Suddenly, I cannot talk

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Weird.

I had a shutdown earlier today....but was able to stave off completely freezing like I have in the past. I went to bed and laid down before class, but by the time the shutdown wore off, my voice was gone.

Totally gone.

I can't talk. Can't get the words out. I can hum, laugh, whisper, even sing a tiny bit, but when I open my mouth to say something, it's like I can't get my voice to work.

I'm not anxious anymore. In fact, I'm weirdly calm.

Has anyone had this happen? I've seen threads before, but I'm posting anyway. Maybe it's because I can't say anything.

It once happened to me in a very shocking situation with a shut down were I couldn't move.
So, even when I could move again after hours, I couldn't talk anymore.

It took me one to two weeks to be able to talk again. It's maybe a year ago.

It has never happened to me.

Never happened to me. I'm sure a lot of people wish it had though.

Yeah.

It'll come back.

This happens to me frequently. It usually happens when I try to stave off complete freezing, and I still lose my voice after (or sometimes before) I lay down. My shutdowns also tend to dampen my emotions even more than is typical. Sometimes it happens even though I didn't try to stave anything off, but the more work I put into trying to hold off a shutdown, the more skills I lose - not just speech, but also reading, writing, the ability to interpret sounds, the ability to interpret vision. It varies depending on how much overload or stress I've been dealing with in the recent past.

When I lose speech I am sometimes able to whisper, can hum, can laugh, and can sing.

It has happened to me before. In fact, going mute is definitely required for me to use the term shutdown. Brief catatonia also has accompanied this. Been many decades since a full episode like this, but I do not think I am totally out of the woods on this. However, I know what causes this, or triggers it I should say, which is being/feeling trapped. Or already in Melt-down when further stress is applied.
Usually able to start moving before I regain speech.
I also lost speech & identity in 2000 because of a high fever.

Sincerely,
Matthew

I do that when I'm scared or stressed. My ability to talk can vanish for days. A while ago I was almost hit by a truck and I was literally thrown out of the way. I couldn't talk for a few days afterwards before it came back.

I forgot to add that I usually get speech back within 4-6 hours. The longest I've gone recently is a full week (last summer) but I've had a day or more several times.

It's always temporary, so far.

Gone for around a few hours at most. Tends to hover around that most times too for me.

Always overwhelmed (too many tasks for me to do, unplanned activities, and such) is the cause.

Sometimes wonder if those who're nonverbal are perpetually caught up in this overwhelmed state (if they can type and whatnot and understand what others are saying -- would be interesting to see if those who're severely nonverbal, i.e., poor expressive and receptive, never learnt in the beginning due to this very reason, as too many people with an ASD report the things we're experiencing in this thread).

If I am quiet for a while, shutdown or some other reason, I find it hard to start talking again, even if I feel calm and not anxious..

Once several years ago when the kids were being noisy, my daughter made a bet that they couldn't keep quiet for an hour. they agreed to it only if my daughter and I did it also.

When the hour was up, I couldn't start talking again. I was very calm, but it was like something wasn't connecting in my brain. After a while, my granddaughter started really freaking out. She wrote "TALK" on my bedroom door with a marker. It took a couple of hours before I could talk again.

It was very weird. It didn't happen because of any kind of stress, I voluntarily stopped talking because of a game and then couldn't get my voice back again.

I can't explain it. Maybe it has something to do with executive function. If I am around crowd of people who are all talking I loose my voice also. Once I was in a self defence class and the instructor wanted everybody to yell "no" all at once, I guess to teach us to be assertive or something. I could do nothing but stand there, I couldn't yell with the rest of the class. Also I became very stressed because of the yelling. I never went back to that class.

Yes, this happens to me. It's so calm and peaceful. I have a love/hate relationship with this issue. I think maybe I like it so much that I have trouble willing myself to enter the realm of the speaking again. If it didn't freak my husband and children out so thoroughly when it happened, I don't know that I would have the willpower to speak again. It usually lasts for like an hour, but it can go on for most of a day at most. But, when I'm like that...even if I'm really upset and really desperate to communicate something to someone...I CANT. It can be terrifying. I can't think of words to say, mostly....but even if I can think of the words, I can't think of how to speak them. My mouth moves. I breath out. My vocal cords just don't do anything, like they've gone numb.

I actually experience this sort of thing, too. I normally don't go completely mute in that sort of situation, but if I don't speak for an extended period of time—say, several hours—I find it difficult to start talking again. It's almost like my brain needs to ease back into it or something.

Yeah.

You're probably pretty tired even though you're calm. Get some rest, let your brain recover.

Reading out loud can help to jog your speaking ability once you're ready to get back on it. For me, it usually happens within minutes, or at most hours; some autistics lose speech for days at a time. It'll be easier at first to answer direct yes/no questions. Talking to a pet may also be easier to do. Or you may just wake up in the morning, refreshed, and have no problem starting up again.

You obviously haven't lost the ability to write, though, so you're not in any danger here. Just give yourself some time.

Mention this to a speech therapist or counselor next time you go to see them, just in case it's important. Also tell them if it lasts longer than a few hours, since this is the first time it's happened to you (that you can recall--it probably happened when you were a little kid, when you were still learning how to communicate).

lol
happened to me on very few occasions, but only for a few minutes. i just couldnt bring myself to talk and was in some kind of trance while talking to someone, because suddenly i had this feeling like i cant understand what he's saying, and i couldnt say anything either. it's hard to explain. i'm so glad it almost never happens and when it does it's only for a few minutes. it's confusing and frustrating.