How autistic catatonia feels for me

[@FrancescoBattaglia-x5i]

I wish you the best Ariel. I admire you a lot for all you are doing and of course for your power in front this situation. Stay safe and thank you so much for your magical and amazing work with your stories.

[@easystoriesinenglish]

Thanks, Francesco :)

[@lidisung1462]

It's very good to know what's going on. Thank you for this great explanation. Dear Ariel, you gave me so much with your videos. Thank you for that and I wish you only the best.

[@easystoriesinenglish]

Thank you for the kind comment, Lidi :)

[@ChenAQlaboratory]

So happy to see you come back, Ariel. I try to listen your podcast to improve my English. Your beginners level stories are very fit for me, I had many great time reading your stories, and I also said ‘ thank you Ariel’ after finished every story. Thank you. We’re lucky to have you back.

[@Louise173]

Found this at 2am after almost giving up hope. I was resesrching about something called ' dorsal vagal shut down' and it sounds so similar to autistic shutdowns... and my research led to this! Im so happy to have found this. When you spoke about loss of speech in different levels, i never realised i experience the exact same thing. It starts off with me judt forgetting a word or 2, Then the worser level is i know what i want to say, its in my head, but somehow i just cant put the words in the right order to speak a sentence ( i have always called this my verbal dyslexia as i dont know how else to describe it) Sometimes i cant speak at all and have to use hand gestures. It is a scary thing to experience, whoever goes through something like this you are strong and need extra love ❤

[@Louise173]

How I explain shutdowns/ catatonia to NTs- it's like one of those sleep paralysis dreams except you're awake

[@easystoriesinenglish]

I'm really glad you found the video and found it helpful! Since recording this I have made leaps and bounds in recovery. I have only had a few serious shutdowns this year, and I very rarely go fully non-speaking. So I wish you the best of luck :)

[@Louise173]

@@easystoriesinenglish thank you 😊 all the best

[@saraazul9194]

Hello Ariel! Of course, you are empowered, independent and strong! It's always a pleasure to listen to you ❤ Amazing video, even without editing! Stay safe, thanks for sharing ❤

[@NoName-nm7fx]

This helped me. I had some similar experiences a couple years ago, and I've been processing that lately. Thank you for sharing:)

[@Jeno.Cap17]

Hey Ariel, you have an amazing voice and you write unbelievable good storys! I always wanted to let you know that i really appreciate that. And everybody who is listening to your Podcasts can see how hard you are working. Thanks for your nice Podcasts, they helped me a lot to improve my english, even my hostkids love to listen your Stories, especially the ones about Doggo and Kitty 😂 Todays video showed me another part of your personality and I'm feeling you and your Storys so much closer now. ❤

[@MediaDestroyer]

Thank you very much for sharing this. I was recommended this.

[@easystoriesinenglish]

I'm glad you found it helpful! :)

[@ТаняБелка-р6д]

You are great person! Thank you 💜

[@easystoriesinenglish]

Thanks, Tanya :)

[@ngochuyenpham1831]

Best wishes for you❤❤❤

[@easystoriesinenglish]

Thanks Ngoc

[@milenastramaccia8172]

Thanks for sharing. My son, 16 years old, is autistic and 2 years ago was diagnosed with catatonia. He is taking lorazepam as main medication. It is very hard for us, he is non verbal. I just bought the book of Amitta Shah and Lorna Wing, it is very difficult to find information. We live in Italy, Milano.

[@easystoriesinenglish]

Best of luck for you and your son, Milena. That seems a very young age to be diagnosed. I hope he is able to feel better soon.

[@badriahbadriah1675]

Thank you for sharing.

[@JanainaBrognoli]

Thanks for sharing ur experience, this is very helpful! Hope you are doing ok! Would be very nice if you could share more!

[@easystoriesinenglish]

Thanks for the comment. I'm doing a lot better now, as you can see from my other videos. I may do another video about catatonia in the future :)

[@ana777]

❤ Thank you!

[@easystoriesinenglish]

You're very welcome :)

[@Gabbyh1987]

I have Autistic catatonia. basically the treatment for catatonia in Autistics is the same, as catatonia in other populations. however Dr Shah recommend the verbal and physical prompting for mild to moderate catatonia (you obviously said verbal prompts dont help you. in extreme cases its benzos - primarily lorazapam/ativan and diazepam. . also removing any anti psychotic meds and anti seizure meds. which is the culprit for developing catatonia. if its needed its a delicate situation and its a balancing act. there has been some research that physio therapy helps. I have discovered L-theanine helps my catatonia

[@Tamashi88]

I am pretty sure I am experiencing autistic catatonia right now... I think my shut downs are more inline with catatonia than the opposite of a meltdown

[@monte68x]

Catatonia is not just "another way of thinking".

