ASD + PTSD - the sensory overload double whammy?
I often wonder where my sensory overload issues come from. I'd say if I could alleviate any single "issue" that I have, it would be the sensory overload.
Sometimes I don't know what the problem is. Sometimes everything just feels so overwhelming, almost like all the sounds and sensations are seeping deep into my body and mind. Sometimes it just makes me feel ill or "strange". Perhaps they're pretty common descriptions of sensory overload.
I would be curious to find out how ASD and PTSD coexist and whether some symptoms can be "superimposed". I will do some research on it.
I think that the two things can trigger each other. If I’m experiencing sensory overload, the anxiety could trigger my PTSD. Maybe having PTSD makes me more sensitive to triggers in the first place. It’s hard to say.
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Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Diverse4Me
Snowy Owl
Joined: 8 Aug 2022
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I definitely think they can coexist, and ASD often in fact leads to PTSD.
I tend to take people at face value too much and trust people and get taken advantage of too often as well.
This includes people I have lived with, and manipulations etc... realising them over time, and each one builds layers on layers and eventually everything is that much more triggering.
IMHO :s
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Drew, occasionally writing @ https://diverse4.me
ASD2, ADHD, Anxiety, Depression etc
The triple whammy is to add ADHD so your brain hyperfixates on it.
The quad whammy is to have ASD, ADHD, PTSD, and CPTSD.
Then you're totally f'd.
Welcome to my brain!
Oh, try adding Synaesthesia too, so all the senses and triggers are cross-wired and interwined.
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And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.
This is of personal interest since I am autistic with cPTSD, and, have several family members who are military veterans with PTSD.
Sensory overload with PTSD is a known thing and has been known for some time.
I like to have references for things like this, so here is a reference,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8085307/
Note:
And from what I'm going to term an experiential instead of science lab source,
https://www.healingfromcomplextraumaand ... nformation
The PTSD brain is highly sensitive to all sensory processing and stimuli.
This includes noise, visual, lighting, smell etc.
This is because the PTSD brain is stuck on full alert.
So, places like shopping centres/malls can be a nightmare for the PTSD sufferer, especially for someone with severe PTSD (there is a PTSD continuum).
Shopping centres is a good example, as the visual stimuli of the shops and all the people, the competing noises, the lighting, the music, all overloads the PTSD brain.
On bad days, I cannot tolerate shopping centres, and have often left after 10 minutes with a headache and feeling very irritable and anxiety rising.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, is all about managing these symptoms.
That thing about shopping centers, stores, checkout lines at Walmart, would include my brother, now a retired Army W4
And from what I'm going to term a medical reporting and promotional source,
https://www.verywellhealth.com/autism-a ... oad-259892
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"There are a thousand things that can happen when you go light a rocket engine, and only one of them is good."
Tom Mueller of SpaceX, in Air and Space, Jan. 2011
You aren't one to do things by half measures, are ya!
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"There are a thousand things that can happen when you go light a rocket engine, and only one of them is good."
Tom Mueller of SpaceX, in Air and Space, Jan. 2011
Ear plugs are the best! They don't take everything away, but they take away enough to allow a person to have some time to narrow down what else may be too much.
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Disagreeing with you doesn't mean I hate you, it just means we disagree.
Neurocognitive exam in May 2019, diagnosed with ASD, Asperger's type in June 2019.
The quad whammy is to have ASD, ADHD, PTSD, and CPTSD.
Then you're totally f'd.
Welcome to my brain!
Oh, try adding Synaesthesia too, so all the senses and triggers are cross-wired and interwined.
i think i'm experiencing the triple whammy along with a disturbance in my high blood pressure medicine (which i'm now back on track). I'm just a wreck these days. what actually feels good is allowing the dysfunction to run it's course and i guess let my body be sloppy, stimming, and just distant. i feel a huge urge to act out in front of my family (that for the most part, lacks the capacity to be genuinely supportive without being toxic.) I want to just be as ugly and nonresponsive as possible. one can dream.
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