Any tips for the newly diagnosed?

[Opinionpolecat]

I’ve recently realised I’m autistic at 49 and it’s overwhelming. I’ve been struggling with what I thought was depression since the pandemic, which working in healthcare didn’t help. Last year I had some behavioural activation therapy over the phone, which didn’t really help, and then I realised it was probably autistic burnout. I keep reading that getting diagnosed is supposed to be a big relief but I just feel worse, my ability to function seems to be getting worse, and I’m struggling more and more. I live on my own so it doesn’t really matter that the house is a tip, but I’m struggling with coping at work now and feel exhausted all the time.

Does anyone have any tips for how to get through this?

my ability to function seems to be getting worse, and I’m struggling more and more.

This is skill regression also the inability to mask due to burnout. It's completely normal.

You need to learn your limits and enforce boundaries and accept that you're probably going to slowly realise lots of different ways being autistic is disabling.

There's not a lot of post-diagnostic medical support and there aren't the resources for the NHS to advise of how things like executive dysfunction can get worse and how high masking individuals usually have the worst mental health outcomes.

As someone who also has suffered huge autistic burnout and had a lot of skill regression, I recommend following burnout advice, keeping a diary of the ways you've realised you're becoming more disabled, addressing this with your GP even if its just for documentations sake and then chasing any financial support you might be entitled to.

There's a reason only 15-20% of autistics are in work.

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

Have you actually been assessed? Sorry if I'm reading it wrongly but you say you have recently 'realised'

For me the discussions during the diagnostic process were massively helpful, I was able to understand myself much better and the assessor explained so much to me during the process. If you haven't been through that yet, it may help.

I’m in the middle of the assessment process just now, I’ve had an appointment with a psychologist and just had the second appointment which includes the ADOS. I’m waiting for the next appointment where they go through the diagnosis and what they thought. I hope you’re right that it’ll help, it’s all very overwhelming at the moment.