What do you consider a meltdown?

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Just now I was playing a kids DVD for my little sisters it went straight to the movie when 90%+ have a menu I restarted and they yelled at me. Then I said I had to pee but I was in tears I whipped my eyes and everything's fine now but I'm curious what do YOU consider a meltdown?

Screaming. Shouting. Crying. Throwing things. Banging walls, furniture, me. Biting my hand/arm. Shaking. Looking around the room in a glazed expression. Questions - e.g. 'what's going on'

Yeah, just a general 'temper tantrum' really, like witnessing a spoilt child not be allowed anything, but come about due to different reasons, usually not to do with not being allowed something, but due to unexpected change or overwhelming stress/anxiety/senses.

It is where you lose control of your emotions and rational thought flies out the window...I have different kinds of meltdowns...afterwards I can feel really tired....I mosty cry...yell..am verbally abusive...I have hit myself...I used to have a habit of having meltdowns in public where I just walked home..sometimes miles.

My AS-ish very good friend had a meltdown in the car the other day because he forgot his house keys and he was driving...he wouldn't stop yelling or listen to any sort of reason, and at one point he angrily veered into oncoming traffic...and that was sorta scary. He will usually have meltdowns over little things..
I am still learning how to handle them.

One way that I can tell the difference between whether my son is having a meltdown, or a tantrum is that if I give into his demands, and try to remedy the situation a tantrum will de-escalate very quickly. A meltdown will not. It takes a quite a lot of time for me/him to get over the emotional toll of a meltdown, and quite often he's/I'm anxious, and upset for the rest of the day. A tantrum is about getting your way, and feels better once that has been accomplished. A meltdown leaves me feeling like I've been run over by a truck physically, and emotionally depleted. Like an earthquake, I will often feel several small meltdowns after the initial big one. Depending on how badly the first one shook my world, the aftershocks can last for a couple hours, or a day or two.

*edited to add a link to one of my blog entries that describes one of my meltdowns in detail. http://oddsendsandautism.blogspot.com/2008/09/meltdown.html

Last edited by serenity on 11 Aug 2009, 12:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

but adults aren't supposed to have "temper tantrums" my mom hates it when I cry and I tell her it's nothing (I finally break down and tell her later though) Perhaps the stress of being yelled at I hate being yelled at! I tend to cry when I'm yelled at even for the smallest reason.

I'm not really sure what counts as a meltdown.

Some stuff I have done due to losing control of emotions:

Smashed in the soft screen of a computer with my fist.

Punched a dent in a car door.

Hit myself underneath the diaphragm.

Yelled at my mother and asked why she did not abort me.

Bitten small dots out of the skin of my hands with my canine teeth.

Raked face with nails (this is rare, I've done it once in my adult life).

That's ME! I cry initially then cry a few times afterwards (aftershocks as you called them) Then 1 hour maybe less I've calmed down. My mom says "I need to grow up." She says when the kids throw a tantrum affects her nerves (The little sister threw one for a muffin but it was the DVD yelling that go to me) Since like I said 90%+ HAVE DVD menus! Too bad my mom/family doesn't understand meltdowns.

Why do we have meltdowns? (someone mention stress/anxiety) in my case being yelled at. Others can get stressed/yelled at and they don't cry/breakdown mad etc.

Nice differentiation.
When my friend's world was destroyed over forgetting his keys, um..howyousay...there was no placating him...I offered that we could do anything in the world that could possibly make things better, but there was nothing...I had to not speak...and the slightest communicative gesture would only trigger him further.

He snapped out of it and was ok for the rest of the day. It was draining for me...because I am scared enough just riding in the car...The situation we were in made it all the worse.

I have been in a slow-melty mood lately because we have had a rough weekend, and there have been lots of emotional triggers that have been affecting me. Last night I think I must have been going around with a scary look on my face because the people who were at my venue participating in the play that was happening seemed scared of me...I couldn;t interract with anyone...and spent a lot of time in my little room...When I was coaxed to emerge, I noticed groups of acquaintances staring at me...no telling what must have been said amongst them....
I go through periods where I find it difficult to monitor how I interact with others. I can be rude to people without being able to stop myself...I sort of relate this to a meltdown because it happens due to stress.

A general feeling of impairment that usually lasts less than an hour but can last half a day. I may become semi-nonverbal or say bad or strange things. The element of anger isn't always present, either. I deal with this by stepping away to recover, and eating something usually helps.

Last edited by sgrannel on 11 Aug 2009, 2:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

when I go into what I think is a meltdown, my skin gets ultra sensitive, I get nauseous, and I feel like I'm going to freak out... like a general feeling of desperation. I have yelled at my kids before I knew what was going on. now that I can tell when I'm going to melt down, I've got strategies, like telling the kids I'm on the edge of a meltdown and I'm going to go be by myself for a little while. if I can do that, I usually feel better within a half hour. if not, and I melt down, I will cry and get very depressed and it takes a few days to recover. I internalize my meltdowns because I've learned bad things will happen to me if I freak out on people, like they'll hit me with their fists, or laugh at me, both of which push me farther over the edge.

Interesting that's good you can get away I need to start doing that after a meltdown I seem tired and drained for the day.

In certain situations, I am able to internalize it so that the meltdown happens after the fact...Like the time I attended a big aspie meeting that took place at this big church across town...The whole act of going outside my comfort zone with people I was unaccustomed to...at this big sterile vibratey florescent-lit building...triggered me...but I was able to hold off till I got home....and then I threw up and cried for several hours.....Ironic....heh.
I am glad I did not have the meltdown at the meeting...but I could feel it coming on...and had to work on staving it off..was not able to keep it from eventually happening....

When I'm in a meltdown, I tend to scream, yell, may slam doors or kick furniture, veyr occasionally bite my hands (used to be more common), etc. Reasoning from others doesn't come in usually.

Fortunately, I've managed to tame my meltdowns into rants. They used to be much worse but nowadays when I am stressed out I rant at others about one thing. It's not yelling or anything like that, it's just talking about one subject, often repeating the same thing over and over about it only wording it differently, trying to understand why it's that way and getting nowhere. The responses I get are; "You've already said that" or "You told us already". Nowadays people don't respond to them. They silently wait them out. Usually they end with me being completely mystified or baffled about something...like why someone would choose to live in a place I don't like. That's a very common rant theme of mine. I say stuff like "Why on earth would someone want to live there. I don't understand how anyone can stand it!" That sort of thing.

I think I've had some mini-meltdowns where something rather insignificant happens and I just get really upset for a few seconds, with a little cursing and yelling. There've been a few times where I've punched a wall or threw something, but those are rare compared to just the yelling and cursing. I'm usually fine afterwards.

However, I had what would likely be considered a major meltdown a couple of months ago where I just got overwhelmed with stress and had to leave work. I ended up spending several minutes in the car yelling, screaming profanities, and then sobbing very heavily. It was very scary for me. Something like that has only happened a few times in my life (that I can remember), twice in the past year (I think). It was the meltdowns that made me decide to get a diagnosis.

I haven't had a meltdown in the presence of another person since I usually try to get away if there is someone there or it hits when I'm alone. On the one hand, this is good since I really don't want anyone to see this; it scares me, so I can't imagine what it would do to someone observing it. On the other hand, it's bad because it tends to reinforce the loneliness and isolation I feel; I've never been comforted by anyone after being upset.

i get VERY tired and tend to want to sleep. Often times i don't want to talk to people, because they want to know what is going on with me, and i almost never understand what it is and can't explain it.

a lot of times what it feels like on the inside is the feeling of trying to scream at the top of your lungs, but no sound whatsoever is coming out.