Can some help me? // Sensitive part and meltdowns

[Drudas]

Hey hey! my name is Pedro, I'm 16 years old and I'm from Lisbon, Portugal so sorry if my English sucks I have been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome when I was 2/3 years and I also have Adhd officially diagnosed.

Well, when i was a child i used to have meltdowns like 2 or 3 times per week and i was very aggressive but between the 5/6 and the 10 that gradually disappeared... or at least was I used to think.

Since some months ago i'm dealing with a lot of problems related with the sensitive part of my body (i don't know if is the correct word but i mean basically mean audition, vision, touch, smells and taste), I was thinking that was anxiety because I've been very anxious but I didn't connect that with asperger and was thinking that was something apart of that, I was thinking that was lack of sleep because I used to sleep 2/3 hours per night but since November I'm sleeping 8 hours per day in school days and everything that I can in weekends and holidays xD, i thought a lot of things but my sensitive part started to be different too, every noise stimulate me, if my parents, for example, talk a bit loud i almost start to have a meltdown because I think that they are discussing, etc. and i discovered that today because I had a meltdown today just because I was connecting sound speakers to my computer and one of them fall and made noise... to be honest i'm a lot anxious while I'm writing this and that sucks... my asperger sympthoms were so much better until some months ago that i even used to think that i didn't had asperger anymore :/

Btw, sorry for be so long haha. for finish, i just want to ask for some tips for can be not so sensitive, i don't mean even be like the symptoms regret but i want this to be at least a bit better, preferentially that don't involve doctors... my psychiatrist only pass medicines and don't care about the patients, my psychologist don't care too much too, my parents i don't know why accept that and don't change the doctors and they don't have money to pay for private doctors (as i said i'm from Portugal and here we have a public health system), i want something that i can do on a daily base that can make me don't be so sensitive, thanks for the help and please sorry for be so long!

PS1: I can connect a specific even that can made my symptoms be worst since some months ago, my birthday. my birthday was in September and my parents passed all day discussing, my brother discussing with them and me, me crying alone in my room, etc. and that was very traumatic to me so is a event that i can connect with that.
PS2: Since i was diagnosed with asperger when i was 2 years old that i took risperdone, since 2017 that i don't take like was prescribed so some days ago, in other i don't, sometimes i pass weeks without take, etc. if i took 6 times in last 6 months is much while i should take everyday, the fault can be to don't take like i should?

Thanks again to everyone that read and even awnser this!

 

[Nitro]

Hi Pedro

 

[Drudas]

Hi Pedro

View attachment 53001

Hey! how are you?
thanks for awnser this thread btw

 

[LucyPurrs]

Hi Pedro,
Welcome to this forum. You're in a good place here- people here are friendly and helpful and not judgmental. You will learn a lot here and get lots of help from other forum members. By the way , your English is very good so don't worry, you made yourself clear about what advice you are looking for. I'm going to defer to others since I am not ASD (autism spectrum disorder) but NT (neurotypical). But I will say that some of the things you describe are fairly common with folks who have ASD. So you should get some good advice and understanding here.

 

[Nitro]

Hey! how are you?
thanks for awnser this thread btw

I'm doing well.

Find a thread or more to read, or feel free to start one of your own.
Jump right in anywhere and most importantly, I'm sure you find find advise or help from others

 

[Drudas]

Hi Pedro,
Welcome to this forum. You're in a good place here- people here are friendly and helpful and not judgmental. You will learn a lot here and get lots of help from other forum members. By the way , your English is very good so don't worry, you made yourself clear about what advice you are looking for. I'm going to defer to others since I am not ASD (autism spectrum disorder) but NT (neurotypical). But I will say that some of the things you describe are fairly common with folks who have ASD. So you should get some good advice and understanding here.

Hey hey! thanks about my English! and don't worry about defer! please sorry for the question but what is Neurotypical? i never readed too much about Asperger syndrome or autism in general because as i said until some months ago didn't affect me so I focused on read about ADHD and try to learn strategies to deal because my ADHD level is one of the highest possible and a lot of other stuff related with ADHD so if you can explain to me what is neurotypical it's ok, if not don't worry about that!

