Does anyone else get sudden bouts of drowsiness? When this happens, my mind gets foggy, I can't think clearly, I can't concentrate, I zone out, my eyes glaze over (hard to focus them), and I feel like I'm going to collapse from exhaustion. In this state, I'm not able to get any work done or function much. I'll try to get home asap and take a nap, which helps.
This has been happening since high school (at least), and I'm now 28. These days this happens 1-2 times a month.
This usually happens when I'm at work or in a social/stimulating setting (e.g. grocery store, cafe, social event). Strangely, it often happens in the morning as soon as I get into my workplace despite it not being particularly socially stimulating, but maybe I associate the workplace with stress.
After creeping this forum, I found out that some other people also become very sleepy during partial shutdowns.
There's also a paper called "Shutdowns and Stress in Autism" that describe sleepiness.
I don't think it's narcolepsy since I don't have excessive daytime sleepiness every day, nor do I suddenly fall asleep out of nowhere despite becoming very drowsy. Also, certain things/places are more likely to trigger this "shutdown" for me.
I'm thinking that what I'm experiencing are partial shutdowns.
What are your shutdowns like? Do you experience this? What are your triggers?
18 Jun 2021, 9:04 pm
