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Sublyme
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: Apr 24, 2008
Age: 27
Posts: 195
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 Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:32 am Post subject: Meltdowns |
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I need to find a different way to control these. I had one yesterday out of the blue, for no real reason. I was doing really well for a while too. I hadn't had a bad one in about a month.
I can't stop one once it starts. It begins with something happening to my vision. It kinda gets blurry and it feels like my eyes kinda jump up and down in my head. Then I hear a ringing in my ears. That lasts about a fraction of a second, then I just snap. If I don't stop it I will yell, scream, throw something or break something, or possibly hurt someone else, then sit quietly rocking and be non-verbal for the rest of the day. Not really appropriate behavior at work. I have a way of stopping them that isn't exactly healthy...self injury. Physical pain is one way of sort of overriding whatever process is going on in my head during one of my tantrums....it's like the endorphins just bring the tantrum to a halt or something.
Well I can't very well go on injuring myself at work. I do it anyway, and I know other people have seen me do it. I think I scare my coworkers.
So I need to obviously find a way to better deal with stress, louse noises, flickering lights, etc, without freaking out my coworkers.
Any ideas?
What do you guys do?
Last edited by Sublyme on Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:02 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
Phoenix
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Joined: Jun 19, 2008
Posts: 1762
Location: US, midmap
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:52 am Post subject: |
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I hate it when these happen though I haven't, thankfully, had one in ages.
What I did was limit my contact with people, that helped a lot. It's not an option for most, probably, but it was the one thing I did that stopped the meltdowns. |
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Grimfaire
Deinonychus
Joined: Aug 06, 2007
Age: 38
Posts: 346
Location: Michigan
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:07 am Post subject: |
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When I feel one coming on I normally put my headphones on and go for a nice long walk away from everything. Of course this only works with the short ones... I've had ones that pretty much made me non-reactive for a week... ugh
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When in trouble or in doubt; run in circles scream and shout. |
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Rislaja
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Jun 14, 2008
Age: 18
Posts: 27
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:14 am Post subject: |
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When I go into meltdown, I don't really get violent except towards myself (I do the self-injury thing too; I usually bite my arm) and anyone who's too close to me or is causing noise. My primary goal is to escape from what's causing it so I can go recover; when I can't get out of a situation, I go into what I call lockdown mode; I sit and stare for a while. Sometimes I recover; this is fortunately what happened when I went into meltdown during a final exam. I sat there and stared at my paper for an hour and barely managed to finish the test on time.
Sensory overload (and thus meltdowns) has been happening to me a lot recently (two or three times a day); sometimes it comes from nowhere, but it's often triggered by sensory stimuli, particularly sound and a bit less commonly touch (the only reason the latter is less common is that it's easier to avoid being touched).
When I was a little kid it would happen to me quite a bit as well, and I reacted much more dramatically than I do now. I guess I've got lots of experience dealing with it. |
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KingdomOfRats
Phoenix
Joined: Nov 01, 2005
Age: 24
Posts: 2675
Location: Manchester
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:57 pm Post subject: |
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medication.
if are interested in this,am recommend trying a medication like tegretol or tegretol retard [the slow release type,which doesnt give the same rush or bad side effects] as on a high dose these have helped am for years.
another good drug for meltdowns is propranalol[?],a beta blocker, for am this one shortens the length and some strength of meltdowns.
there is one drug am was recommended on another forum for being a sensory dampner-called prega something--it's the slow release version of gabapentin [have had that one before and its like having a permenant stroke].
medications are worth thinking about trying because it is affecting quality of life which is a good reason to let meds help.
also-try a pair of ear defenders and use a pair of ear plugs underneath-there are many different types of earplugs, with different materials.
it sounds like do not have control over what is happening,so are not having tantrums,it isnt being fair on self to say they are tantrums as tantrums are used to manipulate and are more controlled.
unlike tantrums,meltdowns can show abormally on EEG tests,am have had two days worth of severe meltdowns under EEG,and the results showed the right mid anterior temporal part of the brain is abnormal during/after? meltdowns [that part controls things such as hearing perception,speech and other stuff,so if find that after a meltdown noise/sound is a lot more louder than before the meltdown,are non verbal or speech impaired after a meltdown etc,it could be that are affected in the same part of the brain as well].
Have an EEG done to make sure there is nothing seizure related going on,as these can be triggered in meltdown and they can also cause the same symptoms,it will record what part of the brain is being affected/or is causing the meltdown? as well.
Am both pt non verbal,and speech impaired,but meltdowns have always finished it off [ft non verbal] and can leave am with no sounds at all for days,so was good to finally have some proof that there is a physical cause/effect to meltdowns.
as for eyes being blurry,it sounds like sensory scrambling,one sense is being overloaded but it gets mixed up through another sense.
am see like that all of the time,but on different levels.
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["Even through the darkest days, this fire burns...always"-Killswitch Engage]
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ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
Phoenix
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Joined: Jun 19, 2008
Posts: 1762
Location: US, midmap
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:10 pm Post subject: |
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I don't mean to imply they are tools of manipulation by calling them tantrums. To me they are like tantrums and they are in response to many kinds of stress, not just loud noise or bright lights...any kind of stress, even dealing with people.
I didn't know about the medication though. |
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Sublyme
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: Apr 24, 2008
Age: 27
Posts: 195
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:28 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, you are right, these aren't really tantrums. I can't just have one when I want to get my way. Really I wish they didn't happen ever. I don't have much control over them, only to avoid my triggers the best I can. I do wear earplugs, but I guess I should invest in a pair of earmuffs too.
I've taken gabapentin before for seizures brought on by an antipsychotic called Seroquel. The seizures I had before were way more visual/sensory and made me feel sick. The neurontin one make me kinda slow if I remember. I couldn't talk right on it. I haven't tried tegretol yet. That could also help as a mood stabilizer for the bipolar thing I have. I didn't know anticonvulsants could help prevent meltdowns, the one's I've taken so far haven't helped much.
I'm not sure I want to do the medication thing again, but really these meltdowns are going to ruin my career. I can't very well go on banging my head on my desk all day long when I get frustrated or ripping out clumps of hair when I get mad. That's no more professional than it is to be screaming and yelling and throwing things. The further I advance in my career, the more social interaction and day to day stress I'm going to face, so I can only see these getting worse.
about my eyes jumping and being blurry and my ears ringing before a meltdown...that wouldn't be the first time my senses got mixed up. I have synesthesia. Maybe I can see and hear anger during a meltdown....that would be weird. Usually I just see red nines, and fuzzy yellow twos, and green A's and whatnot, if that's not weird enough. |
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Sublyme
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: Apr 24, 2008
Age: 27
Posts: 195
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:29 pm Post subject: |
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| ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote: | I don't mean to imply they are tools of manipulation by calling them tantrums. To me they are like tantrums and they are in response to many kinds of stress, not just loud noise or bright lights...any kind of stress, even dealing with people.
I didn't know about the medication though. |
Yeah mine occur from other stress too, not just sensory overload. Dealing with people is a big one. |
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