Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / Autism Meltdown - My 3 Early Warning Signs
Transcript
- 0:00So autism meltdowns, do you recognize these are three early
- 0:03warning signs? And if you do, there's maybe a
- 0:05really good way for you to realize and recognize that
- 0:07you're about to have an autism meltdown and what you can do to
- 0:11kind of really help that, right? So autism meltdowns happen
- 0:17regardless if you are the most experienced person in autism or
- 0:21you're just kind of like new to this autism word understanding.
- 0:25If you knew that newly diagnosed, late diagnosed
- 0:28autistic, then this thing will happen and you will recognise it
- 0:32because I'm about to tell you what it is.
- 0:33So an autism meltdown just in the pre context of what it is,
- 0:37is basically when there are multiple things happening,
- 0:41sensory stim stimuli, inputs overwhelm, which makes you then
- 0:46outburst or overflow. It's kind of like overfilling a
- 0:49glass, right? And you're filling a glass of
- 0:50water and you overfill it. All that comes out of the end
- 0:52and that is what an awesome meltdown is.
- 0:54You're just exploding on all areas of just this emotional
- 0:58kind of like ooze of too much happening.
- 1:01And so this happens and then you feel like absolute garbage and
- 1:07you just don't know what to do. Where do you go now?
- 1:08What do you do now? You know what's going to happen
- 1:10next And for days, you know, maybe three to seven days, you
- 1:13feel like absolute garbage because not as a meltdown can
- 1:16absolutely impair you for such a long time, depending on what
- 1:19happened, what happened afterwards, and how you then
- 1:22deal with it. I'm going to give you some tips
- 1:23right at the end of how you can kind of like help with autism
- 1:26meltdowns and what you can do directly afterwards.
- 1:28But this is basically the context and how that works.
- 1:31And FYI guys, my name is Dan and I have autism and ADHD.
- 1:34So if you knew here and you want to learn more about autism and
- 1:36those type of things, make sure to hit the subscribe button by
- 1:38clicking the notification bell down below.
- 1:39But if you're watching on any other platform, just give this
- 1:41page a follow upload daily videos.
- 1:44So the warning signs I've labeled 3 down here, which I
- 1:47think are going to be very interesting for you to realize.
- 1:49And they kind of happen simultaneously, meaning they
- 1:51happen along the same time all together.
- 1:54But you have to be very kind of like quick to to spot these
- 1:58right now. You will recognize these and if
- 2:00you do, you have to give this video a thumbs up.
- 2:02The first one is an anxiety attack, a type of symptom where
- 2:06you start getting a dry mouth and your heart rate increases.
- 2:08This basically means that your body is responding to the fight
- 2:11or flight increase because you now feel fear because you are
- 2:17out of control. And what I mean by out of
- 2:19control is that you're not like, you know, go around like
- 2:21throwing stuff everywhere and smashing windows.
- 2:23What I mean about being out of control is that you've
- 2:26relinquished responsibility for something that is happening or
- 2:29you have no grasp of responsibility of the things
- 2:31that are happening around you, which means that you now have no
- 2:34control over those things or that environment and those
- 2:37things have control over you. That's basically all that means.
- 2:40And when things have control over you, you then get fearful
- 2:42for survival because that's how our bodies work on a binary
- 2:45system. We're all survival based
- 2:47creatures. We're trying to survive and push
- 2:49ourselves forward through life or, you know, push yourself
- 2:51towards survival, right? And so, so adrenaline starts
- 2:54seeping in because it's running you to like, you know, your
- 2:56muscles start getting tense, you get dry mouth, you get heart
- 2:58rate increase. And behind me is awards that I
- 3:00have won, you know, from MIT YouTube, we go health Autism
- 3:04Hero award, Business Smart award.
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- 3:08ever imagined. I actually was not confident for
- 3:12many years. Now I have put together a free
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- 3:22life better for autistic adults. And this is where it covers.
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- 3:27Boost energy without having to need more spoons, even if you're
- 3:30running energy. Be social while overthinking it.
- 3:32Fit in society without losing yourself, even if you feel
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- 3:40all you need to do is go to the website.
- 3:42WWW dot. Bulletproofbrain.org right now
- 3:47and download your free pack from me.
- 3:52Link is also in the description of this video.
- 3:54And if you're watching on Instagram, all you have to do is
- 3:55comment brain and I'll DM it to you.
- 3:58Watching on Facebook? If you comment Brain, I'll
- 3:59comment back with the link to directly download this.
- 4:03You know, and it's the stuff is about to go down, right.
- 4:05And obviously when we were Cavemen, you know, fighting off
- 4:07savour to tigers and like, you know, practices and stuff like
- 4:10that, those would have been the tools we use to kind of run fast
- 4:13as heck or charge this animal and use that strength from the
- 4:17muscle tonnage, you know, to go and do that thing we need to do.
- 4:21But in this situation, it's not quite that same thing.
- 4:23It could be that you were in a situation where you're feeling
- 4:26overwhelmed by certain things or certain people or certain asks
- 4:29of you, which means your demands are higher than usual.
