hyper sensativity when upset/overwelmed

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infilove
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24 May 2015, 10:41 pm

I find I'm a sensative person in general. I'm sensative to sounds, touch, ect. However, believe it or not, I really don't get bothered by it. I like blasting loud music, I dont mind being out in the hot sun during the humid summer in Fporida without sun glasses. I dont mind strobe lights, smoke detectors, and enjoy lighting off fire works anyday and wish the 4th of July can be celebrated all year. However, there's one exception to this though. My sensativity to things does bother me and when I'm feeling anxiety about something and feel overwelmed. My god let me tell you when overwelmed about something, the littlest thing will bother me! Chit chatting, loud noises, ect. drive me nuts! This is the time if something like a pan were to fall on the floor and make a loud noise, I will suddenly feel like throwing it through the window- in fact I've regretfully done similar things like that when overwelmed. There's been times the light breeze of the wind on my face has even bothered me- I kid you not! Are you like this with sensations when your overwelmed too? I would love to hear.


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EzraS
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25 May 2015, 2:43 am

When I become overwhelmed, my sensitivity increases dramatically and often leads to a meltdown.



Kiriae
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25 May 2015, 7:33 am

Typical fight of flight reaction.

When you get anxious your body gets more aware of its surrounding and searches for potential danger everywhere. That's why everything bothers you.
http://www.thebodysoulconnection.com/Ed ... fight.html

A cat for example is going to react the same way. Usually it will come to you and let you pet it but once it gets anxious it will instinctively jump off from a slightest sound or touch no matter how used it is to you and such sensations.



msnoname
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25 May 2015, 2:24 pm

I can kind of see where you're coming from. When I'm upset about something I tend to overreact to other things and throw a little tantrum, but when I'm overwhelmed by something I just completely shut down. I won't speak, I won't look at anyone and I won't move, and I'm not conscious of it.

Certain noises drive me nuts. Anything squeaky, screechy, or scraping will make my stomach churn badly enough that I can gag and want to vomit. I had to leave the room at my last job when they would scrape down the big metal bowl. I hate bright lights, particularly fluorescent; they give me headaches, and I used to wear sunglasses indoors when I wasn't home, and I always wear sunglasses outside during the day.



iliketrees
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25 May 2015, 2:26 pm

If something is bothering me, I get stressed/anxious, the stress increases my sensitivity (especially to sound) which in turn I get more and more worried about, meaning it gets stronger and stronger like a horrible cycle. I try so hard to not let it overwhelm me but the result is pretty inevitable if I can't get myself out straight away. I just hate crying when other people are around and that makes it worse because I'm worrying about not crying which just adds to the problem. Also stimming becomes stronger and worse. I just find it embarrassing.



izzeme
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26 May 2015, 4:36 am

This is quite normal; ignoring your sensitivities takes away from your energy.
if you are anxious, the anxiety takes energy as well, and you only have so much available.

at some point, your anxiety starts using the energy you need to ignore your sensitivities and bam: hypersentitivity mode activates



teksavvyguy
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26 May 2015, 7:47 am

When I am tired and need to go to social events or deal with people I can become quite anxious to the point that I will get really grumpy like a child and want to go home right now!

When I am just at home or in the car on a long drive I can rather enjoy having the room filled with my music which is much more relaxing than listening to many small sounds. So I think for me its more the number of different sounds all going at different volumes that I have no control over and you don't know when or where they are going to come from.



Amity
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26 May 2015, 9:03 am

If I am stressed or anxious, I become very sensitive, everything seems louder, brighter, more intense.
When I used the car after my ex had driven it, at times I would forget to check that the radio was off before I started the engine (he turned the volume up when he drove). The sudden loud noise would cause me to jump with the fright and my head felt like it was going to explode. In the past, I described this as 'white pain' because I would see this color in my mind, as an accompaniment to the pain, it reminded me of an electrical burn. Im surprised that I never broke the radio, I palm punched the off button quite a few times, I think the confinement of a car made it worse too. I was stressed a lot of the time back then.



mv12055
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26 May 2015, 9:52 am

omg right now I'm in a super pissed off mood, and unfortunately I'm at the freaking mall....so you can imagine how loud it is in here....if I hear another baby screaming or crying I'm going to SCREAM!! !! .....my thoughts.......

Ok so my list of annoying noises/touches when I'm pissed off are:
-someone touching my shoulder (especially the person I'm angry at)
- loud obnoxious noises like babies screaming/crying, people laughing, ugh....pisses me off how happy they are and how pissed off i am. Plus it's just too loud to begin with....

That's about it, but man, when you're out in public, the noises are all toooooo common.



Chris71186
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26 May 2015, 10:02 am

infilove wrote:
I find I'm a sensative person in general. I'm sensative to sounds, touch, ect. However, believe it or not, I really don't get bothered by it. I like blasting loud music, I dont mind being out in the hot sun during the humid summer in Fporida without sun glasses. I dont mind strobe lights, smoke detectors, and enjoy lighting off fire works anyday and wish the 4th of July can be celebrated all year. However, there's one exception to this though. My sensativity to things does bother me and when I'm feeling anxiety about something and feel overwelmed. My god let me tell you when overwelmed about something, the littlest thing will bother me! Chit chatting, loud noises, ect. drive me nuts! This is the time if something like a pan were to fall on the floor and make a loud noise, I will suddenly feel like throwing it through the window- in fact I've regretfully done similar things like that when overwelmed. There's been times the light breeze of the wind on my face has even bothered me- I kid you not! Are you like this with sensations when your overwelmed too? I would love to hear.


A lot of ASD people's sensory issues come from what's called "sensory overload". It's not that we can't handle loud noises ect, it's that we can't handle to much of it, or we can't go from nothing to BOOM in a matter of moments without warning. This is why people with ASD will be deeply bothered by SUDDEN and UNEXPECTED loud noises. I love blasting my music, and I do it very loud [much at the chagrin of my wife], however I've been known to yell loudly if I hear the doorbell or hear something drop on the floor. I didn't expect the noise and therefore it went from "nothing to something" in a split second. Freaks us out.

The high stress can fall under "sensory overload" as well because you are already experiencing so much in your mind. Your already very small filter becomes even smaller. This is more of a NT problem merging itself with ASD tendencies though. Everybody gets stressed out, but it just manifests itself differently with us.



infilove
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27 May 2015, 2:52 pm

I really enjoyed reading these responces. And I agree with everything everyone has said.


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