Sudden mood swings

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Hello,

Third post so thought I'd stick it in the 'General discussion' section rather than the 'I'm new!' one.

I'm 25 and its only now that I'm staring to admit that Aspergers is something I'm dealing with and I'm still trying to determine what traits I share with others.

I'm planning a trip abroad this year with my partner, who is incredibly supportive and has helped me develop a lot of social skills over the years, and I know one of her biggest worries is that I may have an 'episode' whilst we are out in a foreign country. By 'episode' I mean a very bad and sudden mood swing where I basically withdraw and shut down and remain that way for a fairly long time. This has happened before and it causes her a lot of stress and has on one occasion induced a panic attack, I think because she feels utterly helpless and stranded. Its never a violent mood its pretty much always depressive and withdrawn and very self destructive.

A recent minor example: I thought I'd got this under control but recently we went to a theme park as she'd never been (couldn't believe it!) She is NT but with a bit of a ride phobia after a bad experience as a kid so I planned the day to start on the smallest rides (proper childrens rides) and work our way up with the option to stop at any point. When we got to a slightly bigger 'coaster but still considered a 'family' one she started to get a bit nervous in the queue, by the time we were nearing the front she was looking very panicky and I knew she wanted to go so I said "lets go" and I walked us backwards out of the queue and away from the ride.

I'd been prepared for this all day and obviously I was disappointed but it wasn't really a big deal. This however didn't stop me having a minor mood swing for about 15 minutes where I even said "lets just go home" which completely tainted the day. We did end up staying and going on the ride and had an amazing day but I was left with a tremendous feeling of guilt. We have a good relationship and very rarely (like once a year) argue or fight and these mood swings are so bizarrely out of character.


Does anyone else ever get sudden mood swings? From what my partners told me from the outside its as if the world is ending and I become almost unrecogniseable and a totally different person. I've gone to great lengths to curb them but if I'm in an intense situation I find it very hard to snap out of it.

I hope this is an AS related trait and I'm not just acting like a little kid!

If something changes my plans suddenly, I withdraw. If I'm socially or sensorily overwhelmed, I withdraw.

For example, I was waiting in line with some friends to see a play about 5 or 6 years ago (back when I had friends) and we were at the front of the line, but as more and more people started crowding around, I felt closer and closer to a meltdown. Then all the bright lights around us turned on and pushed me over the "too much" point. I turned to my friends and said I was going home. And I did.

Later, my friend said that it was like I had suddenly done a 180. Even to myself, it felt like my mood suddenly switched on a dime. It wasn't until my AS diagnosis and I started examining what makes me shut down and withdraw that I realized that the situation I described above, and others, are part of getting overloaded. If I'd been able to recognize it before, maybe I could have done something to help myself.

The other time it happens is if I'm going somewhere or doing something, and I've planned out every step and pictured it and researched it, and then someone changes the plan on me. Even something as simple as the person who was going to drive me showing up 10 minutes late. Or if I've planned a trip to my parents house and I've even gone so far as to script my conversations with my brother and sister, and I get there and my brother isn't home.

Hi Dots,

That sounds remarkably similar in a lot of respects. It is pretty much like a mental 180!

You've actually brought up something I only actually realised I did yesterday, scripting out conversations! I spend hours at it but its been the norm for years so I'd completely forgotten that I do it. That saves me posting a new topic about whether people mentally script out their convo's.

I have mood swings, and it's been affecting my whole holiday that I've just come home from today. I enjoyed my holiday and I didn't cause too much grief, but I did have my moments quite frequently, and I ended up irritable and snappy a lot of the time, especially when we were doing something that I didn't enjoy, ie ending up in shopping centres where there's just clothes shops everywhere. Clothes shops bore me rigid, especially if I'm not looking for anything specific, and when I'm bored I find it hard to fake enthusiasm, no matter how hard I try. It just doesn't feel natural, and even when I do try to show enthusiasm when deep down I feel like screaming, there's still a wobble in my voice and people can tell I'm being a pain.

I would go on tablets to try and relax me a bit more, but I've heard so much on the internet about people on the spectrum taking tablets that help their anxiety but make one of their other symptoms worse, that it's discouraged me from going through with it, so I suppose I've just got to put up with being an unpredictable, miserable whiner all my life.

Hello Essex from Northampton!

I can't think of anything worse to do than go into a shopping centre whilst on holiday. Especially seeing as you are so near the Stratford Westfields anyway!

I have mood swings too.......
Earlier i had decided not to visit psychiatrist ever again or go for counselling since i found it useless
but some weeks back i went on a spree of visiting random psychiatrist and counsellors shelling out lot of money
and then stopped visiting them after one session.

also i had decided not to search for friends amongst my sons school classmates mom's because i always had a tough
time with them but this year i changed my mind and attended orientation sessions and ended up feeling like a loser
none of them seemed interested in interacting with me.

i hope i have a stable and steady mood and decision

Yes, quite often though I doubt if I am bipolar.

I get random mood swings when I do not deal with my persoanl problems.