Lower functioning days?

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For me going short of sleep can lead to lower functioning days. Drinking extra caffeinated drinks helps in some ways but in other ways makes it worse.

Does an extended period of say 6 months count? Then yes.

Shorter periods are harder to determine.

Definitely. Days when dealing with even one other person is as difficult as dealing with big crowds. Days when all I want to do is hide in my room with the lights low, very quiet music playing, and just rock back and forth for hours. Days when it take every ounce of energy to sit at my desk at work and actually accomplish the bare minimum without melting down or breaking down.

I get those. I call them my "shut down" periods, which can happen from 1 day to even a few months, depending on how stressful the situation and how long it lasted. I lose motivation to get out of bed, and I literally regress in areas that deal with my emotional, mental, and social state. I become withdrawn, I some days do not toilet myself and start "acting" like a baby. I also start becoming more jumpy, needing more sensory help than I usually do, and I get easily upset at the smallest things. I literally go through a "shut down" but it is not psychological, behavioral, and/or chemical, but more environmental due to situations, for me, that are caused by other people, not caused by me. It is usually because I am forced to deal with situations that are difficult and impossible for e to put up with because of my Asperger's. Also, it can be because I am taking on too much and becoming super woman, which is another trait of Asperger's(the whole pleasing, perfectionism, can do everything attitude, which i am working on.)

Not really.

I'm the same day in day out; I may be "worst" some days, but that's because of the external environment that overwhelms me. If I didn't go to that environment, I wouldn't be "worst".

yes. I have those days too. In fact, for me it can sometimes last for a couple months at a time. I call those times regression times. Then there are the regular ups and downs where one day I willl be better, and then the next I might be where I just can deal with things. My husband doesn't understand me when I tell him that I really do not want to go to the store to get something because I really do NOT want to deal with people. An absolute not wanteing to communicate to anyone(and I can talke anyones ears off). During these times, i toe walk, finger flap, and rock.

During these times, I am absolutely on the edge and am very hostile towards anyone who wants to interrupt me.

Absolutely. I think its more when I am unwell or very tired or have been mixing with people too much and have become overstretched.

Yeah, I suppose I do. Though they don't tend to feel too much different than any other day... at least not that I can tell. Emotion wise, I mean. I generally just can't tell, unless I'm interacting with someone. In which case, I tend to get angry and hostile really quick.

Various things can make up a "lower functioning" day for me. Various brain glitches (Examples: misreading things ["It's 8 o' clock... no... 8... no, no, no! 6! It's 6, damn it!"], having trouble understanding language, forgetting how to move parts of my body/losing " feeling in them ["I can't move! I can't feel my legs!"], ect.); brain fog, trouble connecting things together, ect ect ect...

i have days where my autism overpowers me more than on other days.
i do not think my level of autism changes because i am hard wired, but i think my limited ability to see through it is much weaker on some days.

on my worst days i can not make out what people are talking about mostly. i can hear their words, but i can not string them together into a concept of my own.

i usually only go out to go to the shops on my lowest functioning days.
i have to go to the shops every day because i can never foretell (and buy) what i will need tomorrow.

on my worst days:
i get severely disoriented by the nature of the shops. the ceiling is very high, and the floor is shiny. i always look at the floor when i am walking. the lights in the ceiling reflect off the shiny floor, but they move so slowly in comparison to the speed the floor is moving under me. my mind gets confused as to whether to gauge my walking speed based upon the texture of the marble on the floor moving under me, or whether to gauge my walking speed based upon the reflected lights up in the ceiling that are moving too slowly.

if my mind locks on to the lights reflections, then i will start to trot and then run without being conscious of it. my sequence of starting to run while looking at the floor in a shopping mall with no reason seems bizarre to people, and they tend to move to the sides away from me and wonder what i am doing (i remember their actions later when i am well, and i realize what happened).

i forget that i am in public (when i am in public) a lot on my very worst days.
i do things that i otherwise would only do in my own privacy at home.

for example, sometimes i read product names aloud at home in a way that is like a caricature of a person on TV advertising the product, and i also say the product name in a way that i think it's main market would speak.

