Who here doesn't have meltdowns?

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This site is the first I've heard of them. I've never had a meltdown but I'm still AS in every other way.

Well, seeing as earlier tonight I kicked over a box of videos because it spent me about an hour to figure out that my mum ate the last of the chips when I thought she just moved them and didn't tell me where she moved them - I guess that will put me in the meltdown category.

I'm still not sure what I am, but I can tell you that I don't have meltdowns.

I do tend to have what I'd call "shutdowns", though, where I will get too overwhelmed to do much of anything. This can lead from "deer in the headlights" syndrome to sleep attacks to simply sitting there doing nothing. Even as a kid I was never prone to temper tantrums or any other outward shows of emotion. I barely cried, to the point where my grandparents thought there was something wrong with me.

I think meltdowns are related back to stress, I have one if something is stressing me out too much simply. You must be very calm and have a good, stress life!

I'm not sure. I experience stress just like anyone else. I think the difference is just in how I deal with it. I tend to internalize my problems and fail to express my feelings. I used to say it was the difference between exploding and imploding. I have a tendency to implode more than I explode.

If Im on sensory overload Im liable to cry like a baby. Im constantly in my head and questioning myself needing affirmation from those around me that Im doing ok, even I get annoyed with myself ! !! I don't think there is a day where I don't go through these mini deaths I call them. I feel like Im dying each time. So i guess i wished I could have a day without a meltdown.

i veeery rarely have meltdowns myself; and if i do, it's usually an emotional one, sensory meltdowns are so rare i can say they dont happen to me.

this is also becouse i am capable of 'seeing them coming', and i have developed ways to reduce the stress by the use of controlled, at-will shutdowns, kind of like turning off your cars engine to prevent the coolant to start boiling.

I rarely go through what would be considered to be a melt down. I go the other direction and shut down. When stressors pile up, my brain kicks into neutral and I become stupid.

I recall having many meltdowns as a child. I calmed down in my teens, well, kept them internal. But around 23 years of age I started to act out again. My frustration was just too great to hold inside. At first a head bang here or there and then it turned into throwing things.
Now it is accompanied with random screaming of words that don't even make up a comprehensible sentence, kicking and throwing things. But I try to limit them to once a month, whenever possible.

Hmm sensory meltdowns...oh yes. Hands over the years, yelling 'loud' or laying down uncomfortably somewhere and wriggling like a bad tempered little child. When in public and when there is so much sensory stimuli I can't escape I just shut everything out and beginning acting like a child. It is literally like I can see through my six year old eyes at the world except I seem to be much more extroverted.

Maybe meltdowns and shutdowns are distinguished from each other only in the natures of their manifestations. I have had vehicles "melt down" (as in electrical fires) and cause a lot of extremely-challenging excitement at the time, and I have also had them just outright "quit" and roll to a complete stop.

Sensory overload tends to cause "electrical fires" in my mind, and "emotional overload" can cause me to burst into tears ... but then an actual shutdown seems to even further undermine all infrastructure at once.

I don't really, any more. I do get sensory overload if I'm not careful, but I can usually deal with it without going critical.

I have had a couple recently only, probably due to recent stress after finding out I have AS

I nutted off at people who were dicking me around, or who wern't doing there job properly and causing me delays

I dont like my progress to be delayed by incompetent others in my path. That annoyance became stronger than ever before, so I guess those were my first meltdowns ever, late last year.

Maybe they are different for everyone, but I consider meltdowns do be almost wild-like to the observer and uncontrollable rather than a little hissy fit.

I don't think it is diagnostic criteria, but as far as I know, they are common with people on the spectrum.

Mine are caused by sensory overload and unexpected change in routine.

When I was looking into AS last fall/winter, I didn't think I'd had any meltdowns. And then I remembered all the meltdowns I'd had.

Nowadays I don't really have meltdowns. I go through the same reactions to overload and such, but I end up shutting down instead.

I don't really get sensory meltdowns as much as I do meltdowns caused by stress, like someone doing something that makes me angry or upset, or having too many people around (I suppose that could be considered sensory). I've had occasions when I had a lot of people at the house and I suddenly couldn't take it anymore and told them they all had to leave, right now! Then I felt terrible for having caused a scene and spent the rest of the night crying. It's a sensation that comes on very suddenly and sweeps me away.

I also have "macro" meltdowns over something that happened, usually someone being mean or catty with me, that last for a long time, to some extent for years, so that whenever I think about what happened I can't stop crying. I guess these are not considered meltdowns, but that is how I experience them, as an overwhelming sensation that I can't get away from.

It's been a long time since I've had a proper meltdown, but that's partly because I just avoid all situations. If I have to call about a mistake on my bill, for instance, I just don't call, because I know I would freak out at the person on the other end of the phone. Or if I can't find something, I just don't look for it, because I know that if I spent a certain amount of time looking and I couldn't find it I would become agitated.

I didn't know for a long time that meltdowns were associated with AS. I didn't know why I couldn't put myself in stressful situations without falling apart all of a sudden and yelling or crying.

I think the antidepressant medication I am on has actually helped me keep a more even keel.

I used to bang my head into the wall as a child, but now in my adult life I just completely shutdown and can't function.

Leads to me sleeping for 15 hours and only getting up to go to work and come back home and sleep again, even with a mountain of homework held over my head. >_<