Noise and lights: what counts as sensitivity?

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Joined: 24 Apr 2011
Age: 44
Gender: Male
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26 Dec 2011, 7:46 pm

Sound and light can be the worst because they can be unexpected and at high degrees of volume.
I would like to mention tactile sensitivity.
I have always been fussy with food. I cannot stand certain textures i have never been able to eat egg pasta fish.
Both my parents and my sister used to have to hold me down to cut my nails as a child, this and getting my hair cut caused me a lot of pain.
I have never worn a suit or formal clothing because of the great discomfort they cause me.
I remove any and all fluff, fabric or lint from my bedsheets each and everynight night, the irritation to my skin keeps me awake.

pensieve
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26 Dec 2011, 9:57 pm

Sensitivity to light: rapid blinking, tingling, slight seizures, migraines, grand mal seizures from over exposure, meltdowns, sensory overload shut downs, vertigo.

Sound: annoyance, physical pain, sensory overload shut downs, meltdowns, veritgo. I wear ear phones every where I go outside and ear plugs at concerts/ pubs/ clubs.

Touch: itchiness, although sometimes feeling numb and needing pressure touch.

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Verdandi
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26 Dec 2011, 10:28 pm

btbnnyr wrote:

@OP: Do you experience sensory overloads and shutdowns and meltdowns in response to sensory overloads?

I think that this is the best way to tell if you have sensory issues that interfere with your functioning. A lot of people don't like certain sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures, a whole nasty sensory profile unique to each person, but that is not the same as sensory issues that screw up your brain for hours or days at a time.

Based on what I've read about many people's experiences, it seems that the sensory issues most indicative of autism are the sensory overloads that cause shutdowns and meltdowns, that significantly diminish a person's cognitive functioning. Shutdowns cause you to not be able to think and feel and do at all. Meltdowns cause you to lose control of your thoughts and feelings and doings.

For me, all kinds of sensory stimuli cause shutdowns and less frequently meltdowns. Eating noises are a special kind of sensory stimuli that cause massive anxiety instead of shutdowns and meltdowns.

^^^^^

This. Also, not everyone is hypersensitive to sensory input. Some are hyposensitive to some kinds of sensory input, and some people can be hyper at one time in their life and hypo in another. It's also easy to lead to false negatives or cognitive bias by setting up certain shibboleths like "can't be in a rock band because of the noise" when autistic musicians are not uncommon (as I said in the other thread, I learned how to play guitar in the early 90s, mostly heavy metal and hard rock-style stuff).

I do agree that sensory issues are underplayed and underestimated by a lot of people (including clinicians) who are not autistic. I am glad my therapist studied the subject early on, as she identified several sensory issues that I had not realized were sensory in nature.

ictus75
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27 Dec 2011, 1:31 am

Although I'm a musician, I am sensitive to sound/noise. Certain loud sounds can really affect me (like machinery/construction). Others don't seem so bad. I do have a lot of difficulty with blocking out extraneous background noise, like when trying to listen to someone speaking in a loud/noisy environment. I can also have difficulty with crowds, or crowded places—there's just too much energy to handle. I remember being in downtown Chicago at night last October, just walking around with my family, and going to dinner. I couldn't stand all the people & energy bombarding my senses. Often I'll end up with a debilitating migraine where I become even more sensitive to sound & light, having to sit in the dark & quiet under a blanket.

Bright light can bother me, so I like to keep the shades/curtains closed on bright days. I also avoid brightly lit places.

Smell is another sensitivity. I don't like overly perfumed soaps/shampoos/etc. And I never wear any sort of cologne. Cigarette smoke really annoys me.

Taste is not so bad, but there are a few ordinary things that I find quite repulsive and avoid if at all possible.

Touch is a weird thing. I love some textures, but not others. I find micro-fibre clothes very irritating to touch. Even thinking about them is irritating. I don't wear any jewelry or a watch, and prefer loose clothes made of natural fibres. As for socks, I prefer very short ones, not higher than my ankles, even in winter.

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Goggles
Butterfly

Joined: 29 Dec 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 13

31 Dec 2011, 3:47 am

Sounds distract me the most. No matter where I am, if someone is talking while I'm doing something like writing, it will throw me completely off which annoys me to no end! That's why I bring my mp3 player with my RCA earbuds that block out all of the sounds I can't stand listening to. They're a lifesaver!!

Lights don't bother me unless I'm sick and my senses are bothering me real bad.

Certain smells bother me to where I have to get away from the scent or I'll begin to gag from the horrible scent.

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