sensory issue: some people's voices and postures

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Hello,

My mom thinks I'm on the autism spectrum. I tend to doubt it but I agree with her that I may share some characteristics.

In particular, I'm wondering if my experience is similar to others, being this: at work, some people's voices, or what they say, or their postures when they sit or walk down the hall, trigger a strong emotional reaction in me. Like an anger, agitation, almost a rage.

For examples:

The woman in the cubicle next to me ends every sentence with "hmmm". It doesn't matter what she says, it ends with "hmmm". It makes me want to cry.

Every morning, a man who sits nearby has a phone conversation with somebody; who it is, I do not know. But the entirety of his side of the conversation is "OK, OK, OK, OK, bye". And the way he says "bye" is very flat and monotone. And it just makes me want to scream.

When a certain coworker passes me in the hall, he greets me with a "hello" and cocks his head slightly sideways. The way he holds his head makes me want to cry.

The way the guy that sits across from me hunches over to eat his lunch. About that time of day, I suspect he is taking his lunch break, and when I turn around and confirm it, I feel like

And then there is the peculiar manner in which each person speaks when they use the office intercom...

Anyway, this may all seem meaningless, but thanks for reading.

I sort of get this way too. I think it's because these people would have similar mannerisms to someone who was mean to me in the past so it can cause me to feel uncomfortable and leery around them.

There's a theory that autistic people are bad at reading body language / tone of voice etc not because we're insensitive to them, but because we're so oversensitive we can't handle it. So this could well be an autistic trait you have. I wouldn't swear to that in the absence of other evidence, though!

Sounds like misophonia combined with something else.

Just wondering if you feel like this in other places or only at work? Other people annoy me practically anywhere including at home. Is your hearing sensitive? Some people with low tolerance are autistic, some aren't. There's misophonia, depression and anxiety can cause that anger. Anxiety medication helps me a bit with sensory stuff.