Simon Baron-Cohen can stuff right off

[Smunder Woman]

The only thing that fixed that for me was the meds (and it's the first thing I notice if I've missed them). I'm sure there will be strategies, but nothing else worked for me. Sorry :))

I totally feel you on the work thing. I'm not sure I'm very good at being a postdoc The adrenaline and dopamine from a ridiculous teaching load kept me a lot more productive, although also very much at risk of burnout.

[bramblerose]

Any suggestions on stopping the whirly brain thing at night if anyone else gets that? When you can't sleep because all of the millions of things you need to do keep going through your head?

I listen to sleep stories - I have a subscripton to UnMind through C's work and I also have Medito which both offer sleep stories and/or sleep sounds. It's one of the only things that has been getting me through the last few weeks.

I come back to read this thread every now and again and recognise bits of me in most of the posts :lol:

I have taken lots of online "tests" and there's something but as Bats once said, maybe not enough to get tested and that, for me, is enough (enough to realise it's not just me, if that makes sense!)

[Cerise]

I got all excited because our healthcare provider have started offering assessment cover but, of course, it’s not included in our policy.

[Luce]

I’m not surprised that a lot of us feel this way, I’d imagine we have a higher than average proportion of neurodivergent people as like flocks to like. I’m noticing it a lot in my friendship group, as well :))

Ken, this may not be helpful but when my head is doing that and I need it to stop, especially at nighttime, I use sleeping meditation podcasts. Sometimes it can really wind me up though so I have to be in the right mood. The other thing that helps is to concentrate on where in my body I can feel it - if it’s causing anxiety, that is. For me it is usually my stomach, my chest and my throat - I lean into it and concentrate on those feelings. It sounds counter intuitive but it gets you out of your head and into your body. And then the feelings go away and your brain has calmed down a bit. Or, as a last resort, T will talk to me specifically about work which is especially brilliant for calming down a racing heart but I appreciate that I may be less an option unless P is willing :))

[Smunder Woman]

Of course we do, have you seen us hyperfocus on bins? :))

[Sky]

And dish racks :))

[Kenickie]

Thanks for the suggestions for dealing with the night stuff. I would definitely find P's work descriptions boring but he may not want to be woken at 3am. ;)

It definitely helps to realise that some of this stuff is a struggle for others, and it's not just being a really shit person.

[Smunder Woman]

It's definitely not just being a really shit person! I bet we've all felt that though.

I know it's really frowned upon, but playing shit phone games sometimes helps me to distract my brain and fall back asleep at 3am. It has to be a shit one though, and not one you get really engaged in :))

[Jet]

I second (third?) the sleep sounds or meditation sounds. Wine which also helps but, yeah, don't do that as a rule :)) I occasionally will do some mindless game if I feel spiraling starting when I know I'm actually tired. I still don't really have a great solution though as I also have night time alone time rebellion and generally stay up too late after trying to pack too many things into an evening that need to be done.

One thing that helped me, sort of accidentally, was stopping drinking coffee. Not that I am anxiety free, I do still get fixated on stuff and have to deal with irrational nonsense, but the sort of constant low level skin crawling stuff I had been dealing with went with the coffee. I do still drink caffeine, just not coffee. I also started taking a 'stress' supplement and I feel like it helps...although it could just be a placebo effect, I'm going to stick with it just in case

Also on the tabs....this is fewer than usual as I did close some (including Hitler's wiki the other weekend). Imagine my brain is basically just like this too.

[Jet]

Also being very careful not to show you my surroundings because there are doom piles all around, to my left is a pear, some art supplies, some unfinished art project, groceries that haven't been put away and some sunscreen.

[Ruby]

Hola! The SAM is officially autistic. I thought I would share. It was a surprise to virtually no-one.

I didn't think it would make a difference but tbh, he seems to have relaxed into it. He has already started to say he doesn't want to do things (social, trips etc) that he would have unhappily felt obliged to do before. I am forever trying to make him do things to "get himself out there" so perhaps I need to reflect on that. :lol:

[Arrietty]

Hooray! We are still waiting for MissA to get to the top of the two waiting lists she's on. Nearly 18 months now. She is really frustrated.

[Bat Macdui]

Congratulations to The Sam on joining the cool people. :))

[Smunder Woman]

Congratulations to The SAM :))

I hope Miss A isn't waiting too much longer.

Jack has a new special interest, getting tattoos. He has been 18 for a month and has his third tattoo booked in

[Little My]

Thank you for sharing! That is interesting. I’m glad the diagnosis is bringing him some clarity.

We are also getting a referral for R. Her therapist encouraged her to explore the possibility, because R has self-diagnosed so felt it was worth having an expert opinion. We need to go through her psychiatrist, so it’s quite complicated and I have no idea what the wait might be. I don’t actually think she’s autistic, but I support her wanting to find out either way.

Meanwhile, we are still in the process of having her visual snow disorder diagnosed. She’s seeing a specialist, and he’s sending her for a CT scan in a couple of weeks. (Largely to rule out bad things, like tumours, so we can go from there.)

There is a lot going on, and it’s complicated to make sense of right now.

[Luce]

Nice one, Ruby.

[Jet]

Oh excellent for the SAM.

Similar to your reflection, and spurred by someone I follow on the gram who happened to post about it literally the same day I was reflecting, while we were away on a trip to the beach a couple of weeks ago I very much took a moment to reevaluate my desire for everyone to be 'having fun' and accept that it was actually ok if not everyone wanted to stay at the beach all day, were too hot, were just all beached out and also if we just spent some time being quiet (even if it was with kids on devices) instead of wrangling to go places or enjoy Every Moment. I was secretly proud of myself for just asking S if he was all beached out - and he said yes, I'm all beached out and I want to stay at the house. My kids are so different, as are Mr J and I, it was quite refreshing to just be cool that you do this, and we'll do this other thing you guys don't want to do. That feels really basic :lol: but it really is sort of a revelation for some reason.

I also decided firmly on this particular trip that I probably have OCD.

[Dutchie]

Yay for the SAM diagnosis! That can give you so much peace of mind. When J2 got his (ADHD) diagnosis it was such a huge aha moment for all of us and makes it much easier to understand all his little quirks (and Mr D's too). Hope Miss A will get there soon!

Hmmm Smunder, tattoo fixation? Hopefully he'll fixate on something else before he runs out of space and has to tattoo his forehead!

For me, the only thing that helps whirly brain is reading. Works best if my brain picks up on the storyline and runs with it so the story slowly melts into my dreams. Does that make sense?

[Beena]

I'm glad SAM got his diagnosis, Ruby. Officially knowing just makes it easier to navigate.

Bambs was been diagnosed with dyslexia recently. I need to speak to a colleague about it as I'm not sure I fully understand, but the report seems to suggest her working memory is very poor, while she's high performing in all other areas. It does explain some of the issues she has socially, as she loses the thread of conversation. Add groups, noise, stress and she has no chance of keeping up.

[Morganna]

I have mentioned this before, but I really rate Rain Rain, which is a free app that uses rain sounds that you can mix yourself (well, you can choose up to three types to play at once). There are lots of different sounds on the free version, and more on the paid one. I listen through sleep headphones, which are a velvet headband with embedded speakers, so you can lie on your side without dislodging them. It is a bit like white noise, but has the effect of making you feel cozy as you aren't out in the rain. I tend to imagine myself somewhere, and think about the scene - who is with me, why are we there, what will happen when the rain stops etc, and never get as far as finding out before I'm asleep. I love it.