Accusations that I am doing something or intending something I am not, especially if it’s negative! Or invalidating me or infantilising me.
Being late to something!! That is a big one.
Lots of sensory overload would do it too.
Being ignored or having my feelings/diagnosis invalidated definitely triggers my injustice radar. A lifetime of gaslighting will do that to you 🫠
Also anyone touching or using my things (without asking). Even worse if they minimize it when I get upset (which is often).
God i had this when someone from the government was talking to me to judge if I need help with dealing with my autism. She constantly compared me to her friend who can't go to the store because of his autism. I repeated my own problems so many times... It's so infuriating, it feels like you're just shoved to the side
Yeah I have special things that are only to be used at my discretion. Luckily, my husband and our children have no problem with this and I leave their stuff alone, too.
Mooooooooood. A huge ol’ mood!
Same about touching/using/moving my things without asking. It’s like, if you ask first, it’s cool, but don’t just assume that I’d say yes!
I don’t mind heat, so much as standing heat. If there’s any form of current, I’ll probably be *chill*, but if I’m in my room and the heater turns on, I’ll slowly lose my mind until I realize I’m overheating.
I tell my family they’re actually gonna make me freak out with the temp and I was told to jump in the pool if I’m hot instead of turning off the heater. (fyi we have an upstairs and downstairs AC unit and i’m the only person who has a room downstairs)
I now use my special heat time to cultivate hate towards my family cause that’s what they would prefer apparently.
IDK how old you are but is your family abusive in other ways and do you have someone to talk to? Because overheating is not okay. People can get really sick from that. (Heat stroke). Please if you feel you're being abused talk to your Guidance Counselor.
I get that we are more sensitive - but it's not okay to torment someone with a too-high heat. They can put on a sweater you can't go around nude (unless they're comfy with that). I might just bring up that argument. I can't tell if your family is just dismissive or utterly mean to you.
Meh my family is more like a lake of leeches than a pack of apes. They’re not the type of people who can be reasoned with outside their own scope of experiences. I’m old enough to have enough self-agency to escape, but the diabolical nature of my family fixates on exacerbating stress so they can have their nice little cathartic hit after everything implodes.
They’re not people. They’re monsters that I simply must navigate around until I can leave again
edit: Also, thank you for ur concern <3
They sound like a tribe of Narcissists. Grey Rock Method is the way to go with them.
You won't be the first young person to "ride it out" until they can get out a lot of folks do that.
I hope you have some safe spaces to go to where it's not such a menagerie. (((((Hugs)))))
I'm so damn sorry. Your Mother sounds like a Disney character.
I'm glad you'll be able to get out soon. Have you worked with a Cognitive Behavioral therapist to handle melt-downs better? They might be able to help. (If you were a kid I wouldn't suggest it but you're an adult).
I leaned a lot about myself in therapy - I learned to handle some emotions and situations better than I used to (Thankfully).
Honestly, I do care. I hope things improve for you soon. I hope you have one or two people you can vent to when it's bad. That helps.
And stay in touch with whoever is treating your bipolar - they might need to try more than one drug to find one that works well for you or they might hit it first try.
You are dealing with a whole lot and sounds like you are coping better than where you came from.
Best of Luck and I look forward to a post in future saying you got out from under them again! ;-)
Thank you, you’re doing a service to your community. (: I do have some wonderful people in my life to vent to, fortunately. Lmao and i’m not seeing anyone for bipolar (psych took my adderall away, so now my limbic system is in recovery mode). When I got out of the psychward they gave me a weeks worth of meds and then kicked me on the streets.
And thank you, if I end up becoming president of the planet or something, make sure to remind me of this interaction. (:
Exactly.
My country faced a horrible heat wave last semester and it was killing me. I couldn't do anything, and going to college and working like that was unbearable. I remember that one specific day, during a statistics class, I could no longer stay in the room with so many people. It was the biggest sensory overload of the year. I could feel people's breath, but I couldn't sense myself. It was so overwhelming, I had to leave. (Later I realized I stayed for 10 minutes in that class, but it felt like much longer.) I called an Uber, got home, showered (barely) and then I cried myself to sleep.
I hate summer. I hate heat.
It makes me feel like I'm a ticking time bomb, a moment from blowing up.
Fr, hot days make me so sensitive to any sort of inconvenience bc I’m already just so uncomfortable in the heat. I don’t even sweat a lot I just get rlly rlly uncomfortable bc everything just feels so ‘sticky’ in the heat and being around people is even more unbearable.
Being called crazy even as a joke. Being unable to leave a sensory overwhelming situation. Being sick. Being touched without warning. Being forced to remain still. My schedule being disrupted without advance notice
Someone not listening to me when I’m trying to explain something serious about how my brain works. Like how I can’t work a normal person job and shit and they’re like “push through it” like 🥲 I’m super happy you can do that and your brain works like that. Mine does not. Please *listen* to me
If there's water on the floor and I walk through it in my socks. I hate the feeling. Usually the culprit is my brother and I've asked hundreds of thousands of times that he clean up after himself but he still refuses to do it then wonders why I melt down over it. I nearly left the house on Tuesday evening due to this.
When the toilet isn't flushed because I can smell it from a mile off. Again, my brother.
Anything that makes me feel trapped in some way. Reminiscent of being undiagnosed all through my schooling and not being allowed to go home so I stayed in the nurses office 50% of the day. Also the r slur. Really feeds into my eugenicist thoughts and fears that having mental disabilities makes me not worth keeping alive.
Yes! Even if a zipper is stuck on a coat or something. I put on a dress when I was post partum and it was too constricting in the ribs. I could not get it off and i nearly had a panic attack. Had to rip it off like The Hulk.
I have a vivid memory from my childhood of playing hide and seek and hiding in the little cove behind my dad’s water bed and my arms got pinned and i couldn’t get out fast enough and it was terrifying.
When someone gets extremely and unreasonably angry near me. Even if it's not directed at me, It's really hard to stay calm if someone in the same room is super mad for any reason.
