Could my dad have SPD?

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Ever since my dad and stepmom have gotten back from travelling in Europe, my dad has noticed that after experiences of emotional distress, and late at night, in hot, weirdly lit, noisy environments, he starts to feel really tired - like, exhausted to the point that I have to drape his arm over my shoulder and help him to the car so he won't fall over on the way there - and even somewhat ill. He's described it as his body deciding that it's going to go to sleep whether he wants to or not.

The first time it happened, we had gone to see the film version of "The Book Thief," and then we met friends and walked around a shopping district for about half an hour, and then we went to eat. In that time, my dad had only had two cookies to eat. When we got to the restaurant, it was unbelievably crowded and humid, full of loud and obnoxious people, and there was a 1/2 hour wait. When the food finally came, my dad started to feel the incredible tiredness, and when we left, I had to help him out to the car. After we got out of the noisy, humid restaurant and into the fresh winter air, he reported that he felt a lot better, but still somewhat weak. I felt good, too...my own sensory issues had been set off in the restaurant as well, and by the time we left, one would have only had to look at me sideways and I would have, if I may be so bold, cut a b!tch (and I almost did to several of them sitting behind us, laughing as loudly and obnoxiously as they could manage. )

The second instance occurred just a couple days ago - we went to see "Captain Phillips" (another tension-filled cinematic experience) with a friend, and it was late in the evening by the time we went to get food. This restaurant wasn't as humid, crowded and loud, but there were some bright lights, and again, I had to help my dad to the car. He felt better once we were out in the open air, and my stepmom drove us home.

So, could these be signs of sensory processing problems, or something else? I should also probably mention that my dad is in his 70s and has arthritis in his legs, along with spinal stenosis (sp?). He thinks it might be "jet lag" from the overseas flight from Europe. I was just wondering if it might be some kind of SPD, since the exhaustion usually occurs with crowds, heat, lights, noise, emotional distress, and food deprivation.

We don't know.

Only appropriately-trained, experienced and licensed mental-health professionals can make a valid diagnosis of an SPD, and there seems to be no such professional on WrongPlanet. Online tests can not provide an objective SPD diagnosis, either.

He may have medical issues, instead. Get him to a doctor -- an appropriately-trained, experienced and licensed medical-health professional -- and make sure your dad gets a thorough physical evaluation. This may rule out heart problems, diabetes, and other physical issues (maybe not).

In short, let those who know what they're doing find out what's wrong with your dad.

You could be right, and I don't want to alarm you, but he should also get checked out by a doctor. There's a thing called heart failure (no, it doesn't mean your heart fails to beat), and it could be a factor. Basically, I think it means that your heart isn't working efficiently, and it can't remove all the liquid that it usually removes from your blood and sends to your kidneys. So you get a bit bloated, especially at the ankles, and you feel incredibly exhausted. I think it's unlikely as it would be more often than just when distressed, but I don't know enough to say for sure. There are treatments for it that your doctor would know.

Hi, guys - sorry I haven't gotten back to this thread in awhile, but I think we have figured out a possible reason for my dad's possible moments of profound exhaustion. He bought a blood pressure gauge, and he tends to have really low blood pressure sometimes, but his doctor has him on several medications to treat it. The problem is, we think the medications (not just the ones for blood pressure) might be interacting with each other, or are in just too great a quantity, so my dad is going to start cutting his meds in half and is going to talk to his doctor about getting off a couple of the meds as soon as possible.

Thanks for your guys' input, though!

What do you mean by SPD? Schzioid PD or Schizotypal PD? There are 2 PD's that start with an S, so generally they are written as SzPD or StPD.

Much like there's Avoidant PD and Antisocial PD, so they're written as AvPD and ASPD.

Woops. my apologies. To be fair I was still half asleep when I wrote that, but Sensory Processing Disorder does make much more sense now I have no knowledge on that though, so I've no idea.

It could be anything. Obviously the world is making him tired, so maybe it could be.

Sounds like something new to me. He's an adult & hasn't had a long history of this kind of thing. Check for physical health problems that can cause fatigue.

Actually, try looking into Fibromyalgia and sensory issues. I have FM myself, but have sensory issues with ASD anyway, so I can't tell if it's FM or ASD. Mix of both I guess.