Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/autism/comments/1vsnhot/i_had_my_first_public_meltdown_as_an_adult_and_i/

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The original was posted on /r/autism by /u/Objective_Fun3934 on 2026-08-19 14:08:18+00:00.

I already wasn’t having the best day, was having a bad flare up of my EDS so I was really sore and using a cane. I had to go do some errands with my dad and then we went to go get something to eat at the same place I often do (which WAS a safe food place until now) I get my food and find batter on top, which worried me as I have celiac disease. I ask and although we are friends with the owners and have been going there for a decade, we weren’t updated that they changed their kitchen standards on cross contamination. In the past we always double checked, but after so much time we assumed that they’d stay the same or at least tell us they changed. Anyways they didn’t, I can no longer eat there safely and could possibly have a reaction later.

This was really difficult for me, as I struggle a lot with sudden change and I was so hungry. I just smile and nod and they say sorry but on the inside I was so upset and angry, I’m so tired of never being able to eat out and after thinking I’d found a secure place I could eat now I can’t. And I was absolutely starving hungry. We leave and the next two places I can’t eat there either. I just think fuck it and go finish my errands, it’s now pouring with rain and my dad keeps saying things that just aren’t helping and im just completely quiet. He said we can pick up fast food, but this would then mean I wouldn’t be able to jump on a bus home because it’s a separate way, (also I’d had it in my mind that I was going to be eating what I’d expected and change like that is so difficult for me)

It also meaning more walking and I’m so sore. I’d been trying so hard to keep it together and with another choice I’m having to make / things changing / how much pain I’m in. I just lose it and yell out in frustration, I’m holding my cane and I hit it hard against a lamppost and the whole thing shatters into pieces.

A bunch of people stop and look at me like I’m mental, im in tears and just immediately feel so ashamed and ridiculous but I was just so overwhelmed and overstimulated. I then walk the whole way home (now without my cane) in so much pain. Today has just been absolutely miserable and I feel so unbelievably embarrassed to meltdown in public like that. I’ve never had one in public before (at least not as an adult) and I just feel so stupid and pathetic about it. Has anyone else ever melted down like that before?