Triggers of shutdowns.

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I assume the same triggers of shutdowns are also triggers of meltdowns?

After all these years of trying to find out what has been going on with me the victory came in joining this site when someone here gave me a link that described me to a T.

But, now I have found out what I am dealing with, and these are mostly partial shutdowns and the occasional shutdown, what is causing them?
I am well aware of one or two things:-

Anxiety.

Stress.

Unanounced heavy lifting tasks were I am asked to help another.

Being overwealmed in a crouded shop or place with a claustrophobic layout design.

Overthinking!

Sensory issues. (So far, for me these are related to either certain smells, or the chemicals of the smells?)

Long corridors.

Crowded waiting rooms.

Too many people talking at once in a crowded eviroment.

Loud sudden noises.


Now there are other situations which really puzzle me when I look back at my past, and these occasions I could not think of a trigger except maybe.. overthinking.
This is what has happened. I can be out on my bicycle and really enjoying the ride. Then for some reason it hits me. I start shutting down. I am not stressed. I am happy. It is a bright sunny day. Everything is going well for me. I have cycled 15 or 20 miles and am at the furthest point away from home when it hits me. And then it is a real struggle to get back home!
The only possible reason that I can think of is that overthinking is the trigger, as when I am cycling I oftem am overthinking... My thoughts drift along while at the same time I have my music brain humming away in the background at the same time. Could this be the cause of shutting down?

But here is something puzzling. I rarely ever get any shutdown issues while driving. Only maybe when I have lots of people in the car and they are playing up, or my Mum is worried about something (Though 99% of the time I find having my Mum in the car makes me relax more too). But when I am driving, as long as I keep out of too many built up areas I am fine. I am far more relaxed then when I am doing other things. And while I think, because I am also focussed on the driving, somehow I don't shutdown. For me when driving the main number one thing where I may start to have issues is if I am stuck in a trafffic jam and none of the cars are moving and we have been stopped for a while. The panic of this situation does cause me to be struggling...

But why then have I had issues shutting down while on the bicycle? I have been feeling fine and energetic... In a good mood and then it hits. Could it be bright sunshine? I don't seem to be effected by light. Ok, I avoid those strip lights when one is flickering... Oh.. I don't like them. When in school, no way could I concentrate on my work when a light was flickering. But though I find those type of lights a bit too bright anyway, so a flickering one is too much... As long as the light didn't flicker I could work through the lessons. I could manage.
Could it be I have smelt something while cycling? (It wasn't me!! ! Haha!) I don't recall if I did.

I do know I have unknown triggers.. I am trying to fathom it all out.

Shutdowns are weird. As near as I can figure it, for me anything that causes ANY kind of over stimulation will trigger a shutdown response. It doesn't matter if it's positive or negative. If I'm joyously happy, I could shut down just as easily as the opposite situation.

It happens to me in levels of severity, too. The worst it ever got was in a car accident where I flipped my car. I was fine, but when the ambulance came and the EMS workers asked me if I was all right (or something to that effect), I couldn't answer them. My brain just wasn't processing what they were saying to me. It was a trip because I recognized the language, I just couldn't understand them. Kind of like hearing Spanish when you don't speak Spanish. You know it's Spanish, but, yeah.

So, severe trauma will apparently cause my brain to just start switching off functions of comprehension. Lots of fun. I've never had the loss of direction - at least not as badly as you've had it. That sounds terrifying to lose your way all of a sudden. It's hard to say what exactly caused your shutdown on the bike ride, though. Maybe being happy was a form of overstimulation?

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/dissociative-disorders/

https://www.epilepsysociety.org.uk/seizure-types#.XY5MTVVKhyw

For me, its over stimulation of the areas where I have additional needs... sensory, social, emotional and communication. If I'm in an accommodating environment it's not so bad, but when I push myself too far to achieve something or to accomodate another I can be certain that the safety switch will flip, to give my system a break I guess.

Thanks for the links but the symptoms... Is like the wrong jigsaw piece when one edge or two edges are similar.


This shows some of the exact symptoms that I get.


https://everything2.com/user/Zifendorf/ ... s/shutdown


Partial shutdowns effecting motor control which I can delay the shutdown. The descriptions are spot on in regards to driving a car etc.

When you have hit your limit it can be the littlest undetected thing that can trigger a shutdown or meltdown.