A question about your sensory issues...

Post Reply New Topic

I know the title of this thread isn't very specific, but I've always wanted to know, are you physically sensitive, psychologically sensitive, or both?

Physically sensitive = light, sound, ect, hurts your eyes, ears, ect
Psychologically sensitive = light/sound, ect, annoys/worries you, ect

With me, I'm not sensitive to lights in either way, but with sounds I think I'm both. Most noises just annoy me, some noises physically disturb me, eg the sound of plates clanging, or those little tiny dogs barking at that high pitch (ouch!! !)

The sound of a doorbell is like an electric shock to me. I HATE doorbells, even on TV. Other than that, sounds don't bother me too much, but I do often notice sounds that other people miss. I do have to have tinted lenses to see outdoors in the summertime.

Unexpected knocks on my door make me instantly paranoid. I will not open mail with no identifiable sender or return address, in case its someone demanding money I don't have, or threatening to sue me. Calls on my machine or voicemail from people I don't know cause me anxiety attacks. The thought of having to go somewhere where I will be expected to socialize can cause me such anxiety that I cannot force myself to go.

So, a little of both.

I freak out at doorbells too!

Any loud, high pitched noise causes me to react with anger because it hurts like hell. I usually swear very loudly and become agressive.

Psychologically sensitive. Defiantly. I barely feel any pain in my ears and am actually hyposensitive to pain.

Light can be physically painful for me.

*thinks* In general my sensory issues aren't too bad.
Noise is more psychological - too much noise at once stops me thinking, makes me AAGGHHHH!
Touch is half and half - it doesn't hurt, but it is physically uncomfortable as well as making me anxious.

Last edited by Bloodheart on 11 May 2011, 1:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

#2 Though I admit that it could be a little both. How do I even try to describe my current state, and actualy make sence? No idea how, really.

Physical. It's really hard to describe. It doesn't always hurt but I can have physical reactions. Like if I see a flashing light I feel ill in my stomach.
If I'm in a crowded place for too long it feels like my senses scramble. All noise forms into just one ball of sound, smells heighten, vision blurs....that type of thing.
I suppose sound can hurt in the same way as sound turned up too loud can hurt your ears, except for me regular sound can be that loud.

Physically.

I don't feel phsyical pain but lots of noise etc actually makes me dizzy and shaky. The supermarket does it to me especially if I take the kids with me and the constant talking and questions. I get irritable, it's a bit like hypoglycemia which has the same effect on me. Weird! Theres a shop I go to that always has the radio on soo loud and I just want to scream!! !

Certain things really irritate me. For example, I had to change the pool where my daughter takes her lessons because the cafe (where I would have to sit and wait for her) was too hot, to the point that I was distressed. I detest cigarette smoke (which I know is very common anyway), but I'm sure my reaction to it is much more severe than most - I wave my arms around to brush it away from my face and I'm sure the smoker thinks I'm exaggerating how it's making me feel. I also storm out of shops if their music is too loud.

mainly physically, although i also get annoyed/angry if someone purposely sets up those painful situations

i am also hyposentive to pain, but that is only to 'standard' neurotypical pain; the pain i get from my sensory issues is very real indeed, and possible worse then most NT pain

Mostly physical. It becomes psychological if I can't escape.

After reading your opening post here, I now see I should have checked "both" rather than physical. Light is the only one that actually causes physical pain, and yet even that might mostly just be due to certain "eye disease" I happen to have.

Overall, then, I should say the psychological effects are greater for me than are the physical.

Physical: Accumulated irritation, or being tired of something, usually hearing some noisy thing too much (incl. loud speech), or getting bored with the sound of one of the sound reproducing equipments (poor radio sound, arrgh...). Low frequency noises are giving me the sense of some real strange irritation such as somebody trying to poke my tympan (sorry).

Not pain, but some kind of synesthesia, in sudden harsh sunlight I sneeze while frowning.

Psychological: Ticking clock, mouth noises (other than mine), too loud speech (when not physically irritating yet), cigarette smoke (might be physically irritating too), the smell of garlic.

I think I've befriended dogs such a way I don't mind barking most of the time, unless it becomes very irritating, see above.

(+left out ones)