Meltdowns

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I experience meltdowns when my brain is so utterly overloaded i can't do anything else.

I found this article discussing shutdowns vs. meltdowns.

Shutdowns vs. Meltdowns
^^Link^^

I found it to be very helpful in understanding what was going on with me. It seems I experience far more shutdowns than meltdowns.

I think best describes what I meltdown is like. However, I frequently experience these sympotoms because of an emotional breakdown. I do believe that an aspie can become overwhelmed by their emotions and have what I'll call "an emotional meltdown". I find that I experience these much more frequently than I do a sensory meltdown.

i dont have meltdowns - i have emotional breakdowns which mostly consist of LOTS of anger and quite a bit of crying and feeling bad.

i had one in December that lasted pretty much the whole month and took me a good 3-4 months before i started to feel like myself again.
But as someone said - these aren't necessarily related to AS or autism. they can happen to anyone, NT or Non-NT.

If I'm stressed, I can reach a tipping point such that I just "can't take it anymore" and have a "breakdown" with the need to escape and cool down. As long as I have a way of getting away from the situation to so do, I can usually keep anger under control and do not resort to profanity, hurting people, breaking things etc. In any case, I can normally continue to function and will avoid drawing attention to myself.

A side effect is that I can get very nervous when going back to the situation, environment, and/or people associated with what triggered the breakdown, but that will usually go away.

I am an HFASD adult and I am prone to pretty severe meltdowns.

I was off sick from work for 3 months last year because of a big meltdown I had. They always seem to be caused by other people, because I'm not able to release my stress in a controlled way like NT people can, it bottles up until it explodes like a bomb. At least thats what my understanding of what a meltdown is. I certainly black out from the world, become aloof, depressed and in worst cases develop self harming or even suicidal tendencies.

I personally think the "problem of expressing emotions" isn't actually the inability to express them, i agree its the opposite and that's the problem. i think the cause of the problem of expressing emotions to much or intensely is because we have trouble communicating/explaining our stuggles to other people. not being able to express how we feel to have someone listen and understand causes our upset about it to build up.

I think this is important. You can have as much social interactions and social talk in the world as possible, but for someone with ASD you're much more prone to use your emotions and communicate with them. It is a fellow and humane way to communicate. And important!

I've always had a very bad temper, and the fights my sister and I can get into...they're usually over stupid things that we disagree about, and boy are they a scene. You'd think we'd murder each other. My sister sent me this link http://www.tomatocasual.com/2008/05/05/ ... -violence/ for a good laugh awhile back, largely because we both know that could easily be us. (if either of us thought that tomatoes belonged on shepherd's pie that is )
A few years ago, I started to get pretty bad anger bursts for even less reason, simply because I wasn't 100% comfortable. I eventually realized I could sort of know when I would react poorly to things, and it usually starts with me feeling like I'm overworked, even though I might have hardly done much work at all. I'm a messy person and I've gotten cleaner since I'm not a teenager anymore, but I'm still kind of a slob. But during those times, for example, messes bothered me a lot, they would make me uncomfortable (I think that's the best word to describe it), but usually if I even tried to clean I'd get so overwhelmed and angry about the whole thing that I need to vent the frustration. And thinking waaay back, as a kid, it's the same feeling I'd have when I got a temper tantrum. Back as a kid I'd throw all my clothes and toys all around the room. As an adult, I want to smash everything around me but for the most part, I throw something unbreakable or stomp on the floor or bang my fist on the counter. And when the moment passes, I become frustrated and confused about how I could be like that. I usually want to sleep afterwards too. It's almost like a cycle. I don't feel quite right, things irk me easily even if I'm in a pretty good mood, and then I finally snap, then I get upset at how my emotions took illogical control of me, and then I need a rest, and then I'll be back to normal.
As to what someone said about being logical....logic has nothing to do with it. I see my emotions not making sense, such rage at something so insignificant as crumbs on the floor, especially when I usually don't particularly care. And it happens when no one else is around too, so it's not always about an argument either.

Since being gluten free I haven't experienced a moment like that since. It's still too soon for me to say that the gluten was a factor involved in it, or if I was just deficient in something that caused me to have those emotional breakdowns, or if it's just summer and I'm happy that they've finally found out what's wrong with me so the irksomeness just hasn't had cause to be there.

