Severe Sensory Fluctuations? Please describe...

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Some days i am fine. And then on other days my sensory dysfunction gets so overhwelming that it is terrifying to be around anyone, to see certain textures or fabrics or shapes, and it is imposssible to live in the day without stimming frantically and getting really upset.

today has been one of those days.
sounds, sight, touch and hearing become extraordinarily difficult to contend with.
i know these sensory problems do fluctuate. i've read up on the subject.

i am interested in how these specifically manifest in us as individuals.

Today i became terrified of the world. When this happens i completely retreat from direct contact and become very distressed and also frightened.


anyone else experience these kinds of things?
(it stops me working with other people or even maintaining contact with others. it has happened my whole life.)

I used to use my microwave in the morning to heat up breakfast. I could tell if it was a bad day because when I pushed the buttons the beep would hurt a lot; if it was only a mild irritation or an itchy feeling I knew it would be a moderate to average day.

My parents recently replaced that old microwave and now the new one hurts my ears all the time. I miss my old microwave.


When I was very little, I couldn't stand the roaring sound of the flush on toilets at the school bathroom. I eventually taught myself to just hold it all day until I got home.

I would've sneaked out without flushing. (I know, horrible!)

Whether or not I'm going to be severely affected by sensory overload depends entirely on what my baseline stress level is. Sensory input that's unpleasant can push the stress level higher, but usually not high enough to cause shutdown, meltdown, or significant loss of function--while, if it's high, only very minor things can be enough to completely incapacitate me. ("Incapacitate" here means "being incapable of doing anything useful", rather than "becoming catatonic", which almost never happens.)

Not really. You do what you have to to get by.

Now I just walk around with construction earmuffs and headphones. I find they cut out some of the noise and put up a decent barrier of sound for me to fall back on. If the world around me gets too loud I can put on music.

Today I forgot my music back at my dorm and it is something that I really need to help me calm down when I get anxious -but today I didn't have it and a few times I nearly broke down. I get really upset in new places and I am new to my university. It was a very long day without my headphones.

I miss my home. I miss my school. I miss my routines and my cats and my everyday life. I hate change.

Outside stress that I can't really understand, and my feminine cycle seem to have an effect on how sensitive I am. I definitely get overloaded right after my period. Oh God, I see it coming. Although, most of the time I am trying to lay in bed to avoid everything I might otherwise experience in a sensory overload. Right when I wake up is the time of the day that I most fear. I just get lost in my own head, and it feels good, but in bed, is unproductive. If I weren't depressed, I would be overloaded more often because I wouldn't hide myself in bed so much. I experience task oriented overload, like walking up to a sink full of dishes, and not being able to handle it. My computer is pretty stable for me to be around, unless I'm in a thread discussion that I feel really strongly about, and then I literally experience this ''other'' reality based on someone else's perception of me. I become completely split into parts, and have learned which parts are really me, and which are just another person's perception. I have had issues not being able to control myself and/or become overloaded around people who stigmatise me, stereotype me, misunderstand me, and so on and so forth. I generally, already have opinions about them that are not flattering to their character, and it might be some kind of conflict with my conscience and my need to judge others, but I literally go nuts if in an open social setting around people that I have already figured out in ways that they could never imagine. I think I also am just on another plain, and can see things that NT's cannot see once I have surpassed what is on the surface with them if they don't impress me, which is also why I like being in those types of situations. Sometimes, it is absolutely amazing, so I will continue to pay the price for it, no matter how socially devastating in appearance. I guess my point is that sensory differences are not always a negative experience to me as an individual, but this cannot be true for everyone.

well of course i agree with this. sensory dysfunction can also be harnessed and utilised - i use it for example, in the studio when i am painting. i also use it in an animal sense to suss people out.

i was specifically asking about the meltdown and overload problems as they are particulalry severe at present.
i think callists makes a very good point about baseline stress levels. i am up to my ears in stress at present - a marriage split up, real struggles with copeing with parenting and the subsequent communication exchanges requires of me, plus a few other things.

and in true AS style, i do not even understand about regulating my life or pacing myself or guaging my emotional responses to things and so the pressrue tends to build until i am at a point of meltdown.

i have received a bit of advice about upping my exercise again and i might do that in order to just reduce the frantic tension, the stimming and the sensory overwhelm that is currently brewing.

yep have problems reading and looking at stuff becauseit is painful. Colours and light just look too sharp.. hurt my eyes. worse on some days. Strangely when i went on holiday with my family it eased up a bit.