*Autistic Shutdowns collection* - Do you experience these ?

Before I describe my own experiences, here's a link that's been doing the rounds of autism websites for quite a while, and which seems to be found helpful by a lot of people - Shutdown (thing) by Zifendorf

My own experience, I'd split into two categories; short-term acute shut-downs caused by sensory or emotional overload, and longer-term impairments of function when I'm burned out.

The short-term overloads most often happen when I'm in an overstimulating environment with lots of noise and movement, particularly crowded social situations like socialising in a pub or club (the sound of lots of human voices all at once is a particularly strong trigger for me). They usually begin with me starting to feel very dissociated from my surroundings - the sounds around me become just a wall of noise that feels like it's closing in around me, and I stop being able to make sense of what I'm hearing. I often feel as if I'm unable to begin any kind of action; I become glued to the spot and become unable to speak.

If I do manage to move to get away from the sensory stimulus, I'm usually very unsteady on my feet, find it very hard to negotiate my way around obstacles, and can often be completely lost even in places which I'm otherwise very familiar with. If people notice that I'm struggling and try to help, I can't understand anything that they say to me and don't comprehend what they're trying to do. After a while, I just end up in a kind of "waxy catatonia" where my senses shut down completely so that I have no awareness of my surroundings, and my body becomes moveable by other people, but rigid, like a shop dummy or action figure toy.

Once I'm away from the overwhelming stimulus, I usually feel absolutely exhausted. I'll continue to be partly shut-down for a long time afterwards, during which time, there will be everyday skills and memories which I don't seem able to access - for example; I may still be mute, unable to read or write, have difficulty with navigation etc. If I've got as far as a total "catatonic" shut-down, it usually segues straight into deep sleep for several hours without me coming to my senses first.

During periods of being burned-out, the shutting down is more partial, and can affect almost any kind of skills or memory. I feel like I'm trapped in a bit of a bubble. I'll find it very hard to initiate any kind of task, and when I try to, often find that I'm unable to remember how to do what I want and have great difficulty coordinating my movements. In particular, my ability to communicate goes completely to pot, whether spoken or written - I just can't organise my thoughts enough to respond to even the simplest of questions and I have to go completely incommunicado until I recover, as any attempt to overcome this strains my brain such that I shut down even further. Lots of rest and sleep, and avoiding any kind of external demands, are the only route to recovery that I've ever found effective.

Thank you for this description. I can totally relate to your experiences but have never been able to articulate what I see/feel. 

glad u got use out of this collection :)

glad u got use out of this collection :)