Shutdown Triggers (Meltdown triggers to those who get them?)

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Mountain Goat
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26 Oct 2022, 10:05 am

Noticed that a trigger or triggers I personally don't have issues with can kick in as triggers once I am actually partly or becoming close to fully shutting down.
Example is that I am NOT light sensitive in normal circumstances, BUT if I am already partially shutting down after another trigger has kicked in or if overwealmed etc, then light sensitivity can also kick in on top of this if I come across certain lights such as strip lights used in hospitals etc.

Anyone else experience this?



Mountain Goat
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27 Oct 2022, 4:01 am

Uhmmm. Obviously no one else experiences this.



ToughDiamond
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30 Oct 2022, 5:52 pm

Can't honestly say I've experienced that exactly, because I'm lucky enough never to have had a proper meltdown or a shutdown, only a fogged brain that recovers after a few tens of seconds. In that context, I've usually noticed there were already a few stressful things and then something else comes along that I'd very likely have been better able to deal with if not for the stuff that had hit me. It sounds like it could be the same as your experience, but I don't know. It's certainly not something that's ever surprised me when it's happened to me. A friend of mine refers to it as "the icing on the cake."



IsabellaLinton
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30 Oct 2022, 6:11 pm

Yes.
When I shut down, all of my senses shut down.


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autisticelders
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31 Oct 2022, 7:48 am

yes, reacting to sensory input is very inconsistent. One time or one way I can tolerate something but other times I can not, or it is worse. Sometimes I do not notice something that makes me wild at other times. I think this might depend on whether the thing I am occupied with is pleasant or if I am distressed or uncomfortable at the time that sensory "thing" is happening.
I have learned to recognize early feelings of stress, distress, anxiety and to remove myself from those situtations if I can, or find other ways to cope just the moment I begin to feel like that.


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CockneyRebel
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31 Oct 2022, 8:28 am

People yelling at me. People raising their voice at me. Loud voices. People shouting and yelling, especially when they "discipline" their children with abusive words. Whiney, exasperated voices like the one my mum used to use when she got angry at me.


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03 Nov 2022, 10:55 pm

Being shouted at as well. I was just shouted at and shut down.



lostonearth35
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03 Nov 2022, 11:16 pm

I wish I could shut down. I want to be able to shut down completely and live in my own world because it's a million times better than the outside world we have to live in.



redqueenspawn
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04 Nov 2022, 12:38 pm

Yes, it definitely happens to me.

In my case, it usually it starts with sensory overload (I have my highest scores in autism traits according to the Aspie Quiz in that area), especially prolonged or repeated, as opposed to a sensation that gets over quickly. I then become much more sensitive to social-emotional overload (one of the areas where I'm ordinarily not as bothered.)

It's like pouring water into a bucket that's already partly filled, and it overflows more easily than if it had started empty.

And at such times I want to flee from people and isolate, which may be a self-protective instinct. Because when I do isolate, things start to even out, and the lost functions start to come back online. The sooner I can isolate, and especially in a quiet, dim environment, the less prolonged the shutdown--hours rather than days.

Somehow I learned this "retreat" function in childhood, well before I knew I was autistic (I'm a very late identified person) which is what makes me think it's based in instinct. My nervous system knows what it needs to restore itself.