Aspergers and tiredness

[atlantis]

Hi there,

 

Long-time-no-posting but I have a burning question for fellow aspies:

 

Do you find that you are less able to handle being tired than other people?

 

I ask because I get along pretty well 'passing' as neurotypical most of the time, but when I miss out on my usual amount of sleep or skip meals I become totally useless. Sensory information becomes really intense (like everything is in super-HD!) and overwhelming and my processing speed seems to drop dramatically- I suddenly seem a lot less intelligent! This is a huge problem for me because the times when it counts- like when I have to give a presentation or something- I lose out on sleep the night before through being so nervous and it really affects my performance on the day, significantly more than the NTs around me. I know everyone is affected by lack of sleep, but for me it really feels like I can't cope. It would be nice to know that it can be attributed to AS so that I could explain it to those around me, otherwise I just get told to 'get a grip' and 'stop being so pathetic', or when I act strangely (because I find it harder to pretend to be 'normal' when tired) I get accused of vying for attention.

 

If I could get some feedback on other people's experiences with this it would be really useful- it would be great to be able to explain the difficulty I have with this to my tutors at uni, so that they might take me seriously.

 

Thanks

 

_atLantis_

[Special_talent123]

I am very tired during the morning so i tend to sleep in the morning than the evening. I find it difficult to fall asleep so im asleep usually by 2,3,4 am

[darkshine]

I find it's dependant on mood too, for instance, this past couple of weeks I have been tired a lot, I'm struggling to get my sleep pattern back to a more normal set of hours and am having vastly reduced sleep hours as a result. I'm finding it harder to think and function, but then I feel pretty low at times and I think that contributes too, the effects are similar to what you describe.

 

The reason I say about mood, or health, state of mind etc - is cuz there have been occasions where I've coped better than other people on far less sleep, for longer periods of time. Also when I'm involved in obsession type things, I can lose many days in an extreme focus on something and sleep suddenly becomes a lot less of a priority.

 

I cope best on 8 hours sleep, but when I was severely depressed I was sleeping for 10 hours, if I tell my brain enough times that I "need" 8 hours, then if I get 5 hours it seems like it isn't enough - when some days it is.

 

Having said that - and ignoring sleep - when I'm really tired I can't hardly function at all - but then neither do the people I know - the biggest difference is that I can list every single thing that is difficult at that time, and the people I know just grunt the word "tired" - but from observations, it doesn't seem that different to me, just that maybe I can define it better.

 

Fact is, AS or not, if you struggle when you are that tired, people shouldn't tell you negative things and AS may exacerbate the effects of tiredness - it might not - but it isn't AS that's to blame really is it? Cuz if tiredness is a real issue for you on a regular basis you'd be better to address that by looking at why you get that tired in the first place and what you can do about it, instead of trying to explain the tiredness to tutors and peers (if that makes sense).

 

Best

 

Darkshine

[A-S warrior]

i need 10 hours+ always have done, im useless if i dont get more than 9 at least. last few days ive really struggled to sleep, i wake up after about 2 hours and im wide awake, so i went to bed at 9 last night, and its 6.46 now and will be needing more sleep. when im catching up on lost hours i sleep like a lion. i dont like waking up via alarm clock, i have to wake on my own terms for me to be happy. ive always felt like my head gets pinned to the bed like its impossible to wake up, i think there is a connection between aspergers and sleep, and that is alot of us on here have awful sleep patterns, wether we work, go to school or collage or do nothing. i must admit, i would love to be able to sleep at 10pm and wake at 6am everyday, id feel so much happier.

[Isobel]

Yeah, I had a pretty long trip to Los Angeles two years ago and the tiredness from the jet lag just made me all ratty and impatient when waiting for bags to come on the carousel. This also happened when we were out very late at disney land and after the fireworks (big sensory overload) tiredness and rattyness was on the cards.

[trekster]

have you been tested for 'visual stress'? i found colorimeter glasses really helped with my fatigue.

[atlantis]

Thanks for your responses It’s nice to know other people have the same trouble.

 

I also find it difficult to sleep on a daily basis, and can’t sleep before 2am at the earliest usually. This is especially problematic when combined with the fact that I function best on about 10 hours sleep! 8 is the minimum I can have if I want to feel vaguely normal really.

 

I’m not really saying AS is ‘to blame’, but it does make the difficulties I have that definitely ARE attributed to AS much worse. This is the point that I would like to get across to my tutors, as they don’t really understand why most of the time I seem to get along fine (outwardly, at least) and other times I have major issues. For example, on one day we might have a group tutorial in the afternoon, when I’ve had chance to get a decent amount of sleep, and I seem perfectly articulate and at ease (even though I’m probably still freaking out a bit on the inside), and on another day we might have one first thing in the morning and I’ve only had 2 hours’ sleep and I’ll be either unable to enter the conversation at all or be blurting out irrelevant nonsense, interrupting people and sometimes even things like repeating everything everyone is saying.

