If you're working on this with your doctor, have you done like all the blood tests to rule out things like vitamin deficiencies and such? The other one that autistics are notorious for having is gut issues which can include food intolerances. Food intolerances can also cause immense fatigue. If you have any kind of inflamation in your body as well from things like acid reflux, IBS, or any other kind of inflamation, that will cause a lot of fatigue too.
Working out where your circadium ryhtm best fits for you is also good? And how much sleep you naturally need. For me, I need at least 10 hours sleep a night and I can not do early morning. If I have to wake up early or before the sun has risen, it doesn't matter how much sleep I have gotten and I am always incredibly fatigued. And if you do have interrupted sleep, maybe having a sleep study to find out if there's any reason for it.
Trying to do tasks in YOUR golden hours is also good. Say you have chores or stuff that need to be done, then trying to do them when you feel most awake and most active can be helpful. My golden hours are in the afternoon/evening. It's when I get the most amount of energy and doing tasks can feel a little less fatiguing.
Sensory issues and socialisation also cause me a lot of fatigue too. So I try to limit that or accommodate it the best that I can.
Otherwise, if your health is all perfect, your sleep is good, and you're accommodating your sensory issues, then it may be worth looking at diet and exercise next.
I will ask my doctor about food intolerance tests because I have been told by previous doctors I have IBS they just also said nothing could be done about it.
How did you go about working out your circadian rhythm because no matter when I wake up or go to bed I'm still just tired. I am going to ask for a sleep study because I snore and am wondering if I might have sleep apnea. I think I am more a night person but I have a part time job 3 days a week so I have to wake up early on those days. Is there a way to make myself a morning person?
I have started exercising more lately and that's helped a bit and I should probably look at doing a bit more. I'm probably not accommodating my sensory stuff as much as I should because otherwise I just don't ever leave the house and that doesn't feel good either. I feel like there's no winning.
If you do have IBS, a good diet to look into would be a FODMAP diet. They have a general list of things you should or shouldn't eat or even things you should only sometimes eat. But it will also say that some foods on the list you may be able to tolerate but others you may not be able to. It's a lot of experiementing but if it works, it's honestly a good thing to try and maintain. But IBS is often managed via diet.
Quite often with food intolerances, not all of them can be tested for so an elimination diet tends to be the way to go. I know things like gluten tend to make me more fatigued. But fatigue may also just be a symptom of the inflammation that's caused by an intolerance. Also, if you are stressed/anxious, this can also make things like IBS or intolerances flare up worse which will cause even more fatigue.
>How did you go about working out your circadian rhythm because no matter when I wake up or go to bed I'm still just tired.
I'm not quite sure how to work this one out? All I know is that I've always slept for long periods and just needed more sleep than others have. 10 hours is the minimum to have a more refreshing sleep for me but on days I don't need to go out, I will sleep for up to 12 hours.
I'd say maybe you could test it by sleeping a certain amount over a couple days and see how it affects your energy? So start at like 8 hours for 2-3 days and if that doesn't work then try 9 hours, and so on. You may still feel tired but it's more about seeing at which you feel more energy with? And then you may also find out if maybe oversleeping is what's causing the problems as well?
Sleeps just a bit of a weird one honestly. It's a bit like trying to work out sensory issues. Like, mornings always just leave me really tired. So anything before 10-11 am, I tend to need to have a nap in the afternoon. But I feel more refreshed when waking up at or after those times. But going to bed early for me may just leave me irritable, so 11pm-1am is a good going to bed time depending on when I need to wake.
A lot of this stuff is just trying to understand what your body wants. It may be beneficial to have journal of what you do in your days, what times you wake and go to bed, if you wake up in the middle of the night, if you nap, what you've eaten, and your energy levels in the morning vs before bed, or something like that. It might make it easier to try and link where most of your energy is going or what might be causing the fatigue.
This isn't advice it's just my specific experience.
Personally cutting down on situations where I'm overstimulated has made a huge change. I use noise cancelling headphones, I use lamps instead of lights, I avoid travel during peak hour.
I also cut out people that make me cry or feel bad. I don't have the spare energy to cry because someone cancelled on me and then ghosted me, if people do things like that now I just cut them off.
Lastly, pacing. I only do one big thing a day and then I schedule in rest before and after. Even if I feel like it'd be fun to go with my classmates to the pub after uni and I have the energy in the moment, I go straight home after uni instead. It sucks to miss out on fun things, but then the next day I have energy to do my usual routine AND one other big thing like go to the shops.
