Sensory Overloads

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I've been reading up a lot on sensory overloads that many aspies have when they are in certain situations. For me my triggers are

Screaming babies and kids - I work two jobs, one in a grocrey store, thats always busy with customers. When ever a hear a kid or baby in an ajacendt isle start up, I have to cover up my ears, the noise to me is intense enough to cut through steel.

Fire alarms - I can save talk of this for a whole different post

Certain types of clothes - I've always had a big problem with the way socks feel, especially on the toes where there's that little ball. There were many times when I was younger, and still sometimes today, especially when I'm in a car when my clothes will make me so uncomfortable that I'll have to stop and get out. When I was younger sometimes I would thrash about in the back seat in a vain attempt to get comfortable.

"Informal" Formal situations - Being in an informal situation such as being at a small party with like aged people can be very unerving for me. For me when I get anxious like I would in a situation like that, I've found myself clamping my hands together and sticking them between my knees and I'll start to rock in whatever I happen to be sitting in.

I was wondering what sets everyone else off here.

Hmm.. Tiggers are a good question. I'm also interested in other people's triggers.

Any kind of loud noise, especially high pitched ones. I love fireworks, but I have to curl up in someone's (usually my bf or my mum) lap and be held and have my ears covered in order to not have a freak out. Even like that, I jump at every bang. I can't handle the whistling fireworks at all. On Canada Day, we went to watch the fireworks and I was okay, but then these idiot kids started setting off whistlers about 10 feet away. I was almost crying and my bf got really upset and threatened to kick the kids' arses if they didn't stop it.

Tight clothes or clothes that feel "funny."

Anybody crying, even if it's quiet. The expression on their face confuses me and I freak.

Anything touching my hair. I can't even let my mum brush my hair for me without having a freak out.

The tape recorders at my school. They have a hissing thing that they do and once I hear it, I'm messed up for the rest of the day.

Muted TVs or a TV being on in any room in my house that I'm not in. I have really hypersensitive hearing (diagnosed by an audiologist) especially in the higher ranges. TVs make this quiet, highpitched squeeling noise and if there's no sound on the TV to cover it or I'm elsewhere in the house, I can hear the squeel and it drives me nuts.

Cooking meat. I can't handle the smell of cooking meat. When I have to cook, I turn on all the fans in the house and open all the doors and windows to get rid of the smell because I can't handle it.

My brother's voice. My brother speaks to me or near me and I freak out. I don't know what it is about his voice, but I can't handle it.

Bright Sunlight. My friends think I'm kidding, but I always pull up my hood to cover my head and shade my face and I wear long sleeves and pants in all but the hottest weather because the feeling of the sun's heat on my skin makes me feel sick to my stomach.

Those are my major ones, how about everyone else?

I think my main one is fluorescent lights. I find them cheap, crass, and downright ugly.

I don't like the unhealthy sound of an over-busy world too, especially in the city with so many honking horns and screaming people. I, however, believe I am building up immunity -- or at least some sort of desensitization -- to some of the things that used to overload my senses over time.

Hey Taineyah did you get my PM

children - of any kind - doing anything - once they get to be about 10 to 15 it is fine - but little kids just freak me out . . .

sunlight - I have super sensitive eyes - this may have something to do with my meds, though

too much going on at once - for example, I took my truck to get inspected this morning and they took forever to come get it, so that was worrying me, and then this lady in the waiting room was on her cell phone speaking Spanish (which I think, was harder because I don't understand it) and then there was this awful music on the speakers that was too loud . . . and by the time they got my truck done I was working on a very nice migraine . . .

Eye contact - yuck yuck yuck . . .

Being touched by anyone other than my favorite person to be around (and my animals, of course)

Crowds that aren't doing anything - I say this because I'm a great teacher and I go to animal rights demos all the time - and that is fine - because those people are all doing something - but the crowd in the lobby of a movie theater or in a park or at a bar is just more than I can take . . . this is very similar to what Scoots5012 was saying about parties - when I have to go to things like that I hang out with one person and sort of follow them around . . . one of the person I like to be around's son died yesterday which means a funeral - which is probably the most confusing type of crowd since I haven't the first clue what to do . . . fortnuatley the other three people I like to be around (including my favorite person to be around) will be there, so I'll probably be ok . . .