[@marcmellow5573]

Is it possible that people with autism can "mask" these symptoms, like when working at a job or attending school? Example: just saying a few words slowly, for someone who normally says a lot of words fast.

[@Gabbyh1987]

catatonia ia not masking. its a real life threatening condition. but masking can lead to autistic catatonia. there's alot of talk about autistic inertia. I believe autistic inertia and catatonia are just the same things

[@BVenge-pe4wi]

Catatonia can't be masked.

[@JanainaBrognoli]

In Dr Sha's book, she gives an example of someone that could do things normally at school but would be catatonic at home, so she could mask at some extend guess this can happen with mild catatonia...

[@marcmellow5573]

@JanainaBrognoli thank you for that info. I was abused as a child, often over things I later found out are traits of autism, adhd, and ocd. My parents rejected diagnoses, medication, and therapy. I never knew until I was older. My parents just lead me to believe something was wrong with me, and that I am "difficult", so I internalized everything as such. I spoke with my sister, and she said I never really spoke anyway because I sucked my thumb until I was 16. But I think the reality is, I sucked my thumb to avoid using my voice. I'm so grateful for therapy now, tho! I've learned to accept myself and self-advocate. I'm just still unlearning my abuse. I appreciate your help!

[@JanainaBrognoli]

@@marcmellow5573 Hey I'm so sorry you went thru all that! I just realized you asked about autism and not catatonia Yes, is very commom autistic people to mask their symptoms, there are a lot of videos about masking in autism, just search on youtube... Sucking thumg is a way to sooth urself, it may not be related to ur speech, but speech can be really hard for many people with autism, I can speak but it demands a lot of energy, sometimes is too much... I'm glad therapy is helping you! Wish you all the best!

[@crystal3857]

Did you always experience Catatonia this severe? I am starting to experience things like finding it harder to talk and not being able to do basic tasks anymore, and it’s getting worse. Can it happen that I can’t talk anymore if i have never experienced it to that degree before?

[@beckacheckaenterprises7294]

A completely useless neurologist- who didn’t even listen to me. Said - oh, I don’t think you’re having catatonia - I think you’re having dissociative seizures/attacks.. cos yea I wake up everyday stiffening up and having heaps of less abilities from dissociative attacks every time I wake up . Even tho I lost all abilities for ages like u, she dismissed that entirely and kept being passive aggressive fake smiling at me, did a rushed exam and said this exam and from what you’ve said (of which she didn’t listen too, didn’t get to explain the half of it cos she kept talking over me and pushing her idea down my throat) .. - funny think is I have BEEN diagnosed after days of tests and assessments in hospital AND have most of the “autistic catatonic symptoms.. but noooo it’s what she said it is. Which symptoms I DONT have and the closest thing to what she describes is shutdowns..

[@easystoriesinenglish]

I'm really sorry to hear about your experience! It's quite shocking because dissociation is such a different experience. And we would know if we were dissociating - it feels very different to catatonia! I hope you're able to find better healthcare providers. I'm actually going to a neurologist in November so hopefully it will go OK for me...

[@ArvishJoly]

Everyone in the entire world, every SINGLE SOUL has different thinking. "Autism" is nothing special in that regard. I don't even know WHY was it ever considered a disorder, or disability, it's just what it is, DIFFERENT THINKING, like everyone else has. You're not special in a way you have "autism", you are special and unique, because EVERYONE ELSE is special and unique. Psychology should be updated in this manner, because soon every other human being will consider himself "autistic", just because he BELIEVES his mentality is somehow MORE different than the others.

[@easystoriesinenglish]

Hi Prawy. You're right that everyone thinks differently. Unfortunately, society pathologises (treats as sick) certain ways of thinking. I could stop saying I am autistic/ADHD, but it would not change how I am discriminated against in the world. I also like the term 'neurodivergent' because it emphasises the difference from what society considers 'normal' without pathologising it.

[@astrammd]

This completely discounts the level of difficulty and hardship many individuals with profound autism and their families face. It is not just a different manner of thinking for everyone. For some, it is such a different way of sensing and experiencing life, and so impacts their ability to speak, learn, and communicate and live independently that if you were suddenly in their position you would very much consider it a "disability" compared many of your peers. Differences alone do not afford people accomodations, and I'd argue they shouldn't (due to scarce resources and the risks of over accommodating anxiety in people who have a greater capacity to adapt than they believe they do, which can worsen adaptive functioning). Differences that put people at a substantial disadvantage in life, work, and learning need to be recognized, acknowledged, and understood to strip them off shame and develop appropriate supports. If your differences are manageable, and do not impair your ability to have satisfying and meaningful experiences and relationships, that's great. Please just stop making sych overgeneralized proclamations.