Coping with meltdowns

[nutleywombat]

Hi guys,
My DS 13 is Autistic and had a major meltdown last night. He's struggling at school with being bullied which the school are trying to deal with. I do trust then to handle it as they have before when other children have targeted him.
Then last night he was playing on his phone and suddenly threw it on the floor, I thought he had lost a game but remained calm and reminded him he needed to be careful or it would break. Bam! He's exploded, attacking me and DH, throwing stuff you get the idea. Then went into flight mode and tried to run out of house so I had to hide the keys. Meanwhile DD is upstairs sobbing as she can hear this all going on. I was getting close to calling the Police as the problem is he is so big and strong that he was properly hurting us. He hasn't had a major meltdown for a couple of years now as things had calmed down when he moved to High school.
I know advice is always says to look for it escalating or avoid triggers, but this just suddenly came out of nowhere. How do you cope with your teenage children when this happens? Any advice?
I tried to stay calm which I know I need to do but I was in tears as he had hurt me and then panicking as didn't really know how to handle the situation as it felt out if control. Now I feel just a complete failure and overwhelmed with it all. Things were so bad a few yrs ago as he was like this all the time, I don't have the strength to go back to dealing with that every day as it impacted all of us so badly with our mental health.

[TomeTome]

I would say his behaviour is asking you for more support. If that’s surrounding being bullied then what more support is needed there?

[Lisanearla]

I feel sorry for him, and you. It sounds like he is under huge pressure. What form does the bullying take?