Making any kind of personal decision - especially big ones - so, basically, any decision that is more than 'I wonder what I want for lunch' really stresses me out . . .
This is odd because if it is a decision involving someone else I can clearly see the way all the parts of their life fit together and give them what I think they should do, which is usually followed by 'Wow - I'd never thought of that!'
But if it is about me - forget it!

I noticed that several of you guys mentioned clothing - this isn't a stim producing situation for me, but I also immediately remove all tags of any kind from my clothes (including the 'how to wash' tag which has cost me many clothes) - I actually didn't realize other people didn't do this until recently . . .

Itchy/tight/hot/just plain uncomfortable clothing
Those potty-mouth teenage boys that the boy next door to where I live hangs out with sometimes and that live down the street from me
Carbon monoxide detectors
Getting touched (or people touching certain objects of mine)
People standing/sitting too close to me
The TV/computer being on while the ceiling fan light is
Crowds (that I'm in) and other areas where I'm completely surrounded
Spiders (just seeing them crawl all over my walls, ceiling, floor, furniture, fort [a small building attached to my dad's shed that me and him are building on-and-off], etc., etc.)
Rough/itchy/hot surfaces (the lawn in the front yard, gravel [the type some people have in their driveways], concrete on a hot day, etc.)
The smells of vinegar, nail polish, pickles, gum, etc.
Bright light (especially after me closing my eyes or being in the dark for a while)
The dentist (because of all that rubbery stuff they stick in my mouth)
Gum (people chewing it and the smell of it)
When my parents yell at me
Cigarette smoke

Last edited by Mich on 07 Jul 2004, 11:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

clothing tags! (don't ask me why it took until I was 40 years old before I realized that I could remove the blasted things!),
large loose clothing -- I prefer the positive pressure of snug clothing, and have enough trouble keeping track of where my own body is without having to keep track of yards of skirt fabric or other nonsense

That said, I love wearing my cloak when it rains -- I can keep my gear dry as well as myself

flickerbuzz of fluorescent lights, even worse (if you can imagine) are the HID [high-intensity discharge] or sodium lamps,
squeaky squirrel-cage fans in HIV systems

shrieking children, especially small girls oy!
crowd chatter,
unexpected loud noises, like fireworks

fast food smells
even-slightly-spoiled milk
old microwave popcorn and singed coffee in the break room

being touched lightly, especially on my back, neck or hair

high-contrast vertical stripes, such as found on slick dress fabric, upholstery or wallpaper

bright sunlight; I even wear my sunglasses on overcast days because the UV still gets through

Queenbee

Last edited by Queenbee on 06 Jul 2004, 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think it's healthy for us to want to avoid loud noise -- there is just so much noise pollution in the world, and hearing protection is so important. It makes you painfully aware of how sonically claustrophobic things can be in a public space, with clashing music getting all atonal over each other beyond your control, and this sort of postmodern entity of fierce, unrelenting sound crashing down over your ears... arghhh.

Another thing that really, really bothers me is the smell of smoke in furniture. Smoked salmon I don't mind, but a smoky couch is like, EWWW.

ooh! really good thread. hey queenbee, nice to see you here, enjoyed your posts on aspergia. ill have to reply to this when i have more energy. but clothing is a big problem for me too.

(I keep coming up with new stuff and editing this.)

I think the biggest trigger is having to process much in the way of new information. If everything is pretty much the same and familiar, then there's a kind of low-level (and sometimes not-so-low-level) overload that may build up throughout the day. But if things are new, it's several orders of magnitude more unpleasant. I described it to someone recently as like trying to fit a whole world through a tiny hole. Once that hole is filled, there's overload and then a backlog of information that stays stuck on the other side of the hole. So when there's any new information, it's going to take a lot of time and energy to process that information and I'll get to overload faster.

