Think this is an extremely minor shutdown?

Post Reply New Topic

Like with many people on the spectrum, I'm really bad at multitasking. One thing I've noticed recently is that, when I'm forced to do it at high speed, when I'm forced to keep track of many things at the same time and constantly switch between them in quick order, get dizzy and feel lightheaded.

The specific situation I'm thinking of right now is that I just just finished playing a game of Heroes of the Storm, and when there's a teamfight, I'm suddenly required to keep track of where 10 different players are, plus keep track of 4 different abilities of my own, and quickly react to changes in these different things. I do this badly, and besides that, as I mentioned above, it makes me dizzy and lightheaded. This isn't the first time it's happened; this happens to me nearly every time I play the game.

The feeling passes a few minutes after the game is over, so clearly it's not too severe. But what do people think? Is this a minor shutdown due to having to do more multitasking than my executive processing can handle?

I’ve had this sort of thing happen to me with some frequency.

It’s s shutdown because you are oblivious to your surroundings for the moment.

Even just switching from one task to another can leave me a bewildered sometimes - kind of like a computer needing to wait for some applications to shut down and other ones to load up before I can continue. If someone interrupts me when I'm in the middle of doing something, I very often jump out of my skin and then just dreamily look straight through them for a few seconds, completely unable to comprehend what they're saying. Verbal communication is loading, please wait... [Warning: Unsaved data from previously open tasks may not be recoverable.]

someone mentioned getting dizzy. Lately (for the past 2 weeks) I've been getting dizzy. Is that an autistic thing? Like a sort of shutdown?

It could be. The symptom of being dizzy seems unusual for a shutdown, but if the reason is overstimulation, I suppose it must be that. Sometimes I have very mild shutdowns too, but they are different: they often happen when I go to the shopping mall or the supermarket with my mother. The uncertainty and unpredictability of the outing (as I never know where we're going next when we go together) makes me feel extremely tired and start yawning. I also stop thinking; I just follow her around, looking at everything but without really seeing it. It always go away within minutes of getting back home.

Mental multitasking. Tracking and taking account of several things at the same time, while mentally moving around it.

It happens to me if switching gears gets jarring or done wrong, having too many things to account for or if things are too fast and confusing -- not knowing when or where to start, or sudden break-off from focus by any means. Or end up with something unexpecting, something more severe than sudden changes.


Maybe said minor shutdown is like a more nuisance version of refresh button? It happens to me more than half the time.
Only difference is that I could recover from it, and dizziness seem to be a strong word for said symptom... More like something within is scribbling and scrambling (I don't know now to describe it well) itself, blindly trying to find a lead where to start.
It's something else. It's something akin to confusion and uncertainty that likely causes dizziness.
Said dizziness is like the same sensation from having too many choices to choose from, not knowing which to pick, and it had to be urgent. Or at least that's how I felt like.

Gained Number Post Count (1).
Lose Time (n).

Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.

I think dizzy was probably the wrong word. Lightheaded is more like it, almost as if I have low blood sugar (and no, I don't have diabetes).