How do you recover from a shutdown?

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hmmm, don't really know what to think. Isn't sleep a normal reaction to stress anyway, for NTs too? When you're overwhelmed and exhaused, you wanna rest and sleep and get away.

I am having trouble believing that ANY and EVERY episode like these in someone's life are AS linked and unavoidable...

imo, some episodes are linked to bad time management, procrastination to study or finish a project (and the panick sets in, the mind paralysis, the anxiety, the desire to escape such stressful reality etc..). Before blaiming it on a shutdown, serioulsy, how many times was procrastination the leading cause to stress buildup? Or how many times one simply gets scared b/c the task seems too difficult or out-of-control (until you realize things aren't that bad:)???

This article was just one small study. I have serious doubts that we can take its findings for granted (especially when it comes to adult behaviour -as adults CAN plan ahead and manage their time to prevent some stressors).

Anyway, if there is a lesson to be learned..it is that if one is prone to act this way...one better NOT IGNORE this or hope next time it won't happen......and although annoying and boring, better plan ahead and stop procrastinating

TallyMan describes my experience perfectly, though I have often wondered the same things as northern_light_girl.

This morning it happened because I have a bad cold and forgot to buy bread yesterday. Toast is Step 2 of my morning routine. Without bread I could not do Step 2. Now, it would have been easy (in theory) to eat cereal instead, or walk 50 feet to the store to buy bread (but then I would have had to put clothes on! That's, like, Step 6!), but I just couldn't get past it (I won't quote TallyMan's inner dialogue again because so many people have already, but same basic idea). Fortunately somebody brought me bread, so now I've had my toast. But now Step 3 is Take My Meds... which involves going into the kitchen, where there are people... too much to deal with in shutdown mode. Meanwhile the day is passing and the things I "have to" do are looming larger...

I think I will go read this thread again and try to glean advice. I can't sleep with people in the house.

During a shutdown I need to be alone and relax, away from noise, other people etc., which is the only thing that helps. The only thing I want to do is read, as it improves my mood.

Interesting, I had intermittent focal slowing when I was originally assessed (because of shutdowns in language comprehension, speech, and movement, among other things), but it was sort of where the temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes meet.

A different sort of brain scan showed both unusually high and unusually low blood flow in different parts of the temporal lobes on both sides (but asymmetrical). That combined with a particular pattern of seizure I seemed to be having (which was exactly the same every time) and my good response to seizure meds, got me dxed with temporal lobe epilepsy/complex-partial seizures.

This sounds like what happened between my 8th and 9th grade year. I was motivated and did very well in 7th grade. All A's and B's. Then, I was in all advanced classes in 8th grade, not just in Math.

I don't recall everything that happened during that year, but I remember being frustrated trying to find a proper organizational scheme for my schoolwork, notes, etc. And then I remember sucking up to a few long assignments that I hated. Then I was having a hard time understanding the material in one or more of my classes yet was still passing. I also remember have low self esteem because I realized I wasn't good at much of anything outside of Academics and still didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I just grew to hate school and found myself blowing off big assignments, blanking out on writing assignments, and stopped reading books assigned in the English curriculum. Somehow I still passed all of my classes with B's and C's. So no red flags were raised.

It was when I reached 9th grade that the **** hit the fan. Not because High School was a big change from Middle school. And not because the work was substantially harder, it was just more demanding. In my state of mind composed of almost no self esteem, I decided that ignorance was bliss.

I was placed back on an IEP, was moved to medium (B) level classes and low (C) for English, had a Directed study instead of a regular study hall, and reluctantly dragged on through all 4 years of high school even though I wanted to drop out.

I hope I don't enter this same pattern when I start my first semester of community college in the fall.

5 and i need my own time after that lying in somewhere

I become violent towards inanimate objects - mash and trash them.

