09/02/2023
I used to work with children with special needs and among my caseload were children with autism and ADHD.
I noticed a pattern that the parents (specifically mothers) of children with autism often had chronic fatigue. I put it down to the stress of having to cope with the demands of raising a child with these types of difficulties.
Fast forward a a few years and I myself had my first baby - a daughter who would turn out to present with autistic tendencies and who was only just diagnosed (15 years later) with autism, dyspraxia and a form of dyslexia.
When she was just 9 months old I developed CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome), was ill for many years before recovering my health, developing a whole new way of living and set about helping my daughter on her journey of self knowledge, growth and development.
A few ideas have occurred to me over the years and in recent times about the link between neurodivergence and CFS, ('neurodivergent' becoming the perhaps more enlightened term for autism, ADHD and dyslexia these days).
Neurodivergent is the term used to describe someone whose brain processes, learns, and/or behaves differently from what is considered "typical."
I have found myself wondering in recent years, as I have read copious amounts of literature on this subject in order to better understand and help my child, if I myself might be neurodivergent. I didn't struggle at school or in any way academically - the opposite in fact.
However, I did struggle in University to cope with the challenges of this time such as sharing a living environment with strangers, sensory overload and balancing the pressures of social life and academia.
However, there were other complications thrown into the mix which makes this difficult to unpick - kind of like a chicken and egg situation.
I certainly am extremely sensitive to stimuli and can get overloaded very easily but this is a common trait for HSP's, empaths and people with spiritual gifts.
That brings me on to another connection - that of women I meet with an intense interest in spirituality who suspect they may be 'neurodivergent'.
Is this all part and parcel of the same thing?
It has been said that ADHD really stands for Attention Dialled to a Higher Dimension.
I have also heard it said that the autistic brain is the brain of the new, more evolved human and that, because society is still based in a very dense, 3D level of consciousness, neurodivergent people cannot function within its paradigms.
So they are labelled as having some sort of disorder.
However, in a different environment these people function perfectly well, some would even say they function at a much higher level than the average person.
Back to the connection with CFS.
There is a phenomenon known as "Autistic Burnout' which occurs when an autistic person has been thoroughly exhausted by attempting to keep up with the demands of a neurotypical society - including dealing with sensory overload, masking, social communication difficulties and a whole other range of issues.
This presents somewhat identically to CFS which leads me to think they are one and the same.
That's not to say that CFS cannot be the result of 'normal' burnout which can occur in neurotypical people.
However, the whole experience of extreme burnout is much more prevalent among the neurodivergent population - and understandably so when you really understand what is going on under the surface for these people.
I wonder how many women suffering from, or having a tendency towards, burnout and chronic fatigue are in fact neurodivergent?
It's a subject that fascinates me and which I have a lot of insight into and personal experience of.
I am particularly passionate about helping people who are suffering from CFS and burnout - neurodivergent or not.
Keep a lookout for more to come on this.
