Head full of nothing

[justinac]

Hi,

Just needing to sound off a bit and reap the benefit of the experience of others !

I was diagnosed in March this year although the offical label was just a formality. Had been managing things to varying success though diet / exercise / supplements. I feel like my symptoms have worsened since March although I can’t decide if it’s a by product of increased self-awareness or self fulfilling prophecy :/

The times when I really struggle are when there are multiple layers of noise, my head just seems to empty and the noise permeates all comprehensive thought. This happens at work and at home where I have very lively boys.

Does this happen to anyone else ? Would welcome comments on what has worked to help counteract so I can actually find a way through.

Thanks

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[Rick Green – Founder of TotallyADD]

This is so common. I didn’t realize this aspect of myself until fairly recently, despite having been diagnosed over a decade ago.

But I started to notice that when we went to a noisy restaurant I had trouble following conversations. If it was a sports bar with TV’s on, well, of course I was gone. But I was also hearing about 30% of a conversation at the next table, 20 % from another table, and perhaps 50% of what was being said at our table.

It’s all about Executive Function. What you are paying attention to. What your mind is focussing on and what other stuff it is ignoring.  It can be with ideas and thoughts, and tasks we should be doing or at least sticking with… but it can also be emotions that are all over the place. And it can be overly sensitive to sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and even tactile stuff.

In our video on Oversensitivity and Emotion Terry Matlen, who is doing a webinar with us later this year, talks about how certain fabrics drive her nuts. And how she cannot have a conversation with someone if there are other conversations going on around her.

The solution? Well, for me, I avoid noisy restaurants. If there are TV’s I don’t face them.  And Terry talks about asking the person she is talking to, “Why don’t we step into that room to talk, it’s quieter and it will be easier for us to chat.”

Another thing I’ve noticed is that I don’t like beaches. Why? The wet sand drives me nuts. My skin gets too activated. Certain smells. Certain tastes or textures of food. All of these can be overwhelming.

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[Scattybird]

It happens to me too. I rarely go to our office breakout room at lunch time because I just can’t cope with the noise and it’s impossible to focus on the person I am with.

It also happens if I am I am talking to someone in my office.  The walls are thin and I can usually hear the person next door – although they are quieter than the person in my office I can’t focus on the conversation I am meant to be having. This is because I am intolerant of the intrusion. The breakout room scenario is just overwhelm at having to listen to so many conversations.

Also I sometimes can’t actually hear the person I am with. I had to travel in a car with someone recently and they kept turning to look out of the window at the ends of their sentences. I told them I couldn’t hear them but they kept doing it. The trouble is my intolerance then kicks in. 🙂

Multiple layers of noise are worse when there are multiple layers of people – like in a shopping mall.

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[trashman]

When I was in school I could not write a test if there was noise or people talking. How Frustrating!!

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[Patte Rosebank]

As if I needed more proof of my hypersensitivity to stimuli…

Today, I had my eyes tested, and this included having the pupils dilated.

The eye doctor uses the mildest dilating drops there are, and she says that they usually take about 15-20 minutes to fully dilate the pupils, and about an hour to wear off.

HA!

In me, it took about 8 minutes for them to fully dilate my pupils, and, 7 hours later, my pupils are still dilated enough to be painfully sensitive to light, which is why I’m wearing sunglasses indoors.

 

 

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[lisa]

me too!

and yes – with my recent diagnosis of asd, I feel that I have been more aware of and over analyzing my noise sensitivity – like a self fulfilling prophesy too… questioning and second guessing myself???

but the fact remains that I have always been sensitive to noises, I guess now I just have a better excuse to justify my asking people to turn their radio off please:)

Here’s a list of the noises that drive me nuts…

*when the radio AND television are both audible at the same time – I need to hear either one or the other, Oh please…

*when the phone rings and I can hear the ring from different handsets in different rooms and the sounds overlap – makes me feel nauseous…

*when I hear a mechanical noise that ‘winds up’ from slow to fast, like an electric drill, a motor starting up – or even like the sound of an exercise bike … those noises really wind me up too and make me feel extra anxious – even angry…