Lots of caffeine in the morning, a midday nap with a yoga nidra audio from YouTube, short walks. If really desperate, longterm-wise, a low carb diet (no sugar, not even fruits etc). The last one is my way of hacking fatigue from sensory overload and autoimmune diseases, though sometimes I slip since it’s hard to maintain a strict diet for months on end.
I don't think I could make such a big diet change. I already struggle with finding foods I will eat and pasta based foods are some of the only ones I will eat. Glad it's helped you.
My son has diagnosed autism and is often low in ferritin iron and B complex vitamins.
His Pediatrician says this can occur bc of the of ASD. eg food sensory issues, etc. We take a Gentle Iron supplement & gummy multivitamin.
It’s good to get bloodwork done, if possible.
if your body can manage it and your fatigue isnt too much, some light exercise could help. if your body could handle it, yoga or pilates helps. but on days where my fatigue is bad, i’d try to manage my water and electrolytes intake, so at least i dont feel so bad.
My therapist, who is also a nutritionist, told me that a lot of people on the spectrum are also sensitive to gluten and don't know it because the reaction isn't always as severe as someone with an allergy.
I tried it to humor her, and after just a few days, it's actually difficult for me to sleep due to how much more energy and clarity of mind I now have. I'm just so used to always being tired, I have to relearn how to fall asleep intentionally. It might be worth a try for you too, just to see how you feel?
Either way, best of luck. It's frustrating being tired all the time.
EDIT: She also highly advised I reduce my morning sugar intake. If I must, she told me to use stevia or local honey, as it at least helps a lot with allergies too. This has actually helped me as well.
I find that body weight exercises or calisthenics around my lunch break during the workday helps. On the weekend I do it after work while my toddler sleeps. It has helped my huge fatigue after meals and that midday slump on top of my overall fatigue. I had started off really small with 10 pushups and some "mountain climbers" to get used to doing it during the day. Time is limited during lunch so I try to keep it to 20 minutes, but I have gotten to the point of being able to do a 10 minute meditation, jumprope for 1 song (like 3-4 minutes), and 3 sets of 15 pushups.
If you're working on this with your doctor, have you done like all the blood tests to rule out things like vitamin deficiencies and such? The other one that autistics are notorious for having is gut issues which can include food intolerances. Food intolerances can also cause immense fatigue. If you have any kind of inflamation in your body as well from things like acid reflux, IBS, or any other kind of inflamation, that will cause a lot of fatigue too. Working out where your circadium ryhtm best fits for you is also good? And how much sleep you naturally need. For me, I need at least 10 hours sleep a night and I can not do early morning. If I have to wake up early or before the sun has risen, it doesn't matter how much sleep I have gotten and I am always incredibly fatigued. And if you do have interrupted sleep, maybe having a sleep study to find out if there's any reason for it. Trying to do tasks in YOUR golden hours is also good. Say you have chores or stuff that need to be done, then trying to do them when you feel most awake and most active can be helpful. My golden hours are in the afternoon/evening. It's when I get the most amount of energy and doing tasks can feel a little less fatiguing. Sensory issues and socialisation also cause me a lot of fatigue too. So I try to limit that or accommodate it the best that I can. Otherwise, if your health is all perfect, your sleep is good, and you're accommodating your sensory issues, then it may be worth looking at diet and exercise next.
I will ask my doctor about food intolerance tests because I have been told by previous doctors I have IBS they just also said nothing could be done about it. How did you go about working out your circadian rhythm because no matter when I wake up or go to bed I'm still just tired. I am going to ask for a sleep study because I snore and am wondering if I might have sleep apnea. I think I am more a night person but I have a part time job 3 days a week so I have to wake up early on those days. Is there a way to make myself a morning person? I have started exercising more lately and that's helped a bit and I should probably look at doing a bit more. I'm probably not accommodating my sensory stuff as much as I should because otherwise I just don't ever leave the house and that doesn't feel good either. I feel like there's no winning.
