Sensory Overload

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I started this thread (and I appologize if there are many of them) because I'm new to the world of Autism (I never even heard of AS until this passed summer), and was wondering if some people who are more experienced could describe to me some of the feelings associated with sensory overload. I was originally diagnosed with an anxiety disorder (Panic disorder to be exact) about 5 or 6 years ago because I had a really severe panic attack that kind of turned my life upside down for a while. I only recently started learning about AS and associating it with myself, and so I'm only recently starting to make all of the connections between it and my life over the years. Thinking back to when I had that one serious panic attack I don't really recall feeling copious amounts of anxiety at the time, so I"m starting to wonder whether it was a result of anxiety at all. This isn't to say that I don't have anxiety, because I definitely do, but I'm starting to wonder if some of the feelings that I've always associated with anxiety, aren't really a result of the anxiety at all, but rather I just didn't know what else to call it.

For example: When i was in high school I worked at a horse race track part time. Saturday was always a race night, and they often had what they called "Loony Night" (For all of you non-canadians who don't know, a Loony is the nick name given to our $1 coins) which just meant that the racing programs/drinks/hotdogs, etc were all $1 instead of the regular price. This always meant that we were EXTREMELY busy. I worked behind a consession counter that would basically have a never ending line of people for the entire night. Essentially, I experienced non-stop interaction with (often incredibly rude) people. Everytime we had one of these nights (without fail), at the end of the night when everyone was gone and we were cleaning up/closing up, i would find myself in the bathroom hugging a toilet bowl and trying not to throw up. This would also be acompanied with just an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion (mental and physical).

So that being said, I'm just trying to make sense of some of these memories and put a name to something because just calling all of these things "anxiety" just doesn't seem to be fitting.

I'm just curious to hear other people's experiences because when I hear the term 'sensory overload' I guess I don't really have a good understanding of what is meant by it and the feelings and sensations that go along with it. So any info people feel like sharing is most welcome! Thanks much!

My reactions to sensory overload aren't that strong. I experience inability to concentrate, sometimes a feeling of disorientation. Like today I was walking through the mall -- packed of course, it's Christmas shopping time -- lights all over the place, people coming from all directions, can't get a grasp on what's in the shops I'm passing and when I do figure it out I can't remember if anyone on my list needs anything like that -- now which way do I go to get out of this store? I walk through one store to get to a door I know leads out to the parking lot (a long way from where I parked but at least I'd be outside) and when I get to the door it's blocked off with a sign "Do not Use this Door" I'm upset. I have to walk back through the store and now I'm feeling claustrophobic and I've seen way more people in one hour than I need to see in a month. But once I get outside, it's ok. Now I just have to remember where I left the car. Fatigue, yes. Nausea, no.

I remember getting a headache from watching the last part of the movie "2001" -- that strobe-light effect of the reentry sequence is murder. I've been to rock concerts. Being in the crowd is bad, but the performances themselves don't bother me. I guess what bothers me most is when too much information is coming from too many directions at once. I was a waitress for three or four years a long time ago. I had problems with remembering orders (wrote everything down), and could not make small talk the way the other waitresses did (moved to the lunch shift since I wasn't making the tips off of dinners anyway), but in general I liked the work well enough. But serving tables is a lot different from being trapped behind a counter. When you're serving tables you get to walk distances, work off some of the stress that way. And the work load ebbs and flows, it's not constant like what you've experienced. I imagine that when you are working behind a counter the people are in your face constantly, and your attention is split in several directions at once. That would be horrible.

Yes, working in a race track was NOT enjoyable for me at all. Too many people, and most of them are outright rude and nasty to you for no reason simply because they probably lost a lot of money during their trip to the race track..lol

My husband convinced me to take a job once that I suspected I would hate. But he wanted some extra income so he could save up to buy a sailboard. The job was receptionist/fill-in girl at a medical clinic where many of the patients spoke Spanish. When I interviewed, the doctor asked if I could communicate dates and times in Spanish. Well, yeah. I knew that much. So I got hired. Big mistake. No matter what task I started, I would be immediately interrupted by someone telling me I had to be doing something else, then the phone would ring and the person on the line would start telling me their symptoms in rapid fire Spanish, then someone else would be asking me why this other task hadn't been done yet, but the phone's ringing again. Needless to say, I didn't stay there long. Find me a desk in a back room, give me some papers to work on, and leave me alone, (and please turn off that television!!)

