I get the shakes when people really listen. Anyone else?

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Every now and then I'll be talking with someone about a special interest of mine and they realy, eagerly and intently listen. I have their full sincere and openminded attention, I'm talking they are really listening and then... I get this sort of overwhelming rush. I start to sweat cold, I get butterflies in the stomach, my body starts to shake on the inside and I start loose the ability to speak... Its actually very pleasant, almost orgasmic, but its also overwhelming and incapacitating... for a few seconds anyway. I wish I could still talk when this rush happens and just maintain the 'high'.

It used to happen quite frequently, especially if I was talking to a girl or woman that was exceptionally attractive or talented in some way. In high school, this was one of the main reasons I was called "The Spaz" - I would "Spaz out" and get the shakes whenever a pretty girl would talk to me.

It has occurred progressively less often as I've grown older.

Yup - I get like that, too. Pretty much exactly the same.

Same here

I sometimes cry few tears even....

Not really. WHen I rabbit on I tend not to take too much notice, not that I could tell anyhow. If anyone lets me know the same by telling me they want to hear more I tend to go blank and get confused for a few seconds. After that I get self-conscious and stop talking. It's really quite frustrating. I spent my whole life learning that people only speak up to tell me to shut up, anyhow... don't want to hijack your thread too much...

I get the shakes (as if I am freezing and shivering uncontrollably) when I am talking passionately about something. I then start to lose what I am saying and can't catch it back. I also get the head shakes when I have to sit still for a hair cut. When it comes on I have to try to relax and think about something else.
Weird mob aren't we

I might be prone to start crying or something...this mainly applies to people i don't feel very comfortable around.
I had a problem with this more so a few years ago, when I wasn't so stable. If anyone asked me how I was doing in such a way that they actually meant it...then I might start crying...Or if I ever talked about anything about myself...same thing...I would get overwhelmed and burst into tears. Very embarrassing....I was especially vulnerable at job interviews and such.

These days, I tend to keep a comfortable fidgety distance from people who might bring this out of me.

Kind of. If somebody I don't know well pays me too much attention while I'm explaining something, I start to feel uncomfortable, and it's harder to keep my talkng coherent. I'm so used to feeling that nobody's interested in what I have to say that it comes as quite a shock.......weird....I spend most of my life craving attention, and then when I get it, I don't know what to do with it

I think I'm happier when the listener doesn't look at me, but just relaxes and gazes into a corner or closes their eyes.

This is a very interesting post. I had mentioned to my therapist how awkward it was to try to open up with people. He said that it was because I was letting out my inner-self/emotions so therefore I felt like I was allowing people to see inside me. I think that might be the same with the talking about interests when people are listening. Since interests are a big part of us with autism, then it would seem like we are opening ourselves up. I have had this kind of reaction too. I have gotten a bit shaky/dry mouth/nervous sounding/out of body feel, etc. whenever I am talking about an interest to someone when they are listening.

Thankfully, I am a bit of a clown at home and so nobody takes me too seriously.

In fact, I don't think most people are really too aware of me at all, makes for a peaceful and less stressful life and I always make sure I don't get too involved with groups or anything, its too stressful.

Wow! What a great bunch of replies. I hope more people post.

I have this theory. I think there is a social positive feelback loop in the brain and that for people on the spectrum its sort of broken - i.e. some how jamned open. For NTs the circuit works and serves to reinforce good social behavior. That is, it closes and gives pleasure to the NT reinforcing acceptable social behavior. This circuit opens and closes all the time for the NT whenever he is in social interaction, giving him contiunous little social highs, to the point that this is his normal state and he doesn't notice the high (untill its not there). For the aspie/autie, the ciruit is almost never closed and he never gets his pleasure center stimulated in this way. But occasionaly, it does and its overwhelming. We are like the guy that never drinks, who takes a shot of whiskey. One shot of whiskey to an alcoholic is nothing, but to a non-drinker, it can give him quite a buzz.

So, aspies are like the guy who only drinks to celebrate a special occasion, and for us the occasion is having our special interest intently listend to. It would seem that our normal channels for closing the cicuit are blocked but the circuit can be closed through out special interests. Or could it be that NTs are just extreemly high funtioning aspie/auties who ALL have a special interest in socialization? It makes me wonder....

So now, what happens if we turn things around and take the bottle away from the alcoholic, that is, what happens if the NT is denied his social high through disaproval and he is ostracized? Like the alcoholic, the NT will lose his nut and will be willing to do anything to get his high back. The NT will desperatey seek to make amends so that society will give him the strokes he needs to get back to his usual state of "social high". If this is true, I feel sorry for NTs, they are social junkies one and all, ready to give up any and all individual thought and feeling in order to get their fix.

Please note that I am theorizing about only one pseudo-mechanism to explain one aspect of our mutual condition. The differences that people on the spectrum have from the general NT population are more than one social positive feedback cuitcuit can explain.

Hey solinoure. It was a great thread to read. It really got me thinking about my own reply and introspecting what goes on in those situations. For me it is definitely a "learned" reaction to shut down. I've had very few positive reactions to my monologues. So I rarely get overwhelmed by people interested by what I have to say. Food for thought though.

To get into your latest post though... I know you are theorising only one "feedback circuit" but it is a much more gestalt experience for the NT. From what research I have come across is such actions as meeting people and the discovery of and examing of something as simple as other peoples faces is a pleasurable experience for the average human being. I was first alerted to this phenomenon when watching a Dr. Temple Grandin video where she described a brain test where she was shown a music video. Her brain scans were shown to be different. The explanation was that while she looked at the cars in the video's the NT's studied tended to look at the people in the video. And whole areas of the brain light up for the NT's during this process.

Now I can only guess at the repercussions of such activity not being NT myself. But I would surmise that (and from experience studying most evolutionary adapations) such activities must some how be pleasurable at a base level for the NT. Much as finding out the cars used would be pleasurable or interesting for Dr. Grandin. Now I am no neuroscientist so I will refrain from making further comments, but as much as the "single circuit" idea might be valid I would suggest it is no more than a single cog in the complex machine.

All that said, I definitely have some introspection to perform about my own mind state during known positive enforcement of my monologuing.

i do too.
my voice shakes.