* there is a type of bird in my area that calls repeatedly and with the sound rising in pitch higher and higher… they came to eat the fruit on the palm trees seasonally… it bugs me so much that I have even hired arborists to remove that fruit, and I WILL throw stones at those birds and try to chase them away…

*when gross sounds are on a TV show or a movie (I cant listen to the sound of someone vomiting without feeling physically sick myself – I can taste it in my mouth) my whole family know this – and if it happens that the show we are watching makes these noises, we all sing ‘la la la la’ until it stops … my family do this purely for my benefit, those sounds don’t seem to upset them at all…

*I love music and can listen to loud music without a problem – except – when in a car and the sound is coming from the speakers in the back of the car… I dont like it at all… I feel the sound of music should come at me from the front (my ears face forwards) when watching a live music performance you face towards the stage to appreciate the music right? is this just me? I have disabled the speakers in the back of my car so that I can only hear my music coming at me from in front 🙂

As far as what you could do – I have heard that some people with autism will use ear plugs or earmuffs to make a noisy space quieter for them?

Good luck with managing your noise sensitivity <3

Lisa

 

 

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[Patte Rosebank]

@Lisa, I’ve experienced some of the sensitivities that you have, and I’ve had to be very aware of them and my limits, so I can either avoid them, or leave before they become too much for me.

I can physically feel the increased stress when I’m in restaurants and food courts. Those places are just big boxes full of hard surfaces that noises bounce off of and amplify and blend together. And it’s even worse because they’re full of unnecessary, obnoxious music, at unnecessarily high volumes, so people have to talk even louder to carry on a conversation. Needless to say, I do not go to nightclubs.

I can’t tolerate music that’s too loud, or heavy bass sounds, which I physically feel pounding through my body.

I can’t tolerate repetitive sounds, because my mind zooms into hyperfocus on them, and they become like a dripping tap or the Chinese Water Torture.

Ever since I was a baby, the Time Signal (a repetitive electronic tone) has evoked a visceral terror in me, though I can tolerate it now, for a few seconds.  I find the CBC’s Time Signal (800 Hz) a lot more traumatic than the BBC’s (1 kHz), though this might be because the BBC’s is only for 5 seconds, and the CBC’s used to air for a whole minute. My theory on this is that these sounds are nearly identical to the beeping of life-support equipment, which was the first thing I heard as an emergency C-section baby.

The sounds of crunching, chomping, slurping, and talking with mouths full drive me crazy! And yet, there are advertisers who use these sounds in commercials…commercials which I have to instantly turn off, usually while uttering some choice expletives.

I don’t seem to have trouble with sound coming from speakers that are behind me, but they’ve always made my mom feel very nauseous.

Fluorescent lights always hurt my eyes and make me feel headachey, especially blue-white ones. So, at work, I wear amber-tinted clip-on sunglasses, to filter out the harsh blue-white light. Soon, I’ll have prescription computer-glasses, with a faint orange tint and blue-light filter-coat. This should be a big improvement!

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[squirrelygirl]

I haven’t been diagnosed but have an appointment beginning of December…I have always had a hard time hearing conversations in loud restaurants to the point of having my hearing tested, only to find it was ok.  So, in those environments, I “check out” and my mind goes a-wandering, further increasing my social isolation.   I hadn’t thought about my sensitivities much until suspecting I have ADD.  I do hate my hands getting wet/goey. Oddly, I enjoy baths because I’ll have a glass of wine and read a good book while soaking, but if I am only taking showers (during the summer) I will go as many days as I can stand without taking one because I just hate getting wet and then having to get dried off again.  The hot water in the shower feels good, but it’s the being wet afterwards that I hate.

I also noticed a strange bird call, not that it bothered me but I obsessed on it because it sounded like a whimpering dog (and I love dogs…); I would hear that darn bird and it would distract me, while at the same time no one else could hear it until I helped them focus in on it, including my husband!

I don’t have too many sensations that bother me overall, but my mother is an identical twin, and she and her sister hate fruits and many vegetables because of the texture!  I don’t mind them, though.

Speaking of dogs, my dogs are barking right now and that does send me up the wall.  They’re outside barking at our horses on the fence line, and my female in particular that has a bark that  drives me crazy, like my nerves are grating, makes me angry and almost violent to her.  I love my dogs but that noise is one aspect that I could really do without!  I can see why some neighbors go crazy over peoples’ dogs barking too much – maybe they suffer from ADHD, too!   Thankfully, I’m in the country and don’t have neighbors close enough to care!  Perfect environment for me LOL!

