help for hypersensitivity to specific colors?

Page 1 of 1 [ 10 posts ] 

Monochrome
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 14 Jul 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 2

15 Jul 2010, 4:40 pm

Is anyone familiar with this symptom? I've looked online for it, but my searches aren't proving very effective. I know some Aspies have sensitivity to certain visual stimuli, so was hoping some posters here might have more information:

One of my family members exhibits extreme sensitivity to a specific color, reporting that red makes her eyes flicker. Over the past several years, she's developed a habit of hiding, damaging, or confiscating objects of this color around the house. It's difficult telling what exact shades will set off a negative reaction, because she responds to variations of red [e.g., orange, purple,brown] that don't register to me as traditionally "red" and tend to go overlooked. It's causing friction in the family, as she doesn't like having offensive stimuli brought in her living quarters and I don't like having possessions (groceries, borrowed books, tools) thrown away. I don't mind altering my purchases to bring in a minimum of red, but that wouldn't address the underlying hypersensitivity.

By custom, she's very distrusting of medical professionals, but is an enthusiastic adherent of natural remedies; if any treatments exist for this condition, I'd be grateful to learn of them. =]



Mudboy
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 19 May 2007
Age: 63
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,441
Location: Hiding in plain sight

15 Jul 2010, 5:24 pm

Don't look at the links, The colors hurt:

Room

Mouse Pad

Nail Polish

Advertisement

Now I need to rest my eyes for a while.


_________________
When I lose an obsession, I feel lost until I find another.
Aspie score: 155 of 200
NT score: 49 of 200


happymusic
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 Feb 2010
Age: 50
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,165
Location: still in ninja land

15 Jul 2010, 5:53 pm

Letha Hadady, in her book Asian Helath Secrets, which is about traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), addresses color sensitivity as well as inclinations. It is a very well written book which is one of the staples of my collection. In TCM certain colors can be indicative of certain energetic balances/imbalances. I'm not well versed to explain it, but you and she might find it very interesting. Since learning about it, I've used color to manipulate my own energy and largely dress based on color. Hope this helps. :)



CockneyRebel
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Age: 50
Gender: Male
Posts: 118,420
Location: In my little Olympic World of peace and love

15 Jul 2010, 6:08 pm

I like classic colours, a lot better.


_________________
The Family Enigma


Marcia
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Age: 57
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,148

15 Jul 2010, 7:05 pm

I don't know if it would help or not, but you might want to check out Irlen lenses, coloured lenses for glasses.
http://irlen.com/index.php?s=index



Aimless
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 1 Apr 2009
Age: 68
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,187

15 Jul 2010, 8:25 pm

Mudboy wrote:
Don't look at the links, The colors hurt:

Room

Mouse Pad

Nail Polish

Advertisement

Now I need to rest my eyes for a while.


They don't hurt me but my eyes feel somewhat strained looking at them. It's not something I'd want to have in front of me all the time. I wonder if it has to do with a light sensitivity.



LancetChick
Raven
Raven

User avatar

Joined: 15 May 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 109
Location: San Francisco Bay

15 Jul 2010, 10:50 pm

Mudboy wrote:
Don't look at the links, The colors hurt:

Room

Mouse Pad

Nail Polish

Advertisement

Now I need to rest my eyes for a while.


Wow, the bright pink in those photos is one of my "attractive" colors, meaning I'm not at all fond of that particular shade, but it is indescribably attractive to me, and makes me hungry.... not for pink food, but for that particular color, if that makes any sense. When I was a toddler I had a book which had a circle of that color in the lower right hand corner of the back cover, and I always said "ice cream!" whenever I saw it, and would stare at it for l-o-n-g periods of time. It's a color that makes me want to jump into it and experience it other than visually, but alas, I can't do that.

My other attractive color is pale blue, which exerts a calming influence on me, and makes me want to wrap it all around me, and surround myself with it. There are no colors which affect me adversely, fortunately.



Monochrome
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 14 Jul 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 2

16 Jul 2010, 7:28 am

Thank you all for your replies! Marcia, I've started reading up on Irlen lenses, and they sound very promising, and happymusic, I'll pick up a copy of Letha Hadady's book(s) at the local library soon. Mudboy, I especially like the fourth link; it makes me wonder how effective the "ACID BRIGHT SUN VISOR" is in protecting one's eyes from the sun. 8O



gnomederwear
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 11 Jul 2010
Age: 53
Gender: Female
Posts: 31

16 Jul 2010, 2:50 pm

I need a blue tint to everything in order to be able to process it and see colors the way the rest of the world sees them.

I'm a graphic designer and I have a tendency to design things that are "too dark". They look fine to me but my NT clients think there is never enough contrast.

I need to wear blue tints to correct for that and to correct for colors so I can design geared more to NT eyes. Irlen lenses aren't cheap. The screening and to make the lenses costs about $800 where I'm at. I have an idea about he color and I try to get the optical shop to tint a pair of prescriptions correctly. It's hard describing the color, though, and I've had to go through a few pairs of lenses to get them right. Unfortunately, I lost my reference pair and I'm having some trouble having my perfect tints replaced. So I will have to go to an Irlen screener to have it done so that I can get an accurate tint made again.



gnomederwear
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 11 Jul 2010
Age: 53
Gender: Female
Posts: 31

16 Jul 2010, 2:52 pm

Mudboy wrote:


Yikes, I would DIE if I had that orange in my house! It'd drive me bonkers.