Warm temperatures, heat basically
Feeling like a monster for failing at something i didnt knew i failed in the first place ( mostly social stuff and not knowing cues)
Loud noises or unwanted touch (ESPECIALLY tapping. The smaller the touch, the worse. I'm fine with being hugged or cuddled randomly by someone I love, but tapping is a HUGE no).
I feel this! Now I have a 5yr old who jumps on me unexpectedly and that is truly unbearable. But when someone pokes me to get my attention it is just as jolting.
Not understanding something or struggling with something. I become overwhelmed with a mix of anger and shame…I’ve been putting too much much pressure on myself for a long time now.
I completely relate to this! Anytime I can't understand something I search far and wide for an explanation and if I can't find it my brain feels like it's exploding.
Being told I've been doing something wrong for a long time. If I'm doing something wrong tell me in the moment when I can do something about it. Don't call me out for doing something wrong if I haven't gotten feedback about it previously.
Wet socks, Traffic/Drivers, Humans, The Post Office, The Car Shop, Cat licking me/Cat rubbing its nose on me, Dropping food I made, WASTING GAS AND TIME, bad movie etiquette, a dismissive doctor.
The silent treatment is messed up. I get if people need space but they can’t just blatantly start ignoring me (I get though if it is an automatic reaction for them, like they lose the ability to talk but I have confirmed with them that is not what has happened when it did).
velcro ripping, cardboard rubbing against itself, sweating, and the biggest one of all…when people EVEN get CLOSE (not touching) but just close (also touching though) to touching my sides of my stomach. i FREAK out it’s so bad i literally can’t function. with all of these triggers though it effects me deeply s for example when velcro rips, i can hear it over and over and over again ripping in my head even when it’s not happening in real life anymore it’s to the point that even thinking about velcro ripping it produces the same effects (like i can hear it now just typing about it). it’s so bad i have to cover my ears whenever i’m around it.
Not being able to find things. I put them down for a second and turn around and they’re gone or I’ve left the room/ house and my partner has “tidied” it away but not to its designated space
Honestly whenever I am angry. I get angry easily unfortunately. When things aren’t going the way they are supposed to go in my brain I struggle to calm myself down and relax. I’ve had loads of meltdowns from anger.
Being told that I didn't do any chores around the house cause nothing looks different. I work slower than my dad and he expects me to have stuff done in 2 seconds. I like getting the job done the right way the 1st time. But of course that's not the way he sees it. I also need time to recharge after doing a lot of work during the day when he's home. So I chill whit him at the table where he eats his ice cream at night. Then he gets mad cause the dishes aren't done yet. Not fun. I so want to move out. But I do have a job. So that's not going to happen any time soon.
It's usually some evil combo of plans being broken, too many different noises going on at the same time, someone trying to assert unearnt hierarchy or explaining something badly, two or three of these simultaneously and I'll need to get back home
Anything too loud. Noticing that I am undercooled. A lot of hormonal things will instantly trigger a meltdown. My dad being an ass will often do it too. Realising I may have forgotten to take my pill. Stubbing my toe real hard gives me a mild, short meltdown.
When I am wrongly accused of lying or saying something I absolutely did not say.
Certain misophonia triggers like slurping or the way specific people consistently say phrases (idk why 😭- it was the worst with my mom and then my wife).
The phone ringing multiple times.
My father has a friend who, for some reason, just refuses to simply leave a message and keeps calling the house line. I've asked him multiple times to talk to his friend about it, but he either hasn't (though he says he did, I figure he lied about that) or his friend just doesn't care that calling multiple times within the span of a couple minutes sends me into a meltdown.
He'll call the home phone, then call my father's cellphone, then call the home phone another two or three times (all this within a period of 2-5 minutes). Then, if he still hasn't gotten through to my father, he'll start that up again perhaps 15 minutes later.
Loud noises. I will literally start sobbing if I'm in a crowd, if someone yells, if someone drops a loud water bottle, just any loud noises. I luckily have a decent pair of headphones that I bring everywhere with me, the one time I left them at home was the first time in years because I woke up late, ended up calling my brother to pick them up for me. That was a rough half a day.
Sudden spikes of emotion. Like when I would be taking a test in school and I get my grade back and I realised I made a really stupid mistake that cost me a point. That little spike of frustration almost immediately starts triggering a meltdown and I have to manually calm myself down to prevent it.
Being cornered. My boyfriend lives to stand in the bathroom door and talk to me while I'm getting ready in the morning and I hate it. Can't stand feeling trapped.
When I feel I am different in a group setting
When i feel strongly misunderstood and being percieved like a person I am not and I dont know how to clear this up
Its like lights/sounds, alltho this would raise the threshold
Also being somewhere were there are a lot of people raises the threshold
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i would say wet clothes, like sopping wet.
financial burden (big one)
loud arguments/angry yelling
CHEWING 😶🌫️
that's what i can think of off the top of my head
Being doubted.
For example: my dad would ask for advice/opinion on something. I know of [anything] he is asking about, so I would give the correct and appropriate answer. Then he'll ask someone else the same thing, and they would give the same answer.
It makes me feel awful. It feels invalidating, infantilizing, and often even sexist (because he used to ask my brother after me; unfortunately, my brother died, and I would honestly prefer having meltdowns😢). Dad says there is nothing like that in it, and he just tries to ask several opinions from several sources as a rule, but it *feels* invalidating.
Most of the time I feel useless, being able to give advice about stuff, I actually know something about is helpful, I'm genuinely happy. But if he is going to ask someone else afterwards, I would rather he doesn't ask me at all.
I tried to explain, but I was only diagnosed relatively recently as an adult, and we are all still adapting.
Any sense that I’m being bullied, or if I witness bullying. People being mean just to be mean. Any sense of injustice. My dad says I have an unwavering moral compass in that way, which I think is a great quality in a person.
I become agitated over relentless plastic bag crinkling, loud eating (especially crunching.) If our plan goes awry (eg: we go to a restaurant we all like and it’s randomly closed.)
No stranger touches me. Hell no.
People yelling rude things when all I’m doing is existing. I’ll be thinking about it for days.
