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FreeStone
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

Joined: 15 Oct 2016
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Posts: 4

02 Dec 2016, 2:29 pm

One fairly common trait of Aspergers and autism spectrum conditions in general that has not been so self-evident and obvious in regards to me (compared to say my issues with social skills, eccentric personality, lack of traditional empathy, obsessive behaviors, high intelligence because of my passion for special interests etc etc) has been sensory problems.
Aspergers is not a cookie-cutter condition, this may reflect my place on the spectrum and what it means for me, but I think I may experience sensory issues that have been attributed to my hearing problems or otherwise overlooked as something else.
Obviously a trained professional can give me a final word but I would like to discuss these things with other aspies so that I may have better understanding of myself when I finally go in for evaluation.
Here is what I have noticed.

1. I cannot sit still.
I'm famous for my pacing because if I stay still for too long I become very uncomfortable.
My family has gotten upset with me in the past because my pacing around at night and the early morning hours kept them up.

2. What I thought has been complications for my hearing problems ( I wear hearing aids) seems to be more along the lines of problems with auditory processing.
I now realize that times when I thought I misheard or didn't hear somebody I actually heard them just fine.
The meaning of the words didn't process until seconds later.

3. Oddities when it comes to clothes.
My father has criticized me in the past for trying to overwash my clothes.
I often toss things in the dirty laundry basket when it was washed relatively recently but the feeling or smell of it makes me feel like it is dirty.
Earlier this week one of my sweatshirts smelled weird to me so I brought it up to my mom to smell. She said it smelled just fine to her.

4. When I was a young child I had a high level of tolerance to physical discomfort and annoyance.
One of my teachers questioned how I went about the day so casually with glasses that were very smudged and me giving no effort to clean them.
I remembered staying out in the freezing cold waiting for my bus when I was clearly out too early and could have come out later on to minimize being so frozen (this likely went on for a long time).

5. Whenever I walking into large department stores and malls I feel a sense of discomfort being in there.
I thought it was just my cynical views on our socioeconomic system but I think it could be physical in light of discovering my aspergers.
I felt a sense of being overwhelmed physically and emotionally after I left kroger today.

Are these sensory issues? other consequences of autism?
Thank you so much for reading!



adetheproducer
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

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Joined: 8 Dec 2014
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 32
Location: Wales

05 Dec 2016, 9:37 am

All sounds very familiar. I also suffer greatly with sensory issues. I am at a point now where they overload me daily which results in migraines virtually every day if not a couple of times a day. Seems not a lot of thought is given to us with the aspergers diagnosis when it comes to sensory overload. I am currently struggling with my employer to switch the office lights of as the many tube lights all flickering out of sync and not preceptable to most neurotypical staff causes massive problems for me.
Where dark sunglasses when ever you go out, headphones with music are great too to control auditory stimulation. A thick wooly hat is good too they take the high end of the noise making it less sharp and restrict periferal vision.



b9
Veteran
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Joined: 14 Aug 2008
Age: 52
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Location: australia

05 Dec 2016, 10:14 am

everything is a sensory issue.
if you had no senses, you would not be even conscious.