Melt Down?

I was recently diagnosed and told I was Autistic, today before I went to work, my usual routine was disrupted , so I was feeling upset. I got to work but could not really concentrate on anything and at times I felt like crying. I managed to calm myself and think I might get through the day with some effort. However, I got a copy of my report from my assessment and when I started reading it I started crying and felt terrible and had to leaver work.

I know things weren't right with me before I got the letter, so I am wondering if what happened to me today had anything to with my condition, or was it something completely different. 

Parents
  • Sorry to hear this. I am off work with stress at the moment. I was having an OK day on Monday until the manager who has been bullying me emailed me. I was really shocked because before Xmas it was agreed I did not have to have direct contact with her until the situation has been investigated and resolved. A few minutes after that I received my draft diagnostic report via email. Reading it brought home to me how many challenges I have faced in the course of my life. I got quite upset.

    in answer to your question as you were already feeling upset, and you were at work struggling to cope, reading the letter could easily have tipped you over the edge into meltdown. The way my psychologist explained it is that there are building blocks of stress making up a wall, when the wall reaches a certain height we can't cope and get overwhelmed.

    I am feeling a bit better now, although my stress wall is still quite high so i could easily get overwhelmed again. Earlier I had a Union rep telling me I can't recognise emotions in other people because I am autistic! Outrageous! She is the worst kind of pseudo expert - because she has worked with autistic people and bought into some of the myths she thinks she understands us. But the way she behaves shows she does not. This morning she promised to phone before 11am, and phoned at 11.30am. When I had an Absence Management meeting with a manager at work she was 45 minutes late and she only arrived after I phoned her office to ask where she was!

    We have to put up with a great deal as autistic people so it is hardly surprising that we get upset. How are you feeling about your diagnosis? I am up, down and all over the place but gradually feeling like things are calming down. It has helped me most of all to read positive, empowering accounts of ASD written by autistic people.

    I do hope you are feeling better now. 

  • Are you saying you 'do' understand the emotions of others? I don't even know my own so I don't have a clue about other people's.How do you understand other people's emotions? I'm in awe that you can do it but my curious mind wants to know how? It confuses my brain even thinking about it! lol! Probably because I'm so rubbish at it. 

  • I can understand some things, sometimes I get things a bit (or wildly :-) wrong, but some things I just don't pick up on.  I can feel my own emotions, although sometimes I have difficulty understanding what they're about, but they're also not "very well calibrated" so some things which should probably provoke a big emotional response don't seem to, and some things which should really only be a very small emotional response provokes a response out of all proportion.  Meh! 

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  • I can understand some things, sometimes I get things a bit (or wildly :-) wrong, but some things I just don't pick up on.  I can feel my own emotions, although sometimes I have difficulty understanding what they're about, but they're also not "very well calibrated" so some things which should probably provoke a big emotional response don't seem to, and some things which should really only be a very small emotional response provokes a response out of all proportion.  Meh! 

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