Dumb and Dumber

[JamesM]

I've gone through a really long period of stress, trauma a loss. I now find myself struggling to do almost everything, I'm literally like a intellectually disabled or retarded person right now. Even just typing this, I'm getting words mixed up, bad spelling. Speaking is just as bad, I become non-verbal sometimes. Have no idea what anyone is talking about. Everything overwhelms me, can't make decisions. I feel the need for sameness, I eat the same food every day, watch the same TV program every night. I get agitated quickly. No focus or can't really give attention to things, I just get frustrated and shutdown. I make constant mistakes and then make more mistakes fixing the other mistakes!

The only thing that seem to work is to not doing anything at all.

Seems to be related to burnout and regression. Anyone else experienced this?

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

You're overwhelmed. Go into a quiet, dark room and lay down and stare at the wall, and close your eyes. Enjoy the silence.

If I have a lot of responsibilities, and I've been around a lot of people, and life has been terribly unpredictable- I get so terribly overwhelmed sometimes that I go nonverbal, and when I fight to get the words out, I sound like a small child, kind of baby talk, and I stutter a lot. And i get huge memory gaps where I can't recall almost anything. And even small responsibilities send me into panic. It's all just part of being autistic.

Sometimes bright flickery lights and loud sounds will even overstimulate me so bad, I dissociate.

The only fix is darkness, silence, and no responsibilities for a few days. Lots and lots of sleep. Maybe reading a favorite book, time in nature, or working on a hobby too? With no one else around.

Enjoy the silence.

Spoiler

 

[thejuice]

I have had extreme periods of stress so I know exactly what you're talking about. Things will get better, 100% money back guarantee.

Your instinct is correct. In stressful moments, subtracting is better than adding. There is a paradoxical urge to add things to your life to distract from your unease, but this perpetuates the stress as you have experienced. It's an easy trap to fall in to, capitalism exploits this avoidant behaviour. Anxiety is your body's way of telling you to slow down.

I have a sleep mask (a good one), noise fan machine (I dislike silence) and I focus on my breathing and body. Try and tune into yourself and where you feel agitated. Maybe hold those areas, breathe into them (strange as that sounds). There is no hard and fast rules, do what makes you comfortable but try to be more mentally present and aware of your body in space. Try to treat yourself like you would a friend that is suffering. Even just for 3 minutes, your body will thank you for the break from the relentless sensory input. You'll notice a difference.

I also recommend fidget toys and stress balls, they help calm the nervous system.

I also recommend Eckhart Tolle's short talk on mind clutter. (Try 3m 58s)

This guy is very funny and life affirming, in a gentle way. Yesterday YouTube auto played him when I was in an anxiety loop about my illness and my future. Funny how the algorithm knows what I am feeling, or is it supernatural?!! I was on a walk, he told me to look at the sky and I saw a shooting star. Pretty cool!

What's your favourite TV show?

 

[Matthias]

I've gone through a really long period of stress, trauma a loss. I now find myself struggling to do almost everything, I'm literally like a intellectually disabled or retarded person right now. Even just typing this, I'm getting words mixed up, bad spelling. Speaking is just as bad, I become non-verbal sometimes. Have no idea what anyone is talking about. Everything overwhelms me, can't make decisions. I feel the need for sameness, I eat the same food every day, watch the same TV program every night. I get agitated quickly. No focus or can't really give attention to things, I just get frustrated and shutdown. I make constant mistakes and then make more mistakes fixing the other mistakes!

The only thing that seem to work is to not doing anything at all.

Seems to be related to burnout and regression. Anyone else experienced this?

Social isolation can cause those symptoms. If you've started avoiding people due to the trauma (common if the trauma involves other people's behavior), I recommend you spend more time with others, ideally friends or family.

While stress can cause similar symptoms, are you currently stressed 100% of the time? If not, do the symptoms you mentioned go away when you're not stressed? If the symptoms persist even when you're feeling calm and not stressed, you can rule out stress as the cause.