Being tired affecting speach

[Saragrl]

Every one knows I am not a fun person to be around when I am tired. Till recently I never gave it much thought, but since getting diagnosed I have learned I am not like NT's.

I did an experiment the other night when I noticed I was getting irritable with my roommate. We were working on a project and I really knew I should have just gone to bed. Instead I stayed up longer, until I noticed found it very hard to speak an intelligible sentence. Like there were no words for what I wanted to say, and when I had words it was just as hard to speak them without slurring.

A couple nights later, he messed up his computer. I had already took my sleeping medication and when that kicks in I feel like I have been up 48 hours. He had this panic attack about it and I knew if I did not fix it, he would probably would be to noisy about it for me to sleep anyways.

While I was fixing it he kept asking me questions, or offering "solutions". I snapped and said "I am to tired to fix your pc and talk, so please shut up." I felt bad in retrospect. It was to mentally demanding to speak.

I just wonder if this is an autistic trait, or a unique trait to me. It would go a long way in explaining why I don't get it when people say they are tired and just go about things normally.

 

[2aspirin]

Every one knows I am not a fun person to be around when I am tired. Till recently I never gave it much thought, but since getting diagnosed I have learned I am not like NT's.

I did an experiment the other night when I noticed I was getting irritable with my roommate. We were working on a project and I really knew I should have just gone to bed. Instead I stayed up longer, until I noticed found it very hard to speak an intelligible sentence. Like there were no words for what I wanted to say, and when I had words it was just as hard to speak them without slurring.

A couple nights later, he messed up his computer. I had already took my sleeping medication and when that kicks in I feel like I have been up 48 hours. He had this panic attack about it and I knew if I did not fix it, he would probably would be to noisy about it for me to sleep anyways.

While I was fixing it he kept asking me questions, or offering "solutions". I snapped and said "I am to tired to fix your pc and talk, so please shut up." I felt bad in retrospect. It was to mentally demanding to speak.

I just wonder if this is an autistic trait, or a unique trait to me. It would go a long way in explaining why I don't get it when people say they are tired and just go about things normally.

Actually, I think it has recently been found that many people, at/aspie/nt alike have a measurable tiredness intolerance that affects cognitive function and speech. I will look for an article (esp one that might have an original research publication link).

But yes, I absolutely relate. I also have trouble speaking when I get migraines, which is often. I can have a very difficult time getting words out at all. They just don't form. But I have some weird neuro probs that I don't feel my neurologists have put together into a holistic picture. I see one autism specialist, then a movement disorder neurologist and then a headache center neurologist. That compartmentalizes perspective and approaches.

So do auts and aspies have an even harder time with tiredness intolerance if prone to it (even if it is a separate trait)? I would bet so.

 

[Kari Suttle]

Every one knows I am not a fun person to be around when I am tired. Till recently I never gave it much thought, but since getting diagnosed I have learned I am not like NT's.

I did an experiment the other night when I noticed I was getting irritable with my roommate. We were working on a project and I really knew I should have just gone to bed. Instead I stayed up longer, until I noticed found it very hard to speak an intelligible sentence. Like there were no words for what I wanted to say, and when I had words it was just as hard to speak them without slurring.

A couple nights later, he messed up his computer. I had already took my sleeping medication and when that kicks in I feel like I have been up 48 hours. He had this panic attack about it and I knew if I did not fix it, he would probably would be to noisy about it for me to sleep anyways.

While I was fixing it he kept asking me questions, or offering "solutions". I snapped and said "I am to tired to fix your pc and talk, so please shut up." I felt bad in retrospect. It was to mentally demanding to speak.

I just wonder if this is an autistic trait, or a unique trait to me. It would go a long way in explaining why I don't get it when people say they are tired and just go about things normally.

Oh my god yes! I've only just noticed this in recent years, but whenever i'm tired - or for that matter, really overwhelmed - my speech become akin to that of the two year old i babysit. In my head (or aloud if im alone) i'll say and repeat words like 'go' or 'up' that remotely resemble what i want done. Its never an intelligible sentence either. I also end up giving a whine or a moan as an answer which annoys my mom to no end. I think, be it overwhelmed/overstimulated/tired, i just can't process anything or think at that point hence the infant/toddler like vocabulary i end up regressing to at such points.

 

[2aspirin]

This is a great overview on sleep science and has some references on a subset of people with greater cognitive sensitivity to sleep deprivation: Sleep deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance

 

[Saragrl]

This is a great overview on sleep science and has some references on a subset of people with greater cognitive sensitivity to sleep deprivation: Sleep deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance

This seems to point out that there have been no studies on population subsets. Just overall population studies. I wonder what the results would be in an NT vs Autistic study. The study does point out working memory and frontal lobe functioning is affected. Other studies have shown dysfunction in those areas for people with autism. Maybe there is a correlation.

 

[zurb]

Being tired generally brings all of my aspie traits (including communication issues) to the fore. I just don't have the energy and concentration to maintain the NT mask.

 

[Nitro]

My TBI effects my cognition...I go thru events where my brain just gets tired easily and then I put on my cranky pants...My speech is short and to the point and I get irritated when I am not listened to and have to re-explain something I already covered...not even sure if this applies here,but it is what I go through a lot

 

[May Black]

Sometimes if I'm exhausted I can't put a reasonable sentence together, words get mixed up in my head, once I was so tired I somehow tangled my legs together and had to struggle to sort them out.

 

[Kari Suttle]

Being tired generally brings all of my aspie traits (including communication issues) to the fore. I just don't have the energy and concentration to maintain the NT mask.

THIS. I find that everything even remotely aspie about me shows whenever i'm tired. I can maintain a good mask very easily at work when i'm fine but when i'm tired, forget it. At home i just avoid people entirely if i'm that tired.