Yes, it's the Sensory Issues Thread !

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We've all got them - auditory, visual, olfactory and tactile, to name but four.

I love reading about other people's.

My particular bugbears are : -

1. - Loud, high-frequency (trebly) noise - and if I'm really tired, even quiet, trebly noise ... like whispering.
2. - Clanking metal really hurts my ears, whether it's cutlery or scaffolding.
I can't dry up cutlery because putting it away sets my teeth on edge - and as for people who clank cutlery against their teeth, I'd rather listen to nails down a blackboard all afternoon thanks.
3. - Sudden, loud bangs make me jump out of my skin.

4. - Bright, artificial light and even daylight brightly diffused through white cloud. (I'm fine with the sun in clear skies).

5. - Perfume. It gets right into you. Older ladies with a presumably severely desensitised sense of smell are particularly bad offenders. Some of the stuff they wear is industrial and easily capable of ruining a car journey or a meal.

Ooh... Perfumes are big annoyances for me. Also loud, high pitched noises, the touch of any cloth but cotton (well, rayon and linen aren't that bad), and passing motorcycles. I would love to forcibly install heavy-duty mufflers on every single motorcycle in the country...

Some sensory things that bother me are...

- Perfumes that have that musky underscent. Lighter perfumes such as body splashes don't bother me.

- loud talking, though loud music doesn't bother me

- thumping, knocking, or banging noises

- noises make when fingernails click each other

- bright lights

- light, unexpected touches

- clothes that don't fit or feel just right

The ones I can think of at this moment are:

- Loud noises, sirens, crying babies, screaming
- Any noise at all when I am tired
- Loud and only slightly out of tune singing (for some reason I don't mind sining that is completely out of tune as much)

- Light touch (especially on my face)
- Tags on clothes or any material that is itchy or just the wrong "feel"

- I also have difficulty with the texture of most food, I am an extremely picky eater

-high or low pitched noises.
-repetitive noises like a clock ticking or if the same music plays over and over
-teeth grinding- ack, this was a stim my 6 y/o MR son did for 2 years and drove me nuts.
-Crying babies who aren't attended to immediately
-clicking or drumming fingernails
-styrafoam sound- ack! painful
-clothes that don't fit just right.
-shoes- I hate them and wear sandals as much as possible- good thing I live in CA
-socks too- feel restricting and confining
-bright light, flourescent lighting, sunlight.
-loud, raucious music. I can't stand most heavy metal.
-sushi- the texture in CA rolls and things like that make me gag- anything gooey or sticky like rice in sushi does that to me.
-tags on clothes drive me insane
-light touch- it has to be firm or it's irritating/tickly to me

I could go on and on. The only way I manage with 4 kids in a noisy, loud, busy household is my anti-anxiety meds and Ipod with headphones.

Surprise slap/grab/etc. when I'm busy with something else (sure all people have that). Same for surprise sound!

Teeth can be sensitive to cold (ice cream) so I have to let it melt in my mouth/eat small pieces/keep it away from my teeth and use my toungue.

I am a notoriously picky eater because of food textures. Just can't deal with some of them. Yogurt and other similarly slimey things just don't go over well with me. The way food smells and looks puts me off as well. Husband says constantly that it doesn't matter if I like everything in it or not, if it doesn't look right to me, it won't go in my mouth.

Smells overload me quick. My number one most hated smell is pot. It makes me physically sick. Musky smells like patuoille gag me. Overly flowery smells do me in as well. Lilac makes me sneeze non stop for an hour.

I get overloaded at concerts if I'm too close to the stage and especially if it's not my thing. Or I'm tired, or hungry or anything that cuts down on my tolerance. I hate flourescent lights with a passion. Repetitive high pitched sounds bug me. Machinery like air conditioning can occasionally do me in.

I sometimes have to desensitize myself somewhat when I have too much visual input as well. I love to go to flea markets and auctions, but have to wander around a few times to actually absorb anything and figure out what I'm looking at. I get very overloaded with visual imput very easily.

I have to feel fabrics before I wear them. Certain things just don't feel right. I never can wear jeans.

