SENSORY PROBLEMS- Do share yours

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I hate showers too.

It's a real pet hate of mine because of all the rapidly changing temperatures and itching skin from not being able to rinse soap off well. I'm glad someone else knows what I mean.

Maybe, but I find them very difficult from a practical and sensory point of view and am forced to have them regardless because there is no bath in my new flat.

Nothing against you liking them, they're just a bad experience for me.

Interesting reading everyones sensory issues. I will add my bit in.

Smells: I hate some smells in some places. I have got off buses because of sounds or smells and waited for another... I also dont like strange people sitting next to me on buses.. I feel relieved if someone sits next to me who is free of certain odors and doesnt make a noise that annoys me..

As for the "Lush" shop I love it, and I love perfume though not nasty strong perfumes. I could see how other people would hate the Lush shop though.

Sounds. I have always had ok visual processing but it is like my volume tolerance has always been bad.. I have found it hard to tolerate nightclubs, concerts, the earplugs come out. I also cant cope with headphones, they make me feel tired.

Recently I have developed hyperacusis, which is basically an exaggerated version of my sound problems. It is not fun. Went to the supermarket yesterday and it was a nightmare of shrieking children and screeching metallic trolleys and beeping machines.. ugh.

Taste.. am a compulsive eater.

Sight.. I have always had sort of overfocused, overexposed vision which leads me to fixate and obsess on visual things and my vision even spasms, dissects things, its almost tourette-like, a sort of out of control, ticcing gaze. I dont think its light sensitivity, I dont know what it is. I keep my eyes averted as noone likes to be sliced to pieces by my relentlessly detail-seeking laser-beam gaze.

Touch.... sometimes my skin can be oversensitive to touch, I dont have fabric problems but sometimes problems with skin touching mine, I feel it in quite an intense way. Sometimes it sort of shuts down because it is too much.

And lastly, motor sensory stuff... I feel I am in a permanent state of stress because of my fine motor problems. I am irritable and tense when required to do tasks that ask for fine motor control, even typing, My upper body is rigid right now....

These are my personal bugaboos and aren't meant as a judgement on anybody.

Touch is my most intense issue...

Touch: I hate hate hate touching stickers, leftover adhesives on price tags, etc., paper labels on bottles and cans. I greatly prefer baths (as hot as safely possible) to showers, but I like to shower first to get clean, then take a long bath to feel pure. I hate the idea of having long nails (icky thought to me, getting things caught under the nail area, being unable to grab anything I need without breaking a nail, etc.). I hate touching blackboards.

Sounds: Hate sitting too close to a live band as the sound seems to vibrate through me. If people yell at me, I just turn off and stop listening to them. However, if someone I trust is making a lot of noise while I sleep (hammering, washing dishes, etc.) I sleep better because for some reason I feel safe and protected.

Smells: I hate the scent of most chemical cleaning products...makes me feel dizzy and sick. I loathe the detergent aisle in the supermarket because the smells are so intense. I use scent-free or natural scent soaps and cleaners whenever possible.

Noise, music by neighbers, loud cars in parking lots, especiually hip hop ghetto music with the bass beats, to much like my ultimate hated noise, the beating of a heart, can literally drive me to violence to stop the noise, I won't care how I stop it, it just has to stop.

Smell- I dont like people that have any type of strong odor (which is ironic because i feel like i stink 24/7 from excessive sweating but i for some reason dont mind my own smell) If it comes to cleaning supplies, bleach, basically most strong smells bother me.

Taste- I love food, I love cooking, I dont feel that i have sensory problems with taste that i am aware of

Sound- I dont like music that has allot going on it (lots of different people singing, lots of instruments, most electronic music) I cant stand being in a place with allot of people, i dont like hearing all of their voices at once i feel like i can hear everyones conversation. I dont like loud people, ina sense that they are overly excited about things or just have a loud personality in a sense, i just like people that are calm and collected.

Sight- I obviously dont like bright lights (but who actually enjoys them, you know?) I cant stand constantly flickering lights. I used to get really bothered with the lights at my high school.

I think there is a pretty large list of things that bother my senses, if i listed them all, id be typing all day.

I can share some of them
1. I don't like a police car and fire engine sirens when they are up close
2. When the train comes to a screeching halt in my city
3. The train horn
4. Some sweaters and cardigans are too itchy
6. I don't like yogurt, cream cheese, certain types of butter (when they are hard)

Boy. Hmm. Well.

1. Smell...particularly Strong smells - it doesn't matter what. Anything that slaps me in the face makes me angry and uncomfortable and nauseous if it's over a long period of time. I wear perfume, but I've learned to put it on only after showers and only on my skin because the smell might linger and hang in the air over my head like a cloud.

2. Touch -- I don't like to be touched by unapproved people. If I don't know or like you, do NOT touch me. I do not like it. Don't even stand too close to me. It will give me the heebie-jeebies. I work in a doctor's office where people tend to lean into the window to talk to me. I really, REALLY hate that.

3. Sound - Unexpected noises make me jump out of my skin almost always. I'm very jump scare prone, so, yeah. On the plus side, certain sounds make me very, very happy (cellos, laughter, guitar, etc).

4. Sight, I'm okay with. Bright lights bother me, but I can tolerate them pretty well.

5. Taste -- No, bad things. Just, no. Just noooo. You know those fear shows where people eat gross things, I would fail miserably at something like that. You know that movie "The Human Centipede". I'll never watch it. Just the idea makes me feel like throwing up.

harsh sounds make me shrink and flinch. same for harshly bright ["cool"] lighting with a lot of blue in it. strobing lights tend to make my brain fuzzy. I have a limited tolerance for amplified [live] percussive music.

I think noise is the worst for me, I absolutely hate any kind of noise machines make, from waching machines to big printers we had in school and work. Also kitchen sounds, frying pans and plates clattering etc. is quite unbearable. Loud music also, especially edm...

Some smells make me nauseous, cigarette smoke being the worst, also strong perfumes and cleaning products, some foods smell awful to me like bacon or bananas.

Bright lights cause headaches, sometimes busy environments make me anxious cause there's too much detailed visuals... And touch is not a big issue to me. I am very sensitive to temperature though. Always too hot or freezing cold.

Sight - I ALWAYS wear sunglasses outside. Not sure if it counts for sensory because I can't imagine anyone thinking that the sun isn't bright... but now, come to think of it, I do see a lot of people who don't wear sunglasses. Hmm.


Sound - Loud sudden sounds in an otherwise quiet place drive me nuts. I'm super jumpy, so anything really unexpected makes me leap out of my skin and it's sort of painful. The worst one is LOUD clanging dishes or pots, like when someone carelessly tosses them into the sink or stacks them without being gentle. It makes people laugh that I'm jumpy and I guess thats OK, but most times they just can't understand that the sounds hurt me! It's quite unpleasant.


Touch - I LOVE physical touch with people, but only a select few. Like maybe less than 5 total and a few are kids. Anyone else and it's jarring and unpleasant for me. Also, unexpected touch is the WORST and makes me jump out of my skin. I always twitch and recoil when a family member tries to pat me on the shoulder or something as they walk by. I think I offend people by jerking and acting like it's painful, but again, they can't understand that it IS a painful sensation.

I had a friend before who I taught to say "I'm going to touch you now" before she touched me. She (endearingly) thought it was hilarious and quirky but I was super grateful because I could relax knowing she'd never touch me unexpectedly!