Worsening sensitivities

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My 19 year old son says his sensory sensitivities are getting worse every day. Is this a common thing. He wears a blindfold a lot and stays in his room almost 24 hours a day. He has only known of his autism diagnosis for about 9 months. He's on 4 different medications for anxiety and depression and migraines. Any insight would be appreciated. He is suffering a lot.

My experience has been that the things bugging me today were always there in a similar form.

Other stories come to mind, like my dad eliminating an allergic reaction to shellfish by means of mental adjustment (I think it was NLP) and nought else.

I'm left wondering whether your son could be talking himself into it, though one must tread carefully around an idea like this.

Sensory issues are real of course, "toughening up" isn't the answer and access to supports like sunglasses and noise cancelling headphones can make an amazing difference.

With the headphones, at work, the difference for me is that between barely / highly functional.

Chade-meng Tan, in one of his books on meditation, talks about a man who came to his course in a wheelchair (due to pain) on the first session, crutches on a later session, and finally just a cane. He reported his pain hadn't changed much, but the way he thought about his pain had been revolutionized.

I recommend:
1) acknowledge and attempt to support his current experience of his sensitivities
2) remember the widely reported cognitive load associated with putting up with sensitivities
3) ensure that he has access to suitable therapy - e.g. my psychologist is highly experienced in ASD and helping people both see the upside and overcome the weaknesses imposed by their traits. I wish the same for your son.
4) similar-wise for peer and family groups
5) check out (for yourself and then him) the books by Chade-meng Tan, available on Audible and dead tree.

I recommend Joy on Demand first, Search Inside Yourself second.

ASD folks report mixed results with meditation. Getting started is hard like starting at the gym is hard, Joy on Demand addresses those issues which is the reason I recommend it first.

I believe there is value in meditation for most on the spectrum - a literal spectrum of benefits to be had in fact, starting with inner peace, equanimity, resilience and emotional intelligence.

I highly recommend taking a closer look at meditation.

Wishing you both all the best.

One more thing, I spotted at the footer of this thread, a suggested older thread with last post in June 2011.

One post there linked to this article:
http://web.archive.org/web/200805120216 ... istic.html

The archive.org link is a nice touch!

There might be something there as well.

Thank you so much for your response. I think he is still coming to terms with his autism . We have a psychiatrist, but not a psychologist yet. I hope we can find one soon. I'll check out the meditation things. Thanks again.

I had seriously worsened autistic issues when taking wrongly prescribed medicine. Extrapyramidal effects made me feel wrong in my body, inability to control my face made me even more anxious despite the medicine was supposed to help with anxiety and sensitiveness was higher than before the meds.
How long has he been on the meds? Is he reporting feeling better on them? Four different drugs is really a lot, are all of them necessary in these doses?

He's been on lexapro for about 4 years, but just bumped up the dose about 4 months ago from 10 to 20 mg. The other 3 he's been on for about 4 months. He says no med has helped his sensitivity issues and they get worse every day. I hope he can start to come down on his meds, but he hates the process of changing meds. I also think the meds are adding to his sensitivities. Hope we can figure something out soon. Thanks for sharing.

As far as I see, treatment for autism is like a team effort. You can go also with mental health specialists ( counselor, therapist or psychologist). Family and close friends can be a part too that can help.