Sensory things that just plain freak you out

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I can't be around the smell of chemicals, like cleaning supplies or cologne. If I smell cigarette smoke I will usually want to throw up or I will get a migraine. Especially if it is old cigarette smoke on someone's clothes or hair.

Construction noises, cars, and other transportation noises bother me. They can be so loud and overwhelming. I think they bother everyone, but to me they make me so upset.

Fake sweeteners taste like chemicals to me. They are chemicals.

I feel the same. It's like my skin tightens and prickles and I'm about to burst or scream if I don't hit something. White noise scares me if I listen to it too long.

I hate strong perfume, body odour, or smelling people's breath when they talk to me, or feeling my own breath on my cheek when my head is on the pillow. And when the chip flavouring dust itches on my fingers or gets under my nails while I eat them. I can feel it. Squick. Maybe your son and I should eat chips with chopsticks?

Light really hurts my eyes and makes my head sting. I can't stop registering flashing light even if it's in the corner of my eye, it's distracting.

Tags scrape unexpectedly so my attention keeps getting pulled to the needling feeling and I want to rip the damn thing off in the middle of the supermarket. And with the socks, I have to pull at the ends so they don't twist or cramp my toes when I put them on. Anyone else hate walking on the seams?


But the worst for me was showers.

I could hear the hissing and feel the poking needles of water smacking onto my skin and in my face. It overwashed my back and shoulders so the skin felt hot and crawling shrinking tight, but didn't rinse soap or dirt out from my hair or elsewhere so I itched and prickled. And the feeling of hot water and cold air alternating drove me mad, as well as the curtain blowing in and slicking slimily on me until I yanked it away. I always used swear cry and thump my hands and feet into the walls, which hurt and was stupid but I couldn't help it. I actually used to refuse showers and wash with a bucket because I had no bath.

I've been a lot less stressed since I went into a place that had bath, but now I'm being forced to move again within the year and the only place I can get only has a shower. I'm really unhappy and starting to stress over it already.

I look normal to people so they think I'm being picky and dramatic when these things overwhelm me and I meltdown.

Spiderwebs- they are sticky and you can't see where they are or will be and you never know when there's a spider waiting to jump on you for breaking its web

Doing other people's dishes(especially touching their forks)....It's slimy and disgusting!

Listening to people chew bananas...the glomm-y sound makes me break out in goosebumps and gag.

Smelling garlic in the morning, which I love to eat, gives me a headache

When people sing off tune (perfect pitch is both a blessing and a curse)

Screaming crying children- I seem to attract these though....

People who touch me without warning, especially from behind. Especially those like my dad who know full well it's irritating and think that they need to keep doing it until they make me "normal."

God I hate that. Especially in the ribs. Why does telling someone that really, really bothers you seen as an invitation to do it more?

-wool
-ketchup
-fireworks
-fire bells
-tags in clothing
-being touched unexpectedly

There are so many, but my main sensory problems involve touch, hearing, and taste.

I have tons of sensory problems =(

Sound

I process verbal information slowly and get overwhelmed easily. Background noise makes it even more difficult, like if I hear a bird or car my brain instantly visualizes them and their surroundings, and other related facts pop into my head as well. Sound information floods my consciousness with thoughts and memories very quickly.

doors opening/shutting bring up my stress levels

sudden loud noises bring up my stress levels

cats eating / playing / purring / doing anything that makes noise do it as well

motorcycles, atv's, leaf blowers, or any sort of gas powered lawn care tool (I don't mind old lawnmowers because they don't make that annoying higher pitch whistle like the new ones do).

low level humming from appliances

Visual

Everything is too bright, and I honestly wish I could tolerate the light the reflections off cars but hurts my eyes so much I don't even like driving anymore.

Touch

I sleep with the same 2-3 blankets all year round. I don't care how hot it is, in the summer I sleep with blankets and a fan, or ideally I will make my room cold with my ac and sleep with all 3.

I hate to be touched, don't touch me! When I was little I would have meltdowns over my mother patting me on the back or hugging me (and I still do).

I find lot of different fabrics intolerable and pretty much wear the same outfit every day.

Showering is an overwhelming sensation for me, and because of it I take very quick showers.

Smell

Smell doesn't bother me.

Taste

Some things I just can't eat, but I think that's pretty normal

I have absolutely no idea. I think it just makes the person in question an obnoxious jerk.

Lumpy surfaces... visual or texture.

I have no idea why. I have a silly brain sometimes...

IDK if I get truly freaked out by anything. i'm pretty intolerant of glares, I guess light reflecting off fo water freaks me out.

I just don't like fluorescent lighting, makes me feel...anxious, I guess.

the sound of Motorcycles.
the smell of cheese, like heated up or cooked
cottage cheese (this is probably the worst for me because of the smell and texture)
tickling, i don't like but I have learned that I don't need to overreact and freak out, just simply tell the person to stop tickling me.

other people's sounds, like if I'm in my room on the computer, and my door is open and my lil brother comes downstairs to play on the Wii, then I have to shut the door to keep my sanity.

I actually like the smell of Axe, but only the Kilo or Twist versions. And I don't bathe in it, just enough to cover up my stench. lol

Last edited by jdcnosse on 30 Jul 2010, 9:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

What's an autism doctor? What do they do? What do you have them treat?

For me:
Sight:
Fluorescent lights
People's faces (the fast movement of face muscles when they're talking)
Pastel colors
Sunlight
Anything that's moving too fast around me

Smells:
Gain laundry soap
Axe
Oh there's this one other one kind of hard to describe...when a man has been in a room with the door closed -- there's this smell...this really awful smell...I don't know what that smell is but it's the same smell everytime I walk into a room and the door has been closed for a while and guys just give off this smell that makes my stomach turn. It's not just BO...I can tolerate BO - it's that one same smell, doesn't matter how much the guy bathes or how good his hygiene is, that smell is always there when they're in a room with the door closed for some time.

Taste:
The combo of peanut butter and orange juice (I'll never make that mistake again...)

Sounds:
Certain pitches of voice (does a number of my auditory processing -- I find certain adult human voices piercing to my brain)
People talking and not taking a breath

Touch:
I hate people touching me in general.
I really hate it when someone touches me on one spot on the skin over and over for more than a half second -- it starts to get very painful. I've gone out with a few guys who think it's romantic or something to caress my arm over and over again and I would just lose it because it would hurt like hell.

The really bothersome ones for me...

+ Anything around the base of my neck. Hair, pendants, shirts - basically anything that touches that area irritates me to the point where it drives me nuts. Some of my shirts have been stretched or I just don't wear them because I can't handle it, and I can't wear pendants or necklaces.
+ Perfume;
+ Light touch.

I hate the feeling of crumbs in my mouth.

The texture of paper bags, or any kind of paper, to include napkins, if it's too rough.