Do you get adrenal overload from sudden noises?

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I've been paying attention to this quite a bit more lately, and the answer is yes. I get anxious when I'm around loud noises. I find car horns to be especially nerve racking. Being someone on the spectrum, I've only recently come to terms with how anxious certain things can make me (like sudden movement, social interaction, and loud noises, to mention a few).

yes, its like all of the blood rushes from ur brain throughout ur body realllllllly fast that my tourettes will act up big time.

I hate it when I'm the only one flinching. I think other people don't react, because they are comfortable in their surroundings, knowing what to expect. Us on the spectrum are sort of hyped up, not knowing what to expect, so we react differently.

Amen to that . Say, if a car bibbed really loudly right near me, it seems like my whole body shatters with shock from the sudden noise. Like you, I feel angry at the car (which made the ugly noise) and I feel like sticking my finger up at it, or throwing a little stone at it, which is to give them the impression that it made me angry and I didn't need that kind of noise right near me. But I don't do it because I will be ''violating the social rules'' if I did so.

Also, when I hear a loud sudden noise what made me jump, the noise seems to repeat itself over and over in my head for about 15 minutes after I hear it - and then I forget how it sounded, and then just forget about it altogether. Until the next noise what makes me jump.

It's not so much the noise I don't like - it's just that I don't like jumping out my skin.

Hmmm....I don't know.....I do see others flinch at loud sudden noise. NTs aren't robots. When I'm waiting in the bus station, and a bus roars it's engine or hisses it's brakes loud, I see some others looking round at where the sound come from - and you can't expect a bus station to be as silent as a graveyard, can you?

In the town I used to live in they were giving the town centre a huge facelift which lasted for months. I started walking about a mile out of my way to avoid the machinery. Loud noises, especially unexpected noises, can be crippling. I have never felt more vulnerable than the first time I was walking past the construction vehicles and someone turned on a pneumatic drill-

Irrational panic, increased heart rate and an overwhelming sense that everything is just 'wrong'.

I always make sure I have my MP3 player with me whenever I leave the house. I find that taking control of the primary source of sound helps me to feel far more secure and comfortable.

Totally! I thought I was the only one.......

Yep, adrenaline spikes from the door slamming, phone ringing, dog barking, my son laughing really loudly, the kettle switching off, the washing machine stopping, people yelling outside, kids screaming, ambulance/police sirens, motorbikes, crinkling paper, people eating, 2 people talking at once.........and they don't have to be loud noises either.

My heart goes into overdrive, my jaw clenches, my scalp prickles and I feel like I am going to jump out of my own skin.

Earplugs, earplugs, earplugs......and on the REALLY bad days, earplugs, half a valium and a dark room with total quiet.

This, by far, is one of the hardest things for me to deal with.

Take care,

Mics

Oh man.......totally agree with you on this one. Must have been awful. It is enough to make me cry while holding my head and rocking back and forth on my feet.

Mics

Yes!! ! I get a feeling of shock that goes throughout my whole body, and it doesn't have to be loud. I notice it's worse if I haven't been exercising or drank too much caffeine or stayed up too late. It's worse if I'm stressed--last week my kids were giggling while I was trying to drive in traffic, and every sound wave from the back seat lifted all the hairs on my body on end, radiating with each laugh.

I've started wearing ear plugs and carrying them with me, they seem to be helping.

I get this feeling, of jumping out of my skin, and than I'm all hyper, for an hour or two, and than I'm finally able, to calm down.

When I was about 11, one of my teachers got mad and yelled at me in class. I don't recall exactly what I had done wrong. I think I was trying to get her attention whilst she was talking to another pupil by repeating her name over and over, but I might be confusing that memory with another occasion.

She was right in front of me and I felt like I couldn't escape her shouting. I had exactly the reaction you describe in front of a classroom full of my peers. When she saw my reaction she stopped shouting, but I fled from the room and hid in the changing rooms by the gym, trying to find somewhere 'safe'. It took me a while to calm down, and I got into trouble for leaving the classroom without permission.

I deal with sensory overloading much better than I used to. I also have a much better appreciation of the trade-off when listening to pleasant sounds. For every time I've been sent into a blind panic by vehicles back-firing or workmen tearing up the road with drills, I've listened to a thousand pieces of beautiful music that overwhelm me in a very different way.

Sudden noises GRRRRR

I get a huge adrenline shot to my system - I jump; my heart feels like it's going to explode out of my chest cavity; all of the small hairs on my body stand on end and my skin prickles; and the worst thing is that I get a painful "spike" shot to my brain. It's f**king horrible Then I feel really angry. It takes me quite a while to calm my heart and nervous system down after that. Anyone who sneaks up behind me to startle me becomes the Anti-Christ in my book.

i get that, for me it feels almost like there is this tension that builds in the instants before the noise, that must just be my imagination. I get it a lot when i am sitting somewhere quiet and an unexpected noise occurs like the fridge turning on or a door slamming. It does piss me off sometimes and seems to cause this ringing and pressure sensation washing over me , mostly my head though. I think the ringing is a stress/ adrenaline thing that is a sounds a bit like tinnitus but different.

I always felt like this was my imagination, too. But sometimes, and maybe it's just when the noise is predictable? it seems like my whole body bunches, and I have just enough time to think "oh, crap, I'm going to flinch" and the noise happens, and my body jerks simultaneously.

Or...maybe that is too weird and it's just my imagination.

Not weird at all - you are cool.
This even happens to NTs.