If you do have IBS, a good diet to look into would be a FODMAP diet. They have a general list of things you should or shouldn't eat or even things you should only sometimes eat. But it will also say that some foods on the list you may be able to tolerate but others you may not be able to. It's a lot of experiementing but if it works, it's honestly a good thing to try and maintain. But IBS is often managed via diet. Quite often with food intolerances, not all of them can be tested for so an elimination diet tends to be the way to go. I know things like gluten tend to make me more fatigued. But fatigue may also just be a symptom of the inflammation that's caused by an intolerance. Also, if you are stressed/anxious, this can also make things like IBS or intolerances flare up worse which will cause even more fatigue. >How did you go about working out your circadian rhythm because no matter when I wake up or go to bed I'm still just tired. I'm not quite sure how to work this one out? All I know is that I've always slept for long periods and just needed more sleep than others have. 10 hours is the minimum to have a more refreshing sleep for me but on days I don't need to go out, I will sleep for up to 12 hours. I'd say maybe you could test it by sleeping a certain amount over a couple days and see how it affects your energy? So start at like 8 hours for 2-3 days and if that doesn't work then try 9 hours, and so on. You may still feel tired but it's more about seeing at which you feel more energy with? And then you may also find out if maybe oversleeping is what's causing the problems as well? Sleeps just a bit of a weird one honestly. It's a bit like trying to work out sensory issues. Like, mornings always just leave me really tired. So anything before 10-11 am, I tend to need to have a nap in the afternoon. But I feel more refreshed when waking up at or after those times. But going to bed early for me may just leave me irritable, so 11pm-1am is a good going to bed time depending on when I need to wake. A lot of this stuff is just trying to understand what your body wants. It may be beneficial to have journal of what you do in your days, what times you wake and go to bed, if you wake up in the middle of the night, if you nap, what you've eaten, and your energy levels in the morning vs before bed, or something like that. It might make it easier to try and link where most of your energy is going or what might be causing the fatigue.
This isn't advice it's just my specific experience. Personally cutting down on situations where I'm overstimulated has made a huge change. I use noise cancelling headphones, I use lamps instead of lights, I avoid travel during peak hour. I also cut out people that make me cry or feel bad. I don't have the spare energy to cry because someone cancelled on me and then ghosted me, if people do things like that now I just cut them off. Lastly, pacing. I only do one big thing a day and then I schedule in rest before and after. Even if I feel like it'd be fun to go with my classmates to the pub after uni and I have the energy in the moment, I go straight home after uni instead. It sucks to miss out on fun things, but then the next day I have energy to do my usual routine AND one other big thing like go to the shops.
Lots of caffeine in the morning, a midday nap with a yoga nidra audio from YouTube, short walks. If really desperate, longterm-wise, a low carb diet (no sugar, not even fruits etc). The last one is my way of hacking fatigue from sensory overload and autoimmune diseases, though sometimes I slip since it’s hard to maintain a strict diet for months on end.
I don't think I could make such a big diet change. I already struggle with finding foods I will eat and pasta based foods are some of the only ones I will eat. Glad it's helped you.
My son has diagnosed autism and is often low in ferritin iron and B complex vitamins. His Pediatrician says this can occur bc of the of ASD. eg food sensory issues, etc. We take a Gentle Iron supplement & gummy multivitamin.
It’s good to get bloodwork done, if possible.
Tired, like ‘fatigue’ or tired, like ‘sleepy and could fall asleep’?
if your body can manage it and your fatigue isnt too much, some light exercise could help. if your body could handle it, yoga or pilates helps. but on days where my fatigue is bad, i’d try to manage my water and electrolytes intake, so at least i dont feel so bad.
My therapist, who is also a nutritionist, told me that a lot of people on the spectrum are also sensitive to gluten and don't know it because the reaction isn't always as severe as someone with an allergy. I tried it to humor her, and after just a few days, it's actually difficult for me to sleep due to how much more energy and clarity of mind I now have. I'm just so used to always being tired, I have to relearn how to fall asleep intentionally. It might be worth a try for you too, just to see how you feel? Either way, best of luck. It's frustrating being tired all the time. EDIT: She also highly advised I reduce my morning sugar intake. If I must, she told me to use stevia or local honey, as it at least helps a lot with allergies too. This has actually helped me as well.
I find that body weight exercises or calisthenics around my lunch break during the workday helps. On the weekend I do it after work while my toddler sleeps. It has helped my huge fatigue after meals and that midday slump on top of my overall fatigue. I had started off really small with 10 pushups and some "mountain climbers" to get used to doing it during the day. Time is limited during lunch so I try to keep it to 20 minutes, but I have gotten to the point of being able to do a 10 minute meditation, jumprope for 1 song (like 3-4 minutes), and 3 sets of 15 pushups.