Jun 25, 2023
The Spoons Theory
How many spoons do you have today? 🥄🥄🥄🥄 It's important to disperse them carefully among the tasks you have to accomplish each day to avoid overstimulation, sensory or emotional overload, and burnout.
seen from United Kingdom
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Colombia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from France
seen from United States
seen from France
seen from United States
seen from France
seen from Italy
The Spoons Theory
How many spoons do you have today? 🥄🥄🥄🥄 It's important to disperse them carefully among the tasks you have to accomplish each day to avoid overstimulation, sensory or emotional overload, and burnout.
Autism and the "Social Battery"
Before I realized I was Autistic, I always thought I just had this special intolerance to people, to socializing, to social events; I've always figured I'm just antisocial, a social hermit of some kind. Not a people-person. I've always been able to be around very particular people indefinitely, such as my brother or my partner, but being around anyone outside those 2-3 special people drains what I called my "social battery."
Now that I've realized that I'm Autistic, I understand that the exhausting part about being around people is the masking. I've read so many people say that masking itself is exhausting, even if we aren't consciously aware that we're doing it. Now I understand, that's why I'm always socially exhausted. I don't need "alone time," or to "recharge my social battery," I need time where I'm allowed to unmask and be myself, and that's just naturally such a hard thing for me to do. When I try to unmask, I always find my "weirdness" being called attention to.
I don't like it, so I shut it back down, away, out of sight.
Out of sight, and quiet. Like always.
Hopefully customers at work will stop being impatient and rude towards me when I ask them to repeat themselves or spell out their names. Hopefully it also serves as a reminder to my coworkers that I actually can't hear and I'm not just ignoring them. I hope this helps. 🙏
Credit: LydiaJeanArt on Etsy
This Pins & Pinback Buttons item by LydiaJeanArt has 1173 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from Plainfield, IL. Listed on Sep 13, 2023
Autism and High Control-Groups
Again when reading Unmasking Autism, a book by Devon Price, something very interesting caught my attention. Because of the Autistic need to follow a strict set of rules, the potential increases for us to fall into dangerous groups called "high-control groups," or cults.
I want to add that I personally believe that the warning signs listed below can definitely apply to online social groups and forums - not just real life groups. Since many Autistics use the internet to find safe, relatable spaces and make friends, I want to bring awareness to the potential for us to fall into toxic online situations as well. I know that I have been involved in an online community that had these red flags before. These situations are abusive and harmful for everyone. Please watch out and be careful who you involve yourself with.
If you find yourself in a high-control group, I strongly recommend removing yourself from the situation for your own mental well-being.
Warning Signs of a High-Control Group
1. The group promotes an antagonistic view of the outside world and non-group members, such as "it's us versus the world."
2. Group members constantly feel insecure about their position within the group; members may be punished for any small mistake or failure.
3. Personal boundaries are discouraged; people are expected to view the group as a "family," and sacrifice as much as they can for it.
4. Any perspective that challenges the group's orthodoxy is unspeakable; members feel shame for thinking or feeling the "wrong" things.
5. Repetitive language and group jargon are used to dismiss criticism. Group members repeat empty clichés in order to silence difficult conversations.
(Read more about this in the book Unmasking Autism by Devon Price)
Externalizing Thoughts
You know you used to say you knew me better than I knew myself, when we were younger, and despite my arguments about it, that gave me some sense of comfort to feel like someone understood my brain inside and out like that.
Then, at some point I realized that no one would ever be able to see inside my thoughts and how disturbing and torturous they can be, how lonely it is, the circle thoughts, the sense of "being different" I always felt, not even you. And it's just sort of been an attempt ever since, to explain myself clearly, and to be as transparent as I can about my thoughts so I don't feel so trapped in my mind.
Externalization is the process of transforming our thoughts into some sort of external form, typically by writing or speaking. (It is not to be confused with unhealthy externalizing behaviors that may hurt others, such as aggression.)
I think externalizing my thoughts helps a lot. Which is why it's helpful to have someone I live with that I trust. I go into weird mode if I'm left on my own for very long. I start staring at walls and questioning my existence. I think this was especially bad when my only means of contact with the outside world was my laptop, when mom was gone, I didn't have a cell phone yet, and I didn't drive. At least now when I'm alone I can call or text anyone whenever I want and I can just go somewhere to distract my brain.
There's a lot of reasons I like the way my mind works, and equally a lot of reasons I hate it.
My mind is a complex maze with tough, high walls to keep people out, but at the same time, it traps me within, unable to reach anyone.
They have to find their way in, or I have to find my way out.
