Frequency of shutdowns/meltdowns?

Post Reply New Topic

Hi. I was wondering how often do you have these episodes? My friend sometimes doesn't make sense or there is no response at times to text messages. But later that day or the next day, he starts texting a lot again. There seems to be disconnect when he is trying to communicate with me. Thanks for any input!

None I think. I keep on reading posts about meltdowns but I don't think I've ever had one. What are they anyway? Is it like being catatonic or more like going into a rage? I'm pretty calm when I'm around people. I don't go into rages I just bottle up my emotions. I'd rather strangers hear them then people I actually know. When I'm around actual people I vary outwardly from Spock to upbeat no matter what calamity is going on in my head.

No response suggests busy or time alone needed. Confusing text might suggest that something is wrong and he is not sure if he wants to communicate. I wouldn't be too pushy with this friend for doing this. When this friend is ready to talk, it is very evident.

Too often. Stress/nervousness/uncertainty causes me to shut down and be a bit distant to people I'm with, even if they're being friendly and pleasant, but later on when I've recovered and I try to make contact, they've moved on.

Often when multiple issues are coming up at the same time. They've gotten better with time, and especially since I have someone with me that can relate.

At the moment, daily, usually when I'm back at home after a work-day that has driven me apeshit crazy due to the people I've had to deal with, and even some of my recreational time being constantly ruined now by intrusive people.

I too am needing much, much more alone-time just to recover from or prevent future ones. I always did need it but it's worse lately.

If someone in your life with an autism spectrum disorder seems to drop out of contact for a while, it's likely just them needing time away from everything and everyone just to keep functioning.

Back during a time when I had more areas of my life under my own control and a lot more was "on my terms" rather than on everyone else's, I was much better, with meltdowns and shutdowns much more rare. I still experienced agitated after-effects of too much socializing, but I seemed much better able to cope, manage, handle, recharge my batteries faster, etc. than I can now.

Getting older and having some life crises that caused me catastrophic stress has made my adverse effects worse than they used to be. That was partly what began to cause me to face up to what I'm dealing with at the root cause.

.

Thanks for taking the time to answer. I know the job has become more stressful lately so I try not to contact on those days. I can tell they want to talk but the contexts in the text itself has a tendency to not make sense. So I was curious. Thanks again for your time and input

As a child I used to have both meltdowns and shutdowns often, but meltdowns occurred a little more than the shutdowns.
Now I seldom experience shoutdowns, and meltdowns occur more often (but not as much as they used to when I was a child).

I been like that a lot with friends when I was in a bad mood, busy or dealing with stuff but sense this is the L&D forum I'll assume your talking more of a romantic type friend. I'm different than the stereotypical Aspie in a relationship in some ways like desiring more closeness, affection & being more clingy & needy. My last girlfriend who was an Aspie had lots of shutdowns with me & I had a hard time dealing with them & when we broke up she didn't want another relationship because she liked having her own space more. The girlfriend I have now is more mild on the AS spectrum(may not qualify for a diagnoses of Aspergers but has some traits) & she has them sometimes as well but not as often but she's dealing with some emotional issues like depression & anxiety & is also pretty busy at times. I have them sometimes too but it's mostly when I'm doing something or if we're apart physically & are communicating by texting or email; when she's not around I tend to use that time to do my own thing or things I should do so I'm kind of busy in a way; even if I'm just daydreaming it's me using the time we're apart for me to take care of myself. Before we moved in together we were long-distance(my last girlfriend & the one I had before her were long distance as well) & communicated with her(as well as my exes) interfered with some of my other activities but I have OCD & felt a need to obsessively communicate(I'm on a med for OCD & my OCD in general is alot better now) & at times I had to kind of put off communicating for awhile because things I needed to be doing got backed up or I needed time to time to myself.