Meltdown?

I'm not good adapting to change either. After your consultation with the psychiatrist they will write a report. Usually the report will give recommendations. When  appropriate possibly whilst discussing work or at the end of the consultation you could ask them to include advice directed towards work or directions of how to get "access to work" which is there to offer support in work. For example if you are distracted by noise in an office you could ask to wear ear defenders. If you are distracted by people coming in and out of the office you could maybe change the position of your desk. Or have support helping to clear your desk and make a schedule. I haven't done it myself but worth looking into I would think. It's finding ways to help you do your job.. easier in some jobs than others obviously. It's amazing what is on the internet.. you could look up your job linked up with autism and see what crops up. Or you could start a thread on here without giving away personal details and see what other people have tried. Some employers will be more able to accommodate you than others it depends on circumstances I expect. 

I think the panic about losing physical control won the battle over the panic of the crowds on the underground...gritted teeth and determination won but it was scary particularly as I was on my own

I had to take my daughter through the underground 2 weeks ago on the way to London City Airport,

I was worried before I went, but actually there were so many people it was ok for me, I would have been worse if there were less people I think. I was very suprised. Maybe its true that you can have privacy in  crowd, as long as the crowd is big enough to make 1 person annonymous. I can imagine how a meltdown in the underground could be very difficult to resolve! How did you manage to get through the episode Elephant?

I agree Daniel - "My issues are usually around lack of control of things, and personal space."

i then start to panic, the worse thing with this is the physical aspect in that I start getting palpitations and get pics and needles in my legs and fear I might collapse...,the last time this happened was up an escalator on the London Underground. Thankfully I did not collapse...but scary...

For me I seem to go into a semi paralysed state, where I can move but my inside of my head is short circuiting. I cannot function properly and tense up completely. Its a bit like a panic attack, but more complete sensory overload.

I am definitely aware of it happening, and without moving away and isolating myself for a time it does not ease off. It can take 10 minutes to a couple of hours of being alone with headphones drowning out the world before I am ok to function again.

My issues are usually around lack of control of things, and personal space.

Though a meltdown is more like a 'straw that broke the camels back' scenario, that can be one trigger on top of a whole host of underlying issues. The doctor I speak to at the Autism Diagnostic Service said that for a NT person, if the stress scale is 1 to 10 they will know when they are over 5, and start to take remedial action.

For an ASD person they have a base level of say 4, and do not notice until it gets to 9, which is also the trigger point for something. It is more likely for someone else to spot an ASD person getting worked up than themselves, which is where having people around who you can trust is a good thing.

I agree with Hendrow, great question Meerkatz!

Bloody good Question Meerkatz.

I usually have this when someone wants me to call somewhere as I really hate phones. Also, when I enter in a noisy room and/or with a lot of people in it. Then I feel really overwhelmed.

Its very rare that I have a meltdown but I had one in work about a week ago, my boss went on holiday and didn't inform me. Now I'm a person who likes a routine and I was quite annoyed when I turned up for work and she wasn't in, she actually the only reason that Ive stayed at my job so long because it's quite hard work.  I like to think we get along quite well (although she did have a go at me once or twice for being late)  Because I haven't been diagnosed with autism just yet I don't think my boss understands my needs. I'm seeing a psychiatrist on 24th August then hopefully I will get my diagnosis. I'm asking this question when I do get diagnosed how would I approach my boss to say that I need to be treated differently? 

When things do not go to schedule, the additional stresses of having to go freestyle, these tend to set me off. I try though to do the meltdowns at home. I can gauge when they are coming on most times, but there are times when they just hit me.

At best I just get psychologically overwhelmed and confused, and at worst I have physiological siezures. When I was younger I had grand-mal siezures several times a day left, right and centre, but now I get petite-mals several times a week where I just pass-out for a few hours or so.

One thing that hits me the hardest is doing all my shopping and then finding I have forgotten to bring the money, or shops closing early before I usually get there. Christmass and new years day can cause major hassles in this respect. Any change to my routine often disrupts it for ages. My sleep pattern for instance, which is not good at the best of times, has yet to stabilise from the hour change recently.

That's pretty much it I suppose. From my experience it has been from a build up of frustrations through a failure to communicate effectively.

I've been in situations many a time where I would be crying uncontrollably for up to an hour.

The hard part, in my opinion, is getting others to understand.

What sort of things can trigger a meltdown for everyone else?

A meltdown is 'an intense response to overwhelming situation'. It happens when someone becomtes completely overwhelmed by their current situation and temporarily loses behavioural control. This loss of control can be expressed verbally (eg shouting, screaming, crying), physically (eg kicking, lashing out, biting) or both.

according to the NAS. And another source describes it as,

A meltdown is where a person with autism or Aspergers temporarily loses control because of emotional factors. They aren't usually caused by one specific thing. Triggers build up until the person becomes so overwhelmed that they can't take in any more information.

I find the latter description more befitting personally.

I feel like I have many times. It's the comments that've been made.

'You're acting like a teenage girl' 'You need professional help'

And the timeless.... 'Get a Grip'.

This leads to doubt and I'm looking for some kind of validation that this is the case I suppose just to at least reassure myself if anything.