How do you respond to Sensory overload?

Post Reply New Topic

Well, for me if the 2 or 3 I am speaking with are friends, then I am okay IF we are all speaking about a topic we all feel expert.

However, if I don't know the people or hardly know them it freaks me out. I am not afraid to meet people, but I find myself overwhelmed quickly.

Now, if I stick to that which I am a pro, then its far easier with which to deal.

The HUGE problem is that I say what I think when I shouldn't. I don't do this intentionally and I am aware that I do it, just, at the particular moment in question I am unaware that I am doing it.

I am excited to meet new people, but the first conversation is usually the last.

Of coarse I can only process one at a time. It depends on the situation and people involved.
In a professional context I will courteously ask please one at a time you first Joe.

If there is a noise that is offending I will shut it off if possible, cover one ear or just say we need to go somewhere else so I can hear.

Other situation, my girlfriends sister who's mouth never stops, I have told her to SHUT UP. It may take a few tries at this and the mouth does not stay closed too long before it starts its mindless chattering again. But in that situation I can do that with no harm done.

Meltdowns....I've experienced them most of my life, they come in various shapes and forms. I went through decades not even realizing what they were.

There's my silent meltdown where the stimulation from being in a crowd and the sounds and faces just slowly push me over the edge. I completely shut down and wander up and down the aisles, just blankly staring. Did it the other night in the grocery store for at least 30 minutes or so, shaken out of it by my phone ringing wondering where I was and why I wasn't home yet. The people, the conversations, the smells, the bright overhead florescent lights -- it all combines. I feel it coming on but can't do much about it.

There's the violent meltdown. A sudden over reaction because my emotional age just dropped to 10 over something trivial, the way something was said. It's either a sudden outburst verbally, or just a shut down in conversations. My arms and hands will lock and I will stay in that position until it passes. I know what's going on, but am powerless to describe it, or to snap myself out of it. I need my wife to gently change her tactics -- and we're working on that. A quick redirection seems to halt it. I describe it like this, my brain operates in 50 parallel channels (or more). Sometimes I might get locked into one line of thought where all 50 channels are running on the same project or thought, and a slight frustration, delay, or criticism will send me over, and over quickly. Or it's overplaced emphasis on something, like losing keys or wallet.

Focus - I try to focus on one thing and exclude all else. This helps keep things from becoming overwhelming. Of course it's easy for me to say that, but it's a survival skill I've learned over the years.

I'm not diagnosed, so I don't know if this is helpful, because I might be NT, but I get really overwhelmed in large groups or if there's too much noise or light UNLESS I am not having to do anything. If the sum total of what I have to do is sit on a couch and drink a beer I'm totally cool. Me and that beer could sit there with the house burning and we'd be fine. But as soon as I have to engage I have trouble. I usually stand on my tip toes and rock up and down (it's subtle, people usually think I'm just burning calories) or clinch my fist over and over again at my side or rub my fingers together or something else like that. Focus, focus, focus.

(As a kid I would meltdown and beg to go to my room. My parents never allowed this.)

In malls or grocery stores, though, I just totally veg. I lose it. Unless I have my kids with me and forced by necessity to pay attention to them, I could wander around the store for hours just completely lost and confused. I feel like I've been drugged. It takes a lot for me to remember what I'm supposed to be doing, and I haven't yet found a solution for that. I have no idea if that's an AS symptom or not.

Generally, I think my symptoms resemble shutdowns, but that does not matter.

Apparently, brains do not multi-task. Instead, they simply oscillate between processing the tasks requested. Before knowing this, I simply stood still while switching between processing what others said even when there were only two people talking to me. This led to an increasing sense of anxiety, which thankfully never led to a meltdown. Keeping the fact about multi-tasking in mind, I think it has helped to consciously switch between the people talking. My best explanation is that there is more time to process the dialogue. The anxiety has not completely left, and I begin noticing my pulse and pressure more often when I am in stressful social situations.

somtimes i hit myself , somtimes i swing around or fidget