It’s interesting to think about.  Justinac, I hope you find a solution to help you.  I like the idea of the ear plugs.

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[squirrelygirl]

I just remembered, I really hate the sound of babies/children crying – brings up very negative , angry emotions.  I chose not to have children.  Do regular-minded people feel differently on that sound?  Triggers nurturing rather than anger?

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[Patte Rosebank]

I hate the crying and squealing and tantrums of babies & children too.

I certainly wouldn’t have one in my home.

(Though, I might have one on toast.)

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[justinac]

Hi !

Good to hear I am among friends x Thanks for all the input.

 

i have to say I am learning to recognise and love my strengths and mitigate for the other stuff which is great. I feel like I am finally able to accept myself.

Initially saw a CPN (community psych nurse) for my assessment and it was evident that I knew more than her about ADD from the outset. It wasn’t a pleasant experience and she told me there was no evidence for a change in women’s symptoms throughout the month, which even further reduced her credibility. The consultant though was great.

I have found listening to white noise on my head phones helps with filtering and will find out more about the coloured lenses for my dyscalculia.

if only I had been aware of this 15 years ago, I wonder how my life would be different . I am not sure I would want it to be.

Take very good care my lovely super heroes and I will hopefully see you on here again soon xxxxx

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[quizzical]

This topic made me think a post in of one of my favorite blogs ever (warning: occasional language, constant humor!):

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/05/sneaky-hate-spiral.html

“I’m a bird! I’m a bird! I’m a bird!”

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[mlawrence]

I am pursuing my cousin brother to go for a check up and to see whether he has ADHD. The problem, however, arises from the fact that he has mixed symptoms. It’s like regarding focusing on a particular topic/issue, if he decides to do it, he can. But, he himself has told me that getting distracted by the commonest thing while he is trying to focus has become a regular issue with him. The noise thing is another part. He has shouted on his friends, me and other family members several time to ask them to be quiet. But then he listens to music in high volume when he is alone and wants to work on something as it seems the high volume helps him! Recently during playing some online games with my little one I saw him shifting through one game to the other without completing any one of them and the kid got so mad at him! Don’t know if any of these or all of these can be considered as symptoms but I think a check up should do him some good.

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[justinac]

How does he feel about you suggesting a Dx ? Is he open to it ? Does he have an awareness of what you percieve to be his issues ?

It would seem from what you are describing that there may be some filtering or sensory processing issues there which kind of go hand in hand….

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[blackdog]

@mlawrence

Everything you describe can be signs of ADHD, even though they seem to contradict each other. “Mixed symptoms” are one of the reasons ADHD is so hard to diagnose. It’s also one of the best indications that it is ADHD.

I get annoyed when there is too much noise and I can’t concentrate, but when I was in school I always put the radio on when I was doing homework and couldn’t study in the library because it was too quiet.

It is partially a matter of choice. If I put the radio on when I am working, that’s okay because it is a noise that I have chosen, that I want to listen to. But if I’m trying to concentrate and some people are having a loud conversation next to me, that is irritating because it is something that I don’t want to listen to but I can’t help listening anyway, which distracts me from my work.

Its the same with being able to focus sometimes, but being easily distracted at other times. One reason for this is that we can focus on things that are interesting to us, but have difficulty paying attention when we are bored. Concentration is also affected by many other things, like being tired, or hungry, or dehydrated. Having too much stress, or feeling strong emotions about something, will also make it hard to concentrate, just as it would for anyone else.

As for flipping through the games without finishing any of them, that is just classic. It made me smile to read that part because it is exactly what I would do.

The one thing that is very important to consider is when these symptoms started. If it is ADHD, he will have always been like this, since the day he was born. If the symptoms just started showing up recently, then it’s more likely that there is something else going on.

I would say it’s definitely worth looking into, especially if it is affecting his quality of life. But you can only suggest that he go to a doctor, you can’t force him. Maybe  some books, or videos, would be a good place to start. Understanding what ADHD is and how it affects you, why you do the things you do, can help a lot.

 

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