Newbie - noise anxiety and other things - help?!

Wirm · Newbie User Joined: Jun 09, 2006 Posts: 2

Hi all,

I am a newbie to this site but have issues with noise and other things which I would like answers for and will explain in a minute. I am trying to find out what is wrong with me and give myself a 'label' as I have lived with this 'condition' for about 20 years. I have an over intolerance to noise and various other things - which I will list...

1) any repetative noise (monotone or otherwise)
2) the sound of people biting or picking at their nails (sound and movement)
3) people eating with their mouth open
4) clunking jaws when people eat
5) people gulping coffee loudly
6) high pitched noise
7) hearing televisions through walls (ie next door neighbours' tv's on loud so you can hear it but muffled)
Cool

people playing with pens in meetings
9) people chewing gum (with or without mouth shut)
10) the cat cleaning itself and any animal making 'chapping' noises.
11) clicking fingers
12) repeated coughing and sniffling
13) heavy breathing / snoring
14) people twiddling a piece of their hair repetatively.
15) coleague at work hacking up flem - sounds like she needs to hack up a furball like cats do!
16) repetative tapping

they are just a few of the things that make me feel: physically wound up, feel like I have been punched in the stomach, want to be physically sick, cry, scream, want to run away from where I am, want to punch the person who is doing it.

Writing this makes me feel even more of a freak and makes me reslise that the list has grown. When I was very young the main things were my mum gulping, my dad biting his nails, and my sister pushing her cuticles back!! I know how starnge this may sound to other people but it can create such anxiety within me that I want to scream or hurt somebody or something (which might I add I would never do). My mum and dad dispair, because we can not sit down together without me asking them to 'stop biting you nails' or 'do you have to gulp when you drink'. In fact - it drives me mad having to say it so god knows how they must feel!

I can only think that it is completely irrational, and the only commonality that I can find is that it is things I cannot control, but I don't feel it is a control thing. I am even getting tense and anxious when writing this and thinking about how it makes me feel.

I would like to address this problem because it is an everyday problem. I don't tell people about it until I know them very well, and it is mainly my family who hear about it. I honestly feel that the cat sits in front of me and cleans herself to annoy me - which is completely irrational - I know!

I have had to leave rooms, end up crying out of frustration that the noise or movement wont stop. I am sure I am not alone with this, but would like to know what is wrong with me so that I can learn how to deal with it. If you knew me at work for example - you would not know this about me as I keep it bottled up.

I do have a hypersensitivity to noise in general - for example I was able to hear a caterpillar munching on my flowers from a distance that nobody else could hear - which sounded amplified to me. Also I could hear ants under the wallpaper in our old rented house which sounded like a pattering noise - I thought I was going crazy because I was tuning into this noise that nobody else could hear! And I do have a tendancy to concentrate on someone clicking their pen rather than listening to the person taking the meeting.

does anyone else out there have what I have and to these extremes. I am aware that some of the things listed above are annoying to everyone, but does it make you feel like you need to escape? Are there any doctors out there who can put a name to it? I would appreciate any responses other than people telling me I am a freak - because I know I am !!

thanks

Wirm x

r0ck0ut04 · Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 9:21 pm Post subject:

Maybe its a form of ocd.

black_mamba

BrokenSmile · Intermediate User Joined: May 02, 2006 Posts: 129

Wirm · Newbie User Joined: Jun 09, 2006 Posts: 2

I am genuinely shocked to hear that other people are like me -but it is re-assuring! Thanks for your responses it is really interesting! It is weird but I have never been to a doctor to have it diagnosed as I never wanted the hassle when I was younger becase it was something my parents would have gone on about - they always used to tell me to see a doctor about it as it literally caused argument upon argument in our house. My sister has the same thing with people whistling and chewing chewing gum with their mouths open but this only developed for her in her late teens early 20's I think.

