autism-asks:

Signs of a meltdown could include things such as feeling overwhelmed or feeling that everything is “too much” or unbearable, anxiety, feeling that you need to “get away”, a strong urge to run away or hide, lash out, kick, yell, scream, cuss or cry, as well as actually doing those things. Meltdowns may include symptoms of dissociation, such as feeling numb, detached from yourself or the world around you, watching yourself or blacking out, or go along with (or be caused by) heightened sensory sensitivity, i.e. feeling that things are too loud, too bright, too fast and so on. You may find yourself stimming more or wanting to stim to alleviate the sense of overwhelm. This could include self-injurious stims, such as head banging, scratching, biting or hitting, or self-injurious behaviour in general. You may have difficulty thinking clearly, go non-verbal or become snappy and sarcastic with others.

When I have meltdowns I often feel like I will break down or won’t be able to “keep going” if I cannot escape the situation or alleviate whatever it is that is causing me to meltdown. For me, repeatedly thinking “I can’t keep going, I can’t do this anymore, I need to get away” or variations on those themes are pointers that I may be headed towards a meltdown.

-Kath