Sensory Issues Getting Worse/More Aware?

Post Reply New Topic

OK, I have been under immense stress lately, so maybe this has contributed, I don't know.

I've always had sensory issues, but lately they seem even worse. My hearing has always been highly sensitive but more and more sounds seem to bother my ears now. I don't remember having a problem with showers before (although again, always had super sensitive skin) but this last week the water almost seems to hurt my skin, at the very least it's very uncomfortable.

Is this normal for sensory symptoms to get worse over time/with age?

I've read some people say they can vary, but mine only seem to be getting worse. I wonder whether it's because I'm more and more aware of them in the context of Asperger's, where before I didn't know that other people didn't have it too and thought it was just normal for everyone.

My eyes seem to be more sensitive to light than before,and some sounds bother me more than before.Maybe age has something to do with it,I don't have to remove clothing tags if they are soft,as a child they all had to be removed.

I have the biggest problem with noise, not so much with touch and light. I think it's true that they get worse with stress, I've noticed this too. Or it could be because I moved near the city centre and there's more noise there and I notice it more. I don't know if it gets worse with age.

Stress could be the problem. Though I myself have found that my sensory issues have gotten worse with age.

I have been noticing sensory issues more prominently since understanding that I probably have AS as well.

I don't think they are things which have suddenly appeared or worsened, more that they have just been brought into focus. For example, before I might have felt frazzled or overwhelmed but not known the cause of it. In many cases I probably even felt that that state must be normal because everyone else behaved as if those stimuli were normal. However, having been educated about the sensory issues of AS, I am now better able to identify what is bothering me. I now notice it when noises or lights upset me and have developed behaviours which help me to respond or withdraw from them, and have found that those things help. I wouldn't have known to do them before because I wasn't aware exactly what was bothering me. I also never realised the extent that some of these things affected me until I was able to notice and remove them where possible.

It might feel like these things are now "worse" and also look that way to a casual observer, but actually it is just an adjustment to better understanding of the circumstances.

Perhaps you are experiencing something similar?

Having said that, I have read that it is possible for this to get better or worsen over time, and if you are under stress, that is certainly going to affect things.

Stress can *definitely* make it worse. I always have much more trouble (and many more meltdowns) when I'm under a lot of stress. Sometimes I fail to connect the two right away and the extra problems create more stress and the cycle continues, until I finally realize that the sensory issues are probably being caused by overwork or something like that and force myself to calm down and reduce my stress levels however necessary. Then things slowly get better.

Hope things manage to get better for you soon as well.

During my period my sensory issues increase massively, as do motor control problems etc. Assume it's stress.

I think for many of us sensory issues ebb & flow. I know that sometimes I'm extremely sensitive to noise, lights, etc., while at other times not so much. The changes may be triggered by mood, stress, hormones, etc.

I can relate to your sensory problems. When I get stressed out, it's like no matter that I do, sounds seem a lot harder to deal with. On normal days, I have to close doors back very gently, keep the volume on my tv down very low and also do a lot of other things. But when I'm stressed out, everything get's amplified maybe 10-fold. Walking around the house is challenging because I have squeaky wooden floors. When my senses are amplified due to stress, I tend to get headaches a lot easier.

Do you listen to music? One thing that helps me a lot is music. If you can dedicated maybe an hour to just listening to music and toning everything out, then I'll greatly help! You may not notice anything the first or second time, but within a week or so, it should make sounds a little easier to manage. Have you looked into meditation? I know that it probably sounds cheezy but meditation is a phenomenal way to relax yourself when you're stressed out.



I hope this advice helps. PM me if you need anymore pointers. I haven't gotten an official diagnosis yet but I often struggle with managing sounds.

After reading the forums, I realized that the "sound sensitivities" I have are, in fact, misophonic in nature. I didn't have it until a months before I got my period at the earliest.

I am finding this also.

I think it is a mixture of things....

I agree with Jinks about bringing things more into focus now the more you understand about what is going on.

I also agree with stress making it worse. I wonder if we can get worse as we age due to an increase of stress in one's level that seems to accompany getting older (more responsibilities, etc)

I think that with stress comes fatigue.

We have to exert a LOT of mental energy to TRY to filter out our sensory sensitivities.... If we are tired, we are unable to do this as much and hence our best version we can create of filtering gets destroyed, and we cannot stop it all from flooding in at high volume.

I agree that listening to music can help with the noise. I use my iPod now a lot more than I use to, and it does help at times when I am stuck in an environment which is overwhelmingly noisy (or even just a bit noisy!)

I've been having these issues lately and they seem to have gotten worse in the past month or so. Music helps, but sometimes I just need total silence.