 

[Drudas]

I'm doing well.

Find a thread or more to read, or feel free to start one of your own.
Jump right in anywhere and most importantly, I'm sure you find find advise or help from others

Thanks!

 

[Nitro]

Hey hey! thanks about my English! and don't worry about defer! please sorry for the question but what is Neurotypical? i never readed too much about Asperger syndrome or autism in general because as i said until some months ago didn't affect me so I focused on read about ADHD and try to learn strategies to deal because my ADHD level is one of the highest possible and a lot of other stuff related with ADHD so if you can explain to me what is neurotypical it's ok, if not don't worry about that!

neurotypical describes what is considered the norm for the way people's brains are wired.
We on the spectrum can be considered neurodiverse

 

[LucyPurrs]

Hey hey! thanks about my English! and don't worry about defer! please sorry for the question but what is Neurotypical? i never readed too much about Asperger syndrome or autism in general because as i said until some months ago didn't affect me so I focused on read about ADHD and try to learn strategies to deal because my ADHD level is one of the highest possible and a lot of other stuff related with ADHD so if you can explain to me what is neurotypical it's ok, if not don't worry about that!

Well, neurotypical is what people without ASD are labelled. Just means without ASD. Thought processes are somewhat different than those with ASD, kind of like a difference in wiring of the brain. ASD is just different , not bad or a disease, just different. Help forum folks- I seem to be stumbling along here- help me explain this to Drudas!

 

[onlything]

Hi Pedro!
I understand that you are prescribed medication? You should make sure that you take the medication every day if your doctor prescribed it as such. Since Risperidone is supposed to help with autistic symptoms like irritability, lack of or irregular intake could possibly cause their worsening. Medication isn't going to help you if you take it only from time to time. Maybe set up a reminder in your phone to remember to take it at a specific time?

Concerning the neurotypicality... Aspergers/autistic = neurodiverse. Others = neurotypical. It's a different brain 'builds', so different ways of working, different types. Like there are different types of shapes (triangles, circles etc.) or sea shells, or computer parts - different but doesn't mean better or worse.

Your English is really good for a 16 year old.

 

[the_tortoise]

Maybe check out the book "Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight" by Sharon Heller -- it's about sensory sensitivities in adults and has information about managing them.

 

[clg114]

Welcome to Autism Forums!

 

[Progster]

Btw, sorry for be so long haha. for finish, i just want to ask for some tips for can be not so sensitive, i don't mean even be like the symptoms regret but i want this to be at least a bit better, preferentially that don't involve doctors... my psychiatrist only pass medicines and don't care about the patients, my psychologist don't care too much too, my parents i don't know why accept that and don't change the doctors and they don't have money to pay for private doctors (as i said i'm from Portugal and here we have a public health system), i want something that i can do on a daily base that can make me don't be so sensitive, thanks for the help and please sorry for be so long!

I generally learn what things or situations trigger or bother me, and then try to avoid them, although there are some situations that can happen suddenly and unexpectedly that can't be helped. I have sunglasses for the bright sunshine that can give me a headache if I don't wear them, and ear plugs or headphones with music to block out unpleasant, unwanted sound. If I don't have these, I may become overstimulated, which in my case means I can get nauseous or have a headache, get irritable and not able to work or concentrate.

 

[Misery]

I've had to deal with audio sensitivity myself as well. I cant deal with things that are too loud, and I also cant "filter" stuff. I hear *everything* all the time. Sometimes this is useful... I can hear things that nobody else will, because their brain is filtering alot of stuff out. Other times.... not so useful.

But when it comes to dealing with loudness, I've found that slowly exposing myself to more of it, over time, has helped. For instance, if I'm driving, I usually have some music playing. Nothing crazy, just soundtracks from various games I like. However, I also drive with the window open when I can. If I want to hear the music, it has to actually be loud enough to drown out the wind. So it's a choice... either deal with the volume and hear the music, or listen to the boring wind instead.

