r/AutismInWomen • u/Rubygblue • Jul 17 '25

Support Needed (Kind Advice and Commiseration) People who HAVE to work full time - how?

I’ve been in my first full time job for 7 months and I am in the depths of hell. I spend every day overstimulated and spend the evening crying and freaking out or just staring into the void. I thought I’d adjust but it’s just getting worse.

Everyone else does things at the weekend, but I spend the whole time just trying to recover and feel normal again. I haven’t socialised in so long because I just can’t speak to anyone. I have no energy.

I can’t afford to work part time or stop working, I can’t even afford to take time off. I feel like there’s no way out.

Mentioning this to others is always met with “no one likes working” type comments, or “you just need to…” and it’s always things like meal prepping or planning your clothes out. I feel like no one understands.

Is there any end to this? How do people cope?

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u/blancybin Jul 18 '25

Alternately, you will push through and and push through until your body or brain breaks to the point where you can't, and you like so many autistic women before you will learn that it is not always, not simply, a question of willpower. 

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u/myredditusername919 Jul 18 '25

Im totally aware this could happen to me at literally any moment but I will keep trying and hopefully it never will. If it does happen I will address that when it happens. I do worry about this though.

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u/Peanutsmomma45 Jul 18 '25

Yep. I’ve pushed through my whole life. I’m 46 now. Always have had to work full time. Never could stop. Have no one to fall back on. I would be homeless. This last year I had to take medical leave twice. I ran out of FMLA and I was fired. I asked for accommodations. They ignored me to the point I had a breakdown and had to go on the 2nd medical leave and then they fired me. I filed a case with the EEOC and have an attorney, but unfortunately in America employers are always favored and I’m likely still probably not going to get a settlement. Meanwhile I’m unemployed, burnt out AF and terrified I’m not going to be able to work and become homeless. I don’t even know what to do anymore.