Loading…

PSA: I tried a weighted blanket for my meltdowns and it backfired in a way I did not expect | Autism - Discusd

PSA: I tried a weighted blanket for my meltdowns and it backfired in a way I did not expect

I finally gave in and got a weighted blanket about 4 months ago because so many people in autism groups swear by them for sensory stuff. Mine is 15 pounds, which is supposed to be about right for my size. The first couple nights felt okay, kind of like a firm hug, and I slept a bit better. Then during a rough afternoon meltdown I grabbed it and wrapped myself up like a burrito, thinking it would calm me down. Instead I got pinned and panicky, like I could not get out fast enough, and that made everything worse. I ended up tossing it across the room and sitting on the floor with my back against the wall for 20 minutes just to reset. What I figured out is that deep pressure helps me when I am already mostly calm, but the second I am spiraling it feels like being trapped, not held. Now I keep it folded at the foot of my bed for wind down time only. Has anyone else had a soothing tool turn on them like that during a meltdown?

1 comments

1 Comment

allen.cole10d ago

That line about deep pressure helping when you're already calm but feeling like being trapped when you're spiraling is exactly what happened to me, just with a different tool. I used to wear a tight hoodie with the drawstring pulled snug during meltdowns because the pressure felt good on normal days, but one bad night I yanked it tight and instantly panicked, clawing at my own neck to get it off. What finally clicked for me was setting up two separate setups: calm-down stuff I only touch once I'm already coming back to baseline, and a totally different emergency plan for the peak of it, which for me is cold water on my wrists plus pacing, no weight at all. The mistake was treating one tool like it had to cover every stage, because my body clearly wants pressure on the way down and space on the way up. Folding the blanket at the foot of the bed for wind down only sounds like you already figured that out better than I did.