Being given the opportunity to externalize my thoughts to someone I can trust somehow gives order to the otherwise chaotic clutter that is inside my head. Because once I speak it, it isn't just my thought. It's in their head too, and somehow I find that soothing.
It's like speaking to someone on the other side of a fence. The fence is still there, but they can hear you. There's still a barrier, but it's as close as you can get.
Antiphospholipid Syndrome: Is there a possible connection between POTS and DVT?
Interestingly, years ago I was diagnosed with POTS, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, which is a form of Dysautonomia. Dysautonomia is a dysfunction of the nerves that regulate nonvoluntary body functions, such as, in my case, blood pressure. In a normal person, blood vessels in your body constrict upon standing so the blood goes to your brain, but in POTS your blood vessels do not constrict and blood tends to rush to your legs and pool there. This is why people with POTS get light-headed and have a risk of fainting upon standing - the blood is going to our legs rather than our brain, where it's needed.
I think it's interesting that I have POTS, where blood pools in the legs, and I decently found out my grandmother had DVT, Deep Vein Thrombosis, which "occurs when a blood clot (thrombus) forms in one or more of the deep veins in the body, usually in the legs. Deep vein thrombosis can cauase leg pain or swelling. Sometimes there are no noticeable symptoms."
There is also this very interesting article about the relation between POTS and DVT potentially being undiagnosed APS, or Antiphospholipid Syndrome, also known as Hughes Syndrome. "APS is a complex autoimmune disorder that is associated with several different antiphospholipid antibodies. These antibodies may be directed against clotting factors, platelets, and/or the cells that line blood vessel walls and they cause the blood to be too sticky. This results in an increased risk of blood clots in: 1) Arteries–causing most commonly stroke or heart attack. 2) Veins–causing deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of the legs and/or pulmonary embolus (PE) of the lungs. 3) Placenta–causing recurrent miscarriage, stillbirth or low birth weight babies."
The article continues, "In addition to an increased risk for blood clots, a number of other manifestations may occur in APS due to “sludging” of the blood. The list of these non-clotting manifestations is long and they are less well known to most physicians. Some of these manifestations include migraine," of which I have also been diagnosed with migraine long ago.
As for if POTS patients should seek testing for APS, the article reads, "At this time, I believe all POTS patients should be tested for APS; other physicians might disagree. At the very least, I believe all POTS patients with any of the following should be tested for APS: migraine, memory loss, balance trouble, livedo reticularis, Raynaud’s phenomenon, history of miscarriage, another autoimmune condition, a family history of blood clots or a family history of autoimmune disease."
You can read the entire article here:
My brain loves to make little connections like this. I start researching one thing, which leads to another symptom that either I have or I have a family history of having, which leads to these little connections that I'm not sure are actually correlated or not. Nonetheless, I find the research incredibly interesting.
Welcome to my blog, Is It Autism?
Hello and welcome everyone, to my blog, Is It Autism? a blog mainly about my journey as a self-identified Autistic adult woman.
🍂 STATUS: Hyperfixating on reading Warriors books 🍂
This blog includes musings, introspection, ramblings, tangents and infodumps involving Autism, neurodivergence, chronic pain, psychology, mental and physical health conditions, disabilities, and other related topics with some extra reblogs sprinkled in. Posts may include ✨special interests✨ and hyperfixations of mine.
The beginning of my journey started here:
when people started asking if I was Autistic just a few years ago. At first I was like, "what?? no!" because it seemed so far-fetched accord
Blog Table Of Contents
Below are some frequent tags I use. Some of these tags are self-explanitory. You can search my blog for specific subject matter by using any of the tags below:
#uwubers ... all my original written posts
#personal ... personal updates, stories and experiences
#Autism ... content about Autism Spectrum Disorder
#Neurodivergence ... any content about various forms of neurodivergence, including Autism and ADHD + more
#youtube ... interesting and helpful Youtube videos involving Autism and neurodiversity
#Chronic Pain ... involving any kind of chronic pain
#Chronic Back Pain ... specifically chronic pain in the back
#Scoliosis ... may pertain to scoliosis and back pain
#Leg Length Discrepancy ... may pertain to LLDs
#Mental Health Awareness ... any kind of awareness posts involving mental health and mental health resources
#Disability Awareness ... spreading awareness about disabilities
#Disability Accomodations ... about accomodations
#Positivity ... posts that can make you feel good
This is a nonexhaustive list and is subject to be updated at any time. If you find a useful tag in my blog that you think should be included, please let me know!
⚠️ If you follow me and you look like a bot, I will automatically block you.
Keep Reading to learn more about me!!
Autistic Burnout
These are helpful graphics I've found associated with Autistic burnout and burnout causes and symptoms.