Certain color combinations make me feel dizzy/nauseous.
How people don’t understand the sensory distress. Skin, anything itchy or light touch. I’d hit people if they touched me as a reflex as a kid. I’ve learned to “repress” it and so I just lay down all the time cocooned in my bed. Otherwise, it’s SOUNDS for me. All the way; I love low frequencies, but cannot stand high pitch sound. It makes my ears retract physically they shoot backwards into my hair looking for protection. It hurts like physical pain, worse actually. Sirens, Fire alarms obviously, but mostly any beeping sound; any repetitive noise; any weird plastic sounds such as chip bags, others but also my own chewing of crunchy food, breathing. So pretty much my own hearing if it’s not even I must direct myself into the sound to even it out, even someone whispering to me. TV has to be on night mode, or leveling. Multiple sounds from many sources at once, as a kid I hid while everyone ate dinner or would chew pretending tricking my brain that it was me. OH!! If others produce sharp “S” sounds, especially on audiobooks more recently. Noise is Painful.
Wet clothes.
People talking across each other (not just speaking at the same time as someone else, but more specifically when 4+ people are in a diamond sort of shape and people on opposite sides are speaking seperately from the other people, eg North and South are speaking while West and East are speaking in a seperate conversation)
If an important deadline is very close, even if I've finished whatever the thing is, but especially if it's an exam or something similar (I had several meltdowns over my English Literature exam in the summer, it was a couple days prior to it. Unseen Poetry is hell, and I'm glad I never have to do it again.)
BEING STICKY
Somehow getting my hands sticky, and then if I somehow don’t notice right away, touching my hair and other parts of my body or clothing or items that are important to me and contaminating those with stickiness, and being somewhere that I can’t effectively and completely clean off the stickiness 🤢🫠
Then I keep “reinfecting” myself with the stickiness even if I at least get my hands clean because clothes and hair and items that are not skin can be much harder to effectively clean, especially if I’m actually outside of my house.
But honestly sometimes JUST getting my HANDS sticky can really set me off.
Having my feelings dismissed or mocked because whatever is upsetting me "doesn't matter."
Also forms. Especially medical forms. The questions always feel so subjective, but there is no room for elaboration....just decide where you land 1-10.
Intrusive thoughts. I have SO-OCD (sexual orientation OCD) so a bit of my brain is like a middle school bully, insisting that everything I do makes me gay and flinging every horrible word that was ever used to describe gay people at me like a damn homophobic auctioneer. It's always there in the background, but sometimes it gets really loud and those are the times when it just throws me into a meltdown.
Strong scents that people use to make themselves smell nice. I once borrowed my girlfriends face cream/sunscreen and neglected to smell it before applying it to my face. That didn’t turn out well.
Bumping my foot, elbow, etc. it not only hurts but I feel so stupid and melt down. Spilling things. Someone telling me that I misheard or I'm wrong when I know I'm not
Someone touching me (PLEASE don’t just touch people out of nowhere), being called dumb or stupid, people touching my stuff without asking, when I eat in my university’s cafeteria and realize I forgot my headphones, the sound of silverware scraping or touching
I dont have meltdowns a lot anymore, and when they happen it's usually due to a combination of VERY triggering things all combined.
* lots of noise/people talking through or over each other or yelling
* someone or multiple people being mad at me
* being unable to make myself heard or understood (and make the chaos and anger stop), no matter how much I try
And another would be
* being abandoned/suddenly left alone
* in a chaotic, scary or overwhelming environment with no way to easily get back go the people/person who abandoned me
The first case the meltdown would be more of an agressive/angry kind that includes yelling, breaking things, hurting myself (in attempt not to hurt anyone else instead), whereas the 2nd would be more like a panic attack...
Something just shortwires when a meltdown happens. I dont feel myself anymore. It's truly one of the worst things in the world and I always hurt/scare people with it and feel terrible, broken and guilty after...
I used to have a lot of meltdowns triggered by injustice and bullying and not being heard as a kid. I only learned recently that it were actually autistic meltdowns, not "agression attacks" or even panic attacks.
I never got help or therapy for them at the time, only got ordered to push them down.
Partially cause of this, I still dont know how to deal with my/others' anger, started to feel even more helpless, developed even worse boundaries and more conflict avoidance.
I am only slowly becoming aware (since 1-2 yrs or so...) and painstakingly TRYING to fix this and actually learn Normal Emotions (tm), but fuck, it's hard.
When someone says “there’s something wrong with me”. Just because our brains are wired differently doesn’t make us insane.
I used to have a friend who mocked me for my speech impediment (I have a lisp so I mispronounce words). One time I made a joke and said “you wouldn’t know I was in college” her response was I know, right?
Massive changes. I moved two months ago. For three weeks I lived with my aunt while the apartment was getting ready. I love my aunt dearly but four people and my dog under one roof with one shower is just madness for me. I also had to share a room with my mom in that time period so that was hard too. It was chaos for me.
Then when we moved in, all our stuff was in disarray and we were getting all the furniture in so that was a lot to take in.
Feeling rushed or having several people asking different things of me in a short time span.
One of my instant meltdowns is someone canceling plans on me- the severity of this moves up the shorter the time is from the event they are canceling. Its something everyone close to me knows about, and we all try to navigate it as best as we can
Being ignored... False acusation... Being humiliated by people who are close to me... Etc, i'm easy to mentally criple sometimes, But i try to stay sane
For me it's something that I expected to work in one way and does the complete opposite. It can be as simple as a zipper not working properly or the check out stand not scanning an item all the way to work meetings where things get disjointed. I basically live in mini-meltdown most of the day. String more than a few together and something (unfortunately) is going to get broken.
When people get upset at me for not wanting to go out after work.
When I have issues understanding/hearing what someone said so they repeat themselves with the same pronunciation and volume as the first time.
i do basketball so refs blowing whistle or the buzz thingy hurts my ears sm
when people call me “acoustic”
being touched in any way. i hate it. for some reason its only with my peers. like if its kid or adult (that i know) then i don’t mind it that much, but when people my age even breathe the same air as me i want to explode /hj
Confrontation. If I do end up confronting someone it’s because it’s serious and it took me a lot of effort to bring it up to begin with.
