MELTDOWN

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Can you explain what a meltdown for you would be like

What might cause it?

Are you more likely to meltdown or shutdown

My answers

I cry inconsolably for hours and find every posible way to hurt myself and their is usually a word replaying in my head like "stupid, ret*d or somthing like that and before it starts I usually do my best to get away from the crowd like locking my self in a room or bathroom

Causes- usually me telling someone to stop doing somthing and they continue( that would cause me to flip out and curse and throw things)

Or someone saying somthing nasty to me or allowing myself to be taken advantage of or school work


I shut down after a meltdown....or I shutdown because of sensory issues

What about you

My meltdowns have mostly converted themselves to shut downs. What causes the shut down is being around certain people. I just get really quiet and do not interact.
When I melted down years ago, it consisted of crying to the point of hyperventilating. They were triggered by having to be around people for eight hours a day but those have stopped.

It depends on the situation. I might cry and not be able to speak or I might just shut down completely and stay very still and quiet. Sometimes I rock and sometimes I lay on the floor. If I get into a real panic I sometimes hit myself (my arms and legs, not my face) but that doesn't happen very often. These days I can usually find a way of extricating myself from a situation I can't cope with. Things that cause me to meltdown is worrying about work, stressful social situations I can't cope with or extreme sensory overload (if there were roadworks and drilling outside my house for example) or if someone shouts at me.

I've had both meltdowns and shutdowns. Meltdowns involve fights with relatives, crying, yelling, occasionally, but not often, throwing things, pounding something, etc. Shutdowns involve not talking much to people, seeking a quiet place, with few or no people around, not socializing, etc.

The causes are stress and sensory issues. Although I am not as hypersensitive as others on the spectrum, loud noises, and some specific types of noises can occasionally stress me out. Other stress triggers are when things go wrong, and even worse problems with other people, usually, but not always relatives.

Because I am an introverted, hermit type of person I am in a perpetual state of semi shut down, but can deal with people in this in between state. I do sometimes have bigger, more intense shut downs. I have not had a real meltdown in years, but that is because I now live alone. I've had a few partial meltdowns when the computer was acting up, and once while under the influence of an opioid pain killer I was taking to deal with a shingles outbreak. I was able to tell the difference between my natural upsets, and the one caused by the pain med. It wasn't doing a good job on the pain, it was making me drowsy and woozy, and had me staggering about the place, at risk of a fall. That bothered me, and the emotional upsets it was causing me bothered me even more. The negatives were outweighing the positives on this drug, so I took myself off it as soon as I could handle the pain on my own. I even had to go through a week or two of emotional withdrawal symptoms! I had to take a related pain med for a while after cancer surgery. I got similar side effects, with no pain relief at all, and only kept taking it for a while because at least it helped me to sleep through the pain part of the time. Again, I took myself off of that one as soon as I could handle the pain on my own. Man, I hate drugs!

My coping methods to avoid meltdowns and full shut downs is mainly, to avoid people. It works for me. I find I am better able to handle being with people on an occasional basis, knowing that I will be able to go to my hermit home later.

Some of my calming methods are to listen to music, mess around in my daydream universes, read, go on the internet, and do other stuff to keep myself occupied and distracted. I would have added watch TV, but my very old TV is--GASP--dead. I will be replacing it soon. I don't have cable or satellite service, and the mountains blocked all the broadcast signals, so I was just watching DVDs and videos, anyway. I'm hoping a brand new set may be able to get a few broadcast signals, and I will buy an indoor antenna, too, to increase the chance of getting broadcast signals. When I upgrade from dial-up to cable I-net, I will buy a Roku, so I can get I-net TV without having to also pay for cable TV. Unfortunately, my other health problems, and my Executive Function Disorder have been keeping me from cleaning the place up enough to have service people over, so the upgrade is on hold for a while.

I think we each need to find our own coping methods, but keeping occupied and distracted is definitely a big part of it.

I don't think I have meltdowns. When I have my moments, I act a lot like Stephen Quire (famous tantrum-prone boy on Youtube). I swear, argue, scream, shout, insult, and upset the whole household. I cry aswell. The only thing I don't do is break objects. I leave objects out of it. The only thing I have broken before is my door by kicking it really hard with shoes on - I've made big dents in my door by doing that.

I have never had an angry moment where I've gone non-verbal. I go VERY verbal when I'm having a shut down (I think that's what it is, or you could call mine ''outbursts'' or ''tantrums''). Whilst having one of these, I give myself a pounding headache from my anger causing the blood to rush around my body really fast.

Either way I hate them, but I can't control them at the time.

Sensory issues don't set me off. If I do get angry from a loud sudden noise, I put my hand on the ear that hurt the most and yell, ''ooowwww!! !'' Or if I happen to be under the smoke alarm and it went off (due to dinner causing oven to smoke a bit), I just yell at whoever's cooking, ''shut the door next time!'' or be sarcastic like, ''can you set that off again? - I can still hear out of my other ear!! !''
Usually what triggers of my outbursts are people pushing the ''wrong buttons'' with me, like saying things that usually get me mad. Or I have outbursts when news is told to me that reminds me how anti-social and isolated I am, like my cousin having a girlfriend or something. I can't seem to cope with the fact that all my cousins are normal and I'm not, so sometimes being reminded of that awful fact sends me into an outburst.

Full-on meltdowns for me are quite rare, but I do have them from time to time. For me, they're fairly short, but they usually involve me storming out of the room, throwing or beating on stuff, and sometimes sobbing. I'll often go non-verbal for a time. My outbursts are sometimes preceded or followed by shutdowns. Shutdowns for me are far more common than meltdowns--I become non-social, avoid talking to people (sometimes I become completely non-verbal during a shutdown), and often hide away in my bedroom. Sometimes I'll pace around the room. Shutdowns usually last hours for me.