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Do sensory issues have to hurt?

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OJani
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09 May 2012, 2:33 am

Ingz wrote:
Oh yes, I need music a lot. I can't even sleep without music, and if the music stops then I wake up. I even have trouble focusing on driving if I don't have music on, otherwise there's a lot of risk of me zoning out or something. I focus best in environments with some surround noise. It's when the noise is loud, like it tends to get in a large group of people and busy places that I get confused and all that sh**. Oh, and I also can't stand low vibration noises that most people don't even hear. It really distracts me because I can't stop wondering what it comes from, but sometimes the low vibrations are uncomfortable in the same way the uncomfortable noise that sometimes comes from chalk being used on a black-board bothers some people.

Well, I can sleep with some music during daytime, it really blocks out some unpleasant noises, but I can't sleep with music at night. I can't sleep with tv on either, it's so distracting. I can tolerate it only when it's so soft that I can't understand speech.

I can not work when music is played in the background, and though I can tolerate certain kinds of music, it's always less efficient than without.

As for driving, when I'm tired or have to concentrate on the traffic, I can't listen to music or speech at all. Last time I had to drive home 180 kilometers and I was indeed very tired and drained I switched off the radio and put all my effort into concentrating on driving.



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11 May 2012, 2:05 am

For me, most of my sensory issues do in fact hurt. Noise especially rakes at my ears, and when sudden and unexpected (like my mother's obnoxious parrot screaming) the combination of pain and surprise/fear seriously upsets me and I have to leave the room. Scratchy fabrics also, they itch in the conventional sense, but certain things like wool, cashmere, and logos sewn onto shirts from the inside all rub in such a way that it hurts and I can't wear them. certain smells, like lilies in a vase across the room, will give me a headache if I stay there too long, and even certain food textures, like onions for example, have a weird, inexplicable way of "hurting" my teeth and making me shudder when I chew them. I guess I got kind of unlucky as far as sensory experience goes, but these heightened senses also mean I can enjoy more subtle, nice things that most people miss, pleasant flavours, flowers with a more delicate scent, etc.


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FishStickNick
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11 May 2012, 1:27 pm

StarTrekker wrote:
Certain smells, like lilies in a vase across the room, will give me a headache if I stay there too long,

Oh man...air fresheners are the worst as far as headache-inducing odors go. Burning incense can drive me from a room in a hurry too.

This reminds me of the last time I went to Ikea; the combination of the types of lights they use and the smells gave me a headache and made me want to get out of there as quickly as I could.



wanderinggrl
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11 May 2012, 7:31 pm

ocdgirl123 wrote:
I only find conversations where I can here exactly that the people are saying distracting and when a couple people are talking really quietly but I can't hear them. :(


This bothers me too. Also when someone is playing music, like in the car, but turns the volume down really low to where I can only hear pieces of the song drives me crazy. It either needs to be off or loud enough to hear, its too distracting otherwise.