Does there have to be a reason?

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I'm encountering a frustrating situation. And I have a question.
For a few days I have been going sideways, and I can tell it's happening. Nightmares, feeling of horror / dread for no reason, encountering inertia going outdoors or doing anything productive, everything is splintering up into composite parts and fragments, not making sense as a cohesive whole, and I'm spacing out, distancing, feeling removed from it all like it's all noise and movement around me and none of it makes sense.
Time is slipping, I'm freaked out I'm losing the thread of reality as we know it.

I don't want to engage with people - there have been people knocking at my door and I just freeze and make no sound until they go away. I am focusing on small things such as a friendly cat in the path, everything about that in vivid detail, and everything else is a blur.
No eye contact whatsoever is possible, I don't even look at their faces, so people are a confusing, disjointed mishmash of their clothes, their voices, the gestures of their hands, their feet moving.
I'm almost nonverbal - I can speak still, but it is extremely difficult and comes out all disjointed and my speech issues are making my voice screw up and I can't control it properly. People today have been looking at me like they're afraid something is wrong with me.

I understand that at times, this is just made worse by isolation. I will continue to shut down until I can't communicate or comprehend anymore. I sometimes need to come out of it, to be out there and a part of life to pull me out. I tried going out to at least be on the periphery of life to try and ease up, but something about me must have looked all wrong because people were asking me what was wrong with me, and that certainly didn't help as I had to explain it's an autism "thing."
My frustration is there is seemingly no reason for this. I have not been stressed, nothing bad has happened to me. The only thing different is that I have a cold / flu that is making me feel a bit unwell physically, but it's really just a minor, fleeting illness, which should be gone in a week or two. No reason for autistic freakout, in my estimation.

I'm not sure what to do about it. I have things to do, I can't just stay inside all day and even if I could, as I said that may just make things worse if I am isolated and shut up inside, and I will end up disappearing into self obsession and introspection and craziness.
Anyone else encountered something like this and want to tell me what the hell is going on? Does there have to be a reason, some trigger, for this sort of episode?
It really frustrates me because I am trying to get back into the workforce, and things like this happening make me doubt my ability to function. I can't just shut down and suddenly be unable to talk at a job.
I hear people say you just have to "get over it," that you may not be feeling the best but you just have to push through it as if it isn't happening and get on with things. Usually I believe autistics should be able to do this, too, at least to some degree, and are not completely at the mercy of things like this. But I find I can't fix it by just an effort of will.
What the ?

I wish the smell of your favorite food could attract you to the outdoors,

Like the smell of perfume attracted Bugs Bunny to his lady friend.

Do you have a family member who could help out? Bring you a cooked meal, go to an appointment with you? Or perhaps a good friend who knows your issues?

Sounds like depression and anxiety in many ways. Have you seen your Dr to discuss how you've been feeling?

What you wrote describes what I consider 'normal'. I don't know what it's like to not feel that way. It sounds like maybe a bit of dissociation, and inability to resist the urge to retreat into your own little world.

I have to fight this as well, just to make sure I remember to eat, and sleep, and shower and such. Sometimes it's really a struggle. Wish I had more useful advice but the only thing that works for me is to set small goals, and make baby steps toward being more functional, rather than expecting yourself to miraculously NOT have these problems.

I hope things get better for you - it takes a lot of courage to get back into the workforce, and I admire you for that!

^ I suppose we just have to wait until it passes? I tend to want to "fix" things all the time, instead of just let what's going to happen happen. It's functioning, though, my primal problem. Sometimes I can function - but then I have to be mindful of over-functioning leading to burnout disaster where I go completely nonfunctional and disappear into a special interest sometimes for months. Other times, like the above, is my experience of nonfunction. Just utter cognitive misstep, where everything warps and my brain won't work. I don't like it.

Nope. I dont have friends and I am very particular about not accepting help from family, because in the past, they have only used it to manipulate and demand things from me. If someone is helping me, I'm wondering what they want, how they're using it to trap and powerplay me, when they're going to 'play the card' so to speak. I understand this is probably not a good way to be, and I'm slowly understanding that not everyone wants to screw me, but lifelong conditioning takes time.


While I'm not a reliable authority on this as I'm alexithymic in a lot of ways, I don't actually feel anxious, or depressed. Just disjointed, disconnected, distorted, like my brain just won't work. That's why I interpret it as an autism thing - it's like a broken limb that doesn't hurt. It just won't function, and I can't make it work, and I don't understand why.
Depression and anxiety - they will often just medicate that and I'm not willing to do this. I'm aware there are therapies, but they rely on a comprehension and acceptance of feelings. Not exactly my natural milieu.
I was wondering if this is a common autism experience and how others have adapted to handle it.

Have you seen a doctor? With such a dramatic change happening with no obvious trigger, one thing you should consider is whether you're having some kind of physical health problem.

I have hypoglycemia and I find when I miss meals I'll start feeling really depressed and overloaded for no apparent reason. I also have asthma and it can make me feel anxious for no apparent reason, just because I'm a little bit short of breath.

Health problems can have a surprisingly dramatic effect on your mood and mental functioning.

Fevers can make you feel really spacey like that - and also cold medicine (which gives me hallucinations). Maybe that's what's going on? I can't tell when I have a fever either, due to alexithymia.