Paralyzed By Screaming Kids

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I have had a very serious problem my entire life. I honestly am not sure how I am ever going to get over this.

I am overly sensitive to sounds. My body is not able to filter them like others, so when I hear screaming kids, I experience what feels like an electric shock. Not just the shock you get when you put your hand on a doorknob, but the kind of shock you would get in those movies when people torture each other with electrical wires.

The worst part is how I feel afterwards. I feel emotionally paralyzed. I feel hopeless, angry, confused, and hurt.

The worst incident of this was on Christmas. I went to a family gathering, and my young cousins were there, who were very young. I felt trapped, and was reacting physically to their screams. The entire evening, I felt so miserable, that when I was trying to fall asleep, certain muscles in my body began shaking uncontrollably, waking me up.

Have any of you experienced this?

I feel this every day. Just like you described it, like a paralyzing shock, and all the same feelings afterwards.

Most of the time I wear earplugs or listen to soft music through earphones to cancel out any random noise, or just try to keep the ambient sound levels very quiet.

At work I can't do any of those things though, and that is also the loudest part of my life, so I feel what you described all the time. I have panic attacks most days right before I go to work just because I know that I will be going through this all day long. I really need to find a new job.

me too. screaming anybody, in fact. barking dogs'll do it to me also. loud disharmonious noises are just no good except for a warning. as for distressed and/or overexuberant children/older types, i have to go away or else i will "disassociate" one way or another. at mandatory [ok, "highly recommended"] family reunions, there is a very - honking - loud - relative who literally shouts-out anybody else in the room, without even trying. my sister has to remind me to not flinch whenever this person vocalizes in her stentorian manner. but i can't help flinching as it is painful to my ears. i don't disrespect this person intentionally, but it just plain hurts my ears in the manner of somebody shoving an ice pick in. btw i seem to be the only person who is bothered. i must've been adopted or something.

Its a big part of being on the spectrum being extremelly in tuned with the world around us and that includes sensory wise, I often have to find a desensitizing zone.

As you mention screaming children when I was a new mother the information never said anything about being over sensitive, but the noise from my baby at times would make me shake, he was also on the spectrum at the time neither of us knew and i think we use to overload each other at times.. but please do not let this put anyone off from having children, as both my boys spectrum and non spectrum my greatest joy in life, the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done, and in their own way they have both open up my world and helped me grow as an individual...

I have the same problem and the same reactions. Fortunately I'm retired so I no longer do the panic attack first thing in the morning. I have the noise-cancelling headphones and ear plugs (buy the beige and grow your hair longer than your ears, nobody will notice).

It just occurred to me - is there such a thing as eardrops? Wouldn't they deaden sound?

I'm paralyzed by shouting mothers.

I'm paralyzed by most of society, but totally in tuned with the natural world

I feel terrible for the kids shrieking in the supermarket because I can understand why they're screaming.

I can understand why being surrounded by a lot of noise, crowds and "loud" colours would make a young child anxious. I've been there myself.

I can also appreciate how attractive and overwhelming a lot of bright colours can be.
Advertisers use these bright images to make the kids want the product.

When the parents refuse to buy the product, the kids probably feel like they are being told that they cannot own a beautiful piece of artwork. If the product is promoted by a cartoon character, the kids might feel like a friend's being taken away from them.

It's a very deep ache I feel whenever I see a child act out like that.
I don't feel angry at the kid: I feel deep sympathy and sadness.
I feel angry at the supermarket and the advertisers.
It's feels like an intense burning sensation inside my brain.

It also makes me feel sort of guilty for taking an interest in graphic arts and logo design. I naively thought that designing bright, bold coordinating logos would make people happy. They're designed to promote "pester power": make money. Bright colours designed to make the kids "happy" at the parents' expense. My fascination logo design started in the seat of a supermarket trolley, when I was little. I don't think that all of that consumerism did me much good.

With all of that brightly coloured packaging "yelling out" and competing for shopper's attention, it's no wonder why so many kids "melt down".

I'm an adult and I find it incredibly difficult to concentrate on the shopping when my senses are being assaulted from every possible angle. Busy supermarkets are a sensory nightmare.

When a young kid starts shrieking, I feel tensed inside because I am concentrating on the sound so I am not getting startled. I want to yell to the mother to shut her kid up or tell her nicely "Excuse me, do you think you can quiet your kid? It's hurting my ears." But no I will look like a kid hater and I have heard stories about how parents get mad when you tell them to quiet their kids. They assume you hate kids so they get all defensive. I am sure not all parents are like that. My mom sure wasn't. She has always tried to keep my brothers and I quiet. She tell us to not make so much noise, quiet down. Stop running around. Then she reward us if we were mini adults. My mom also is sensitive to some sounds too so that could be why she was that way with us. Maybe those sounds hurt her ears too.

But luckily these things are rare when I see a screaming kid or a kid making these high pitch sounds. I can see myself wearing ear plugs when I have a kid.

Okay, I know this is a very serious post, and it sounds like a horrible experience, but did anyone else get the image of a bunch of war-painted preschoolers ganging up on someone from the subject?

wow thats me to the letter, i hate the sound of kids