Surprising noises-badbadbad one. Coworkers and family try daily to get me out of my skin... It is the same with my mother, I do it by accident when I walk in the living room, she's so tense at times

Many "little" noises, fans blowing while I am trying to sleep (brother requires one...), people scratching themselves (wherever), people eating, clicking or fidgeting from other people (when I do it, it's alright! ). In a restaurant I'm ok with eating noises, as there is usually enough background noise to drown that out, at home I eat in my room.

-cotton balls

-my bare feet on the floor. I absolutely cannot walk on tile or linoleum without shoes.

-any sound I can barely hear (muffled talking, low tv, bass music)

-motorcycles

-sand, glue, chalk, money, raw meat, ice cubes, ...etc...

-unexpected touches, hugs, kisses without warning

-anyone walking up stairs behind me. I cannot do it. I'll wait and let them pass me.

-the smell of shoes, feet, body odor, bodily fluids, bleach, any odd or unexpected smells like a visitor with perfume etc.

-people talking at once, or background noise. Tv's running, music in another room, etc.

-bright lights, even little faint lights like night lights bother me at night.

-dry hands that catch on my hair, or on the sheets.

There are a ton more.

Being touched suddenly.

ANY PERFUME, or artificial scent. Even hair gel.

The sound of static, like on the telly on a blank station.

gray light

that barely audible buzzing noise coming from someone's headphones on the skytrain

the slam of a door

the felt sense of carbohydrates digesting in my blood

I have many sensory issues, but these are the intolerable ones:
1. Crying babies.
2. Getting wet. (Especially getting my face wet.)
3. Any type of "wrong" clothes/shoes (and there are too many examples to list; one example is flip-flops- I can't stand that piece of plastic that goes between your toes).
4. Fluorescent lights. (I need to sit either with the lights off or with a nice floor lamp that uses a normal lightbulb.)
5. Loud high-pitched sirens/fire alarms.
6. Loud music/TV.
-OddDuckNash99-

Some of them are just inherently bothersome to me (though most of these sorts have fallen off as the years go by), and some of mine are induced through bad experience.

1 ) Loud, shrill noises, especially from out of my range of vision - this has always been the case. It got worse, however, in the years during which my peers used my noise sensitivities to bully me.
2 ) Loud banging noises, especially from out of my range of vision - because my dad always used to slam the door when he was angry and drunk.
3 ) The smell of certain fruits - definitely not as bad as it used to be, but still it's never been pleasant.
4 ) The textures of a whole bunch of foods - Partially because I only have 6 teeth and have to chew with my tongue, partially because my parents tried to make me eat certain things before I was ready to or when I didn't want to.
5 ) Bright light, specifically sunlight though really bright lights in doctors' offices and camera flashes also apply. Partially because my cornea are damaged and partially it's just annoying.
6 ) Invasive physical contact - I've been in hospitals. A lot. They did really painful things to me, whether I wanted it or not. Physical contact beyond things like handshakes and hugs is unpleasant and has bad associations.
7 ) Being in the middle of a crowd of people and getting bumped on all sides - I hate being small and hard to notice.
8 ) Wet socks - Just... ewwwww.

1) TV's or screens with an update of less that 85 times per second, it really bothers me.
2) Air conditioning in cars
3) Air condition in stores - waiting in a queue and blowing down on top of me - slowly sending me into rage
4) anything touching my hair
5) my hair touching my face
6) clock that tick and chime on the hour every hour
7) smokers and ash-trays I can smell a mile off, stepping out of a bath into a smokey room. Beats the point of having a bath
wet clothes on my skin - I like to watch the steam as an alternative if I'm caught in the rain
9) rain - the heavier it is, the more stressed I become

1.) Fluorescent lights

2.) Jeans

3.) Gymshoes

4.) Wearing too much clothing or anything not made of mostly cotton

5.) motorcycles

6.) Humidity

7.) Large Family gatherings

8.) Wind (sound and feeling of it irritates me, especially wind in my eyes)

9.) beeping noises of any kind

10.) Talking on the telephone, or being interrupted when I am into something