Anxious and Tired: Struggling with Autistic Burnout

I have two types of fatigue anxiety. 1) the legitimate fear that I won't be functioning well and there will be an accident of some kind. 2) The ADHD undefined restlessness of understimulation combined with the "I should be working at all times or I'm failing" mentality I grew up with. The first I am working on addressing (driving less, cooking when I'm able to and just reheating leftover, learning to recognize my fatigue earlier babs take smaller breaks so I don't burn out so fast. Etc.) The second I'm trying to teach myself to view rest as productive and find things I can do that stimulate me in the way I need but don't overstimulate me. All of that to say. We live in a world built around constant productivity and neurotypical abled standards and limits. So it's natural to feel anxious about how that culture and it's expectations impact you.

I don’t deal with autistic burnout, but I do take a stimulant for my CFS/idiopathic hypersomnia. I used to take Ritalin but it always used to wear off way too fast. I switched to Concerta which is the long acting version. Are you on a short acting medication like Ritalin or adderal, or are you on Concerta or Vivance? I found that switch to be very helpful- it doesn’t last all day but gets me a lot farther than the short acting drugs.

Im glad to hear someone describe the fatigue dissociation. I get tired when Im out and i stead of going home, i feel so dissociated and overwhelmed at yhe idea of chnaging environments and stimus of driving I kind of get stuck but then vet more tired or hungry until I force muself home feeling horrible and crashing so bad. No one understand because I dont think they experience fatigue that make you feel dissociated

This happens to me all the time. My family always says I need to get my mid-afternoon nap to stay functional. If I don't I become irritable and panicky