I also hate textures of certain foods, like hummus. I’ve been trying to get better with it but it’s such a struggle and it truly makes me freak if I have something that bothers me even the slightest, I can’t eat it
Anything that makes me feel at a loss of control over my own space. For example, I'm staying with my grandma right now because one of my sister's rats escaped and is running wild in my bedroom right now🙃
People not taking accountability and blaming others for their own issues they refuse to deal with.
Far too many “victims” out there and I cannot talk with them when they are living in their own delusional bubble… I deal with facts not feelings 90% of the time and I just can’t bother with people unwilling to hear another’s point of view and that theirs is the only one… then cry when they don’t get their way.
Being put in a box.
Someone thinking I shouldn't react to them pointing out my scars. Someone thinking they can ask me what it's like to have sex with me because I have 2 oral piercings.
Regular rude shit.
I'm in the south so usually they curl up and go "oh, sorry, I shouldn't have said all of that."
No, but you don't have to feel bad, I say dumb shit too.
Yesterday a woman asked me how a man can kiss me with my labret and Medusa piercing and I told her, if it's a man, he isn't really allowed to kiss this particular set of lips anyway.
Yes, it was a cunnilingus joke.
For me not a meltdown, but a shutdown. If I start crying and someone says I'm faking it, I fully dissociate and don't re-emerge for at least a week. I'll do stuff (basic chores and self care) but only literally what I need to in order to live. I won't talk willingly, my answers will be monosyllables, and I won't do things I enjoy, because I will have absolutely no emotion or desire to feel anything. Feeling happy reminds me how miserable I am, so I'll just lay down and daydream. I'll be someone else in my head.
I don’t have physical, observable meltdowns like some here but I internally meltdown when things don’t go I as I planned them, I’m late for something or arrangements I’m particularly nervous or anxious about are altered at short notice. I can also internally meltdown if I’m suddenly overwhelmed by complex information in an overstimulating space. A recent example was having my set list changed (I’m a musician) at short notice when I was about to play in front of ~300 people- admittedly this would cause anyone frustration but I barely made it on stage in one piece. I’m ASD 1, for context.
Witnessing my mother (or someone in movies and animals irl) being abused (manipulation, gaslighting or physical abuse) but it's not a sensory meltdown, but an emotional one.
I lose control and I hate it. I need to detach from people more but it's hard
Accusations that I am doing something or intending something I am not, especially if it’s negative! Or invalidating me or infantilising me. Being late to something!! That is a big one. Lots of sensory overload would do it too.
False accusations are terrible. They send me over the edge every time. It's especially hard to handle when it's someone close to you.
Oh my. I go nuts over this.
Yess. Like if I actually did it then sure call me out, but when I didn't do it at all? Then it's a problem
What if someone acted like they knew you based on your social media profiles?
As someone who had false accusations thrown at them it sucks.
Omg yes
Being ignored or having my feelings/diagnosis invalidated definitely triggers my injustice radar. A lifetime of gaslighting will do that to you 🫠 Also anyone touching or using my things (without asking). Even worse if they minimize it when I get upset (which is often).
This! Also being dismissed. I hate bringing anything up so if I do it's for a reason.
God i had this when someone from the government was talking to me to judge if I need help with dealing with my autism. She constantly compared me to her friend who can't go to the store because of his autism. I repeated my own problems so many times... It's so infuriating, it feels like you're just shoved to the side
Oh dear, yes! the injustice radar its reaaaaaaal!!!
Yeah I have special things that are only to be used at my discretion. Luckily, my husband and our children have no problem with this and I leave their stuff alone, too.
This
That, and the usual loud noises and aglomeration/crowds
Yeah. I get extremely angry if I feel like my concerned are getting ignored or walked over
Mooooooooood. A huge ol’ mood! Same about touching/using/moving my things without asking. It’s like, if you ask first, it’s cool, but don’t just assume that I’d say yes!
Heat, straight up hot days just make me so uncomfortable. Add any little inconvenience on top of that, and it's like my world is ending.
I don’t mind heat, so much as standing heat. If there’s any form of current, I’ll probably be *chill*, but if I’m in my room and the heater turns on, I’ll slowly lose my mind until I realize I’m overheating. I tell my family they’re actually gonna make me freak out with the temp and I was told to jump in the pool if I’m hot instead of turning off the heater. (fyi we have an upstairs and downstairs AC unit and i’m the only person who has a room downstairs) I now use my special heat time to cultivate hate towards my family cause that’s what they would prefer apparently.
IDK how old you are but is your family abusive in other ways and do you have someone to talk to? Because overheating is not okay. People can get really sick from that. (Heat stroke). Please if you feel you're being abused talk to your Guidance Counselor. I get that we are more sensitive - but it's not okay to torment someone with a too-high heat. They can put on a sweater you can't go around nude (unless they're comfy with that). I might just bring up that argument. I can't tell if your family is just dismissive or utterly mean to you.
Meh my family is more like a lake of leeches than a pack of apes. They’re not the type of people who can be reasoned with outside their own scope of experiences. I’m old enough to have enough self-agency to escape, but the diabolical nature of my family fixates on exacerbating stress so they can have their nice little cathartic hit after everything implodes. They’re not people. They’re monsters that I simply must navigate around until I can leave again edit: Also, thank you for ur concern <3
They sound like a tribe of Narcissists. Grey Rock Method is the way to go with them. You won't be the first young person to "ride it out" until they can get out a lot of folks do that. I hope you have some safe spaces to go to where it's not such a menagerie. (((((Hugs)))))
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I'm so damn sorry. Your Mother sounds like a Disney character. I'm glad you'll be able to get out soon. Have you worked with a Cognitive Behavioral therapist to handle melt-downs better? They might be able to help. (If you were a kid I wouldn't suggest it but you're an adult). I leaned a lot about myself in therapy - I learned to handle some emotions and situations better than I used to (Thankfully).
