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Shutdowns. What do they feel like?

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Mountain Goat
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06 Jul 2022, 3:13 am

Joe90 wrote:
I get periods where I come over depressed and highly anxious, usually when there's a lot to feel depressed and anxious about. But I don't think it's shutdown, it's just depression, as it comes with feelings of sadness and worthlessness as well as mental fatigue.


I have had both of those two on occasions and they are not shutdowns. Can get anxiety so my legs don't work so I can't walk, but anxiety is different to shutdowns... Though certainly anxiety does not help.


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hmk66
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06 Jul 2022, 3:57 am

Overstimulation is very rare in my case, so it doesn't mean they would not happen.

If there is an overstimulation, I shut down (I may "record" sound, but not interpret it. Interpretation happens immediately after an autistic start-up). I need a few seconds to organize my intellectual system, and then I am back to the world, as if there wasn't a shutdown at all.



Mountain Goat
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06 Jul 2022, 4:07 am

hmk66 wrote:
Overstimulation is very rare in my case, so it doesn't mean they would not happen.

If there is an overstimulation, I shut down (I may "record" sound, but not interpret it. Interpretation happens immediately after an autistic start-up). I need a few seconds to organize my intellectual system, and then I am back to the world, as if there wasn't a shutdown at all.


Mine take time to recover from. Shutdowns actually come in different forms as well according to the individual and how their mind works. As my experiences are that they effect me in a physical way, it never occurred to me that shutdowns were a mental thing, as due to a doctor insisting they were allergy related, I related the mental aspects as having a physical cause and not the other way around.
It took me most of my life to work out and once it occurred to me they were a mental thing everything made perfect sense. How could I have not known that for soo long?


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Pteranomom
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06 Jul 2022, 6:49 pm

I get shutdowns in certain environments. Target/similar large stores used to be a big one.
It's like everything goes white. I can only see/focus on things immediately in front of me. The rest of the world is still there, but it's like not having glasses on: it's all blurry and I can't focus on it, except this is mental processing.

At times I would "wander off" from the rest of the family. I couldn't concentrate well enough to say "hey, I want to look over here," but that's what I was basically thinking.

This thankfully doesn't happen much anymore, partly I think because I learned Target's layout and partly because I have barely set foot in a store since covid started.

Unfortunately I did have kids back then to watch over... So I just put all of what little of my brain I could still command into making sure they were ok, even if I couldn't talk.



Mountain Goat
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06 Jul 2022, 6:57 pm

Pteranomom wrote:
I get shutdowns in certain environments. Target/similar large stores used to be a big one.
It's like everything goes white. I can only see/focus on things immediately in front of me. The rest of the world is still there, but it's like not having glasses on: it's all blurry and I can't focus on it, except this is mental processing.

At times I would "wander off" from the rest of the family. I couldn't concentrate well enough to say "hey, I want to look over here," but that's what I was basically thinking.

This thankfully doesn't happen much anymore, partly I think because I learned Target's layout and partly because I have barely set foot in a store since covid started.

Unfortunately I did have kids back then to watch over... So I just put all of what little of my brain I could still command into making sure they were ok, even if I couldn't talk.


Could the trigger be the soap or shampoo type smells in certain isles or clothes or carpet isles as these have dyes where the smells are a trigger?
Could be claustrophobic layout of the stores or the lighting?

I do not know what Target stores are. Sell targets?


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Pteranomom
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07 Jul 2022, 12:12 pm

Mountain Goat wrote:
Pteranomom wrote:
I get shutdowns in certain environments. Target/similar large stores used to be a big one.
It's like everything goes white. I can only see/focus on things immediately in front of me. The rest of the world is still there, but it's like not having glasses on: it's all blurry and I can't focus on it, except this is mental processing.

At times I would "wander off" from the rest of the family. I couldn't concentrate well enough to say "hey, I want to look over here," but that's what I was basically thinking.

This thankfully doesn't happen much anymore, partly I think because I learned Target's layout and partly because I have barely set foot in a store since covid started.

Unfortunately I did have kids back then to watch over... So I just put all of what little of my brain I could still command into making sure they were ok, even if I couldn't talk.


Could the trigger be the soap or shampoo type smells in certain isles or clothes or carpet isles as these have dyes where the smells are a trigger?
Could be claustrophobic layout of the stores or the lighting?

I do not know what Target stores are. Sell targets?

Target is a really big store that sells all sorts of things--clothes, toys, food, etc.

I think the trigger there is just the sheer amount of stuff. I want to look at *everything*, but that's not possible. So instead I look at one thing at a time and block everything else out... For the whole store.



Mountain Goat
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07 Jul 2022, 12:44 pm

Pteranomom wrote:
Mountain Goat wrote:
Pteranomom wrote:
I get shutdowns in certain environments. Target/similar large stores used to be a big one.
It's like everything goes white. I can only see/focus on things immediately in front of me. The rest of the world is still there, but it's like not having glasses on: it's all blurry and I can't focus on it, except this is mental processing.

At times I would "wander off" from the rest of the family. I couldn't concentrate well enough to say "hey, I want to look over here," but that's what I was basically thinking.

This thankfully doesn't happen much anymore, partly I think because I learned Target's layout and partly because I have barely set foot in a store since covid started.

Unfortunately I did have kids back then to watch over... So I just put all of what little of my brain I could still command into making sure they were ok, even if I couldn't talk.


Could the trigger be the soap or shampoo type smells in certain isles or clothes or carpet isles as these have dyes where the smells are a trigger?
Could be claustrophobic layout of the stores or the lighting?

I do not know what Target stores are. Sell targets?

Target is a really big store that sells all sorts of things--clothes, toys, food, etc.

I think the trigger there is just the sheer amount of stuff. I want to look at *everything*, but that's not possible. So instead I look at one thing at a time and block everything else out... For the whole store.


Too much info. to take in. Yes. It can happen like that.


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