S3 E7: The Post Diagnosis Crash No One Warns You About
From Autism, ADHD and Us Three by Jenny Lucas
March 1, 2026 · 30 min · Season 3 · Episode 7
About this episode
Jenny Lucas discusses the unexpected emotional and physical challenges faced by neurodivergent individuals after receiving a diagnosis of autism or ADHD.
If you thought finally getting your autism or ADHD diagnosis would feel like pure relief… and instead you feel exhausted, foggy, emotional or completely flattened… this one’s for you. In this solo episode of Autism, ADHD and Us Three , Jenny breaks down something nobody really warns you about. The post-diagnosis crash. She explains why so many late-diagnosed neurodivergent adults experience burnout after finally getting answers, and why this isn’t weakness, regression or you not coping well enough. It is physiology. Jenny explores what happens inside the nervous system after decades of masking, hypervigilance and pushing through environments that were never built for your brain. She talks about the relief that comes with diagnosis, and why that relief can actually trigger shutdown, exhaustion and emotional fallout. Inside this episode: Why diagnosis can act like a circuit breaker for your nervous system How ADHD hyperfocus and autistic deep processing can accelerate burnout The physical signs of nervous system recalibration Why you cannot “optimise” your way out of this phase Practical ways to stabilise when everything feels too much What real recovery actually looks like This…
People in this episode
Host: Jenny Lucas
Topics covered
- post-diagnosis crash
- neurodivergent burnout
- nervous system
- ADHD
- autism
- self-care
- identity
Keywords
- autism
- ADHD
- burnout
- diagnosis
- nervous system
- self-care
- identity crisis
- emotional fallout
- hypervigilance
- masking
More episodes of Autism, ADHD and Us Three
- S3 E10: Am I Just Lazy? And Nine Other Questions You're Too Scared To Ask · June 7, 2026 · 1h 4m
- S3 E9: Raising a Non-Verbal Child and Rethinking Everything · May 3, 2026 · 40 min
- S3 E8: Autism, Advocacy and being Unapologetically Visible with Yenn Purkis · April 5, 2026 · 43 min
- S3 E6: Understanding Autism and ADHD Assessments for Children and Families · February 1, 2026 · 32 min
- S3 E5: Beyond Diagnosis: The 7 Steps That Helped My Child Speak Again with Taiba Bajar · January 4, 2026 · 49 min
- S3 E4 Navigating PDA: A Journey of Understanding and Support · December 7, 2025 · 56 min
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