What is sensory overload?

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What is sensory overload? What is it like? Does it hurt? Is it subtle or would you know immediately that you had it once described?

I was recently diagnosed with autism but I'm struggling to understand sensory issues. I know it's a common issue amongst the autism community. I'm not certain I have it myself.

I mean I never even listen to music in my car because it bothers me but you know that doesn't necessarily mean anything. I used to scream if music was played when I wad a child but I can cope if I must tolerate it.

Lights aren't really a huge issue for me. If I'm in a loud noisy room of people typically I'm quite happy to be there to socialize but I start to feel tired much faster than others I think.

It starts to get annoying but I assume that's normal for even neurotypicals right? Being in large noisy crowds is stressful for everyone I think...?

It means being confronted with sensations, sounds, etc. that would bother many on the spectrum, but not so much people who aren't on the spectrum.

Overload would involve many of those bothering things at once.

Too many people talking, the radio on, heating too high, bright electric lights and the telephone ringing at the same time...your average open plan office. The last time I worked in one I could just about get through the day (They used to let me turn off the lights at my end) but only just. I often would retch in the car for a good half an hour from the stress of having to endure it and then go home and spend the rest of the night in bed with no noise, no lights to recover.

That's what is like for me, I shut down...it's not nice.

Wow. That is just awful. It's definitely not that bad for me. I suppose I can't really say it's an issue for me. I had no idea it could be that extreme!

I get sensory overload from too many people interfering in my life....that's probably an emotional overload.

I get sensory and emotional overload and sometimes both at the same time. Overload happens when you are receiving more stimuli than your brain has time to process or when your brain overprocesses. Sometimes it can be physically painful for me. Sometimes, especially with sound or frequency overload, like bass on a stereo, i feel like i am being beaten with a crowbar or a baseball bat. Sometimes i will even go into actual shock. I have also gone into shock from proprioceptive overload.

With conversational processing overload, i feel like my head is exploding and those times make me have headbanging meltdowns. Sound overload, like bass on a stereo will make me have screaming meltdowns and sometimes headbanging and screaming together.i also get immensely exhausted from sensory and emotional overload. Lights can really exhaust me and give me bad headaches too. Emotional overload feels like a punch in the gut and head and can give me bad migraines that last for days and it can make me completely disfunctional as well. I don't think a day goes by where i don't have multiple episodes of overload, especially from sounds.

Sensory overload for me is when I am overwhelmed by too many lights, sounds, noises, smells, etc. and I feel the overwhelming need to escape or cover my ears, close my eyes and scream. I feel like I'm about to burst because I am so overwhelmed and exhausted and I just want to go to a quiet place.

The most striking thing about "sensory overload" experiences for me is realizing that no one else is experiencing them.

Everyone squints when they look into the sun. Everyone is startled if a gun fires nearby. I for a long time assumed people experience things the same as I did... until one day on my birthday a bunch of people took photos with their cameras, then left them with the flashes on while we ate cake. I had to pause the conversation and ask people to turn them off. They were mystified, no one was bothered at all by the multiple mind-numbing ringing frequencies. Half of them couldn't even hear it. The other half just didn't mind. I couldn't believe that I was the only one. To me, it was like staring into the sun with no glasses!

Sensory overload for me is caused by too much stimuli. People talking, a lot of kids running everywhere, bright lights, temperature a little too cold... Add it all up and I start to feel like I've been walking around with a tiny pebble in my shoe. No pain, just a strong annoyance of the pebble (of the overload), a strong desire to get the pebble out of my shoe (escape all the stimuli), mild confusion, and a short temper.

I get that way too. Most folks they say they have melt downs. It sounds like they cry but I think I just get really irritable and start snapping at others. I feel frustrated but I know it's rude to just walk out. When people talk really fast that causes my overall frustration as well. I think your experience is the closest to mine.

Sensory overload is often different in females (we shut down more than we melt down). When I was younger, I would scream and cry say around 8 or 9 but now I now when it's coming, I get short with people, start answering questions in only 1 or 2 words all my brain processes slow down and the if you push me I explode like I used to. Anti anxiety meds have helped though.

Sensory overload is the breaking point of the amount of how many sensory inputs you can take at once. its different for everyone but for me its gradual, i like to organize it by Levels

level 1- mild discomfort- usually try to push past it

level 2- disorientation, try to escape the painful input

level 3- coping mechanisms. plugging ears, pressing on my eyes, holding my nose.

Level 4- very disoriented, cannot think of anything but the pain. speaking becomes harder, harder to understand spoken language. harder to plan tasks like order and paying for food (if im in the mall)

level 5- loss of control, Meltdown, crying, screaming, hitting my head, bitting, shivering and trembling

i describe it as a mix of pain and panic.

Music usually does NOT cause sensory overload for me, unless the music is too loud and then i can hear anything except vibration.

Sounds and lights usually do it for me but smells can be really hard on me too. i HATE make up stores because they smell AWFUL. i hate the smell of most perfume and flowers.

the thing is with sensory issues is i had them my whole life without knowing it, airplanes and television static would cause me to meltdown as a kid and even before i was diagnosed i would meltdown at dances and parties and never know why. i thought everyone experienced senses the same way i did. but reading about it when i was diagnosed it just clicked.

I was not an social-seeking kid, & preferred to watch tv most of the time. I can't give any examples of overload verses just cranky behavior as a young child, because I don't know specific causes of incidents --- my scope of perception wasn't fully developed. My first overload memory is from 1st grade. It was probably during the 1st week, during lunch. We had a traffic light in the cafeteria -- if the noise got too loud the light went to red & everyone had to be quiet. Green meant the noise was just right & yellow was a warning it was getting too loud. I was having problems finishing my lunch, because was only able to eat anything when the light was red & everyone was quiet. I felt queezy & my stomach hurt -- the lights were too bright, floors too shiny, the noise hurt my ears. my ability to filter it all out was just absent. I was miserable & cried a lot during lunch. No one cared. I was ignored because also had leg braces due to a bone disease in my hip -- was treated like a burden. They just expected me to whine about everything so nothing was done to help me.

For me, it's the intense brightness of sunlight and the dizziness that I feel after being in the sun for too long. It's not due to the heat, but to the brightness of the sun.

I'm always amazed by that, too. I recently told my wife I had to get off the pharmacy level that sold shampoo, soap, deodorant, etc. because the accumulated smells were too much for me. I expected her to say it didn't bother her, but no, she said she couldn't smell it AT ALL. Same with chaotic noise, harsh lights, etc. I have trouble understanding how people can just go on living normally in the midst of it.

well, you can have both sensory overloads (very strong light, followed by crowd, repetitive and annoying sound, in addition to physical fatigue, this all for a long time makes me explode) as emotional (people pressing to do something that can not, stress, anxiety) that is, if you put together a lot, meltdowns happen