"Phobia's" and Asperger's

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I've been wondering...now that I know that I have Asp...if there's anyone else who has a "phobia" like mine. I only put "phobia" in quotations because a psychologist said that's what I have...but he didn't have a name for it.

Fear of crunching.

Now, that's what it basically boils down to. The long version is, I hate; crunching, gum popping, mouth smacking, skateboards on sidewalks, drum circles, hammering (that I'm not involved in), etc.

This list could probably go on and on....but I get tired of actually "seeing it on paper". It's frustrating. I sit in the back row of the movie theaters (and I LOVE movies) because I can't have anyone behind me crunching their popcorn - or talking, for that matter.

I've been eating my meals in my bedroom (except when I lived alone) since I was probably about 6 years old. I can remember some of the "tantrums" I had because I could hear other people eating their food (I feel like I can hear it reverberateing off the inside of their skull):skull:...and my whole family eats with their mouths closed!

I've always thought I was crazy...that is, until I was "diagnosed" with Asp.

Does anyone else have some sort of "phobia" that makes them "crazy" sometimes?

Jen

If I think about the ocean too much, I start shaking.

Oh I understand completely! Gum smacking, people eating, plastic crackling . . .almost insufferable. Because no one understood my trying to avoid these horrible sonds, my parents and later my husband rebuked, reviled,cursed and beat me over it. I've almost learned to deal with it . . .what I have to do is tellmyself it's something else - like make the sound drown itself out as the sound of the tide, or white noise or something less awful. Oh it's such a terrible thing to have to hearthese sounds with no means of escape. Eating dinner with my family was complete torture to me. And chewing gum? faggedaboutit!

I never thought this was common. People making eating noises makes my skin crawl, euuuughghh. The Missus likes to slurp her soup, and that's the only thing I can tolerate. My daughter used to make chewy, yummy noises, and it drove me up the wall ! !! !

Mouth noises have always distressed me. Sounds of little old ladies sucking on their dentures in the seat behind me, on a bus, people crunching loudly on hard objects, and the worst of all, chewing and popping gum loudly. I even hate the noise a fork makes when it hits my teeth.

Cold winter nights scare me.

I hate those awful "eating dinner noises" like the forks and knives on the plates and on the dishes and people chewing with their mouths open or slurping. The sounds of a group dinner MUST be buffered by something like the TV or radio or a fan or something or I just about lose it.

I have Asperger's and fears. I'm terrified of bees/wasps/hornets, heights and decapitated (headless) bodies. I'm also disgusted by clowns and I can NEVER watch the video of "Rubber Johnny" all the way through.

I hate eating sounds with a passion. At the dinner table i regularly pick up my plate and walk off to eat alone or i sit "side saddle" (sideways) in my chair and refuse to look up at anyone.

I get frustrated when people eat around me also because I believe there are rules to be followed like pausing for conversation, eating slowly with your mouth closed etc. It annoys me when people break these rules that I was always told to follow. My dad is the worst, he eats like it is his last meal all the time. He makes awful smacking and chewing sounds and his wisdom teeth clunk together when he chews.

Another thing I hate is when people breathe through their mouth when they eat. That is a disgusting sound and always makes me cringe.

I have a problem with "mouth noises" (which is what I call them since that covers all forums of chewing, smacking, sucking, licking, gum popping, etc), but I wouldn't call it a "phobia." A phobia means you're excessively afraid of it. I'm personally not afraid of it at all, but it does make me fly into a rage. My anger goes from 0 to 10 the second I hear someone make an obnoxious mouth sound. I actually have to leave a lot of places because of it, because I actually become concerned that I'm going to hurt someone.

sigh... mouth/eating noises drive me crazy, or rather, I drive myself crazy by letting myself be driven crazy. Have a person staying at the moment who actually smacks her lips , its a deliberate thing, as an appreciation of food. it nearly kills me. The sound that bothers me the most is people crunching on crackers and snapping gum. When I hear these sounds, I feel deeply crazy.

I have always had this issue. Also, as a kid I also used to get really distressed when my brother would flap his hand in front of my face: it made me hysterical, I used to call it 'wibbling' , as in 'mum stop him from wibbling his hand in front of me!!

Is there any way to be desensitised?? any kind of therapy?

madbatC

Oh God Yes!! My husband kind of inhales as he takes a bite of something. WHY!! !! !???????? It makes me want to thump him!!

I'm not sure of any formal therapy available, but I know learning to abide the sounds has been likke walking slowly through fire with my hands full of dynamite. When I was in college I literaly failed an entire course in a subject I enjoyed becaue one student chwed gum loudly. I never heard a word theteacher said all semester, all I could hear was that gum. Of course everyone told me to get over it but I couldn't. Now I can (it pains me) sit in my office with an older gentleman who makes bizarre enraging sucking sounds while he use his computer, seemingly for no reason at all - every few seconds, like he's eating invisible soup. Itis an uphill battle but if you HAVE to be around it (My husband would deliberately wait until we were driving on the highway then lock all the doors and windows, turn off the radio and chew gum ith his mouth open. I nearly jumped out in traffic) then you will learn to be around it. It will never stop being awful, but you will be able to stand it to some extent.

I hate public restrooms.

When I was a kid, I was afraid of a chandelier in my apartment. I don't know if there is a formal term for chandelier-phobia.

I LOVE YOU ALL!

I KNEW I wasn't the only one with the mouth issues! Tell THAT to my family, however!

Could you imagine what it would be like if all of us lived together? It would be so loud from outside noises (TV, radio, etc.) that it wouldn't matter if ANY of us were eating with our mouths closed! What an absolutely fabulous time we'd have!

A few things I do to cope with the noises are...

1. like I said before, I sit in the back row of the movie theater - NEVER go on opening day - and sit on the end (so you have an "out" if it get's too bad) - oh, and eat your OWN popcorn to "drown out" any crazy-open-mouthed-fist-full-of-popcorn eaters.

2. make sure you get enough sleep. I've noticed that if I'm tired at ALL, the sounds make me more crazy than usual.

3. just walk away from the noise. This SUCKS to do sometimes, but it has to be done if it's bad enough.

4. When it comes to a formal dinner (ie: christmas, thanksgiving, etc.)...just focus on something else....and keep telling yourself it will all be over soon.

A little story about this...now that EVERYONE in my family (and ALL their friends) knows (seriously, EVERYONE) about this "eating problem" I have, they will, on occasion, use it against me. Like "teasing".

So this past Christmas, we were sitting down to dinner and my cousin's partner was sitting on one side, and my cousin was on the other (I absolutely love them both very much)...my cousin's partner thought he'd be funny and crunch a carrot very slowly...right next to my ear. Now it's funny, to a point. But then I gave him "stink eye" (that's what my family calls it) and he just laughed and did it again.

So, when he was eating his precious dessert...and he tried to do "it" again...I was so quick he didn't see me take the last bite of his dessert and eat it.

We all had a good laugh, and I felt much more powerful...it was FANTASTIC!

Another time, someone was eating a little bag of chips infront of me (Lays), and they were doing the same thing...thinking they were being funny...so in a FLASH I grabbed the bag and squeezed it so all the chips broke into a million pieces.

Funny funny stuff!

I was a holy terror when I was a kid. For instance, I would kick the table to create white noise, pound on the table, etc. Now, I feel as if I've been through it enough, I deal with it rather well!

Well, to an extent. It still makes me nutz!

Jen