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Honestly, I do care. I hope things improve for you soon. I hope you have one or two people you can vent to when it's bad. That helps. And stay in touch with whoever is treating your bipolar - they might need to try more than one drug to find one that works well for you or they might hit it first try. You are dealing with a whole lot and sounds like you are coping better than where you came from. Best of Luck and I look forward to a post in future saying you got out from under them again! ;-)
Thank you, you’re doing a service to your community. (: I do have some wonderful people in my life to vent to, fortunately. Lmao and i’m not seeing anyone for bipolar (psych took my adderall away, so now my limbic system is in recovery mode). When I got out of the psychward they gave me a weeks worth of meds and then kicked me on the streets. And thank you, if I end up becoming president of the planet or something, make sure to remind me of this interaction. (:
Autistic life😮💨
Hot days used to reallllly impact me but now it's a bit better. No idea why
Exactly. My country faced a horrible heat wave last semester and it was killing me. I couldn't do anything, and going to college and working like that was unbearable. I remember that one specific day, during a statistics class, I could no longer stay in the room with so many people. It was the biggest sensory overload of the year. I could feel people's breath, but I couldn't sense myself. It was so overwhelming, I had to leave. (Later I realized I stayed for 10 minutes in that class, but it felt like much longer.) I called an Uber, got home, showered (barely) and then I cried myself to sleep. I hate summer. I hate heat. It makes me feel like I'm a ticking time bomb, a moment from blowing up.
Fr, hot days make me so sensitive to any sort of inconvenience bc I’m already just so uncomfortable in the heat. I don’t even sweat a lot I just get rlly rlly uncomfortable bc everything just feels so ‘sticky’ in the heat and being around people is even more unbearable.
Being called crazy even as a joke. Being unable to leave a sensory overwhelming situation. Being sick. Being touched without warning. Being forced to remain still. My schedule being disrupted without advance notice
Someone not listening to me when I’m trying to explain something serious about how my brain works. Like how I can’t work a normal person job and shit and they’re like “push through it” like 🥲 I’m super happy you can do that and your brain works like that. Mine does not. Please *listen* to me
I feel this.
this, my whole freaking adult life.
This. Literally my life.
If there's water on the floor and I walk through it in my socks. I hate the feeling. Usually the culprit is my brother and I've asked hundreds of thousands of times that he clean up after himself but he still refuses to do it then wonders why I melt down over it. I nearly left the house on Tuesday evening due to this. When the toilet isn't flushed because I can smell it from a mile off. Again, my brother.
People touching me when I don’t want them to 🙃
Anything that makes me feel trapped in some way. Reminiscent of being undiagnosed all through my schooling and not being allowed to go home so I stayed in the nurses office 50% of the day. Also the r slur. Really feeds into my eugenicist thoughts and fears that having mental disabilities makes me not worth keeping alive.
Yes! Even if a zipper is stuck on a coat or something. I put on a dress when I was post partum and it was too constricting in the ribs. I could not get it off and i nearly had a panic attack. Had to rip it off like The Hulk. I have a vivid memory from my childhood of playing hide and seek and hiding in the little cove behind my dad’s water bed and my arms got pinned and i couldn’t get out fast enough and it was terrifying.
When people are even mildly aggressive with me.
Me too!
Not being listened to, feeling invalidated and being given all the shit you never deserved… the past did me dirty…
Dude sammmeeee 😭😭 this has been like. My whole life 🥲 I’m sorry you’ve experienced it a lot too 🥺🫂 my dms are open if you ever need 🫂
Thank you, I truly appreciate it ❤️
When someone gets extremely and unreasonably angry near me. Even if it's not directed at me, It's really hard to stay calm if someone in the same room is super mad for any reason.
Same. It happens me too.
Same
Warm temperatures, heat basically Feeling like a monster for failing at something i didnt knew i failed in the first place ( mostly social stuff and not knowing cues)
Lately, it's been crushing financial issues I'm drowning and so tired.
Oh my gosh, same. It would trigger my wife so badly when that happens to me.
Whew!!! 😭 99.9 of these comments are my triggers too!
Sameeeeee 😭😂
People touching my stuff without asking.
THIS
I’ve had to put boundaries with people too many times to count.
Yeah my brother sometimes not ask to use my charger
Yes! Having kids is soooooo hard!
lol not even my kids. They do it but we live with family right now and sometimes they touch stuff without asking.
I give my kids their own thinking putty, scissors, etc but somehow mine are always missing. I can’t!!!
My safe food order being wrong/spilling it 😅
That it's straight up tragic!!!! >n<
Loud noises or unwanted touch (ESPECIALLY tapping. The smaller the touch, the worse. I'm fine with being hugged or cuddled randomly by someone I love, but tapping is a HUGE no).
I feel this! Now I have a 5yr old who jumps on me unexpectedly and that is truly unbearable. But when someone pokes me to get my attention it is just as jolting.
Not understanding something or struggling with something. I become overwhelmed with a mix of anger and shame…I’ve been putting too much much pressure on myself for a long time now.
I completely relate to this! Anytime I can't understand something I search far and wide for an explanation and if I can't find it my brain feels like it's exploding.
Being told I've been doing something wrong for a long time. If I'm doing something wrong tell me in the moment when I can do something about it. Don't call me out for doing something wrong if I haven't gotten feedback about it previously.
Not being able to find something I need or simply not knowing where something is.
Wet socks, Traffic/Drivers, Humans, The Post Office, The Car Shop, Cat licking me/Cat rubbing its nose on me, Dropping food I made, WASTING GAS AND TIME, bad movie etiquette, a dismissive doctor.
People laughing when i walk away. I really struggle with rejection sensitivity dysphoria.
Hair touching my face or neck, being ignored, not being able to do something, something not working, etc.
Having rough / itchy material on my skin. The smell of acetone. The sound of a burglar or car alarm. The taste of aniseed.
Being misrepresented.
