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Has anyone experienced this?

ParentingAutism

Hi, my 14 y.o daughter keeps experiencing this. I'm not sure how to describe it and I have no clue what is happening. 

Basically, the other day her senses were overloaded in school and she sat at her desk and no-one could get a conversation or word out of her. She had her hood up with her head on the desk. She wasn't sleeping since she kept lifting her head up. She wasn't looking at anyone and only looked at the door and floor. Teachers believed she wanted to leave the room but couldn't. 10/15 minutes later, she managed to leave the room and was in tears and started kicking chairs about in the hall. She was overwhelmed and in a state. 

I have seen this happen before, for example, after a bad day in school she would isolate herself in her bedroom, she used to leave the house when it's too noisy and laid on the floor in the forest. Similar things happened in school where no reply or 'yes or no' answer was made. My daughter once described it as 'can't move (or it's impossible), can't talk, everything become brighter and louder'. She also told me that she is always scared when it happens and she has no control over herself. It just happens and she doesn't know why and what is happening to her. She is emotional and upset after and when she calms down she is just exhausted. 

Does anyone know what is happening and why? It usually happens when she's very stressed/overwhelmed. How can we help her when it does happen?

Thanks x

  • in reply to Plastic

    We take her out on bike rides, she'll play with the dogs and we are planning to have a family day out soon. 

  • in reply to amandariley

    Thank you. I have heard about the seizures and I will seek the doctors advice. 

  • in reply to Ben

    Thanks Ben, if they keep occurring regularly then I will speak to the doctor and with her dad (who's a paramedic and they see each other weekly since we aren't together).  

  • in reply to pegasus

    Thanks, we know things that can trigger it and we try to avoid them but there are many times when we can't so we have strategies to help her. At home she usually come to her bedroom and it's dark and quiet but in school it isn't really possible. 

  • in reply to Debbie E

    She will usually have a meltdown and let it all out, then she'll become emotionally drained and come home and sleep.

  • Sounds like Dissociation to me. Used to happen to me a lot when I was younger. Now I am like it the whole time mostly but its normalised to me now. 

    When younger it was basically like a full one different reality totally - no floor, the sky would seperate from the horizon - full blown halucination. Plus all the other effects

  • She seems to be running on 99% stress all the time and it doesn't take much to push her to 100%.

    What do you do with her to forcibly de-stress her?     During times of my daughters predictable stress (exam time) we would have mandatory dinners out or trips to the cinema - breaking the chain with a major distraction.      Even little things like a trip to a museum or going to the park to watch and feed the ducks or watch the dogs playing in the stream - total escapism.

  • That sounds like something I experience when extremely angry, stressed, or overwhelmed.  It scares my husband.  Does she ever feel like ice water is running through her veins?  Another possibility could be seizures; not all of them are convulsive.  Zoning out and not being able to move is a common type of seizure. I agree with Ben about seeking a physician's advice.  

  • I think you're decribing a 'shutdown', I believe they're quite common. I've had them from time to time, caused by some kind of overload.  I've heard people asking "Are you there, Ben?, wake up."  But I can't come out of it to order. It's like a deep daydream, giving me some space that I badly need.

    I am not a medic, so for peace of mind why not have a word with her doctor.

    Ben

  • Maybe a shutdown? I experience these sometimes and feels like my brain is too overwhelmed and can't process anything and moving/speaking is very difficult or impossible. In the moment only thing I can do is to wait it out.

    In terms of helping your daughter, identifying anything that might trigger it (any particular stressors or sensory triggers), might help avoid them. I can sometimes tell when I'm heading towards a shutdown or meltdown and get myself to a quiet space.

    In the moment getting to a quiet, dark space might help. Though that might not be possible. I generally need space during a shutdown/meltdown and being touched makes it worse. It's rare that I'm completely unable to communicate - even if I can't speak I can usually give thumbs up/down to yes/no questions.  

    And reassuring your daughter it's fine. I tend to be really embarrassed afterwards if it happens in public. But yeah shutdowns and meltdowns happen and they aren't things we can control.

  • I think that’s pretty typical to be honest. I certainly get like that when I’m overwhelmed. 

    I’ll be at my desk sometimes after I’ve had to much negative stress and I go down into screen saver mode. I can’t speak. Everything is just really odd around me. 

    usially when I come to I have a cry or worse have a meltdown reaction. But I certainly recognise this