Meltdowns and sensory overload

[purplerealm]

I have good coping strategies to manage anxiety but on the odd occasion, I get sensory overload and go from 1 to 10 in a matter of seconds and feel really very very angry.

I dropped a computer tower on the floor and dented my door, I then picked it up and dropped it again and then picked it up and placed it on the desktop. I then walked into a door and banged my head. I wanted to scream and rant and rave so I did. I screamed at the top of my voice and was furious in my home, no one else about. I punched soft cushions. I also go for a scream in the car. It can be small things like paperwork or things going wrong with a phone company. Most people get annoyed or stressed but not to the point of feeling volatile. I notice it more when Im tired and been really busy at work. I never take it out on people and can walk away or to to the toilet and inwardly scream.I dont throw objects either but find something soft.

Does anyone else experience this at times.

[Tom fod]

Very much so!

Sometimes I can be very impatient with things/people or myself and will swear out loud. Other people seem better at not caring so much and can inwardly say (insert expletive) it n move on.

[Jake468]

I can relate very heavily to this, often when I am confronted with any minor failure or slip up I will react disproportionately (only at home though, in public I'll just be left feeling immensely down and thinking about it for the next 20 minutes) and usually at home I will swear a lot just for the sake of it, and very much so when I bump into things / drop things / forget things...It's not too pleasant for people I live with, but depressingly the alternative is attacking myself / things around me as without swearing I feel very confined in terms of coping strategies and get an uncontrollable urge to just do something with my frustration..there's no sense or logic to it either as I feel mortified when I break something - for example during one of my more ridiculous outbursts I attempted to throw one of those roll on deodorant things at my bedroom wall, and of course thanks to my second-to-none hand eye coordination it somehow ended up hitting a light and half breaking it, which to this day still doesn't work properly.

[dyspraxicyoungperson]

I seem to have the same issue but for me it always ends up with me in tears, this can be embarrassing. so at the moment I'm making a note of how many days a month that I cry.

[Engel]

Hello all,

I can definitely relate here. I used to wind myself up if I got one tiny thing wrong, used to send me into either full on anger mode or recluse mode.

I found that music helped me, I read somewhere (if I can ever find the source again ill post it in another post) that finding a genre of music that you like can often have a calming effect, its just looking beyond what you would normally listen to. I have discovered some weird music from this... but if it works... I'm not complaining.

Some people tend to have to withdraw themselves from the situation as well, or take 10 deep breaths, that may be worth practising?

[Tom fod]

I seem to have the same issue but for me it always ends up with me in tears, this can be embarrassing. so at the moment I'm making a note of how many days a month that I cry.

Please don't use your note of how often you find yourself becoming upset to chastise yourself. We can all get to a point where with everything piling up it becomes all a bit too much. It's ok to ask for help or step back and think about how much or whether it really matters at all in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes it can be overtaken by events so allowing time for the dust to settle in a good plan as you can see to come up with a better solution as rarely are situations literally life or death.

[screengreen]

Me too I cry more 3easily than most am more anxious than most, I actually think we melt rien more easily due to different brain wiring, thing is to find positive or at least acceptable ways of coping..... using the loo and breathing is a favourite of mine also at home I have a large gym ball that I lie across and crawl across the room my hubby thinks I am mad but I believe it helps reset my system!