How Do You Get People to Understand Sensory Sensitivities?

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finallyFoundOutWhy
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29 Dec 2011, 9:15 pm

phaerie wrote:
Wow, holy shiz. I've never heard so many others talk about the same thing as what I go through...firstly. THANKS!! !. *breaths out heavily* 8O

I have a question.....I am very non tolerant to shopping centers and things like movie cinemas and most of all...resturaunts.
These things are physically painfull and shattering for me- even though I try to fight it -. When my alert system tells me to "get out" I feels like an autonomic seizure. I get physical sensations in my head and feel kind of wonky as if my system is malfunctioning...its scary however as soon as I go to a calming place...it eases.

Does anyone else get anything like that? :oops:


Phaerie, totally

crowds freak me out unless i am completely psyched to go in them. shopping is something i can only do for a few hours (3) at most and only if i am fully on my game. i usually have to go hide by myself after a shopping trip.

crowds and crowd noises cause me pain - literally

i can watch them, but not be in the middle of them.

one other thing i should note - i have a thing called Synesthesia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia. my senses cross over. for me, under given light conditions i can smell colours. under given light conditions or stress conditions i can feel things i touch with my fingers on my tongue and taste them - or smell light conditions

the messed up sight input that occurs can change my perceptions and my emotional reactions as well

i remember how embarrassed i was when i first told my sister ic ould smell colours sometimes (even when i wasn't on acid), and she said "yeah, that's called synesthesia - i have that". i had hidden it since i was a child and my teachers and parents chided and derided me for saying i could smell colours and taste touch and that i saw patterns (i now liken them to the patterns/visualisations on windows media player) when music plays or i am doing something rhythmically (can sometimes mess up sex i'll tell you - having asperger's and suddenly having distracting patterns and colours appearing while you are going at it...)

blah, blah, blah

hope you are not feeling as alone in feeling that way anymore


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munch15a
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29 Dec 2011, 9:30 pm

Yeah noisy restaurants crowded trains

I too do not like movies at least as a rule for some reason my anxiety goes down if i have seen it before.



finallyFoundOutWhy
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29 Dec 2011, 9:53 pm

my visual and auditory issues get exacerbated depending on the textures of clothes i am wearing. i try to be really careful about what textures and fabrics i wear

i completely avoid artificial fabrics


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hartzofspace
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30 Dec 2011, 6:03 pm

phaerie wrote:
Wow, holy shiz. I've never heard so many others talk about the same thing as what I go through...firstly. THANKS!! !. *breaths out heavily* 8O

I have a question.....I am very non tolerant to shopping centers and things like movie cinemas and most of all...resturaunts.
These things are physically painfull and shattering for me- even though I try to fight it -. When my alert system tells me to "get out" I feels like an autonomic seizure. I get physical sensations in my head and feel kind of wonky as if my system is malfunctioning...its scary however as soon as I go to a calming place...it eases.

Does anyone else get anything like that? :oops:

I do. It becomes fight or flight.


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mntn13
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02 Jan 2012, 5:23 pm

I keep telling them each time it comes up - here's the most recent -
"... if you open the door to my room fast and hard, it scares the pie out of me because for me door handles are really loud, (emphasis on to me), and when I get scared it automatically makes me really angry for a minute and then you ( insert name of person here) might get yelled at which causes both of us pain, so please open the door slowly so I know you're coming in."
They don't remember anyway, but eventually, I figure they will. Probably. At some point before they grow up and move away.



phaerie
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02 Jan 2012, 6:37 pm

Thanks for your reply's guys :D

I have to go into the worlds worst shopping centre today, Garden City. It must have some harsh frequencies in there or something and its "white" and has lights and sky lights everywhere. It's the only place that has my black soap...:/

The door thing hurts me too :(....I get really angry, hurt and hurl it all back at the poor person who use to want a chat when I lived at home. I could never make them understand, they would just be mad at me for days after, thinking I was satan. It feels like my whole world is made of glass and gets smashed with a baseball bat.

I have never heard of (synethesia?) before....It sounds pretty awesome/confusing....I'm not sure if i have it, however I know numbers have colours, like 1=white, 2=blue, 3=yellow, 4=green, 5=red and so on....And I see faces in trees :oops: and when I walk or drive past houses I can feel what the energy is like inside, and the people who live there. And can also taste colours and they give me feelings and I can also use them as a shield (clothing) to how I handle the day.