Actually, I get very panicky in large groups of people. I don't go to concerts for this reason. After the panic attack, I am usually really tired and want to sleep.

On things that are sensory overload but not to the point of a panic attack, I tend to want to sleep. But I always turned to sleep for anything I don't like, like after I'm angry, I try to sleep it off, and when I'm sick, I want to sleep a lot. I slept a lot in pregnancy until I got in the third trimester where in both cases, I got insomnia, and I was upset that I got insomnia because the third trimester was more painful and I wanted to sleep through it. Now, after childbirth, I didn't want to sleep. I did, but I wanted to hold my baby more. I'm so bad about the sleep thing, I just got over an aweful stomach flu, and when I was throwing up a lot, I went to the ER. I specifically asked if they were too busy to get to me for a while, they were more than welcome to give me some Demerol, knock me out, and come back to me when they got a chance. But, they ended up giving me Phenergen which I loved because it knocked me out. Not as good as Demeral, but good enough to get me through that phase of the flu. It still hurts where they gave me the shot, but if I have that pain for the rest of my life, it was well worth it. Sometimes it still hurts in my spine where the epidural went. Another one well worth it.

Keep in mind too that I've been diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It happened after my relapse of mono. Before I ever had mono, I slept after I calmed down from being angry because that was the only way to stop me from dwelling on it. But, when it came to sensory overload, I think it made me hyper and more jittery and cold.

Now I will say that I did get sick to the stomach after my dad and my grandma died. I also got into trouble for it as well because I didn't feel well and it interfered with people's grieving even though I was trying to keep to myself and didn't want to be around people. My grandma, I knew before it happened because of things she said to me about death and wanting to go back to that peace. But, I had like a psychic stomach ache over that, and nobody was really bothered by it because it was before the fact. Now, my dad on the other hand, I got sick for days after the fact, and I was vomiting. I took some of his Compazine to stop the vomiting (he died of cancer, so he had a nice supply of Compazine). Anyway, day of the visitation (a day before the funeral) I wanted to lay down till my stomach calmed a bit before getting ready to go. I really just wanted to chill for a while because I had enough sensory overload from the death itself that seeing the body would just be another overload, and I needed my time to myself to mentally prepare for it. My mom's family complained so hard about that cussing me out because I just wanted to lay on his favorite chair for while. It was to the point where I couldn't even start chilling until after they left because they refused to leave me alone. I felt like it was my right to go to that thing whenever I felt like it considering out of all the family, I was the closest person to the man. Nobody had the bond he and I had. I was daddy's little girl, and my sister was a mama's girl. I know I'm right cause I'm closer to my kids than I am my husband. i got so much grief over it that nobody from my mother's side of the family would talk to me at all during the visitation while giving me a dirty shame on you look. Freaking neurotypicals will create drama just because they are sad. I'm so glad they displayed enough empathy to know what I was going through. I swear their condition cripples my ability to function sometimes.

I've never thought about it before, but all my (rare) panic attacks have taken place when I was trapped with other people, usually at a dinner table. If I can just get up and walk around, it gets better. Which reminds me that I used to sleepwalk as a child, also to fight off a feeling of panic. And I love bathrooms, they're often the only place you can politely escape to if you need to be alone.

I suppose the feeling of panic is similar to claustrophobia, but I don't suffer from that - in fact, I feel very cozy in small, enclosed spaces, as long as I'm alone.

I've had chronic daily headaches since childhood and ever since I was diagnosed with Asperger's a few months ago I have been searching for a definitive link between my headaches and Asperger's. When I have a sensory overload my headaches always become worse, and when I have a headache I seem to become more autistic than usual. I am very sensitive to light, almost all of the time, and very sensitive to sound and odors about half of the time.

If you'd like to know more then please read my thread here:
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt85366.html

For me, Sensory Overload manifests itself with sheer anger inside me that I find so hard but nevertheless succeed to hold it in.



This is one of my worse things about being an Aspie.

Charlie

For me, Sensory Overload manifests itself with sheer anger inside me that I find so hard but nevertheless succeed to hold it in.



This is one of my worse things about being an Aspie.

Charlie

Sensory ovrload tends to be accompanied by a feeling of sickness in the head, and want to just leave so desperatly and not being able to find the will to do it, and I could go on for hours, but I'm not going to waste my time doing that.