Describe your shutdowns

Post Reply New Topic

I shutdown when I can't cope with my stimulation. Most of the time it is due to sound our touch. What makes you shutdown. Can people help you. How long do you shutdown for.

I had a slight meltdown today when the lawn-mowing man turned up unannounced. Unexpected noises like lawnmowers and especially weed eaters freak me right out, I just have to shut the noise out but of course my very large dog saw him and started barking like crazy. Situations like that I just block my ears and pace around, when it gets really overwhelming I have to sit somewhere and just rock until the noises go away.

I don't get meltdowns, never really did, even as a child. But I do get shutdowns, mainly when things get to much and i feel overwellmed. It can be things like, unexpected change of ritain, people shouting, crowded places, basically anything that would really upsets me. I start going really quite and then basically complacently zone out, I will just sit and stare and not really be seeing anything, if anyone asked me anything, i just look blank and can't quite focus on what they are saying. If i am really bad i won't even register they are talking to me. It is very odd, and it can be mild where i just go quite and slightly zone out, to compleatly frozen and zoned out. The most a shountdown has lasted for is a few hours, but mainly they last only while i am in the situation and then for the rest of the day i am sup duded but can communicate.

I have received multiple diagnosis between the age of 7-10years old and I am not essentially shore what i have, but the first diagnose i ever received was that of Asperger's syndrome, but every phycilogist/phyciatist i ever sore as a child seemed to think something different. My parents never told me about my different diagnoses, i only found out when i came across a file in my parents loft with all my different reports in. Anyway, I have researched all of them myself and Asperger's explains me really well, it does seem to fit.

Anyway hope that's helpful.

For me, shutdown last until someone or something redirects me. It helps if someone tells me "Okay, Steve, we're going to go out to get Mexican and then come home and have a warm bath" or something... until something happens, I can't eat, sleep, sit, stand still, talk, or anything else... I just walk in circles and either repeat myself continuously or chain smoke.

My daughter has shut downs, and of course I can only report what I think is happening with her. Her shut downs are usually due to overstimulation. Sometimes it is due to sensory overstimulation, sometimes it is due to emotional overstimulation, and sometimes it is because she is in a situation she doesn't understand and she just gets kind of "lost." Depending upon the severity, she either just gets quiet and withdrawn, or she becomes effectively mute and unable to move normally. She looks spaced out. Sometimes she simply puts her head down and goes to sleep. Sometimes she needs to be removed from the situation to end it, but other times if someone guides her physically and shows her what to do (like when she is in an environment that she doesn't understand) she is able to come back once she is "back on track."

It's come to the point where I only shut down if I allow myself to. Usually, after a long, busy, or stressful day, I will spend hours doing my own thing- watching TV, hanging on the computer, that sort of thing. That's when I tend to ignore responsibilities, and pretend they don't exist for a while. I often stay up all night (which I'm doing right now, ha), just to stay in my safe zone.

I used to have meltdowns frequently as a child- my sister, too. It was one of the most difficult parts of childhood. I would cry easily. I would panic if things weren't going the way I wanted them to, if I wasn't performing the task the way the others were, etc. I had these very often probably up until I was about 13, when I finally got them under control (the fact that I was homeschooled probably helped!). I have them rarely now- usually a few times a year, when the stress of life builds.

I quickly shutdown when I'm ignored, laughed at or rejected.

I shut down after I have a melt down. Not all of my melt downs, but the really intense ones cause me to shut down for at least a couple of hours. I typically won't talk much, which is out of my character (when I'm around people I'm comfortable with), and I just stare out into space thinking about the melt down. Eventually I "come back to earth" and slowly start talking again.

Mine can follow meltdowns but can just happen after an overloaded day. I become extremely fatigued and weak, hard to talk at all. Usually get head pressure but not an ache. Usually a good sleep solves the problem, as any further stimulation just leads to irrational thoughts and shouting.

My shutdowns are caused mostly by people, but unpleasant or loud noise does tend to make me withdraw into myself somewhat. It's a way of reducing other forms of input, so I can deal with the over load cause by sound or people.

Although I would prefer to sleep with no sound, I have to use white sound sources--fan and radio static where I live. I live in a trailer park, so I have lots of near neighbors, and there is a school on the other side of my trailer park, too. Although the school is closed for the summer, for the past several years they have been doing construction projects there in the summer, so it gets noisy there even at this time of year. For some reason, lately they have been starting work around 6 am, and at least once even before that. The sun's not even up yet at that hour, and I do believe they are violating an ordinance by starting so early. I think most towns have an ordinance about starting noisy work no earlier than 8 or 9 am on week days.

At least with the white sound from radio static and fans, I can mute the noise enough to sleep, most of the time, but it is definitely not a quiet place to live. Still, it could be worse. It's not a bad neighborhood.

I usually shut down and I'm over-stimulated from multi-tasking or large crowds. I basically just freeze like a deer caught in headlights and just stand there with my mind going blank. It used to happen a lot to me at work. It'll usually happen for a few minutes until I realize I can't keep going this way throughout the day. Sometimes people can help, if they help out in the situation if it happened at work or letting me sit down when it's hot and crowded and getting me a drink.

Mine come from mostly emotional overstimulation. I don't mind being sensory overstimulated, in fact, my ADHD loves it, but add in people, stress, emotions that I don't understand and can't identify... thoughts go fast, too many thoughts, circle thoughts (I think in concepts, verbal and some images) Just last night as I was coming back from a shutdown I kept putting the same puzzle pieces together and saying, they fit, they all fit... over and over. My mind is blank and not thinking thoughts during a shutdown, anyone else? (edited to clarify, no conscious thought, no ego-driven verbal/image)

I would like to call shutdowns, "stuckdowns" because I just get stuck... my brain won't process whatever anymore... just go blank. IT's a nice time to watch a movie I've seen a thousand times or read about nothing on the internet... or play World of Warcraft, I can always play unless I'm punishing myself--like yesterday.

Also there is nothing anyone can do to bring me out or prevent a shutdown... not that I've seen anyway. I'm pretty bad at regulating myself and have never developed strategies to seek aid.

Fortunately I don't have shutdowns/meltdowns very often. I once had what would be a pretty strong meltdown for me, and I felt myself getting more and more annoyed and agressive, along with a strong feeling of helplessness and being overwhelmed, and I ended up lying on the bed for about half an hour with earplugs in and in fetal position...

Otherwise I mostly only have light shutdowns, like when there's a big crowd around me, I will eventually go silent, stare at a fixed point and try to block out everything else.

This is what is usually goin on inside my mind:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqdCFult7MA[/youtube]

my shutdowns happen when i am in a loud environment ive always struggled with loud noises it disorientates me very badly and so i just zone out and this has happened a few times at work to the annoyance of my boss...

usually he realises not to question it and to keep shoving work in front of me and my mind will do it but i never recall actually doing it... for a work per hour efficiency it usually is reasonable but he knows somethings up and pulls me to one side when i get like this and that usually helps .. doesnt physically pull me as i dont like that too much unless i am in a trusting/happy mood.

but yes my shutdowns are most likely sound related.