As far as specific stimuli:

too much language
humans (and to a lesser extent non-humans that demand interaction)
having to come up with words and/or information rapidly
rapid shifts in topic or activity
unexpected questions
high-pitched voices (many women and children are included in this)
people smacking their lips or making squelching noises with their mouths
fluorescent lighting
clothing of any kind (but especially synthetic, anything that requires attaching at the waist, and anything that touches my neck too much)
sunlight
certain harmonics in otherwise-tolerable sound
the feel of air
flickering computer monitors
television (both sound and sight)
humming from various electrical devices
skin (in areas of the body where skin touches other skin)
light touch
perfume
certain other smells I don't know the name for
probably other stuff

The biggest factor, though, seems to be simply that using senses (or reacting to stimuli) long enough creates overload, period. So do things like trying to multitask and such.

I wonder what exactly is a sensory overload? What are you doing/feeling when you overload?

While I can't stand very high pitched sounds (even if quiet), alarms make me "stop thinking" and unexpected touch makes me jump, I would call these just unpleasant sensations. I am OK when the stimulus is gone. On the other hand, a visit to a dentist or to a movie theater makes me exhausted and dizzy afterwards. Sometimes it takes hours to clear, sometimes just a few minutes. For the dentist, it is too much touch, while for movies the problem is that they are too loud and flashy (I don't go to the movies very often because of this). Would you call it an overload? (I call it a "sensory exhaustion".)

This is an interesting topic and I see that I have many in common with several other members.
Here are mine :

- Sunlight, bright lights (neons). I have very sensitive eyes and I even had to stop some activities because of that because they would not let me keep my sunglasses. Most of the time, I use my hand so that I will not see the sun or I wear a cap or a visor.

- Smells of cigarettes, of some kinds of wine (which is not great because my parents both smoke cigarettes and drink wine, so I have to go to another room when they smoke), and other smells (perfumes, sometimes people, chewing gums).

- Too many people talking at the same time, like in talking crowds. Loud/grating music (heavy metal) and sounds. When I can not go somewhere else, I cover my ears with my hands.

- Being touched - Especially my hair and my back. People being too close. I hate that and I freak out.

- Unexpected questions. When people ask many questions at the same time, or interrumpt when I am thinking.

- Clothing tags (which I remove). Some kinds of clothes, especially tight clothes. I do not like when they are too large either.

- Eye contact.

Loy[/list][/list]

The vacuum cleaner. I freak out like a two year old over it.
Smoke detectors. They make my head feel like it's going to pop.
I hate violins. They really make my head hurt.
I can't see in the sun, I won't eat food that's hot or cold, tight clothing bothers me as well as clothing that is made out of anything but cotton. Certain food textures really bother me.
I can't think of anymore right now.

Excellent question. When I overload, I have what I call a freak out. This means that I do anything from yelp repeatedly, to yell, to run around in circles. Usually I do a combination and sometimes I cry and have a temper tantrum because I can't handle it. Even extreme joy makes me overload, although it isn't sensory and I run in circles making loud noises.

*shrug*

It's just how I deal.

Depends on how bad the overload is. I can range from mild: just being iritable and snappy, to the extreme: jumping up and down, flapping my arms and yelling.

It depends a lot on the circumstances.

Internally, senses scramble more, it is harder to make sense out of anything around me or anything in my head, language (expressive, receptive, or both) goes out the window, things become painful, sometimes things shut off so I can't really perceive my surroundings (including body parts) at all. I tend to not want to deal with anything changing at all.

Externally, I get grumpy, irritable, or really quiet and unresponsive, or I do the running around in circles thing, or stop moving altogether, or yell, or bang my head, or get really really focused on one tiny thing (which gets me in trouble if it's lines on the pavement), or very hyper and stimmy, or very sluggish (or immobile). Basically I can do either shutdown, meltdown, or various stages of irritable or hyper or sluggish.

Much of this being cumulative and overlapping. The main time I am not all that overloaded is taking a walk at night. Which I love. There are no humans around, there's not a lot of light, there's not a lot of noise, often my cat will follow me, and everything pretty much stays in the same spot so there's not a lot unfamiliar. I wish everything moved that slowly in the daytime too.

yeah.... Night is the best. Given a choice, I'd sleep all day and just be me at night.