Meltdowns was the issue I was having the most problem understanding. I was like "I don't seem to do that. Does that mean I'm not AS?" But with your explanation Jason, I understand better. This sounds more like me. I haven't had any type of situation where I just couldn't cope, not from an anger standpoint anyway. I HAVE had times where I got so overwhelmed that I had to leave the room and do some slow breathing and other relaxation techniques. But most people didn't even know it was happening. I don't think I ever had tantrums...oh wait -- I do recall a time as a child that I was being fitted with a bib at an Italian restaurant, and I threw 15 kinds of fits, screaming "I don't need a bib! I'm not a baby!" I was about 6 at the time. Hmm....

I also have sudden anger outbursts. It's usually in response to being pushed or teased too long. I can feel it coming on, and I'll tell the person causing the problem "I DON'T want to talk about it anymore!" If they continue -- as my mother's boyfriend tends to do -- I will eventually explode in an expletive-laced tirade. But then, it's over as quickly as it started. And within a half hour or so, I'm friends again with whoever I jumped on.

I mentioned in another thread that I've being diagnosed with Panic Disorder, and am on meds (Effexor XR) to control my daily panic attacks. But my attacks aren't in response to a stressful situation. What usually sets me off is some health issue, such as a sudden pain or ache somewhere in my body. I'll become convinced that I'm dying of some horrible disease, and go into an attack. An attack can last as little as 10 minutes, or I can go into a series of piggyback attacks that can last for 24 hours or more.

The panic attacks I'm pretty sure are happening in response to hormone changes due to menopause. But the outbursts could easily be AS-related, in that I've done that for as long as I can remember.

What happens to PS3 controllers when I meltdown.

Everybody's different but I'd count around 5 events in my life I'd consider 'meltdowns'. I'd consider myself more of a 'shutdown' person. It was very liberating to discover my meltdowns were all caused by my reactions to my family. Moving away from them but keeping in touch by phone has been a great help.

Edited because I misread it first time.

I find my meltdowns are caused by change in routine, change around me such as a new neighbour moving in nextdoor, different noises, people fighting, people involving me in personal issues and drama I do not understand at all, Going to shopping centres with alot of people and noises around me. I tend to become aggressive, start shaking, screaming making no sense at all, bang my forehead repeatively on my cupboard door, smash things and throw things then I have a seziure afterwards. I haven't had a meltdown lately due to my doctor putting me on medication to stop the meltdowns if I do feel one coming on I tend to go in my room shut my door turn on my xbox and play Halo 4 or Marvel vrs Capscom full volume and listen to music for a couple of hours then I fall asleep it always works for me . Meltdowns differ person to person they can become aggressive or people withdraw and go quiet alot of people have thought my meltdowns are temper tantrums or spacks which they are not.

i have to move out to new accommodation soon which has caused me to meltdown continuously for about four days or more with embarrassing and regretful consequences then the depression comes after. some thing usually happens every week i don t really recognize many of the emotions but i act really strange with disordered thinking or at least i realize more when i come out of one, it can be so soul destroying it makes me fell like a lunatic, it can destroy my self respect and confidence its painful and so i fall out with friends colleges people who try to help me its just s**t, as a child i was having melt downs every day you just feel like what is the point a lot of the time its unmanageable i guess i will always be a freak but yet i keep trying

I am a self-diagnosed Aspie. Actually, my sister who is a pediatrician confirmed my diagnosis.
She said that she has know that I had it since it has been known. She never told me about it. When I asked
why, she said that I did so well in school, had a good job that she felt it was not necessary for her to tell me.

But I do wish she had. It has explained my all my issues and life experiences.

When I get an overload of stimulus, usually noise, I either get away from it or I zone out and it all becomes a blur or white noise.
Plus, if I am in a conversation with more than one person and there is sufficient background noise, I cannot understand one word
being spoken. It sounds like either a foreign language or just babble. I figure what it is the point of listening.

This has really annoyed some co-workers at my job. In fact , during my recent performance review, one of the comments made was that I would talk to much and distract other co-workers from doing their job. And I was also easily distracted.
I have had these problems all my life. Unfortunately, I only learned about this when I was 53 and I am 54 now. My dad did not believe in this and so I was never diagnosed or treated.

I was always bullied and teased when I was in school. I was lousy at sports. Math and Science were the only major subjects I was really good at. So, I really do fit the profile.

Many times, I really felt and still do like I do not belong on this planet, that I am from either a different planet or a parallel universe. I am not interested in 90% of what the majority of people are interested in. I hate small talk as I cannot even follow it.

This condition has been both a blessing and sometimes a curse, but the blessings for the most part outweigh the curse.
As long as people talk to me quietly and not in a nagging tone, I have no issues with meltdowns or anger.