Sensory overload in where you live

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Hiya

I have recently moved to the centre of town and find the noise of the cars and the people etc way too much. I now tend to sleep through the day to shut it out and be awake at night where it is quiet.

Does anyone else relate to this at all?

Yep. I went to a small college in the middle of nowhere for that reason--I didn't want all the traffic noise, but GOODNESS college students are noisy!! ! They're always speeding down my street and throwing parties everywhere around my apartment. Then I go to my studio and people are blasting music and shouting at each other and UGH!! ! I can't get any work done because my brain always feels like its going to explode. I am so happy I have Klonopin. I wish I had a solution for you, but I guess sometimes we just have to learn to deal the best we can.

I feel the same way, and it's also odd that I go to a college right near Lake Ontario (well, it's closer to the Seaway than Lake Ontario).

I can relate. I moved to NYC and was in a state of overwhelm the entire time. My ocd got much worse during this time and I was very depressed. I just couldn't take hearing every breath my neighbors took and having to engage with so many people on the street and subway on a constant basis. Meditation was my only true refuge.

That's why I can't do school dances, overwhelming crowds. I seriously have a sensory disorder.

Its weird, I think as I have got older, I notice the sound level a lot more. Up until I was about 17, I could just shut people out, my memories of people being around are just a blur before then, I was so in my own head!

I am getting married in July and have to move in with my bloke to a block of flats. Nightmare. Have tried staying there and it feels like everyone is trying to invade the flat!

God, good luck. I know this is tangetial, but my wedding made me exhausted for about 3 years afterward and I didn't even plan it. I just showed up with my dress and ended up shutting myself in the bathroom away from all the insanity. It was like everyone had to be in my space every second. I had to lock the door and ignore them.

Oh my word, I can so relate to that! We have had so much pressure from Church on when the date is that I said to one group of people including the pastors wife that I would gouge out the next persons eyeballs who asked!! I have now taken a break from Church as I want people out of my face!

Snap!

I live in a boarding/guest house / backpackers in central Wellington and at times I just can't relax or even concentrate.

When I go out about town I last about two hours tops before I am stressed out and worn out, sounds like sirens and such are the worst but being unable to filter out the hubbub of conversations and musak etc is pretty tiring.
I don't go out if I can help it as often even the volume of the sound system in a theater is too much let alone the noise in bars, it was easier when I still drank and smoked pot because I would just get wasted and withdraw and no-one thought it strange compared to me now. perhaps I need to go out wearing industrial earmuffs?

Yes. I have to knock myself out to fall asleep because it's so loud where I live, and knocking myself out still doesn't work. I don't know what the f**k is going on downstairs right now. I think the tax office is printing nonstop (at 5AM? Fanfuckingtastic), but even vicodin and benadryl isn't letting me sleep.

I live in downtown Los Angeles and the traffic noise, the helicopters, the sirens and the drunks staggering to their cars at 2 in the morning can get a bit annoying. I sometimes call a friend who lives in the woods and when she hears a siren through the phone she assumes something horrible is happening on my end. But I've lived here for almost 12 years and have become so used to it that I hardly notice. What is ironic is that I once spent a weekend at her place and the acorns dropping on the tin roof kept me awake more than sirens and helicopters ever did.

Of course I have to sleep with a fan going to drowned out the noise. I also have an MP3 file of rain noise for when I'm having a lot of trouble sleeping.

It is the smaller, repetitive sounds that overload me. Nighttime is the worst. I take something to keep me asleep and I have earplugs I wear, mainly to drown out the noise of my cats licking themselves (the sound causes me to cringe and seems to be amplified at night), but also to block out random creeks of the house.

I have lived in this house my whole life. It's on a busy main street and my room is right at the front of the house - closest to the street. I hate it, the vast amount of car noises drive me nuts. Especially when there's a red light and some car drives up with ridiculously loud bass music. The vibrations actually make me feel ill. A big truck/bus has the same effect and there's a bus stop directly across the street. And they wonder why I have constant headaches.

The weird thing is that my house is also right next to a train track - walk out of my backyard and you're on the tracks. They are cargo trains and don't run very often, but they do run at regular times each day. I have no idea what times those are though because I never notice when a train goes by. I don't know how I can miss them, they're loud and they shake the whole darn house, but I've had people over saying "what's that noise" and I'm like "what noise? ... ... oh that's the train". I don't know how I can ignore all the noises from the trains (whistles, crossing sirens, metal on metal squealing, every trinket in my house clinking together) and yet the cars that drive by my window give me such a headache.

Because I am surrounded by constant noise during the day, I definitely prefer the night. I really hope I can find a job (soon!) that isn't morning work, because I will lose all my quiet time if I am forced to sleep through the night. And I've done that, it's not nice, a neverending headachey nightmare.

That noise makes me insane! I make my cats go do it somewhere as far away from me as possible. It's made worse by the fact that the two young ones have really bad breath.

The noise from the people I live with, and from the people I work with, is really getting to me lately, so I can empathise. Satre was right, "Hell is other people."

Anyway, three things which might help you deal with the noise:

(1) Earplugs. There are some fairly comfortable varieties available (e.g., http://www.snorestore.co.uk/ ), just be sure to install them correctly.
(2) Noise-reducing ear "muffs". (I own a pair of Peltor Optime IIs.)
(3) "White" or "brown" noise. As jagatai noted, you can generate white noise with a fan. Alternatively, you can purchase sound recordings (e.g., http://whitenoisemp3s.com/ ).

Edit. Loosely related:
"The 'Pursuit Of Silence' In A World Full of Noise" [Fresh Air]
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =125511963

Last edited by Logan5 on 12 Apr 2010, 6:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

Thanks for the white noise link - I just downloaded it

I live in a household with 4 other people and there's no place to go to be alone except the backyard, where I've considered putting up a tent and sleeping there. I would do this if there weren't so many car alarms, kids squealing and ambulances going by all the time. So, to help reduce noise, we installed new double-insulated windows in our house. These Pella windows are so good at noise reduction that I can barely even hear a thunderstorm outside when it passes overhead. For in-house noises (where people are running TVs all the time 24/7) I have to sleep with those industrial-strength earplugs coupled with a small fan on my nightstand (for white noise). My hearing is supersensitive anyway, and it seems that at night, it's even worse. One of these days, if I can ever afford it, I'd like to move out into the middle of the desert where there's no traffic, people or other distractions.

E333

that's funny because i have worked at the railroad for almost 10 years now and everytime a horn blows i jump a freakin mile, you think i would be used to it by now, everyone else at work is

and until i was diagnosed last summer i never even realized i had a problem with sensory issues

but in my current residence there is a ton of noise (factor in that i work in a noisy place so its noisy all the damn time)
my sister and her young kids live next door and i live with my dad who is always home and making all kinds of loud ass noise. i told him it sounds like whales mating in the living room
my niece is also over all the time and not only is she mean but she is EXTREMELY loud, she literally hurts my ears

but on the bright side i'm pretty sure i just found a house to rent and i can afford it as long as im careful with my money (easier said than done)
all kinds of privacy, the only thing you can see around the house is a bunch of trees. i cant wait.