Threshold of sensory overwhelm: does yours vary?

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I notice that I'm sometimes much more able to bear too much sensory stimulation than at other times. Overall, it's much better than when I was a child, but there are times when it's inexplicably just as bad. For example I can sometimes go to loud, busy places, sometimes I have to, and although I can't say I've ever been fully at ease there are times when it's been close to okay. I've been able to get through it without falling apart (other times, that's been a different story.)

Other times -- like today -- just stepping out of my room is too much. I need my curtains drawn, white noise or noise-cancelling headphones and predictable, unobtrusive music or sounds. The bright light (it's sunny), the heat, the sounds of the television (a loud sitcom with constant laughter), my family moving around make me feel like I'm suffocating if I step out of my room (it truly gets harder to breathe), I almost cry after a few minutes and I (restrain myself, but) I want to scream, hurt myself, get away and avoid it all -- this last thing is what I do.

After just a few moments everything is strange and a little unreal. I was going to go out but now, since I don't have an obligation to this time, really don't think this is a good idea. And I don't understand why the light feels like being opened up and invaded, why loud sounds feel like a direct threatening attack and people's eyes on me like being grabbed and pinned down. This is surely an overreaction but it's impossible to reason away that feeling of everything getting too intense, extremely uncomfortable, of wanting to crawl out of your skin just because of certain sensations or too many of them.

Does anyone else find that they can take more at some times than others: if this is the case, do you have any idea what changes between those times for you -- how to increase the tolerance at those times when it's more necessary?

Yes, mine does. When I am less stressed and not ill I have a higher threshold. Also, the fewer senses that are being overstimulated the more I can cope.

I'm hard of hearing so most of the time I'm okay with sound without hearing aids. When I wear them, it becomes far too loud. I tend to then find that my visual sense is overstimulated and painfully bright.

Alternatively, sometimes when I'm stressed I find that my vision "zooms down" and my view of the (metaphorical) forest and trees becomes caught up in the leaves.

I've found that I get more sensory overloads if I am not doing well physically, such as being too tired, if my blood sugar is low, or if I am sick. If i am well rested, not emotionally stressed, and have been eating healthy meals, I'm able to tolerate a lot more sensory input. A little light exercise with stretching or being around nature (trees, grass, birds) helps relax me. When i'm commuting, reading helps calm me and take my focus off my surroundings.

Yesterday was a case in point: I stayed up too late writing on a book I've been working on as a hobby, and didn't get much sleep. I was already fighting a cold, and my sinuses were blocked, probably pressing on my inner ear a bit.

I was feeling poorly at work, and I probably should have realized I was starting to have trouble when a coworker handed me a tissue and I missed it with both hands. I started having sensory overload on the subway ride home: nausea from bright lights and the movement of the train, headaches from loud sounds, problems with balance so bad I had to cling to the hand rail on the escalator, and more nausea from smells like gasoline when crossing the street. It got so bad that I couldn't see the uneven-ness of the pavement and was stumbling just getting across the street. I've still got a bad headache today.

I think self-care is key here: sleep, care for health, good food, more exercise (I am so bad with that).

I am thinking about taking up yoga or tai chi. does anyone here find that helpful?

Yes it does vary from day-to-day. I just put it down to being better able to cope some days than others.

Yes, to a certain extent.



Low batteries....if I'm already really stressed out, then I have less energy/inner resources available to deal with the sensory stressors that cause pain and overload.



It may be helpful to try to manage stress levels generally (to increase the energy/inner resources available to you at any given moment), and to try to find and use coping activities that de-escalate high levels of physiological arousal involved in sensory overload states.

All of the above for me: stress, exhaustion, illness, having to deal with people with too long....

There are times when I get up and just *know* that this is going to be one of "those days" when things get to me more than usual...and I have no idea what makes that happen. I know this probably sounds like a "self-fulfilling prophecy", but I can actually attenuate the effects somewhat by mentally preparing for it.

@ConceptuallyCurious: I have the opposite problem regarding hearing aids: my issue has always been background noise drowning out what I actually need to hear, so wearing them makes things more bearable, not less. If the batteries go dead, I have to change them as soon as possible or the alteration in noise reduction starts to really make me uncomfortable.