Frequency of overstimulation

[daniegirl6224]

I am not sure if this is a “wrong” question to ask. I do not mean harm, I am just trying to understand. Are there some autistic people who are overstimulated ALL the time? Like I have periods every day that I am overstimulated, and have shutdowns/meltdowns regularly, but I also have times most days where I feel self-regulated. Was thinking about this today and I am curious to understand better. Thank you.

 

[Judge]

I get tired just thinking of the possibility!

Nope...I can't recall any time being indefinitely overstimulated. With shutdowns I do require a certain amount of solitude to recover...though that's not something that's common with me as well.

 

[daniegirl6224]

I get tired just thinking of the possibility!

Nope...I can't recall any time being indefinitely overstimulated. With shutdowns I do require a certain amount of solitude to recover...though that's not something that's common with me as well.

Yes the longest I can think of in being in constant overstimulation myself lasted for a bit over a week- it was a constant shutdown/meltdown/burnout cycle due to intense psychosocial stressors. It was really rough. But besides that I usually have periods of regulation between periods of overstimulation

 

[Outdated]

My understanding of all this is a little hazy. I have never had shutdowns or meltdowns like other people describe and I suspect this is largely due to a very strong sense of self discipline and responsibility. Maybe having a meltdown might have been a much needed release of tension but it's something I'm not capable of.

Trying to reconcile what I understand now with what my life was like back before my burn out is also very difficult, I knew nothing about autism back then and I'm a very different person in some ways now. In looking at how I used to live I think I must have lived in a constant state of overstimulation but shrugged it off as that's just the way the world is and what I needed to do in order to have a life worth living.

I had a long history of regularly quitting work and just taking a break for a couple of months and letting myself recover. I never understood why I needed to do this and was never able to explain it to anyone else but I now know that my instincts were correct. I had pushed too hard for too long and was burning out.

Eventually though these short breaks were no longer giving me the respite I needed and instead of feeling rejuvenated I just started getting depressed, probably knowing that I'd have to go earn more money and repeat the same process over and over again.

Although I don't recommend it to others, running away in to the bush was the best thing I ever did. That gave me the true respite and the freedom that I needed. At this stage I still knew nothing about autism or why I needed to do this but once again my instincts were spot on. There was no threat of me having to return to my old life and my only responsibilities were to find food and water. With no people around to try and coax me back in to what they think of as normal I found the time and the peace I needed to get to know myself better.

That time in the bush changed me quite radically, I no longer have much tolerance at all for crowds and noisy people. Industrial noises don't bother me at all but large groups of people chattering away like monkeys drives me mental.

 

[Jumpinbare]

Pretty much any time I am out among people, or driving in anything but light traffic, I am overstimulated. I had built up some resistance to it when I had to work for a living. Now that I am retired and not regularly exposed to the mayhem, I find I have less resistance to it - in other words, it now takes less to overwhelm me. At least I have my woods to retreat to.

 

[Xinyta]

I am not sure if this is a “wrong” question to ask. I do not mean harm, I am just trying to understand. Are there some autistic people who are overstimulated ALL the time? Like I have periods every day that I am overstimulated, and have shutdowns/meltdowns regularly, but I also have times most days where I feel self-regulated. Was thinking about this today and I am curious to understand better. Thank you.

Honestly. I think the crux of shutdowns/meltdowns, is a mix of autism and mental health. Namely self-esteem.

Though autistics are always going to be different in how things affect them. Mental wellbeing, or lack there of, can play a large role in how we perceive and react to things.

Things like:
- depression
- anxiety
- self-loathing
- low self-worth
- confusion/uncertainty

For me. I've always had issues with things being out of my control. It panics me. In truth though. I grew up not exactly looking at everyone as saints. I had a attitude about alot of stuff. But I created so many lies and false scenarios in my head. It's kinda psychotic really.

 

[SusanLR]

When I had to work for the need of money, I felt overstimulation most of the time.
I also had the desire to get away from it all. Like @Outdated speaks of, running away to live as I wanted away from people. In a well- equipped van most likely.

I actually had this planned out when I became disabled, and my parent's health started failing. I wanted to be there to help them and physically I was not up to it anyway. The dream never happened. I wish it had.
Now I am too old and really failing in physical health. I find the stress of being with people isn't as tolerable as it used to be.

 

[vergil96]

Are there some autistic people who are overstimulated ALL the time?

I think yes, but they might not realise it, because they don't know any better.

