Do your sensory issues get worse with time?

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My sensory issues seem to get worse with time. From time to time, something only annoying before, suddenly becomes unbearable and triggers meltdowns. I can't understand the reason.

Do you also notice this tendency or reverse?

Do you think it is better to frequently expose yourself i.e. to noise, so that you get used to it or is it better to usually seek calm so that you are less easily overwhelmed by noise?

A bit, not sure… Usually towards the end of the day, I am stressed and warned down I get agitated easily. Normally I don’t have issues involving sensory. But I noticed bright lights tend to pulsate toward the end of the day after I am agitated… Problem is I don’t normally notice emotionally I am agitated, so I take the pulsating lights as a hint before snapping at someone.

EDIT: I also have tinnitus, that is really bad when in a quiet room… I absolutely can’t stand the ringing, it has gotten worse lately.

I love birds, I love listening to them, watching them, learning thing about them. I love them and find them just magical.

And now, I just got a meltdown because of the song of a blackbird.

It's so strange (and tragic).

Might be the problem with me as well. I also tend not to notice when I'm tired, even exhausted... I should force myself to take breaks.

Tinnitus must be difficult to manage. Good luck!

Sorry to hear that. I have tinnitus, too. I can usually kind of ignore it when I am well rested and not stressed, but when I am tired and stressed it becomes really intrusive. I also have sensory issues with my skin (the usual thing with tags and other scratchy bits in clothes, plus I hate watches and can't wear any kind of necklace.) When I get really tired I tend to have olfactory hypersensitivity--a state which makes working in mid town Manhattan, particularly riding the subway, extremely challenging.

Thank goodness I can work from home most of the time now.

I find the best way to deal with the tinnitus is to listen to music or videos that are very interesting, somehow being very focused mentally on the content helps give me the strength to tune out the tinnitus.

With exhaustion, though, the only real cure is sleep. The worst thing about that is that sometimes the tinnitus is loud enough to keep me from easily sleeping when I am totally exhausted. I try hard to avoid getting into that state.

My sensory sensitivities have not gotten better or worse since ten or twenty years ago; they only worsen when I am stressed, exhausted, or ill.

I view and treat my sensory sensitivities just like I do other kinds of stress: avoid, reduce, and minimize the stress I am exposed to, so that I can handle the stress I cannot avoid, ...

Yes, over time the sensory issues intensify. Not only do they get worse it takes longer to recover.

For me, there are 2 answers to this, a long term and a short term.
Over a long term of multiple decades, yes, it has gone from where I could watch TV and movies some in childhood to now it is definitely not advisable for me to do that.
Sensitivity to high pitched music and singing has increased over the decades; there are some kinds of music and some songs I just don't listen to any more. Along with that has come something where music of too fast a beat and with too many different sounds crammed in it has now triggered anxiety to outright panic attacks, fight or flight, whatever the right word is.

Short term - let's describe that as, "yeah, I could tolerate that in the morning, but here in the afternoon my system is drained and, nope, can't deal with it anymore, sorry, I'm all used up."

I'm VERY SENSITIVE to noise, not all the time. I really hate the noise from my upstairs neighbors, it can get alot worse. ALOT of times I can't take my cat meowing. And I'm sensitive to light & the sun.

My tinnitus is only noticeable when it’s quiet and recently in low noise rooms. If I have another noise to focus on, I don’t hear it. So, I typically always have music on low or ear buds in… I also sleep with music or some sort of nature type noise.

As for lights… They don’t bother me during the day, they do towards the end when I am warned down. Noise I am never sure about; I can shoot guns and work in a factory. But put in a concert or a sports bar, I feel sick.

This is a warning sign of Autistic Burnout and is can make autistic symptoms seem or feel worse.

The short answer is, no, snesory sensitivity doesnt get Worse, BUT your abilitiy to handle things like sensory sensitivity or using socail skills or even other skills like cooking and cleaning.

I suggest taking some time and relaxing and maybe enjoying your special interest. stim if you feel you need to and dont fource yourself to endure over stimulaitng enviroments, remember, its not your fault you have a disability, and everyone needs help or time everynow and again.

I dont think immersing oneself in an area that causes stress/overload to someone on the spectrum is a worthwhile pursuit.. It is simply a lot more than having a fear of spiders lets say and confronting that fear until one becomes at ease.. This is biologically and chemically much different for someone on the spectrum!...
I tried this myself once. I love lighting and started alighting business doing events, weddings etc thinking by going head on into my fear i would over come it... This was not at all the case, infact the total opposite.. The stress actually got worse over time!
Do what makes you feel comfortable! Try not to force situations on ones self when you know the outcome from all past experiences have been negative, this will just cause continuous burn out.. You might just have to drop the stressful ideas and re mold your life to what suits you sensory wise.. I have had to do this in the last 2 years, it want easy but am now realizing that i made the right decisions. As at first i didn't think it was, only because i was used to doing things in a certain way. But now that time has gone on i am clearly seeing the benefits i dindt see at the start of the change.

Do what works for you and do it in a way that doesn't negatively effect others