I was so frustrated that I beat her up

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YOU need to go get a psychological evaluation ASAP. Sorry, if you know your child is on the spectrum, thus know how hard it is for her yet can still do such a thing, you have a major anger problem and something else that needs to be addressed. I think your child's ASD is nothing in comparison to what you have.

Despair and powerlessness can drive very gentle persons up the wall and make them react in ways, that they would never be reacting under normal conditions. Seeing your child self harm is very painful and OP was clearly triggered by her daughters self harm - on top of everything else.
OP has been deprived of the support, she should have had and she is more alone in this situation, than any parent should be. She needs proffessional support and more adult company. Friends and trustees.

OP, are there any local things, like Autism center, or any regional health centers with therapists, parent groups or self-help groups? Anything will be better, than the solitude/aloneness, you are experiencing now.

"Seeing your child self harm is very painful and OP was clearly triggered by her daughters self harm - on top of everything else." - understood, but why doesn't the same apply to the child who is self-harming?

Because a parent should know better--and provide, for a child, a suitable model to emulate.

The daughter is 18 years old.

These days, 18 years old is still pretty much a kid; don't you agree?

I know I was pretty much a kid at age 18.

Thank you for that clarification of the USA context. I was not aware that mandatory reporting was imposed to such wide effect there.

New Zealand does not have mandatory reporting (though there are voluntary protocols). And in theory privacy is probably more protected here, by statute, though I think that there are a lot more breaches than we realise.

Thank you all for your helpful comments. I got an appointment with a psychologist in my workplace. My daughter has Asperger's. She is extremely intelligent, and a big help for me. She is very kind and caring, a perfect child most of the times, if these tantrums didn't happen, she would have a perfect life. Every time she has a melt down, afterwards, she cries and asks me "mommy, what happened? what happening?" and few times while she was crying after a huge melt down, she was saying that doctors let her down, didn't help her....
These meltdowns happens twice or three times a months, specially every time before her period she has a big melt down.
She has a very sensitive soul so it hurts to see her in pain .
The other day she was telling me that she is willing to give up anything, even her soul to find a cure.
Other thing, from her childhood until now, she is very sensitive to my facial expressions. when I am sad or worry or even on pain, she is asking me, why am I sad? to see sadness in my face, drives her crazy. I try to smile all the time when she is around, but sometimes she could feel my discomfort, and it is one of the reasons for her melt downs, beside her PMS.

If you ever find yourself tempted to hit her again, call a crisis helpline instead. Usually, the numbers for crisis lines are on the very first page of the phone book. Pick whichever is closest to your situation and call them. They're really good at talking down people in crisis (it's their job, after all).