Please help - Is this sensory overload?

Post Reply New Topic

Hey everyone. I know no one is probably a doctor but I don't see mine until the 7th of June. So I could use some informed input, I suppose.

My doctor has autism as one of her suspicions for me but I've only seen her around 3 times total.

My vision is extremely sensitive to light and my environment. I feel like I went through this thing - jamais vu - or derealization for years. I am not sure.
I do know that when I wear sunglasses, I am triggered a bit less.

My mind sometimes feels like it's getting WAY too much input from my environment. To the point where I escape to enclosed and darker spaces.

Today, I got extremely triggered at TJ Maxx and my mom had to drive me home. I felt very dizzy and nauseated all day and I eventually started to cry from the pain. After crying, it became dark and I just lit a candle for light and felt much calmer.

My doctor wants me to see a neurologist to rule out partial simple seizures.

Anyway, does any of this feel/sound/seem familiar? Please, am I not alone with this?
Thank you very much.

I don't think I could rightly offer a definitive answer, and of course keep up with your medical appointments.

I'll say how it feels for me, and maybe you'll be able to spot something in those words.

For me, it starts with being run down and feeling tired. Sensory things like sound and light just seem to penetrate easily and cause major disruption. I want to get away from them. It escalates to a sort of panicked feeling - I start to feel really upset and need to withdraw.

Being alone in a calm space feels so much better by comparison, it's a huge relief. I can recover a bit and eventually put myself back out there, but proper recovery takes time and a soothing activity.

HTH

Hello.
I would say that the light sensitivity isn't necessarily sensory overload but sensory hypersensitivity.

Sensory hypersensitivity is part of the American Psychiatrists Associations diagnostic criteria.
I.E. Sensory Impairment Symptoms.

Sensory impairment can present itself in a number of forms, although people's sense/s are either
sensory hypo sensitive or sensory hyper sensitive or a mix of both.

Sensory sensitivity can also present itself in terms of any senses.

Now, Sensory overload presents itself in a different manner and often looks to onlookers like the person suffering from sensory overload is having a tantrum. i.e. screaming and shouting, sometimes swearing, sweating, hyperventilating,
some people even become violent. I know of some young Aspergers who have assaulted their mum a number of times.

Even though they love their mum.

Different people suffer from these sensory overload experiences differently, so what you are experiencing may also be sensory overload. it is hard for me to say. If you want to check to make sure, i think you best speak to a clinical psychologist who specialises in ASD.

I don't think all people with autism spectrum disorder suffer from sensory overload, as not all people with ASD suffer from sensory impairment issues.

But if in doubt, find a qualified clinical professional that specialises in the field, as they will know better and their opinion will be weighted as an experts opinion rather than some daft Asperger's opinion from a forum.

I think hypersensitivity might be a diagnosis but overload is how it feels.

If there are 2 sounds, I can't distinguish them or understand either and they're annoying and I need them to shut up.
Touch - can't stand it. Must have loose clothes or I'm itchy or scratchy and too distracted by the misery.
Smell - perfume - arrghhh! run for the hills!
Sight - sunlight gives me a terrible headache, I need dark sunglasses even inside. Also those terrible overhead lights inside. I've had to quit support groups in church basements because of that light.
Sound - I'm sure I hear everything louder than others do. Also I hear voices that are 'out of range' for others.

So - these are overload. If you have reactions that distress you, then give yourself credit - it's real, no matter what label you end up with. I understand you want a proper diagnosis - and I got one - so go ahead but give yourself a break.

I'm worried about going to Neuro - is your doc thinking of brain trouble? If the problem is only overload, I'd see a psych first, but I don't know all your symptoms.

Let us start from the back and work forward.

Some Aspies or High Functioning Autistics experience panic attacks.

A symptoms of panic attack generally includes 10 physiologic symptoms and 3 psychological symptoms. These symptoms are:
* shortness of breath,
* heart racing,
* dizziness,
* chest pain,
* sweating,
* chills or hot flashes,
* trembling,
* choking,
* nausea,
* numbness or tingling in the limbs or entire body,
* feeling of unreality or being detached from the world,
* fear of losing control,
* fear of dying.

So you said "I felt very dizzy and nauseated all day". So you just rattled off two of the symptoms. So it is possible that you experienced a panic attack while at T.J. Maxx.

Panic attacks are generally triggered by stress. One of the triggers that you may have experienced is an hypersensitivity to light but there could be a variety of components contributing to the attack. Other factors may have also come into play. Stress is cumulative in nature so other elements may also have had a part.

If your body successfully vented the stress after a panic attack, you would feel certain sensations as a result. These are:
* Crying with soulful tears
* Feeling of joy, pleasure, strength
* Spontaneous shaking, trembling, and shivering
* Deep spontaneous breathes
* Ecstatic and blissful states
* Sense of competency

You mentioned that you cried and then it became dark. So you might be describing crying as a felt sensation and then the return of your body to normal state and your hypersensitivity to light returning to normal levels.

So offhand, I would say that it is possible that you experienced a panic attack and this might have been in part due to exposure to light as a trigger.

Thank you everyone!
The doctor I am talking about is my psychiatrist! She also mentioned that it sounds /similar/ to sensory overload but not /exactly/.
She is confused though and cannot tell if what I’m experiencing are panic attacks, residual symptoms of psychosis, or partial seizures. She is genuinely confused so I have to go see a neurologist to rule out seizures. 0.0 I am having these episodes even on a therapeautic dose of an ssri.

I've had my sensory overload shut-downs mistaken for petit-mal seizures in the past (not by medical staff, but friends and colleagues who'd seen them in other people.) To begin with, my brain's processing of everything seems to slow down a lot, and I struggle to hold on to thoughts. If I don't get away at this point, parts of my brain begin shutting down completely - I might lose the ability to speak or understand other people's speech, for example. If I still don't get away, one of two things happens - either my brain just stops completely, and I go pretty much catatonic, or I go into "fight or fight" mode, becoming very agitated and possibly running away (sometimes for miles.)

Afterwards, I usually need to sleep it off, or at least rest somewhere very quiet - how long for depends how extreme it was, sometimes an hour or two, other times, maybe over the course of a few days. As I've got older, I've become more aware of the build up of brain slow-downs and shut-downs, so can take action sooner to prevent it building up any further and recover myself before it gets to the stage of a complete shut-down or melt-down.