The media player visuals are what i get before I drift to sleep sometimes, and with them I feel like I'm rolling in a roller coaster however I haven't had that in a while.



hartzofspace
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02 Jan 2012, 10:40 pm

The door thing hurts me too :(....I get really angry, hurt and hurl it all back at the poor person who use to want a chat when I lived at home. I could never make them understand, they would just be mad at me for days after, thinking I was satan. It feels like my whole world is made of glass and gets smashed with a baseball bat.[/quote]
My neighbors used to allow their screen door to slam every single time they opened it. It would make me jump a mile and then get the shakes, because now I had to brace myself for the next one. I finally asked them to please not allow it to slam? They were nice enough to comply, but occasionally they would forget, and then "BLAM!"

phaerie wrote:
I have never heard of (synethesia?) before....It sounds pretty awesome/confusing....I'm not sure if i have it, however I know numbers have colours, like 1=white, 2=blue, 3=yellow, 4=green, 5=red and so on....And I see faces in trees :oops: and when I walk or drive past houses I can feel what the energy is like inside, and the people who live there. And can also taste colours and they give me feelings and I can also use them as a shield (clothing) to how I handle the day.

Same here! I also stim off of some colors; they give off the faintest of vibrations, and I feel incredibly good when I stare at them. Other colors have the power to make me feel ill, as well as certain musical notes. Some music has flavors and colors, too.


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munch15a
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02 Jan 2012, 11:07 pm

[quote="phaerie"

I have never heard of (synethesia?) before....It sounds pretty awesome/confusing....I'm not sure if i have it, however I know numbers have colours, like 1=white, 2=blue, 3=yellow, 4=green, 5=red and so on....And I see faces in trees :oops: and when I walk or drive past houses I can feel what the energy is like inside, and the people who live there. And can also taste colours and they give me feelings and I can also use them as a shield (clothing) to how I handle the day..[/quote]

yeah i get the same thing with each year new envocing a colour for long while and also some train stations envok a personality for me not all but some.

The seeing faces in things in some what different bascil;y the human brain is hard wired to see faces and also hands everywhere really easily I guess the explanation would be so that it was harder for enemy tribes to ambush us from the bushes.



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03 Jan 2012, 5:55 pm

Beats me. I agree there is a right royal double standard at play.

At work there are dazzling fluorescent light fixtures that cause me pain in the eyes. It is forbidden to turn off the bank of lights that covers my work area (I suppose that's fair enough, although there is another worker in the same row with exactly the same issue). So I got one of the tubes taken out in the fitting directly above my workspace, which diminished the pain. I wanted the other tube taken out, but management dug in their heels. They started bleating about 'occupational health and safety' disallowing removal of the other one, even though it's only above my desk and everyone else's space and all the thoroughfares would remain as well-lighted as before.

What they really mean is they choose for rules to change their reality from fluid to rigid. This makes life easier on them, because it means a holiday from exercising intelligence. I see the purpose of OHS rules is to protect everyone, not just the majority. It is an impasse. Just to get this small bit of consideration, I would have to jump through all sorts of incredibly expensive medical hoops, or bring in unpopular union heavy guns; as for the AS card, I simply wouldn't trust them with it, so that is off the table. I told them I'm going to start wearing a cap to work, to shield my eyes, and they warned me I would get into trouble if I did that because it's outside dress code.

In the end, all I could do was shift my desk so the light falls only indirectly before my eyes rather than right onto my monitor. This means I now have to live with the real OHS issue of being cramped in my diminished usable behind-the-desk area, which means I am constantly being knocked about and bruised trying to function with furniture and equipment crammed into a space that is smaller than regulation ... and I still get sore eyes.

I used to feel really energised about tackling stupidities and injustices, but every time I tried to fix something - whether for me or for others - I would meet with so much resistance the personal cost to me was heavy. I now think my health is best protected if I stop caring so much about anything connected with that workplace, so I am no longer emotionally invested. Their loss, but you have to cut your own losses in the end, don't you.



UnderTheSea
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03 Jan 2012, 10:52 pm

I always have the lights off in my office; I can't stand the intensity of the light. So far, no one asks me about it.

I also have a sensitivity to clothes. I don't like clothes that are right out of the dryer; they are too tight. I also don't like clothes that have been worn more than three days; they are too loose. It's a difficult balance. I also sometimes get attached to a particular shirt or pair of pants. Then, I tend to wear only that particular shirt or pair of pants.

