Meltdowns

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How would you describe a Meltdown?

The last three molecules in that chain are the main trouble-makers in classic meltdowns. When your brain loses its ability to control the movement of these chemicals and their release from nerve cells, then you are at risk of a meltdown. All three of these chemicals, which are known as "neurotransmitters," either induce the release of sugar or inhibit insulin, among several other important tasks. If you are releasing too much of these neurotransmitters in a certain organ of your brain, however (called the amygdala), then your system overloads.

In the case of dopamine, your reaction to this overload may be similar to feelings of paranoia, and you may feel that those around you are trying to hurt you in some way. In the case of norepinephrine, you may have uncontrollable feelings of anger toward them, and you may shout at them and puff yourself up in spite of knowing that these people are your friends and have not harmed you or given you any cause for anger. In the case of epinephrine, which is also known as adrenaline, you will experience feelings panic, even terror, toward anything that comes close to you, friend or foe.

This is a rough explanation based upon limited knowledge on my part, but I hope that I am close to the truth and explaining myself clearly. There are probably other factors in these meltdowns that I have not taken into account. From here, hopefully, you can take a guess as to what our situation is like during a meltdown. Because different people have different hormonal balances, different people will be affected in different ways, and people will exhibit varying degrees of control. Some people will cry, and other will not. Some people will scream, and others will not. Most, God-willing, will not attempt to attack you.

The aftermath of our meltdowns is even worse than the meltdowns themselves, at least from our perspective. A sense of humiliation or self-loathing is common. Meltdowns are not very fun at all, but, unfortunately, some immature people think that they are funny. Do not be surprised if many Aspies are strongly in favor of eugenics because of this fact.

My meltdowns usually involve me shutting down to the point where I dissociate and (in extreme cases) feel as if I'm about to leave my body. When it gets to that point, I become terrified and must go to sleep in order to recover. There have been a few instances where I actually had to leave work and go home because of them. Thankfully, I rarely have them now.

When I was little, they came in the form of extreme rage. My father (who I'm certain also has AS and probably a personality disorder too) and I would get into knock-down, drag-out fights (by the way, I'm female), usually over him attacking my mother. As I got older, I learned to suppress the anger. The meltdowns changed into the form I experience now. Honestly, I don't know which form is worse.

Mine usually involve just not doing what I have to do that stresses me out so much.


All myothr ones are depression-induced.

If there are too many people in one area (resulting in them bumping into me) and/or if it is too loud, I begin to panic and start feeling like I am about to cry (and often do), however, at the same time for some reason I end up tapping or scratching items, i.e. my backpack, which helps calm me down. I find that the tapping/scratching only occurs when there is a build up of feeling, since if something unexpected happens i.e. someone touches me without warning, I just burst out crying and feeling even more like a fool

Does anyone else experience this and is what I have written classified as a 'meltdown' as I am completely confused as to what they are?

Me too! Even after reading through another big thread on this topic, I'm still not sure if I (occasionally) suffer from some kind of social panic attack, or a "meltdown" or what the heck it is. Thankfully it's rare in my case (although I avoid situations that would make it happen, so...)