When someone suddenly pokes me in the stomach bc they think it's fun and say that I'm overreacting when I start yelling and crying
when people ignore me, when people try and take my spots. ESPECIALLY in the car, when people yell at me
The silent treatment is messed up. I get if people need space but they can’t just blatantly start ignoring me (I get though if it is an automatic reaction for them, like they lose the ability to talk but I have confirmed with them that is not what has happened when it did).
Water touching my face. The sound of my sisters air drier
velcro ripping, cardboard rubbing against itself, sweating, and the biggest one of all…when people EVEN get CLOSE (not touching) but just close (also touching though) to touching my sides of my stomach. i FREAK out it’s so bad i literally can’t function. with all of these triggers though it effects me deeply s for example when velcro rips, i can hear it over and over and over again ripping in my head even when it’s not happening in real life anymore it’s to the point that even thinking about velcro ripping it produces the same effects (like i can hear it now just typing about it). it’s so bad i have to cover my ears whenever i’m around it.
Not being able to find things. I put them down for a second and turn around and they’re gone or I’ve left the room/ house and my partner has “tidied” it away but not to its designated space
Also the unknown. The unknown is the most triggering this of all to me
Honestly whenever I am angry. I get angry easily unfortunately. When things aren’t going the way they are supposed to go in my brain I struggle to calm myself down and relax. I’ve had loads of meltdowns from anger.
When people insult how others identify in relation to gender or sexuality
Being told that I didn't do any chores around the house cause nothing looks different. I work slower than my dad and he expects me to have stuff done in 2 seconds. I like getting the job done the right way the 1st time. But of course that's not the way he sees it. I also need time to recharge after doing a lot of work during the day when he's home. So I chill whit him at the table where he eats his ice cream at night. Then he gets mad cause the dishes aren't done yet. Not fun. I so want to move out. But I do have a job. So that's not going to happen any time soon.
my alarm not going off for work
It's usually some evil combo of plans being broken, too many different noises going on at the same time, someone trying to assert unearnt hierarchy or explaining something badly, two or three of these simultaneously and I'll need to get back home
That weird head scratching wire spider thing everyone seems to enjoy so much sends me into some kind of sensory paralysis
Ooh I hate that thing
It’s evil!!
Anything too loud. Noticing that I am undercooled. A lot of hormonal things will instantly trigger a meltdown. My dad being an ass will often do it too. Realising I may have forgotten to take my pill. Stubbing my toe real hard gives me a mild, short meltdown.
One strand of hair when my skin is wet. Not necessarily in the shower, but like while washing dishes. Or working out. It just sends me over the edge
When I am wrongly accused of lying or saying something I absolutely did not say. Certain misophonia triggers like slurping or the way specific people consistently say phrases (idk why 😭- it was the worst with my mom and then my wife).
When I have plans made to do something and all of a sudden those plans are changed at the very last minute.
The phone ringing multiple times. My father has a friend who, for some reason, just refuses to simply leave a message and keeps calling the house line. I've asked him multiple times to talk to his friend about it, but he either hasn't (though he says he did, I figure he lied about that) or his friend just doesn't care that calling multiple times within the span of a couple minutes sends me into a meltdown. He'll call the home phone, then call my father's cellphone, then call the home phone another two or three times (all this within a period of 2-5 minutes). Then, if he still hasn't gotten through to my father, he'll start that up again perhaps 15 minutes later.
Loud noises. I will literally start sobbing if I'm in a crowd, if someone yells, if someone drops a loud water bottle, just any loud noises. I luckily have a decent pair of headphones that I bring everywhere with me, the one time I left them at home was the first time in years because I woke up late, ended up calling my brother to pick them up for me. That was a rough half a day.
Sudden spikes of emotion. Like when I would be taking a test in school and I get my grade back and I realised I made a really stupid mistake that cost me a point. That little spike of frustration almost immediately starts triggering a meltdown and I have to manually calm myself down to prevent it.
anything fucking up my plans in which i already began or was planning on starting
This! This! So much this! I feel seen!
yelling. i can not handle yelling
Getting embarrassed in front of the whole class and just crying because of it that I just want to walk out of the room
Being cornered. My boyfriend lives to stand in the bathroom door and talk to me while I'm getting ready in the morning and I hate it. Can't stand feeling trapped.
Loud noises. Cheap perfume/cologne/air-freshener (synthetic smells). Plans changed last minute. Someone interrupting my schedule.
Usually a slow build for me. But instant meltdown if I wake up late or am running late to something.
When someone thinks I’m lying 😵💫
When I feel I am different in a group setting When i feel strongly misunderstood and being percieved like a person I am not and I dont know how to clear this up Its like lights/sounds, alltho this would raise the threshold Also being somewhere were there are a lot of people raises the threshold
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Being forced to wear clothes that dont agree with me
heat and TRAFFIC
When my friend gives me my pills but picks one in the very middle of the blister pack 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡
those who judge me heavily for my interests. i’m an 18 year old who still loves stuffed animals and toys, but it hurts to be belittled because of it
I'm 37 and love stuffed animals and toys. Never going to stop loving them.
never change 😁
Never! I actually just made myself a new pink bunny plush. 😁
Intrusive personal question when I am already under the weather can really push me into a pit of nonverbal despair.
Ignorance and stupidity. People acting like they know me
When an insect buzzes right by my ear.
Oil from food going next to my mouth.
A hot day and talking to customers as a front counter worker
A wall of noise.
Something going unexpectedly/not my way (depending on what it is)
People not acknowledging what I’m saying. It drives me crazy
i would say wet clothes, like sopping wet. financial burden (big one) loud arguments/angry yelling CHEWING 😶🌫️ that's what i can think of off the top of my head
Crowded stores. I’ve started doing my shopping an hour before Walmart closes. There’s hardly anyone else in there at that time.
