The Physical Symptoms of Autistic Burnout I Never Thought About
The Problem Nobody Talks About
"I've been in autistic burnout for over 5 years now. Not the "take a weekend off and you'll feel better" kind. The chronic, grinding-down-your-body kind that nobody warns you about when you're trying to survive as an autistic adult in a neurotypical workplace.
Everyone talks about the mental exhaustion. The meltdowns. The shutdowns. But nobody prepared me for what burnout would do to my body.
My Warehouse Reality
I work warehouse shifts—Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, 10 hours each. Physical work is manageable. It's everything else: micromanagement, forced social conversations, masking—forcing eye contact when my brain screams to just let me work, the executive function drain of counting and scanning when I'm already at 2 spoons.
High social pressure weeks? 1-2 runs. Less brutal weeks where people leave me alone? 4-5 runs, easy."
When Your Brain Steals Physical Energy
Here's what shocked me: my brain uses physical energy when I'm running.
On 2-spoon days, my legs give out faster. I trip constantly—not clumsiness, but my brain being too exhausted from three days of warehouse mental load to tell my feet where to step.
At work, I'm tripping over boxes, forgetting to scan items, making mistakes that could get me written up. Four write-ups = fired. So I hyper-focus, checking every box multiple times. The mental effort of avoiding mistakes exhausts me more than the physical labor. I end at 0 spoons for days.
Research confirms what I experience: Autistic burnout has measurable physical effects including fatigue, coordination issues, and extended recovery times.
Zero Spoons in Real Life
Zero spoons looks like this:
Lying in my room in silence. Not talking to anyone. Looking down if family tries to engage. Eating whatever I can grab—bread, snacks—because planning meals is impossible. I only leave for food or water. Nothing else.
The Recovery That Never Comes
I get 8 hours of sleep. Nowhere near enough. My brain used so much physical energy keeping me safe—not tripping, remembering steps—that 8 hours barely touches the deficit. Takes 3-4 days to recover enough spoons to function at work. Running gets cancelled.
The physical symptoms compound: exhaustion → mistakes → anxiety → less spoons → more mistakes → more anxiety. The loop doesn't break.
Why I Built Spoons
I thought burnout was just being tired. I didn't know my body would give out, that I'd lose coordination, that masking at work would steal the physical energy I need to exist.
This is why I built Spoons. I needed to see the pattern—the 0-spoon days after shifts, the 3-4 day recovery timeline, the difference between 2 spoons and 6 spoons. I needed data to prove to myself that I'm not lazy, I'm not weak, I'm just autistic and burnt out and my body is paying the price.
If you're tracking your energy, on a sheet of paper for instance, you're not overthinking it. You're surviving it.
I'm Omari, a 23-year-old autistic adult who's been managing chronic burnout for 5+ years while working warehouse shifts.
This is why I built Spoons. To see the pattern. To prove I'm not lazy. And to track what my body is telling me.
Launching April 2026. getspoons.app - One email when it's ready. No spam.
Note: I'm sharing my personal experience as an autistic adult, not medical advice. If you're experiencing severe burnout or crisis, please consult a healthcare provider familiar with autism.