Dealing with Sensory Meltdowns in ADHD: Seeking Advice and Coping Mechanisms

Absolutely! Overstimulation AND understimulation triggers meltdowns for me, it usually doesn't help if I'm under any kind of outside stress, but I have to work to keep an exact balance of noise, light, and brain labor. That changes like daily lol. I like to have. Thing I'm doing, movement on the peripheral, noise on the peripheral that I can pay attention to if I need a brain break, but can half listen to when I don't. Honestly it seems dumb but I like to have my phone as dim as possible, play a YouTube video on some sort of like lore or science video (important for me personally is the rythem at which they speak, morso even if they have a pleasent voice or not. I cant use livestreams personally cause of this), and play solitare on my phone. I literally just keep it on easy mode cause thinking about it is not the goal, keeping the brain moving just enough to not get understimulated, but minimal difficult to deal with stimuli. I'll do this when I feel the over or under stimulation getting bad, and when I am having difficulty relaxing to sleep, if it triggers a nap, honestly meltdowns sometimes need a nap. I just recommend finding things you find calming but not mentally taxing (in either direction) when you're not mid meltdown to try when it's overflowing!!

Hey there, I deal with this too. Distractions help. Same with things that can block out your surroundings like if you get sensory overload from people talking loudly, earplugs can help to an extent. Look for ways to avoid crowds and make sure you're taking care of yourself.

I have both ADHD and Autistim with some other learning and developmental delays. But I have some knowledge of when it's an ADHD meltdown or autistic one. My ADHD ones are more hiding under a table or in my room because I need quite. Though I yell when people get into my personal space. For the autistim one I ether have shutdowns that tired me out or explosive crying that gives me a migraine and tires me out.

*TRIGGER* I get it with my misophonia, besides my ADHD. Everything irritates me so bad. I get angry. I sometimes hit the wall, hit myself in the head. I scream. I cry uncontrollably. I have to calm myself down by grabbing my headphones, my squishy pillow, or if my dog is dear by, I hug on him. Sometimes I grab my coloring book and markers. It takes a bit to calm down, but I am working on it. I am also talking with a therapist, and changing meds when I feel they aren't working for me. Good luck to you. ❤️