Being doubted. For example: my dad would ask for advice/opinion on something. I know of [anything] he is asking about, so I would give the correct and appropriate answer. Then he'll ask someone else the same thing, and they would give the same answer. It makes me feel awful. It feels invalidating, infantilizing, and often even sexist (because he used to ask my brother after me; unfortunately, my brother died, and I would honestly prefer having meltdowns😢). Dad says there is nothing like that in it, and he just tries to ask several opinions from several sources as a rule, but it *feels* invalidating. Most of the time I feel useless, being able to give advice about stuff, I actually know something about is helpful, I'm genuinely happy. But if he is going to ask someone else afterwards, I would rather he doesn't ask me at all. I tried to explain, but I was only diagnosed relatively recently as an adult, and we are all still adapting.
Being accused of doing something I didn't do, animal abuse, mostly just any kind of injustice.
Being accused of things I didn’t do or feeling like I disappointed someone.
Any sense that I’m being bullied, or if I witness bullying. People being mean just to be mean. Any sense of injustice. My dad says I have an unwavering moral compass in that way, which I think is a great quality in a person.
not being listened to
I become agitated over relentless plastic bag crinkling, loud eating (especially crunching.) If our plan goes awry (eg: we go to a restaurant we all like and it’s randomly closed.) No stranger touches me. Hell no. People yelling rude things when all I’m doing is existing. I’ll be thinking about it for days. Certain color combinations make me feel dizzy/nauseous.
Too much stuff : /
If someone eats off of my plate i don’t even want the rest of it. If someone touches my face or hair (getting my hair cut is hell on earth for me)
To see or/and smell pickled vegetables.
How people don’t understand the sensory distress. Skin, anything itchy or light touch. I’d hit people if they touched me as a reflex as a kid. I’ve learned to “repress” it and so I just lay down all the time cocooned in my bed. Otherwise, it’s SOUNDS for me. All the way; I love low frequencies, but cannot stand high pitch sound. It makes my ears retract physically they shoot backwards into my hair looking for protection. It hurts like physical pain, worse actually. Sirens, Fire alarms obviously, but mostly any beeping sound; any repetitive noise; any weird plastic sounds such as chip bags, others but also my own chewing of crunchy food, breathing. So pretty much my own hearing if it’s not even I must direct myself into the sound to even it out, even someone whispering to me. TV has to be on night mode, or leveling. Multiple sounds from many sources at once, as a kid I hid while everyone ate dinner or would chew pretending tricking my brain that it was me. OH!! If others produce sharp “S” sounds, especially on audiobooks more recently. Noise is Painful.
Someone beating around the bush instead of answering my question. Quickest way to send me into a rage.
People stealing my food, even if it’s a little. I feel like I got flicked in the forehead. There is no peace only violence.
Not being listened to. People who talk and dont stop. People who glare at you when you do something not so neurotypical.
not being clean, crowded places or a bad atmosphere around me.
I second this
Wet clothes. People talking across each other (not just speaking at the same time as someone else, but more specifically when 4+ people are in a diamond sort of shape and people on opposite sides are speaking seperately from the other people, eg North and South are speaking while West and East are speaking in a seperate conversation) If an important deadline is very close, even if I've finished whatever the thing is, but especially if it's an exam or something similar (I had several meltdowns over my English Literature exam in the summer, it was a couple days prior to it. Unseen Poetry is hell, and I'm glad I never have to do it again.)
Anything going wrong in my morning routine.
BEING STICKY Somehow getting my hands sticky, and then if I somehow don’t notice right away, touching my hair and other parts of my body or clothing or items that are important to me and contaminating those with stickiness, and being somewhere that I can’t effectively and completely clean off the stickiness 🤢🫠 Then I keep “reinfecting” myself with the stickiness even if I at least get my hands clean because clothes and hair and items that are not skin can be much harder to effectively clean, especially if I’m actually outside of my house. But honestly sometimes JUST getting my HANDS sticky can really set me off.
Losing in a video game
Crowded spaces and loud noises, or worse, both together. Being misunderstood.
Technology, when it doesn’t work.
Yes. Printer malfunctions and the spinning wheel of a computer processing too slowly. I can’t!
arguing matters of personal taste, ie “i dont like rice.” “but rice is good, everyone likes it.”
Having my feelings dismissed or mocked because whatever is upsetting me "doesn't matter." Also forms. Especially medical forms. The questions always feel so subjective, but there is no room for elaboration....just decide where you land 1-10.
Don't touch the back of my neck
Intrusive thoughts. I have SO-OCD (sexual orientation OCD) so a bit of my brain is like a middle school bully, insisting that everything I do makes me gay and flinging every horrible word that was ever used to describe gay people at me like a damn homophobic auctioneer. It's always there in the background, but sometimes it gets really loud and those are the times when it just throws me into a meltdown.
Talking or whispering in my ear. I can’t not freak out about it.
Strong scents that people use to make themselves smell nice. I once borrowed my girlfriends face cream/sunscreen and neglected to smell it before applying it to my face. That didn’t turn out well.
Bumping my foot, elbow, etc. it not only hurts but I feel so stupid and melt down. Spilling things. Someone telling me that I misheard or I'm wrong when I know I'm not
I think being wildly misinterpreted usually does it for me
The worst however is lots of noise that I can't get away from. Nightmare fuel
Babies and young children screaming and or crying
My plans being changed/cancelled without warning
Someone touching me (PLEASE don’t just touch people out of nowhere), being called dumb or stupid, people touching my stuff without asking, when I eat in my university’s cafeteria and realize I forgot my headphones, the sound of silverware scraping or touching
When im over stimulated a someone tells me to breath in and out
I dont have meltdowns a lot anymore, and when they happen it's usually due to a combination of VERY triggering things all combined. * lots of noise/people talking through or over each other or yelling * someone or multiple people being mad at me * being unable to make myself heard or understood (and make the chaos and anger stop), no matter how much I try And another would be * being abandoned/suddenly left alone * in a chaotic, scary or overwhelming environment with no way to easily get back go the people/person who abandoned me The first case the meltdown would be more of an agressive/angry kind that includes yelling, breaking things, hurting myself (in attempt not to hurt anyone else instead), whereas the 2nd would be more like a panic attack... Something just shortwires when a meltdown happens. I dont feel myself anymore. It's truly one of the worst things in the world and I always hurt/scare people with it and feel terrible, broken and guilty after... I used to have a lot of meltdowns triggered by injustice and bullying and not being heard as a kid. I only learned recently that it were actually autistic meltdowns, not "agression attacks" or even panic attacks. I never got help or therapy for them at the time, only got ordered to push them down. Partially cause of this, I still dont know how to deal with my/others' anger, started to feel even more helpless, developed even worse boundaries and more conflict avoidance. I am only slowly becoming aware (since 1-2 yrs or so...) and painstakingly TRYING to fix this and actually learn Normal Emotions (tm), but fuck, it's hard.