so i look at my fabric softener called "fluffy" as i am about to do the laundry, and i may say loudly in an exaggeratedly "clucky" female voice "fluffy!! ! it's the soft caress of 'love' it puts into every wash that keeps my little ones snug"
then i just repeat "fluffy" over and over (for a few minutes) in slightly different ways. from the super soft feminine voices in serene amber tinted commercials, to the raucous dame edna everage rendition.

when i was at the supermarket recently on a bad day, i saw some new type of "fluffy", but i did not need it. nevertheless, i started to mumble "fluffy" as i looked at the packet. i did not move on for about 1 minute, and i repeated the word "fluffy".
i did not say it in any caricature because i was dimly aware i was out and about, so i kept it to a muffled mumble. the woman behind me wanted to get to a product on the shelf.
i did not notice until she asked me if i was with anyone. i did not know what she meant so i walked away without answering her.

another product i repeated the name of that day was an oil spray like wd40, but is is australian and is called "start ya bastard!". when i saw it, i stopped in front of it, and i started mumbling "start ya bastard" over and over. i suppressed my ebullient way i would say it at home, but i never the less still mumbled the motions of it and i did not perceive i maybe being noticed.

things like ceiling fans are almost impossible to ignore on bad days. i must look at them for a while. i also like to notice circular relationships and i feel entranced by curved patterns i elicit from my surroundings.

i like to watch sprinklers next door on the oval that swivel around on my worst days.
i like to watch all the droplets and how their trajectories become curvilinear after their circular dispersal. it seems to happen in very slow motion in my head compared to days when i am more normal.

one low functioning day, i looked out over the garden from my porch, and i noticed a small leaf that was stuck to a spider web strand (that was anchored above), and it was dangling and spinning. it span so rapidly for about 200 spins clockwise as it slowed up, and then it span counter clockwise for about 190 spins, and this diminishing spin cycle was transfixing to me.
as the leaf was slowing down in it's spin rate, it was buffeted by slight breezes that infused more energy into it's potential energy store.
i watched that leaf for about 4 hours.

i know me posting a youtube clip of a nat geo promo may be inappropriate, but this is an advertisement that i saw on one of my worst days, and it is my favorite TV ad of all time.
if i was not at a low functioning level when i first saw it, i would not have seen how deeply it describes me when i am very autistic.

i like to see the world in circular ways as this ad states.
i like the music, and i can see the visual meaning of the video clearly all the way down to the very floor of my autism.
this is an australian ad only on australian TV, but it captivates me seriously.
the relevance of it is to demonstrate what i can understand and feel in the worst of my times.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd9wWNnn1JA[/youtube]

i will probably post this again in some other thread some time if it has to do with "great TV ads".

B9 - you totally rock. I really dig your calm. ^

Is there really a product called "Start Ya Bastard"? Don't joke with us like that - is that for real??? If so, that is the best product name ever!

As far as slogging around the shops - I do that. On a bad day, I feel as if my legs are made of rubber or that the joints are rusty iron. (I think of the Tinman in The Wizard of Oz.) I remember a few times feeling stranded - like I couldn't keep walking. Like I'd collapse - and just go to sleep.

I don't have arthritis or any other joint or muscle problems but when I get low - I ache all over. Its like my body gets rigid and stuck.

That's it. I'm moving to Australia. Any country that let's you use naughty words in marketing is my kind of place!! !!

When I am having a "lower functioning day" I am clumsier..go more up on my toes..act more childlike, am more prone to getting upset by sudden things...I am more terrified of being in cars...I may yell more or start crying...or have meltdowns...My attention span bottoms out...
I will hardly be able to talk to strangers at all..which is my job...so I will come off as rude/hostile...My problem solving skills go out the window...

I have been sort of keeping things under control lately.
I wear earplugs when we have shows at my venue..I need to get a good pair of fancy ones...I have noticed that I feel a whole lot better when I am getting enough magnesium...so I have been taking a cal mag supplement...and I have been keeping up on my omegas..I have been able to manage all the things I have to do at least slightly more funtionally...not perfect...and without feeling completely overwhelmed and exhausted..and i have even been managing little bits and pieces of brief eye contact and niceness towards customers.
It is a euphoric feeling before my next bout of "lower functioning" days..

ive stayed in bed the last 6 days only to get up when i have to eat, use the restroom or take a shower. but im not depressed, im just in a routine and havent been able to break it