I also have a sensitivity to sound. I can't stand the hum of a light or the sound of a fan. However, if I can discern some pattern to the sound (i.e. a clock ticking at regular intervals) then I can become consumed by the sound. It's hard to explain.

As far as trying to get people to understand these sensitivities, I believe it is nearly impossible. I have tried to explain, through the use of logic, to family members. However, it seems that eventually the family member will stop listening (i.e., they walk away) or sometimes the family member will start talking about something else.



munch15a
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04 Jan 2012, 10:51 am

Yeah the shirt pants thing is very common with those on as spectrum i when not going to be seeing people swap between about 3 shirts 4 pairs of shorts and 5 pairs of underwear(washed after one days use of course )

its just because that's what I'm used to and like doing what I'm used to



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04 Jan 2012, 12:49 pm

munch15a wrote:
Yeah the shirt pants thing is very common with those on as spectrum i when not going to be seeing people swap between about 3 shirts 4 pairs of shorts and 5 pairs of underwear(washed after one days use of course )

its just because that's what I'm used to and like doing what I'm used to

I have a pair of sweats that are made of a 50/50 acrylic/cotton blend. I've had them since 2003, and I practically live in them. I want to own at least six pairs, but unfortunately, it seems that this blend is no longer made. Sweats that are sold nowadays are made of other blends; such as polyester and cotton, and these are not as kind to my sensory issues.


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finallyFoundOutWhy
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04 Jan 2012, 6:00 pm

phaerie wrote:
I have never heard of (synethesia?) before....It sounds pretty awesome/confusing....I'm not sure if i have it, however I know numbers have colours, like 1=white, 2=blue, 3=yellow, 4=green, 5=red and so on....And I see faces in trees :oops: and when I walk or drive past houses I can feel what the energy is like inside, and the people who live there. And can also taste colours and they give me feelings and I can also use them as a shield (clothing) to how I handle the day.

The media player visuals are what i get before I drift to sleep sometimes, and with them I feel like I'm rolling in a roller coaster however I haven't had that in a while.


um, yeah

you've got synesthesia - if numbers have colours - bingo

if taste colours - bingo

don't know if it is part of the synesthesia, but i see faces in almost any random pattern - floor tiles, clouds, trees, stucco on ceilings, snowflakes and frost on windows, blah, blah, blah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

http://synesthete.org/


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munch15a
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05 Jan 2012, 5:20 am

No the faces thing is common however may be more common among some then others basically its because we have a particular bundle or nerve cells that fire every time we see a face be it your own or someone else or 2 dots and a line for this reason we are hard wired to see faces with great easy

I wonder the clothing thing is that part of the hypersensitivity part of having as or is it part of just part of our love for habits.



hartzofspace
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05 Jan 2012, 11:23 am

munch15a wrote:
I wonder the clothing thing is that part of the hypersensitivity part of having as or is it part of just part of our love for habits.

I think in my case it is hypersensitivity. I have had items of clothing that, while I liked the color and style, I couldn't stand the texture or if the fabric was "noisy."


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catlady2323
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06 Jan 2012, 12:07 am

ValentineWiggin wrote:
Last week, my mother criticized me for having to leave an extremely-crowded restaurant with a screaming baby where we were waiting for a table.

How do I get them to understand that those types of things physically hurt me?


I cannot tell you how many times I have left crowded and/or noisy places ! ! They DO physically hurt. I read a lot in the area of neuroscience, and ran across an article showing that the cells throughout our body respond to noise, not just the cells in the ears. I have always felt physical pain all over my body from loud noise. Apparently my cells are hypersensitive to noise.

I have 3 neurotypical young adult children, and it has taken me years to find a way to get them and others to understand what sensory sensitivities feel like to me. This is the example I use:

Imagine if you lived with bees. Wherever you went the bees went with you. When I am in my quiet home the bees are sleeping and don't bother me. But as soon as I leave my quiet home and venture out in public, the bees wake up. At first they just "buzz" around being annoying. But the longer I am out in public the madder they get. Pretty soon they start stinging me, and if I stay out long enough, they all start stinging, till I am overcome by the pain. I have to go home (or someplace quiet and dark) to decompress from the pain.

Now the pain I feel is not literally like a bee sting, but the pain is real none-the-less. It becomes more intense the longer I am out and exposed to sensory stimuli.

Another example I use is to ask the person if they would be able to function if someone followed them around lightly punching them in the arm all day long. Because that is how it feels when the noise is persistent. Constant noise (like a baby crying) feels like being punched in the stomach to me. Not a pleasant feeling.


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