I don't have shutdowns - tho I'm experiencing one right now with an important aspi webfriend. I don't understand this shutdown thing from her - I refuse to internalise anything (resulting from four years of Traditional Chinese acupuncture with an alpha urban male......and also maybe life experience) so I direct the energy back to its source. With my aspi friend I wait........

Last edited by ablomov on 31 Jul 2008, 4:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

This is hard, I personally think a shutdown should be left to go away on it's own. However the only thing that helps me get out of a shutdown is something sensory stimulating or even laughter.

when i was little
i have this bouts of blank stares that would last
until someone would move me
(a little bit like catatonic moments)

can control it now though

If I have a meltdown, a shutdown or whatever - I'm done. For that day I am just gone and done, bye bye now. C-ya ,round later 'cuz I'm gone.

When I shut down, I do just that - I. SHUT. the F DOWN. I literally stop working as a viable, achieving human bieng. So when I have a meltdown and end up shutting down, I go for a really, really long walk. Get in my car and go to the park or out in nature (which heals me). But I just go away. It's all I can do.

Then when I'm realigned and in good enough shape to face people again, I go back and face everyone again. But not until I'm back in shape enough to talk to people again. Otherwise, if I shut down and can't reboot, sotospeak, then I say shut down. And that's just ugly. It wierds people out seeing me sit there just vacant and not in touch any more.

we would all need reboot disc

i lol'd irl

Let me tell you I am going through a shut down right now.

My bestest friend Josie is moving away!! !! She's my sisters dog. I can't even begin to explain how much I love that dog!! !
My niece, sister and brother in law are moving.I don't know what I am going to do without them for three years!! It really hurts.

When I need to recover I just take time for myself but I have the support of a good friend now

My dog's name is Josie as well.

This is exactly what I'm like. I don't know what causes it either. Whether it's AS, ADHD, or something else.

Back on topic though;

I think I had a shut down just an hour or 2 ago, on the train home from town. Out of no where, I started to withdraw for no reason. I usually enjoy going to town, but today, I felt like doing nothing, so we came home. My mum could tell something was up, and asked me what was wrong several times, but I had no answer for her. Nothing was wrong, really, I just felt moody, withdrawn, sleepy and like I didn't want to talk to anyone at all, but nothing had happened to make me like this, it just happened out of no where. On the train home, I just sat down, stared out the window and listened to my music, not talking unless I had to, getting snappy if I was interupted. I just wanted to be alone, with no one around me. I stayed in this state for a good hour, until we got home and I could relax. Looking at it now, it must have been the socialising, because nothing else upset me that day. Once I got home, away from everyone else, it didn't take me long to get back to normal.

"I've got to do this.
I don't want to.
I must do it.
Stare at task - mind becomes a brick wall and refuses to comply.
Deadline getting closer.
Stress and anxiety getting worse.
Repeat previous conflicting dialogue several times.
... then I feel drained, drowsy and often fall asleep."

exactly what happens to me :/ occasionally ill have two, or even three or more thoughts happening at the exact same time o_o; dont ask me how that works, im not sure, but it causes massive headaches. i usually just sit somewhere and well... sit. oftentimes im not allowed to do that though, since most of my shutdowns are caused by my mom, and instead of leaving me be to recover from a shutdown, she keeps yelling at me and making me get up and do stuff.. shes even physically pulled me up off the ground and thrown me at whatever it was she was trying to make me do (ie. picking me up off of the floor in the kitchen and throwing me at the sink, trying to make me do dishes) and it really doesnt help :/ i end up doing stuff i dont really mean to do (ie. throwing stuff, accidentally breaking stuff cause i cant see what im doing clearly, scratching at my face and head) needless to say i cant wait to move out <_<; its this exact reason why i dislike my mom....

my boyfriend doesnt really understand my shutdowns, cause i dont understand them fully either and have been horrible at trying to explain them to him :/ at first he thought i was just PMSing, and he got mad at me for it (made the shutdown worse) but after explaining it hes just confused as to what to do when i have a shutdown... honestly im not sure either <_<;