Same with sudden sounds. Gaming is my main hobby, and it's also the thing that's helped the most with my sensitivity issues. I started getting into horror games... a natural evolution of my already-existing love of horror books/stories. Horror games often have jumpscares... extremely sudden and often very loud sounds, complete with some monster leaping at you out of nowhere. It was hard to handle at first.... but if I wanted to play such games, it was either deal with it, or dont play them. So I just sort of did. A bit at a time at first, and then more as time goes on. Part of what made it work was that I had some degree of control over it. The sudden explosions of sound and screaming monsters would only happen if I was in the game, after all, so they only could happen when I made the choice to play said game. I only exposed myself to them when I felt that my mood was right for it.

Over time, it's worked out well. I can handle loud sudden sounds now without too much trouble, and also loud constant sounds as well. Granted, things of really extreme volume will still set me off... there's no way I could go to something like a concert, where the music is so loud it makes the building shake. That's not happening. But for "normal" loud stuff, it worked out well.

Obviously, gaming isnt the solution for everyone. But my point is that slow exposure, over time, while under your control a bit, might go a long way to building up some real resistance to the problem. There are all sorts of ways to do it, not just gaming.

Not that it'll ever be perfect, mind you. ANYONE on the spectrum can have bad days, where things are just more overwhelming than on other days... that's just part of the condition.

But yeah, if you try that and really keep at it... not giving up... maybe it'll help.

Welcome to the forums, by the way. We try not to suck here. Feel free to ask for assistance when you see the need.

 

[Kelsey4vril]

Hello, Pedro! I’m impressed with your English, I always feel great respect for people who can speak more than one language. I can definitely relate to your sensory sensitivity. It sounds like you are feeling a lot more stress in your life, and that could be making you more sensitive. I know that I’m always a little sensitive to sensory stimuli (stimuli meaning anything that causes your reaction to sound, taste, touch, smell, sight), but it is much worse when I am exhausted and stressed, or when I’ve pushed myself to do too much at once. I just looked up your medication, and it does say one of the uses is to calm irritability. Did you stop using the medication because there was something wrong with it, or is it just hard to remember to take it? If there’s something wrong it could be good to ask about a different medication that better meets your needs now that you’re older. If there’s nothing wrong, maybe it could be helpful to ask your family to help you set up a system that helps you remember to take it every day (or however often you’re supposed to).

Another thing I think I noticed in your post, but I might have been interpreting your meaning incorrectly, is that you’re feeling self-conscious or ashamed when people are talking about you. These hurtful, judgemental thoughts and feelings can be really difficult to handle and when your thoughts and feelings are making you unhappy, it’s even harder to manage our feelings and sensory information at the same time. I hope you don’t experience this, but if you often find yourself thinking “Oh I’m so stupid, I’m never good enough, they hate me” or things like that (which I have struggled with) try practicing watching your own thoughts and feelings. When you feel out of control with negative thoughts and emotions, try saying to yourself something like “I’m sad and angry that I wasn’t able to handle that like I wanted” or “I feel sad and isolated when my mother talks about me this way”. When you practice this you are slowing down your brain’s reaction to a situation, giving it more time to process just the emotion and not jump to negative judgements of you or the people around you.

Another thing you might want to do to help manage your health is to take some time to really think about sensations you really like, and sensations you really dislike. It’s good to get used to tolerating sensory stimuli slowly and carefully, like Misery said, but the more you know about the sounds that really bother you, the more you can practice taking a break from situations that have a lot of that sound (or some other feeling) when you need to. Also, taking time to notice things you really like doing, feeling or hearing is really helpful. Many Autistic people help themselves feel better when they are overwhelmed by “stimming”, doing some repetitive action that’s in our control that soothes us. Some examples of stimming could be rubbing your hands on something soft over and over, playing with sand or “Silly Putty”, listening to your favourite music, covering your ears and making a noise that sounds interesting over and over (or doing the same thing without covering your ears), spinning in circles, rocking your body or waving your hands... Things like this can be very soothing and there are as many ways to stim as there are Autistic people. You may already do soothing behaviours like this that you didn’t realize were related to your Autistic resilience, but you may also have been encouraged not to do these things because people are judgemental and they try to police what’s considered “normal” behaviour. If you want some more neurotypical looking ways to stim, some examples are rubbing the bottom of your shirt with your fingers, clicking your pen, tapping a table with your fingers or fiddling with zippers on your backpack. Try to embrace curiousity about the ways you move your body and feel your way through the world - you may find some relaxation you didn’t know you needed.

