Easily scared by sudden noises

[Rainbowcat]

Hello everyone,

I have found myself numerous times to get easily scared by sudden noises. My body shakes for some seconds, if i get too scared. I am responding the same way like my cat does. It sounds kind of funny, but its very annoying. I haven't found a way to get less jumpy each time i hear a sudden noise.

Does someone experience a similar reaction ?

 

[Crossbreed]

Does someone experience a similar reaction ?

Sometimes.
For me, it is the hypersensitive/hypo-sensitive thing.

 

[Streetwise]

Hello everyone,

I have found myself numerous times to get easily scared by sudden noises. My body shakes for some seconds, if i get too scared. I am responding the same way like my cat does. It sounds kind of funny, but its very annoying. I haven't found a way to get less jumpy each time i hear a sudden noise.

Does someone experience a similar reaction ?

Every single day ,now today I jump a couple of seconds afterwards ,don't avoid feelings as it could be decades before you feel them again

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

There are sudden noises that I don't react to because when they occur I know what they are from. Others I will pay attention to if it sounds important, however loud or quiet. I don't startle. Background noise where I live is less than 30 dB.

 

[Sunny1]

I have a very strong startle reflex to sudden loud or siren-like noises. I love fireworks, which are fairly predictable loud noises, and I listen to music pretty loudly.

 

[Sunny1]

Oh! And I don't shake, but my skin will crawl for several seconds.

 

[Fino]

It hurts.

 

[Rainbowcat]

I read your replies! Thanks for the responce! I
appreciate it.

 

[Rainbowcat]

I have a very strong startle reflex to sudden loud or siren-like noises. I love fireworks, which are fairly predictable loud noises, and I listen to music pretty loudly.

Yeah, this is true for me as well. Exactly, i don't get scared by predictable noises.

 

[Luca]

I have PTSD and I get startled and triggered by loud, sudden noises, especially if they sound threatening.
The most embarrassing case of this was when I was in the train station, and I heard a very loud train whistle and I immediately dropped to the ground like I was in danger. I think everyone thought I was crazy

Predictable loud noises don't bother me at all. I listen to very loud music that often has a lot of bass. I play a lot of loud instruments too, mostly drums.
I watch TV on a pretty loud volume. The only time that startles me is if a commercial comes on with a sudden loud noise, like a gunshot or something. Then I jump out of my skin!

People yelling startles and scares me. I have an immediate fear reaction to raised voices and the first thing I want to do is escape.

I'm so used to my dogs barking when people walk by my house that I don't even notice it for the most part. But if a random dog barks at me and I don't expect it, that triggers a startle/fear response. Especially because I was very badly attacked by a dog once. But I'm a dog trainer by profession, so barking is something I have to deal with. It just makes me flinch.

I live right next to a ferry port and the boat horn goes off every hour when the boat is leaving. I'm used to it so it doesn't scare me.

TL;DR- loud noises scare me if they're unpredictable, but familiar loud noises are just part of my daily life.

 

[Gerontius]

I don't like unexpected loud sounds, tend to have an exaggerated reaction to them--usually will jump.
If I make the loud noises it's fine. If I fire off a gun, split logs, or hammer something with a sledgehammer, it's just another day outside, but if someone comes up and knocks on my door I will just about jump out of my skin.

 

[Raggamuffin]

The more I read this book, the more it all seems to feed back to trauma. it's rather fascinating. So many posts on here i've seen examples of in this book.

Startling easily has been mentioned multiple times in this book. What's interesting is how is describes that diagnosis such as Anxiety, Depression, ADHD, Autism etc. explain aspects of a person's mental health struggles - but more often than not, a history of unresolved trauma is at the heart of the issue. In fact, he goes so far as to give examples of how someone presenting a list of symptoms might end up diagnosed with all sorts of conditions - yet the origin of a lot of these may well have occurred years and years ago, but as the book title states - the body keeps the score.

I tend to get startled very easily too. The noises either scare or infuriate me. Some noises I find ok, yet others will complain profusely, and then it's their annoyance which annoys me.

Ed

 

[Gerontius]

The more I read this book, the more it all seems to feed back to trauma. it's rather fascinating. So many posts on here i've seen examples of in this book.

Startling easily has been mentioned multiple times in this book. What's interesting is how is describes that diagnosis such as Anxiety, Depression, ADHD, Autism etc. explain aspects of a person's mental health struggles - but more often than not, a history of unresolved trauma is at the heart of the issue. In fact, he goes so far as to give examples of how someone presenting a list of symptoms might end up diagnosed with all sorts of conditions - yet the origin of a lot of these may well have occurred years and years ago, but as the book title states - the body keeps the score.

I tend to get startled very easily too. The noises either scare or infuriate me. Some noises I find ok, yet others will complain profusely, and then it's their annoyance which annoys me.

Ed

It makes me wonder--maybe one could learn early on not to startle at loud noises, if they'd never been associated with trauma. Maybe only a response of "increase vigilance" or "check this out, could be good or could be bad" would be default for humans.

Of course many autistic people are pretty sensitive to sounds anyway?

I'm not 100% sure I am on board with the premise of it all being trauma but I would like to dig into the author's perspective there; probably a pretty interesting point.

 

[Raggamuffin]

This is the thing, we all encounter trauma, and some of us will end up changed by it. But the change isn't simply mental, it does affect the body physically. The studies referenced in this book span thousands of people, and include brain scans and all sorts. The data is quite thought provoking. But it's struggled to gain ground and has yet to be added to the DSM. This has been since the earl 90's that studies showed, and researchers came up with CPTSD. But it's not officially recognised.

That's one of the things I found most troubling when I went to Dr's and hospitals and therapists - not even the supposed specialists can agree on definitions, criteria etc.

As for trauma and startling. Trauma seems to lead to people not feeling safe. When you don't feel safe - your fight or flight response ends up being triggered a lot more frequently. Startling is a reaction to potential danger. So it would make sense that if your fight/flight response is off kilter - something has likely caused that to be the case.

Studies referenced in this book seem to suggest the signs are there from a young age. One example he gave referenced a child who wasn't even 3. The mother seemed abusive, but then when they delved into her history - she had a history of abuse and neglect too.

I know it'd never happen, and I know it's not a popular idea - but why isn't there some kind of vetting process before people can have kids.

Ed

 

[Sunny1]

This is the thing, we all encounter trauma, and some of us will end up changed by it. But the change isn't simply mental, it does affect the body physically. The studies referenced in this book span thousands of people, and include brain scans and all sorts. The data is quite thought provoking. But it's struggled to gain ground and has yet to be added to the DSM. This has been since the earl 90's that studies showed, and researchers came up with CPTSD. But it's not officially recognised.

That's one of the things I found most troubling when I went to Dr's and hospitals and therapists - not even the supposed specialists can agree on definitions, criteria etc.

As for trauma and startling. Trauma seems to lead to people not feeling safe. When you don't feel safe - your fight or flight response ends up being triggered a lot more frequently. Startling is a reaction to potential danger. So it would make sense that if your fight/flight response is off kilter - something has likely caused that to be the case.

Studies referenced in this book seem to suggest the signs are there from a young age. One example he gave referenced a child who wasn't even 3. The mother seemed abusive, but then when they delved into her history - she had a history of abuse and neglect too.

I know it'd never happen, and I know it's not a popular idea - but why isn't there some kind of vetting process before people can have kids.

Ed

I think that if we tried vetting people before we had kids humanity would die out. (-:

 

[Raggamuffin]

I think that if we tried vetting people before we had kids humanity would die out. (-:

Asides from domesticated animals, that'd probably benefit every other animal on earth. So I'm all for it.

Ed