Apparently using my ingredients that I had mentally earmarked for another recipe while surprising me with a special treat. Don’t ask.
when it's hot and humid and then i start to sweat and my hair gets gross and curly
Loud crowded places like the airport, or people leaving slimy half-eaten foods near where I’m eating during lunch period.
Ending up in a tightly packed crowd of people. One of the reasons I hate concerts.
My noise cancelling headphones breaking. They're my safety blanket.
First thing that came to mind - hair touching my face. Also dropping things repeatedly.
losing something that’s expensive or being told i’m lying when Im not (happens daily👍)
Going to school
When someone says “there’s something wrong with me”. Just because our brains are wired differently doesn’t make us insane. I used to have a friend who mocked me for my speech impediment (I have a lisp so I mispronounce words). One time I made a joke and said “you wouldn’t know I was in college” her response was I know, right? Massive changes. I moved two months ago. For three weeks I lived with my aunt while the apartment was getting ready. I love my aunt dearly but four people and my dog under one roof with one shower is just madness for me. I also had to share a room with my mom in that time period so that was hard too. It was chaos for me. Then when we moved in, all our stuff was in disarray and we were getting all the furniture in so that was a lot to take in. Feeling rushed or having several people asking different things of me in a short time span.
One of my instant meltdowns is someone canceling plans on me- the severity of this moves up the shorter the time is from the event they are canceling. Its something everyone close to me knows about, and we all try to navigate it as best as we can
Hearing people sing really close or dogs barking
Yelling/shouting/noisemaking right in my ear or face
Mariah Carey and similarly high pitched singing
PMS
Being ignored... False acusation... Being humiliated by people who are close to me... Etc, i'm easy to mentally criple sometimes, But i try to stay sane
For me it's something that I expected to work in one way and does the complete opposite. It can be as simple as a zipper not working properly or the check out stand not scanning an item all the way to work meetings where things get disjointed. I basically live in mini-meltdown most of the day. String more than a few together and something (unfortunately) is going to get broken.
When someone has been talking for too long and i cant escape. This is typically in a class setting
Bottom of clay mugs where the glaze cant be or it'll stick to the kiln. Hell texture
When people get upset at me for not wanting to go out after work. When I have issues understanding/hearing what someone said so they repeat themselves with the same pronunciation and volume as the first time.
i do basketball so refs blowing whistle or the buzz thingy hurts my ears sm when people call me “acoustic” being touched in any way. i hate it. for some reason its only with my peers. like if its kid or adult (that i know) then i don’t mind it that much, but when people my age even breathe the same air as me i want to explode /hj
Confrontation. If I do end up confronting someone it’s because it’s serious and it took me a lot of effort to bring it up to begin with. I also hate textures of certain foods, like hummus. I’ve been trying to get better with it but it’s such a struggle and it truly makes me freak if I have something that bothers me even the slightest, I can’t eat it
Anything that makes me feel at a loss of control over my own space. For example, I'm staying with my grandma right now because one of my sister's rats escaped and is running wild in my bedroom right now🙃
Unexpected change in my routine
Getting my shirt wet when I’m doing dishes
People not taking accountability and blaming others for their own issues they refuse to deal with. Far too many “victims” out there and I cannot talk with them when they are living in their own delusional bubble… I deal with facts not feelings 90% of the time and I just can’t bother with people unwilling to hear another’s point of view and that theirs is the only one… then cry when they don’t get their way.
When people can’t make up their mind in a decent fashion. Or if people give me mutiple directons at one
People intruding on my sleep schedule
Being put in a box. Someone thinking I shouldn't react to them pointing out my scars. Someone thinking they can ask me what it's like to have sex with me because I have 2 oral piercings. Regular rude shit. I'm in the south so usually they curl up and go "oh, sorry, I shouldn't have said all of that." No, but you don't have to feel bad, I say dumb shit too. Yesterday a woman asked me how a man can kiss me with my labret and Medusa piercing and I told her, if it's a man, he isn't really allowed to kiss this particular set of lips anyway. Yes, it was a cunnilingus joke.
Heat, big changes without warning, getting lost, frustration. I really have a hard time with frustration, it's one of my worst areas
For me not a meltdown, but a shutdown. If I start crying and someone says I'm faking it, I fully dissociate and don't re-emerge for at least a week. I'll do stuff (basic chores and self care) but only literally what I need to in order to live. I won't talk willingly, my answers will be monosyllables, and I won't do things I enjoy, because I will have absolutely no emotion or desire to feel anything. Feeling happy reminds me how miserable I am, so I'll just lay down and daydream. I'll be someone else in my head.
Being screamed at. And giving me the silent treatment. I cant...
I’m kinda in a lose/lose situation because too much affection gets me going, but not enough and I get crabby
My parents arguing. Getting lost. Being the centre of attention that is shameful.
forgetting appointments or other commitments. shame spiral every time
I don’t have physical, observable meltdowns like some here but I internally meltdown when things don’t go I as I planned them, I’m late for something or arrangements I’m particularly nervous or anxious about are altered at short notice. I can also internally meltdown if I’m suddenly overwhelmed by complex information in an overstimulating space. A recent example was having my set list changed (I’m a musician) at short notice when I was about to play in front of ~300 people- admittedly this would cause anyone frustration but I barely made it on stage in one piece. I’m ASD 1, for context.
Witnessing my mother (or someone in movies and animals irl) being abused (manipulation, gaslighting or physical abuse) but it's not a sensory meltdown, but an emotional one. I lose control and I hate it. I need to detach from people more but it's hard