I hope this is helpful for you, and even if these aren’t the solutions you need, know you’re not alone! I’ve been there, and it’s really tough, and you are tough for getting through it!

 

[Pats]

Hello Pedro, and welcome. Yes, you should take your medicine every day. It helped before and the way you feel since you have stopped taking it seems to be making you feel worse.
I also agree that your English is good, but I'm not sure what you mean by 'discuss'. Discuss is just talking back and forth with someone in a normal tone. Are they arguing or yelling?

 

[Drudas]

Hi Pedro!
I understand that you are prescribed medication? You should make sure that you take the medication every day if your doctor prescribed it as such. Since Risperidone is supposed to help with autistic symptoms like irritability, lack of or irregular intake could possibly cause their worsening. Medication isn't going to help you if you take it only from time to time. Maybe set up a reminder in your phone to remember to take it at a specific time?

Concerning the neurotypicality... Aspergers/autistic = neurodiverse. Others = neurotypical. It's a different brain 'builds', so different ways of working, different types. Like there are different types of shapes (triangles, circles etc.) or sea shells, or computer parts - different but doesn't mean better or worse.

Your English is really good for a 16 year old.

Hey hey! please sorry for only answer today! about risperidone, I understand you and I was trying to change that but I think that yesterday I understood that I really need to take, I used to think that risperidone is only for sleep or something like that and i was trying to change my mindset from "eh, I'll be a zombie tomorrow if I take so i don't need it" for "eh, i'll look like a zombie but only for a few days while my body is getting used again to risperidone" but that changed yesterday because I took and the anxiety that I was having because stimulation go away and I realize that is not only for sleep because I took 1 hour to sleep haha. so yeah, was more an error of my way of think that a schedule lack

About neurotypicality, thanks for explaining to me I also googled for it in the lunch so i understood better

About my English! thanks, i love foreign languages and it's pretty amazing to know that years of videogames and rock music made me learn more than English classes haha

PS: i discovered something that can help me a lot with the sensitive part, when i back home from school I pass the rest of the day editing some videos for some Brazilian youtubers when I don't exit with my friends and I discovered that instead of be in my desktop with 2 screens and a lot of cables with my tv making noise and a lot of stimulation in general, work from the laptop while sitting in my bed and having a Bluetooth speaker playing some music in a low volume helps a lot with anxiety because sensitive part

 

[Drudas]

Maybe check out the book "Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight" by Sharon Heller -- it's about sensory sensitivities in adults and has information about managing them.

Hey hey! thanks for the tip! I think that I will order from Amazon or try to find in the library of my town!

 

[Drudas]

Welcome to Autism Forums!

Thanks!

 

[Drudas]

I generally learn what things or situations trigger or bother me, and then try to avoid them, although there are some situations that can happen suddenly and unexpectedly that can't be helped. I have sunglasses for the bright sunshine that can give me a headache if I don't wear them, and ear plugs or headphones with music to block out unpleasant, unwanted sound. If I don't have these, I may become overstimulated, which in my case means I can get nauseous or have a headache, get irritable and not able to work or concentrate.

Hey hey! at least for me headphones work well, about sunglasses is the opposite, it's very very rare to use sunglasses so that stimulate me more because i start to be paranoic because i start to think like "eh, my mother will think that i used drugs and we'll discuss", some of my friends smoke weed so my mom is kinda of paranoic even knowing that i don't even have the courage of try