 

The fact that they don’t understand why my behaviour isn’t consistently ‘weird’ is a major obstacle to my getting the support that I need at uni, as it means that I’m not taken seriously when I ask for help. Using tiredness as an example of a factor that affects my ability to ‘mask’ my AS traits seems like it would be a good way to get my point across.

 

Like I said, I understand that everyone is affected by tiredness, but I really do seem to be much more affected than my coursemates. They will often come into uni hungover having only slept for a couple of hours and still manage to get along reasonably well. If it were me I wouldn’t be able to leave my flat, let alone participate in classes at uni, and many of them seem to do this on a daily basis!

 

I did a bit of googling last night and found a few resources that mentioned lack of sleep/food making it more difficult for people on the spectrum to remember social 'rules' and work out how to behave in different situations, but still, it doesn't seem to be something that's very well documented...

 

And yes, the going to bed at 10pm and waking up at 6am is the dream!!!

 

No, I haven’t been tested for visual stress. What is the test/how do you get tested? Would normal tinted glasses work the same?

[smileyK]

I often feel tired & drained when doing " normal" daily tasks as more challenging obstacles in the way with sensory distractions or issues which can be overwhelming can make tiredness compounded especially if depressed , anxious or stressed!

[Mike_GX101]

Definitely something I'm familiar with yes.

 

I think when we're tired our minds get overloaded and go into meltdown and then anything else we're faced with doesn't have a cat in hell's chance until we've had chance to rest and de-clutter our minds (which is what dreams do by the way).

[Dannabis]

If I were to for some reason wake up early, I am extremely tired. I find it traumatic waking up early. My body seems to suffer also in many ways. Once awake I'm usually okay until early afternoon when I'll start to feel extremely tired again. As you probably guessed, I'm wide awake when it comes to bed time.

[Special_talent123]

that spider giving me the creeps eww

[robert7111a]

I need at least 8+ hours but sometimes I can function on 5-6+hrs 2 or 3 times a week. Away from sleep, I am constantly "on the go", twitchy, fiddly, things in my mind etc which means I can't sit still or relax at any point of the day without moving. Tiredness can therefore be a big issue for me along with irritability. If I'm really tired, then the sensory overload comes across such as TV being too loud etc and I would need to lie down and "recover" for about an hour before even contemplating sleep. And then there are only a certain number of hours in the day...how can I possibly fit all this in?

[The_Dad]

Hi First time on here - hello everybody. I am an NT as you like to call 'us' and a relative of an suspected Aspie. One thing I notice on here is the belief that all 'NT's sail through life without a care and that this makes it harder for Aspies . In my experience us ' NT's do also have these feelings of anxiety , depression, tiredeness etc etc but we may be better at hiding it than Aspies/ASD. I wonder if some times the very thought that other people haven't a care in the world makes you feel worse . Its like the old adage 'there's always some one worse off than you '.

Hope I haven't upset anyone here as I'd like to eventually ask some advice ;-)

Thanks

[SidiousUK]

This is something I really struggle with.

Without my medication to shutdown my brain at night, I find I start running through the following days tasks and planning all the possible out comes.

This leaves me totally knackered the next day.

 

I have to admit, that within the last month or so I have been waking up more tired than I was when I went to bed and just praying for the day to end so I can go and get more sleep.

[A-S warrior]

Hi First time on here - hello everybody. I am an NT as you like to call 'us' and a relative of an suspected Aspie. One thing I notice on here is the belief that all 'NT's sail through life without a care and that this makes it harder for Aspies . In my experience us ' NT's do also have these feelings of anxiety , depression, tiredeness etc etc but we may be better at hiding it than Aspies/ASD. I wonder if some times the very thought that other people haven't a care in the world makes you feel worse . Its like the old adage 'there's always some one worse off than you '.

Hope I haven't upset anyone here as I'd like to eventually ask some advice ;-)

Thanks

 

 

welcome aboard!

[The_Dad]

Thanks A-S.

 

This is a fascinating forum and gives me an invaluable insight to allow more understanding from an outsider perspective (NT) . This is so much more help than the formal websites which give you a load of clinical data and no advice on how to deal with this or where to go .

As carers you need to try to remain as in control as possible and the understanding is so helpfull during difficult times. It would be no good to anyone if the whole family just collapsed in a heap on the floor....

[darkshine]

Hello The_Dad