How do you recover from a shutdown?

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YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

I take some sedative meds and pretend to be an iceberg. I try to sleep more, to read something requiring much attention (something scientific or philosophic) or to go for a walk with my son or with my boyfriend. I force myself to laugh at any joke and meet my friends. I wish to disappear all this time but make myself contact people whom I llove.

As for chemical reactions, I can suspect the lack of so-called "hormone of joy" - endorphine (the spelling may be wrong, I don't have an English chemical dictionary). Eat more chocolate, it contains substances which stimulate your brain to produce those "hormones of joy". The effect is often compared to that of falling in love.
P.S. I'm not a professional chemist, but I've still learned a lot in the Academy and had good results in chemistry.

Yeah, I have freaked out many a boyfriend with my shutdowns. When I have a bad one, I can't talk. I feel like I should carry a card in my wallet: "Please do not worry: This is normal. I have Asperger's Syndrome. Just make me a cup of tea and leave me alone for a few hours and I'll be fine." This most often happens to me when I spend the night at a boyfriend's home: I have discovered that I am completely dependent on my morning routine. I think next time I hook up with a guy I will warn him beforehand that I don't plan to spend the night.

I think stimming and writing in my journal help speed recovery. Also accepting that I won't be able to do what I had planned to do with the following few hours!

That's interesting, Chaotica, I've been experiencing a partial shutdown for a couple of days now (too much to do at work with too little help), and I've been eating chocolate like it's going out of style and it's been helping (some). It also helped to eat lunch outside of the office. I've also been eating a lot more than usual. I've been sleepy, had trouble focussing on the task, and right now I have a headache. Sorry if this rambled a bit. I'm going to bed now, and will spend the weekend relaxing.

Good thread.

Doesn't this happen to everyone??

yhea mort of this hapens to me though not allways this server eg i dont fall asleep

TallyMan wrote:

I've got to do this.
I don't want to.
I must do it.
Stare at task - mind becomes a brick wall and refuses to comply.
Deadline getting closer.
Stress and anxiety getting worse.
Repeat previous conflicting dialogue several times.
... then I feel drained, drowsy and often fall asleep.

No. You have to look at the extremes. There are "driven people" on the other end who can't possibly understand. They live in an equally warped world, where "Unicorns fart rainbows".

There are people who literally never sleep, they enjoy every single second and encounter of life. Look at people like political leaders, the athletes and rock stars. Look at this guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilt_Chamberlain - he slept with 20,000 women.

Do you think your general Aspie could deal with the emotional experience, talking, and sensory experience of 20,000 women?! some might THINK it sounds great, but that's just showing how ignorant they are about the skill requirements and desire. I think most Aspies just want a really great girlfriend or wife who is supportive - and a few great friends that they can help and also be helped by.

things are not balanced in life. There are people who never have a true friend, and there are some who have thousands.

Don't let the label define you and all that, but also respect that for some, you can't be top of the class in everything.

No. NTs don't shutdown simply because they don't want to do something or doing something stresses them out. They'll collapse from exhaustion if they push themselves too hard, but that's an extreme situation.

That PDF article was scarily accurate for me, especially the part about adult autistic shutdowns.

My last big shut down was when my mum, my sister and her boyfriend went out of town for lunch.
I was already in a bad mood but forced myself to go. My mum was already angry at me for having a minor shutdown at a restaurant.
I was fine until after lunch when my sister and mum were both barking orders at me and I couldn't process a thing they said.
I was on edge all day. Then when we went to go home I refused to cross the road, so my mum said she'll bring the car round and my sister thought that was ridiculous so I screamed out "I DON'T LIKE CROSSING BUSY ROADS, ALL RIGHT?! !" If she was on the same side of the road as me I would have hit her.
Then when I got in the car I went limp and non-verbal. I stared out the window and my vision went from blurry to clear. I just wasn't there anymore.
When I got home I put on some calming and uplifting music by Evermore.

I have shutdowns as well. For me they are more than just social interactions though. I agree that it has more to do with information overload, whether internal or external. For example, at work I tend to shut down around mid afternoon since that seems to be when I've had enough of the pressure to do all the things I know I can't possibly get accomplished working for an understaffed employer. On the other hand, if I pursue a topic of interest and heavily research it for an hour or two, the same result happens - I must sleep for 15 minutes to an hour, then I'm fine.

Its almost as if it takes that long for my brain to process all of the information that just flooded my head, categorize it, and store it in the appropriate place. Once that is done, I'm fine. I can recall everything I just learned, including tasks or whatnot. Its like there is a delayed reaction between my sensory input and my subconscious mind compared to what would be considered a "normal" person. And while the subconscious frantically tries to move everything around as fast as it can, my conscious mind is on hold, which makes me sleepy.

Does this make sense to anyone?

I loved the article. thank you again for sharing. I always knew when in shut down my brain would just automatically stop functioning. I even told people around me that my brain stopped working for know apparent reason and they would accuse me of being behavioral and stuff.

I would love to hear from more people about multi-day shutdowns. Just the experience.

Triggers? Loss of a friend, breakup of a relationship, moving, longer-term failures.

I didn't know these things were called shutdowns. But yeah, I have those, if something stresses me and I have to fight my way through it, I go like this.

I'm recovering from a strange shutdown event which must have taken a few months; A long series of repeated shutdowns and partial recoveries. Perhaps because the stressful situation did not change or disappear. I only recovered after spending a very peaceful day away at a very peaceful place.

in any stressful situations im in i always take walks or exercise. or thinking about doing a really hot japanese girl