I think alot of it is psychological but there must be something else... Rolling Eyes

louise · Newbie User Joined: Aug 18, 2006 Posts: 1

Wirm, all those things you posted I suffer from too. I know exactly how you feel. Eating noises are my particular phobia - I struggle to eat in the same room as people - particularly those I'm closest too which is strange. I have less issues with stranges or casual friends. But as well as the eating, all of the above. I'm hoping someday I will be able to get some help for this and try and stop to the way I am. I just don't know how. Luckily for me, my mam sympathises, because I inherrited the phobia from her. So there are two of us in this household. Not so good for my dad and brother though!

Jo

jerry302199 · Newbie User Joined: May 31, 2006 Posts: 4

reading your problem (wirm ) i was amazed at how many aspects of s.a. that there are, i simply hadn't considered this as part of my s.a... but it would seem that a lot of us have the same issues ..
for years now, i haven't been able to bear hearing people eat food / drink etc. [ have noticed that they have took this personally - whoops there goes another friendship! ].. i have also always had to have a really good pair of ear defenders beside my bed, with addittional packs of foam ear-plugs in a drawer beside my bed !! so as took give some respite from any noises that may crop up...i sometimes feel as if an ideal scenario for a s.a. sufferer would be some kind of non-existence? -- perhaps zen buddhism is the answer?

upyourspeed · Newbie User Joined: Apr 25, 2006 Posts: 11

Hey,

I'm not sure if you feel this applies to you guys - I came across this disorder once:

Sensory Processing Disorder (SID)

Apparantly this is where an individual neurologically experiences sound/vision etc. evoking a pain response in them.

More info can be found:
http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/sensory_integration_disorder.jsp

http://www.sinetwork.org/

alex99 · Newbie User Joined: Sep 05, 2006 Posts: 1

I get the same thing and have literally only just discovered that other people do too. I thought it was just me!
Do other people find that the level of annoyance varies with different people? Like I can sometimes deal with casual aquaintences chewing gum but if my Mum did it I'd run from the room?
I googled and found a website about 'hypercusis' and the symptoms seem to tye up. Does anyone know if this is recognised in the UK? I am really embarassed about my problem but want to deal with it as it has been going on for around 12 years now. I want to try my GP but don't want to be laughed out of the door.

spohnj · Newbie User Joined: Sep 11, 2006 Posts: 1

Hello. I only realized that noise was an abnormal issue for me a few days ago. I guess I never put two and two together. Everything that you guys/girls are saying sounds exactly like what I go through daily as well. A short list of my most "painful" sound aversions...

1. Plastic bags
2. Motorcycles/loud cars/trucks
3. movie theatres, people eating popcorn, opening candy
4. crying babies
5. music that I'm not listening to
6. repetitive tapping
7. someone washing the dishes
8. whistling
9. humming
10. keyboard/mouse clicking
11. ect ect ect

The list could go on for pages but you get the point. I don't think I've had it all my life but I am having trouble pin-pointing when I first starting having this problem.

Sounds provoke an intense anxiety or anger for me which creates terrible problems with my relationships. It seems crazy to me that I had not been able to figure out why I got so angry at seemingly little things and why "people are always loud around me". There are varying degrees of emmotional intensity depending on who/where the sound is comming from. For example, I can make any of those sounds and it doesn't bother me but if my Father laughed in his peculiar way, it would drive me crazy. I can't watch movies with him because of this. I have a hard time tolerating other's conversations, especially if they are on a cell phone. It seems now that I have realized what it is that sets me off I am able to see all the strange things I do because of it.

I have extreme difficulty sleeping without a fan on (white noise). I started sleeping with one on during college to drown out noise (not sure if this is a possible cause). Since then I always sleep with one on. Now I wonder if that was such a good idea and if I stopped, would it help.

My wife tends to talk a lot and has somewhat unstructured conversations and that seems to drive me crazy and makes it difficult for me to understand what she is trying to say. I think arguments are worse because of it too. I can't even imagine having kids and dealing with that noise right now. Has anyone been able to improve this condition?

I did find this online that seems to fit pretty well with the symptoms - Selective Soft Sound Sensitivity

http://www.hyperacusis.net/hyperacusis/4+types+of+sound+sensitivity/default.asp