I'm not overstimulated regardless of circumstances. I try to minimise the circumstances that make me overstimulated but it's not always possible and I just push through accepting that I might not have the capacity for interactions. It's on days when I have to go to administrative offices, shopping, attend large family gatherings. It makes me behave "more autistic" in the sense that the fatigue makes me not understand body languge, hints and suggestions and I have to stare blank at the wall to understand what's going on in the conversation, because my ability to multitask is gone.

 

[Outdated]

It makes me behave "more autistic" in the sense that the fatigue makes me not understand body languge, hints and suggestions and I have to stare blank at the wall to understand what's going on in the conversation, because my ability to multitask is gone.

I'm still trying to absorb all of this myself, but reading about Monotropism might help with your understanding of this and how your mind works. Dr Wenn Lawson was one of the speakers at the seminar I attended in Brisbane last week.

Monotropism

In trying to understand Dr Lawson's speech I asked him if it also related to one of my common experiences. I love time to myself but if I suddenly find a few hours to spare out of the blue there is no therapeutic value in it for me. The constant wondering when someone's going to knock on my door or when the phone's going to ring means that I'm unable to properly relax and get absorbed in one of my special interests.

For me to get value out of time alone I need to know in advance that I won't be disturbed.

 

[Outdated]

I also shared one of my thoughts with one of the organisers of the seminar, she liked it so much she shared it with the rest of the team and they decided it was worth using as a part of their teaching texts:

Explaining sensory overload and burnout.

Look at the sun with your naked eyes for 1 minute. Yes, this will damage your eyes and you’ll have to spend several days in a darkened room in order for your eyes to heal.

The same effect happens if you damage your hearing, standing behind a jet engine without any hearing protection for example. In order to recover and heal from that damage you’ll have to spend several days in a very quiet environment.

It’s quite common for autistic people to have heightened senses which means we’re more susceptible to being damaged, not just with sight and hearing but also with the other senses, smell taste and touch. There is also another sense that many people fail to mention and fail to pay enough attention to – emotional sensitivity.

Emotional sensitivity affects us far more profoundly than any other sensitivity but it works the same way as hurting your eyes by staring at the sun. In order to recover from emotional overexposure we need to rest in an environment where there is minimal emotional context.

For many of us this means a quiet dark room and just staring at the wall for several hours, people coming in and checking on us and asking if we’re alright adds the emotional component that we need to be resting from.

Some people will try to say that autistic people lack empathy but the exact opposite is often true, we are hypersensitive to other people’s emotional states to the point that we can easily be overloaded and burn out.

 

[blitzkrieg]

Employment environments can be overstimulating for a lot of autistic people, which is probably why a lot of autistic people are unemployed, because of a lack of accommodation from employers, for some sort of quiet, adapted environment, for autistic folk, i.e, having a desk in the corner or some such adaptation.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Pretty much any time I am out among people, or driving in anything but light traffic, I am overstimulated. I had built up some resistance to it when I had to work for a living. Now that I am retired and not regularly exposed to the mayhem, I find I have less resistance to it - in other words, it now takes less to overwhelm me. At least I have my woods to retreat to.

I resonate with this very much.

It feels like the outside urban world, as well as any place with someone else than me in it, is overstimulating all the time. That doesn't mean that I get overstimulated or overwhelmed all the time. It does feel like a constant knocking on my brain. Sometimes I'm relaxed and well, and then it's easier to tune it out and to not get overstimulated. Other times, I'm tired/over-/underheated/hungry/stressed/need to go to the bathroom/ill/in a busy place, and things will get overwhelming.

I had a phase of, let's say, about half a year around the end of my studies where I believe that I was either burned out, or getting dangerously close to it. During it, I had almost daily meltdowns with crying, snapping at everyone, and a strong need for isolation from any stimuli, specifically social, noise and visual. During that time, I was overstimulated on most days, and often all day, it was just a question of how badly.

By now, I'm overstimulated daily, e.g. on my way to and from work at train stations and in public transport, but I usually manage to not get overwhelmed. I don't believe it's possible to go outside and not get overstimulated at all. On otherwise good days, I don't really mind it - it's a lot, but it also enables me to see and take delight in things around me that others seem to ignore: birds flying, sun streaks on the sky, the sky's shade of blue, how a breeze feels, a patch of flowers. Getting all the extra input feels tiring, but on good days, I can take it and keep my brain controlled by listening to music. On worse days, it adds up and becomes overwhelming.

 

[daniegirl6224]

Thank you so much for your responses, they really helped me. I just made a realization after reading your posts - the entire 5 years I worked in the ER, and the entire 6 years I was rapid cycling with bipolar disorder, I was in constant overstimulation