What the... I suddenly can't speak!! !

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To cut the story short. I went to see my psychiatrist today. He was supposed to put me on sick leave for a while. I'm awaiting AS testing next month and I wanted to take time off until the testing is done so I can rest for a bit and then decide what to do next based on the outcome of the test. I have lots of sick time. I have been very dysfunctional at work and at home for several months now, and very, very fatigued from too much sensory overload and too much work and I'm having suicidal thoughts again. He literally keeps me sedated with meds. But he started spewing some BS, about how difficult it is to give someone time off, he wants to think about it, talk to the other therapist I'm seeing, see me one more time next week, blah, blah, blah. I don't think he's being mean or something, he just doesn't seem to know what to do anymore. He doesn't believe I have AS but he doesn't know what's wrong with me either. I just asked him to let me rest for a while. I'm too tired t look for a another psychiatrist right now, but it looks like I may have to.

So, anyway... I left very upset and disappointed, I was riding my bike home, it's an ugly rainy evening, I started feeling very depressed, started crying, had to watch myself really hard so I don't ride in front of a truck or something to end this misery. At one point I wanted to curse a driver and... nothing came out!! ! I haven't been able to speak since then, about 3 hours now. I can hear in my head what I want to say but my mouth just doesn't move, and it's like my vocal cords are turned off or not getting signals from my brain, I can hum but not say anything. I SMS'd my CBT therapist and he told me to rest, said it might go away after some rest. It's freaking me out!

Has anyone ever experienced something like this?

I haven't thankfully.

But I've read about it before online. I read that this can happen temporarily if a person is in a particularly stressful situation which I can see that you are.

You should have a search, I will too and if I find anything I'll post a link here.


UPDATE: Can't find the exact article I found but heres something that is simmilar to your description...

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Speech-Disor ... -speak.htm

Apparently it's best not to try and speak.

Yeah, I can say "Aaaaaaaa", "Oooooh" and make most other noises, although it seems like a bit of an effort, I just can't vocalize speech.

It kind of feels like something inside me doesn't want me to speak, like something tells me "don't bother" or "being silent is good".

Now I seem to remember too, that people sometimes become mute as result of stressful event, but that's usually like real accidents, death, etc.

Thanks for the link! Yeah, I'm going to bed soon, I have no need to speak anyway so I won't force myself. Let's see what happens tomorrow.

Experienced something almost like this but not as complete lately. I bet it's a response that evolved to keep people from screaming and blowing their cover when an attacker they have no hope of winning against is near. Could be wrong though.

It's a choking feeling. I had a hard time writing anything, in addition.

Goes away after the extreme shock passes... you are in a very stressful situation, I'd say you need to find a new psychiatrist, this one is not helpful to you or even very knowledgeable from the sounds of it. No offense to the fellow but honestly. Or maybe your genera,l practitioner would be able to better understand that you need a sick leave.

I don't talk when I'm upset either. I get flat affect especially with suicidal thoughts. Usually I feel suicidal because I have low self esteem towards my poor cognitive abilities, sometimes it can last from seconds, to minutes, to hours, but rarely days. My boss tries to distract me from those thoughts, which usually works because he's a nice person. I'm surprised how well he picks up on my flat affect though most people don't have a clue what to do when it happens, sometimes they even think I'm doing it because I'm upset with them which is almost never the case. I'm also having trouble getting time off for important things to benefit myself. I don't feel comfortable asking for a lot of time off either because I do function at work decently. It's just the rest of my life is a mess. The only thing that isn't is my job and I'm desperate to keep it that way so getting help with my disabilities has been a slow painful process. I was only DXed a year ago so before that I was even worse off.

I can't speak when I'm very upset. It really sucks.

Thanks for the feedback. So it's not all that unusual and will hopefully pass. I just wonder: since this never happened to me and I have been in worse distress, might this be a signal that my condition (whatever it is) might be worsening?

I stutter when I'm stressed. I've never been unable to speak before, though.

This happens to me from time to time. Usually when under great stress or anxiety. I have the words in my head, but just can't get them out.

It passes.

I lose speech semi-regularly - usually not more than once a week, and not for longer than a day. Sometimes it happens more frequently, and rarely for longer periods. It always happens like that - I start to speak and find I can't. It's definitely a part of my overload and shutdowns.

The first loss of speech is the most hardest one to deal with. I think mine happened the first time I had a seizure. You can have one without have a seizure though. Although the loss of speech and motor functions (Todd's paralysis) from body/brain exhaustion is similar to the loss of speech due to exhaustion from stress. Was your movement a bit slower too? I've had that and I think loss of speech too. I haven't talked to anybody since it happened. Now that I checked my speech is very faint. I had a shutdown and a bit of seizure jerking.

I lose speech over sensory overload especially in public places and from severe stress.

If it happens over a period of time, not just every now and then, your symptoms can get worse. It's called regression. Unfortunately, doctors don't believe autism/AS symptoms can get worse. I've been meaning to write something about this to get my doctor to understand but I'm waiting until I fully recover from my last one. Something tells me that I won't and may have even had a third one.

You're probably in some pretty bad overload... Get some rest; let it go away on its own.

There's a trick I've used a few times successfully to get started speaking again--"write" a sentence in my head, and then "read" it off my mental screen. If you can type, then it's easier to read aloud what you type than it is to make up the words on the spot; and if you can do that, then you can probably write the words mentally.

But like I said, it sounds like your brain's just overloaded right now. Give it some time; don't push it for now, not until you've had a night's rest and a good meal.

BTW--if you have any symptoms other than just the loss of speech, I suggest contacting your doctor (you would have to get a friend to call, obviously). Things like epilepsy are somewhat common on the Spectrum, and you'd want to rule those out.

It has happened to me, too, I agree with others, it's not anything to freak out about. Last time it happened to me , I think my aunt (a very classy, nosey, uncomfortable to be around person) was asking me "why" I was not working and "what I intended to do about the situation".... It was just me and her, face to face, noone else, so my silence was very noticeable..... It felt weird, I didn't freak out, I was concerned a bit that she would think I was being very rude, just facing her and not answering...
But I experienced it just as you did, like my brain was holding my arms behind my back to keep me from fighting, and it turned into a hug...It was sort of peaceful and comforting.....I didn't freak out because it didn't last very long, maybe an hour, and by then she was gone (she speaks so much she was happy with nodding and smiling after that).