Sensory processing

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For as long as I can remeber I've hated eating/looking at foods with thick creamy textures like custard, mayonnaise and yoghurt to name a few. I don't so much dislike the taste but the texture of it makes me gag.

I also really cannot deal with touching sand paper, chalk or frosted glass. Even looking at them makes me unconfortable.

I've only recently started to recognize this as sensory processing disorder, previously thought this was totally normal!

What are your sensory processing disorder experiences?

When I look directly at finely chequered or tartan patterns, my vision "wobbles" within a disk shape corresponding to where the blind spot is (just below centre). It only happens when the blind spot is directly over the pattern.

Chalk feels so weird. It sends shivers up my spine. Same goes for cotton balls and q-tips, I can't stand them. Eating at a dinner table with other people irritates me too because I can't stand listening to other people chew and breathe.

Other people kissing or eating. Moisture on my skin. Light touch. Strong smells such as cigarette smoke or perfume. Noise of all sorts. There are more.

I really dislike the feeling that something oily or greasy is on my hands, particularly on my fingertips. I wash my hands many times each day to get rid of this feeling.

Also, sometimes my chest becomes extremely sensitive to the feeling of the fabric of my shirt. The seatbelt in a car is particularly bad about bringing this feeling on.

I also can't stand chalk. I've found that I can manage writing with white chalk, because I find it easier to write with than markers. For some reason, though, colored chalk really drives me nuts. I think it has a different texture than white chalk, and the vibration it makes on a chalkboard is just unbearable to me.

I'm so sensitive to sounds that I can tell whether coffee is hot or cold by the noise it makes when being poured. Anyone else notice it too?

I cringe at the squeaky sound of Styrofoam, and at most sounds made by babies.

Stepping on pretty much anything down to a grain of sand or a piece of dry grass when I'm barefoot, or stepping in anything wet with socks on.

When it comes to creamy foods, the texture is fine; I like smooth and creamy. But the specific foods mentioned by the op--yogurt & mayonnaise--taste horrible to me. Puddings and mousses and gravies and many other things with similar textures come to mind that are among my favorite foods. The foods that I don't like because of texture are either rubbery, like mushrooms, or dry and grainy, like beans, or overly fibrous, like bok choy.

I don't like to touch mud and I never liked finger painting so I never made mud pies as a child. Sand paper or frosted glass I will touch on purpose because I like those textures.

The sound of stirring while you're cooking, unless you're using a wooden spoon, drives me crazy. A metal spoon in a stainless steel pot is the worst. I don't like the sound of clanking dishes, either, but I expect that's as much because I don't want my great-grandmothers' dishes broken as because the sound itself causes s.p. problems for me.

It is hard for me to be happy if I can smell bananas or blueberries. I definitely can't eat bananas or blueberries.

I have constant sensory difficulties. Probably a couple times an hour there will be some stimulus which makes my skin crawl. A couple that I can think of are the feel of the touchpad on the laptop I am using (I really ought to get a mouse but I use this in bed). Also the earpieces on my noise-cancelling headphones that I am wearing have a fine, ridged texture and when I accidentally rub against it with my fingers the feel and sound it creates makes me uncomfortable for several minutes.

Overhearing other people talking in an otherwise quiet environment, or sudden loud noises. The smell of a butcher's shop is unbearable. People sitting next to me on public transport and touching me is suffocating and makes me want to scream. Feeling too full makes me want to be sick.

Many things bother me... Life is much harder with sensory difficulties

However, sensory sensitivity can produce many good experiences too. Like the comfort of lying in warm, soft sheets and the sound of rain, having your skin/hair stroked by a loved one, drinking tea when you are cold, certain music which causes vivid emotional experiences. Being extra sensitive can be just as good as it is bad.

I'm still undiagnosed, so I don't know if this is a proper sensory processing thing or not, but I tend to enjoy sensory stuff a lot. Examples are:
The feel of something smooth and round.
Anything shiney and sparkley.
Soft, sweet foods, like gooey doughnuts or cheesecake.
Looking through pieces of transparent coloured plastic, or kaleidoscopes.
Being in a car or on the train (not an overcroweded one), the noise and the movement.
Loud music and the lights in a nightclub. (I tended to go to goth or rock clubs when I was younger, they were never too crowded. I just used to spend most of the night on the dance floor.)
Being corseted.

Things that I don't like:
high heeled shoes, I just cannot bear the way they squash my toes.
The bitty texture of nuts or coconut.
Air fresheners make me choke.
I can't wear anything with wool in it, it's just too scratchy.
I hate the cold, and I seem to notice it more than most.

I got these boots for Christmas. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Martens-Brooklee-Sparkle-21511020-Toddler/dp/B01ATZV5WM/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&qid=1483540076&sr=8-24&keywords=dr+martens+delaneyThey make me very happy.

Sometimes I can be looking for something and can't see it even when it's right in front of me. I don't know if that's sensory processing problems or something that happens to everyone.

I hate the feel of chalk, hate pencils, hate newsprint, hate fleece, hate wool, hate clothing tags, hate clothing seams, hate clothes that don't feel totally clean, hate the feel of insides of pumpkins, hate touching dirty plates and dishes, hate the feel of sunscreen and oils or other skin lotions.

I struggle to feel comfortable in shoes often having to take them off and put them back on several times over before I am okay, my mind keeps being aware that my toes are touching each other and it drives me nuts, I can't stand wrinkles in bed sheets, I need to feel the weight of heavy blankets(8 to 10 layers) on me in order to sleep even in the summer time. I don't like the feel of jeans and only wear them to go out, and will generally change out of them as soon as I get home with the exception of a couple pairs that are tolerable to wear for longer.

Though my taste palate has improved over my life through cognitive exercises to allow me to expand my range of food textures I can tolerate, I was very picky most of my life. I couldn't stand the texture of tomatoes, I hated the texture of boneless spare ribs, I completely lost all my appetite if I bit into any fat or grizzle. I hated the textures of onion pieces in tomato sauce and would specifically demand to only eat tomato sauce that had no pieces of onions in them. I hated the feel of sticky honey if it got on my hands. I hated the texture of crunchy peanut butter. I couldn't tolerate the texture of hamburgers and didn't eat any until I was like 20.

So yes I struggle with sensory processing issues, mostly tactile related, with temperature being my 2nd most difficult sense to cope with followed by light and sound.

Too many auditory inputs at once. Restaurants can be hard. The background music, the wait staff talking, other diners, The sounds from the kitchen. Made the mistake of going out to eat on new years eve... Fire works and noise makers outside on top of the already overwhelming noises inside.. Just ouch.

Hate seams and tags in clothes, actually hate clothes in general. Much prefer to be naked or as close to as I can. Plus never understood what is and is not appropriate to wear in a given situation.

I could go on and on and on

The insides of pumpkins! I totally forgot about that! I agree, it's horrible, I can't stand it. Happily I have felt no need to do a jack-o-lantern or pumpkin pie from scratch for 12 years or more.

And yeah, noisy conversations in an otherwise quiet environment are no fun. Just yesterday when I first started working on lab reports, the front desk receptionist was having a Family Meeting on conference call/speaker phone. It was awful; I wanted to yell at her. Aside from it being distracting in the extreme, it's not very classy to discuss personal family issues at volume in a public place. Especially if on the clock at work. :smh: