Your Most Problematic Sensory Issue?

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Noise and too tight clothing.

Noise above a soft, conversational tone.

If I have to raise my voice to be heard by someone standing at arm's length, then it is truly noise and I should not have to deal with it.

Bright lights. They are brighter than the sun to me at times. They make me feel depersonalization sometimes

Any type of artificial light is the worst for me. Purple-tinted glasses are helping... I just wish I knew that 20 years ago. Oddly, I have love-beyond-words for good window light.

Sounds I am a little better with; except for multiple people talking, or lots of competing noise. I can tolerate most of it, I just can't concentrate on anything else. It is like my brain is separating it all into different piles, but never catches up with the work load.

And I am definitely a sensory-seeker when it comes to tactile stuff.

My sensory issues tend to change around over time. Right now, the one I am having trouble with the most is taste and food issues. Been eating a lot of "beige" foods and absolute crap for lunch, dinner, and so forth. When I mean crap I don't mean pizza or burgers or whatever, I mean total junk food, like cookies and ice cream and such. I am having trouble handling anything else.

Right now my non-junk diet is limited to something like: cereal, bread, peanut butter, potatoes, yogurt, cheese, spaghetti, and vegetarian fake meat. Not as bad as some people's but there's really no vegetables or fruits in there, and I end up eating the same thing for days at a time.

patterns of sounds that aren't right and the smell of people

Visual: Sunlight, though I can generally minimize this by staying indoors. Flickering lights, particularly red or yellow lights. The color red.

Auditory: Low-pitched, loud noises, or high-pitched loud noises. Examples include airplanes, blenders, carpet cleaning trucks, smoke alarms, fire alarms, sirens, and children screaming or crying. Much harder to avoid these, though I have good noise-reduction headphones to help.

Tactile: Touch from an unfamiliar person, or an unexpected touch from a familiar person. Any fabric that is not very soft. I only wear loose cotton clothing, with all labels removed. Buying socks is particularly challenging. If my feet didn't get so cold, I wouldn't wear them. I cannot wear turtlenecks, shifts that button all the way to the neck, watches, rings, or anything other jewelry, or belts.

I also have sensory integration issues. For instance, the McGurk effect does not work on me. So any complex sensory environment will likely tire me out.

High-pitched noises. I'm just about paralysed when someone scratches a knife or fork against a plate. Most are touch-related, though. One thing that always got to me was the feeling of my own teeth scraping against one anther.

The most actively problematic is audio. Auditory overload occurs on a daily basis for me if I do not use my ear plugs. Ear plugs absolutely mandatory for performing certain errands. Grocery shopping in particular. If I attempt to grocery shop without wearing my plugs, there is a high probability I will not be able to collect every item I came there to purchase and have to leave with only a portion of my shopping completed. After that, if it wasn't too bad, I'll just be irritable and restless until I calm down. If bad, more serious depression and OCD related issues crop up.

Second is light level.

And the rest i'll clump together in distant third as annoyance but not major negative affect on my lifestyle and mood. It's not that big a deal to avoid certain specific foods or touching specific textures for me. And I'm not going to immediately freak out if I happen to touch something that raises my hackles.

After working this weekend, I need to add an amendment to my previous post. At work, noise is my most problematic sensory issue. Sometimes my job is quiet. However, most of the time it is very noisy. Not just normal people noise but repetitive beeping and dinging on top of all the social noise and infants screaming. It was worse when I had to work days during my orientation period, but nights are still very loud.

Also, we have a tiny breakroom. Seats about 8 people and that is pretty tight. We usually have 20-30 people working during any particular shift, so it is not unusual for me to go to have lunch and find 10-15 people trying to squeeze into the room. It is noisy and bright. People, TV in the background, weird smells. I almost never take my full 30 minute lunch.

Auditory issues are my worst. I can't stand loud noises, high-pitched noises, or bass. I experience at least five sensory overloads a week. Sirens, screaming, construction, loud motors, the pipes in the wall, dripping sounds, silverware on plates, Styrofoam, loud people, whispered conversations, and too many sounds at once will set me off.

Olfactory wise I can't stand perfume or cologne. Sometimes I can't even stand body wash, deodorant, and scented lotion. I either buy unscented products or I have a list of scents I can manage. I love the scent of lavender and carry a sachet with me everywhere to help. I cannot stand the smell of most cleaners.

I can't stand unexpected touch or the sensation of nails. My mum has to cut her fingernails before she can touch me. I am also hyperaware of touch, if someone touches my shoulder to get my attention I can still feel that touch hours later. I hate the sound of kissing and I hate to be kissed. While I crave physical affection, I can only handle a little bit.

I have a question. My Aspie daughter has tactle issues (no Turtlenecks!), but loves pressure and being hugged. Anybody else like that?

noises. especially sudden noises. and bright lights. to make things worse: i'm prone to migraines and either of the aforesaid can trigger them; and since migraines are characterized by photophobia and phonophobia... well, the whole thing is self perpetuating..

another big issue is hypotactility. consequently, i'm an extreme sensory seeker. i have calloused joints from repetitive finger twisting which is something i've done since early childhood to calm and regulate myself. it seems like i can never get enough tactile input and it makes it a challenge to focus because i always feel dysregulated but can't really do my usual stims in the lab/class. i also usually don't notice when i'm hurt, bruised or otherwise injured which is bad because i struggle with some classic self injurious behaviors.

Heat - esp. sun on my head feels painful and I never get used to it.

Random loud sounds and people noise - my hearing is very sensitive.

touch - unexpected touch on my back makes me jump.

labels on shirts feel like sandpaper.

that's my list!

Mixed noises and smells like you would experience in a crowded restaurant or walking down a crowded street. After that ,specific sounds that I don't like.

For the most problematic I can't decide between light/visual(bright lights/glare etc.) and sound(high pitched, too loud etc.) overload, both are capable of giving me really bad headaches, the worst possible outcome of any sensory overload, its an all day completely disableing reminder of what happend.

Last edited by rapidroy on 11 Jul 2013, 11:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.