Have your sensory issues gotten worse with age? Advice?

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My ability to handle noise is getting a lot worse this past year. I have a hard time with being touched and that has gotten a little worse. Struggle with fluorescent lights is about the same as it used to be and not getting worse.

But my ability to handle noise is getting much worse. Any one have advice on what to do?

I'd say I am actually less sensitive to noises than when I was younger. When I was in grade school, fire drills used to be Hell, but now they aren't as bad. One thing is that I can't stand super-rough or jagged fabric textures. There was this old couch sofa we had when I was living in my old house 20 years ago.

I wish I knew why mine are getting worse.

I "feel" like mine are getting worse with age, but I think a more logical explanation is that my general stress level has steadily increased over time, with more responsibilities, so that I have less "in the tank" to cope with, and behaviors that would have helped me deal with it as a kid are less socially acceptable for an adult.

Any ideas on things that would help and are still appropriate for an adult?

Mindfulness practice (helps me create some "separation" between the wave of agitation and my urge to have an outburst), noise cancelling headphones or earbuds, and sunglasses

I've become worse as I age and my personal theory is that it relates to my burnouts. Every time I crash and burn I seem to have a step down in function and become more obviously autistic. No advice I'm afraid.

Actually, my noise sensitivity, which caused me untold stress when younger, is better now. I think I have learned that "this too will pass." The tornado siren, the vacuum cleaner, these used to bother me a lot, now less so.

It's interesting, I have heard a psychiatrist caution that protecting yourself against sound using noise-cancelling headphones or avoiding noisy places can actually make things worse. If you occasionally expose yourself to the unpleasant stimulus, your nervous system learns not to over-react to it, or learns it's safe to ignore it. Now, I don't know if this applies equally to autistic people as to NTs. YMMV.

What does YMMV mean?

It went worse, was really bad for a few years then gotten better.

It was better when I had to attend school everyday, with it's noisy corridors and with 30 mins walking distance I had to deal with every single day except for weekends.
It was worse when I was a shut-in and spent most of my days inside my house, only leaving to a weekend school with only 12 people(adults!) in class and no noisy breaks. One where I was getting either by my parents car or a classmate car.
It was getting unbearably bad for a few days after I spent 2 weeks inside of my home without talking to anyone while my parents were on vacation. I was having sensory meltdown after sensory meltdown once they returned and the house got noisy again.
It got better after I started visiting shops and travelling without my noise cancelling headphones as much as I could.
And it is pretty good now, when I live in a big city where a constant noise is something normal and where unexpected is the only thing you can expect (the world changes constantly, there are lights, sirens and repairs everywhere).

If you have sensory issues you need to desensitize (gradually - sensory meltdowns are not good either). Isolating youself from unpleasant sensations only make you even more sensitive to them.

Well. There are still some days I can't deal with anything - when I am particularly stressed or sick. It's OK to be defensive then - I still keep some earplugs in my bag so I can use them if that happens. But it's important to face the world when I am fine. That's my strategy.

And it seems to work - I can now hold a conversation in a noisy tram which used to be impossible for me. I was also able to vacuum my room today, something that sound scared the hell out of me for past a few years.
Practice makes perfect.

Oh. And BTW. I found that sleeping under a wool comforter(not unpleasant but I can feel the "antsy" massage if I focus) makes me less sensitive to tactile discomfort in the morning, which used to be pretty bad. (I could pick clothes in the evening, deciding they are fine and then change my mind 5 times in the morning because they were
too uncomfortable)

Try earbuds.

If I wasn't so prone to otitis, I'd wear earbuds all the time, they're a blessing.