- 4:32And being an autistic person, those demands tip you over the
- 4:35edge and they tip you over the edge.
- 4:37This is what starts to happen. OK, Number 2 is nothing makes
- 4:42sense. And all your focus disappears.
- 4:44Nothing is making sense to you anymore.
- 4:45People's conversations, the, the room you're in, the, the
- 4:48lighting, the sound, the, the, the, the smell around you.
- 4:50Nothing makes sense. Even your clothes start to feel
- 4:53uncomfortable and nothing is making sense.
- 4:55Why? What is going on here?
- 4:57It's because you now have what I like to call the jam signal.
- 5:01So your signals of input and input could be commands could be
- 5:05nonverbal input could be decide sounds, smells, touch,
- 5:09environment, temperature, clothing, experience, reality,
- 5:12distance from other people, distance from yourself, your own
- 5:15self identity, your thought process of what's going on.
- 5:19All those things start to not make sense.
- 5:20There's too many variables plugging into you that are
- 5:23draining your attention or needing your attention.
- 5:26And when they need your attention they stop your ability
- 5:29to focus in the moment and understand who you are.
- 5:32Because our brains for neuro divergent individuals is, is
- 5:37mended differently, which means the inputs of our sensory or
- 5:40stimuli from outside exterior will have the wrong kind of
- 5:45pathway or the are a different pathway.
- 5:47So it doesn't really go to the same place.
- 5:49So we're having to reroute these things and change things like
- 5:51the old school kind of like, you know, communicators when the
- 5:53operators moving things around. And so you have this, you know,
- 5:56disconnection of the typical way of doing it, which neurotypical
- 6:00or non autistic individuals do. So nothing makes sense.
- 6:03And you have to lose focus rapidly and #3 is that you start
- 6:07feeling pulled in many different directions and none of those are
- 6:09clear. Like do I go home?
- 6:11Do I sit down? Do I go over there?
- 6:12Do I need water? What's going on?
- 6:14You're, you're pulled in many different directions.
- 6:16You're, you're being literally mentally pulled in many
- 6:19different directions and you cannot make a clear vision or a
- 6:22clear decision on any of those things because they're not
- 6:25making sense to you. And this is fascinating.
- 6:28Those 3 early warning signs can indicate to you you're about to
- 6:30have an absolute meltdown. The best thing to do in this
- 6:32situation is sit down, put your fingers in your ears and try to
- 6:36hold your breath for five seconds and slowly release that
- 6:39breath for five seconds to try and reset that system.
- 6:43Once you have done the five seconds breathing, 5 seconds
- 6:46breathing out, get out of the situation you're in.
- 6:49As in, change the environment. If you're indoors, go outdoors.
- 6:51If you're outdoors, go indoors. If you're in a parking lot, get
- 6:53in your car. If you're in your car, get into
- 6:55the parking lot. If you're, you know, outside on
- 6:57a summer vacation, get into the pool.
- 6:59If you're in the pool, get out of the pool.
- 7:00You need to change situation you're in because this
- 7:03recalibrates how your body is reacting to the environment that
- 7:07you're in, which will allow you to to calm down easier, right?
- 7:11Or stop, prevent the meltdown from actually happening.
- 7:14Because when the meltdown happens, you can break your
- 7:16limbs, you can shout and scream with your voice, cry
- 7:19uncontrollably. It could be, you know, sometimes
- 7:21embarrassing if you're out in public and you're feeling like,
- 7:23you know, ashamed, overwhelmed, which you shouldn't be because
- 7:25you are who you are and you're a beautiful person.
- 7:26And FYI, gives you a thumbs up if you agree.
- 7:29We're all beautiful. So you know, that's that.
- 7:31But sometimes it may feel like that and the aftermath is you
- 7:36really need to drink water ASAP because the adrenaline is going
- 7:39to drive that system. You're going to get dehydrated.
- 7:40And when you're dehydrated, your brain starts to give you
- 7:42headaches. If you're dehydrated for a
- 7:44longer period of time, the effect of dehydration can
- 7:46actually last for a few days. Afterwards, Like I said, three
- 7:49to seven days, you can feel like garbage.
- 7:51So how do you overcome that? Drink a whole glass or a bottle
- 7:54of water as soon as the meltdown or the recovery from has
- 7:56happened. And then you have some way of
- 8:01helping with your ability to kind of come around from that.
- 8:05The other thing I'd say to do straight afterwards is once you
- 8:07are feeling calmer or more calm, so you're not in that heightened
- 8:11fight or fight situation, do something that brings you joy.
- 8:13Usually for me, this is researching or doing something
- 8:15of my special interest, watching a documentary, reading a book
- 8:18about it, listening to something about that play music or going
- 8:21for a run, right? Whatever it is that you need to
- 8:22do, go and do that. ACP now all of those things,
- 8:26Autism meltdown issues, right? Also meltdown kind of tactics
- 8:32that you can help overcome and maybe prevent yourself if you
- 8:36know these really warning signs from having the also the
- 8:38meltdown, which I think is fascinating and I think it's
- 8:39definitely a lifesaver for you.