Placebo or self awareness - audio sensory issues

[leehart]

Hi all, as I explore and deepen my understanding of autism, one thing I didn’t think I had was sensory issues...not ones that affected my life in any noticeable way. By that I mean I avoid certain textures of food cause they are vile (but still eat fine just not healthily), like cotton clothing [but will grudgingly wear others without reasonable issue), I can gag at certain smells (but can manage this fine) so I don’t really consider them ‘issues’ as I manage them easily enough....

I am noticing now major issues with noise, I can hear things others can’t, that’s not new but I’m now aware some noises hurt and if there is a lot of noise then I am struggling getting irritable.

My wrestling is, is this placebo because I’m looking for something so I find it or self awareness developing so I’m becoming aware of something that affects me and impacts my mindset. How do I tell the difference?

 

[SDRSpark]

I think it's fairly normal to become more aware of something that you've blocked out/worked around/thought was normal (what, you mean not everyone can hear a clock ticking in the next room? I assumed everyone could!) I went through the same thing when I realized that not everyone experiences the world this way - I just thought it was normal for so long.

For a while I struggled a bit because I wasn't sure what was in fact normal and what was me overreacting and 'othering' myself.

I came to the conclusion for myself that it doesn't matter. I manage whatever symptoms/distress I experience as a result in exactly the same way. Whether I'm really different or I just think I'm different, it doesn't make any difference in my day to day life or experience of the world.

 

[Streetwise]

Hi all, as I explore and deepen my understanding of autism, one thing I didn’t think I had was sensory issues...not ones that affected my life in any noticeable way. By that I mean I avoid certain textures of food cause they are vile (but still eat fine just not healthily), like cotton clothing [but will grudgingly wear others without reasonable issue), I can gag at certain smells (but can manage this fine) so I don’t really consider them ‘issues’ as I manage them easily enough....

I am noticing now major issues with noise, I can hear things others can’t, that’s not new but I’m now aware some noises hurt and if there is a lot of noise then I am struggling getting irritable.

My wrestling is, is this placebo because I’m looking for something so I find it or self awareness developing so I’m becoming aware of something that affects me and impacts my mindset. How do I tell the difference?

look up the symptoms for sensory sensitivity and hypervigilance I have hypervigilance

 

[leehart]

I think it's fairly normal to become more aware of something that you've blocked out/worked around/thought was normal (what, you mean not everyone can hear a clock ticking in the next room? I assumed everyone could!) I went through the same thing when I realized that not everyone experiences the world this way - I just thought it was normal for so long.

For a while I struggled a bit because I wasn't sure what was in fact normal and what was me overreacting and 'othering' myself.

I came to the conclusion for myself that it doesn't matter. I manage whatever symptoms/distress I experience as a result in exactly the same way. Whether I'm really different or I just think I'm different, it doesn't make any difference in my day to day life or experience of the world.

Thanks, that's really helpful. I do think there is a degree of awareness developing things I've just accepted as 'normal'. I have always had issues with noise, for instance people shouting from room to room instead of going and just talking to the person.

Yeah, I could hear a clock very easily in another room, we have none in the house though. Even taps dripping, I can hear that at night and need to go and try and stop them!

 

[Pats]

It may be more awareness. I've always known certain things bothered me - certain foods made me gag, certain sounds made me cringe, etc. But never to the point of interfering with my life. Except maybe once. I don't like anything too close to my face. One day at work my boss had this stupid puppet and she had it right in my face. I backed up and she put it right in my face again and I, not in control, just had to walk outside and breathe. At the time I didn't know what that was - just that it was too much. Kids tend to put things in your face and I was always having to push their hands away when they did that. Just never thought much about it. Once diagnosed, I thought more about these things. Food - always done it, but never paid attention to it - even if it's my favorite food, if I start focusing on the texture I feel like gagging and have to spit it out and can't finish it. And I didn't know that not everyone heard and was bothered by the humming of fluorescent lights. I never realized I stemmed. I knew I had to keep my hands busy. Never really thought of rocking when nervous as being anything. Knew it was calming when I pressed all my fingers together and could feel the pulses, which had a calming effect, which other people also noticed I did all the time. But once diagnosed, these things were more obvious to me.