make sure to hang out in a large enough group to pass the conversational buck, but lately I've been trying to get to know this guy (who I suspect has AS but doesn't know it)- we've gotten a lot friendlier (eg. he sits next to me a lot now as opposed to by himself) but the conversation can be excrutiating- we rarely get past small talk (how are you, what are you doing next, what music do you like...). I think he's really interesting, but feel like the conversation's turning into a bit of a one-sided interogation on my part... it's exhausting.

I'm kind of the same way. I don't mind a conversation which is engaging me, but listening to someone talk when I'm not interested in listening makes me want to escape.

This happens to me when there is not enough spontaneity in the conversation. It is usually my fault as I tend to be very cautious and reserved at first, and others come to expect that and seem somehow lost after I've become more gregarious.

I feel that way too. Sometimes I can enjoy a conversation, but even when I do I find it incredibly draining and all I can think about is escaping.

I am the same way. It takes a lot of energy to socialize.

With friends and family (not all of my family, just the ones I know and like best) I can carry on a conversation for hours - but they are accustomed to they way I communicate, so there's very little strain on me or them. I'm lucky, too, that they all think my sense of humour is wickedly funny.

With strangers, though, I'm lost. I can hold a short, meaningless conversation, and I try to follow through on various threads of the conversation, but usually it ends up being a waste of breath.

Very much so - whilst not really a problem with my girlfriend (she will just wait till I mentally return) or friend. In work it was a problem for a little while, with me constantly managing to offend people and having to apologize, now I'm just known as the loved weird one - which whilst at times, slightly derogatory - is OK, because at least then I'm not offending people.