Sensory Overload

[radasp]

Walmart sums up environmental poison for me.

 

[The Penguin]

Walmart sums up environmental poison for me.

Yeah the company done a lot of unethical business practices

 

[Meg]

Please forgive me if this interpretation is wrong but I think the walmart environmental thing was a metaphor, was environmental poison, the lights and sounds or were you being literal because of most box stores both can be true.

 

[AsheSkyler]

I'm just gonna take the metaphor literally. I don't know many people that do enjoying going to Walmart. It's loud, noisy, crowded, chaotic, and most I know try to go their in the mornings if they have to so it's not as awful. I come out of Walmart in a better mood than my family does on some days!

 

[Meg]

Very true!

 

[Melissa Kay]

I totally understand. I need to get away sometimes too. I thought it was just my hearing about being uncomfortable and needing to leave. I closed my eyes around a blinking florescent light at a past doctors office because it was so disturbing. And I used to have to get out of the bathroom when it was a really loud kind of flushing toliet. Strange little things. Aye aye aye

 

[Melissa Kay]

To add on to what some of you are speaking about with sounds and background noises, sometimes the most overwhelming for me are when I can not properly decipher what is going on. I often response with severe panic, for example if too many noises are happening at once, sounds, voices, laughing, sneezing, chewing, the tv, I can't separate the noises and it becomes so overwhelming and sometimes confusing leading to a panic attack. I love music and if it is not disjointed the sounds are okay together, however, if it is just party noise I can't differentiate and I feel the need to get away fast, usually outside or somewhere dark and quiet.

See comment number 26. I meant to reply to you! Still figuring out this android phone responding thing.

 

[OddmanJive]

I almost always have earplugs in my pocket. I wear sunglasses year-round, too. Although it has gotten better over the years, I still have physical reactions to overstimulation. Now it usually manifests as anxiety or irritability, and sometimes it happens in what other people consider normal situations. For me, though, there is a sweet spot where a lot of stimulation (like a Sonic Youth concert) kind of drowns out everything else, but I have to be prepared, well-rested, have hearing protection, etc. Mostly, I like white noise and moving air. If I couldn't wear sunglasses I would prefer cloudy weather all the time.

I'm 47, and have developed some effective strategies for dealing with/avoiding overstimulation, but when I was a child I could rarely escape it unless I was by myself. Before puberty I could hardly touch anything made of paper, flat paint on walls sent shivers through my body, many types of sound (especially scraping sounds) freaked me out and I would need to hide; certain voices, lyrical music (no musicals for me), and some repetitive sounds also made me uncomfortable. I spent most of my childhood outdoors by myself (I grew up in the country), and still go outdoors whenever possible. I was a "sensitive" boy, lol!

As I'm writing this, my 5 year old daughter is watching a children's show (Sid the Science Kid) that has a host of irritating character voices that will eventually force me to go to another room or risk being grumpy with my sweet, normal kid doing normal kid things. I imagine that's true for NTs, as well.

I agree that toddlers—as much as I love them—can be very hard on the senses. I frequently have to take breaks and chill out when there are a lot of them around.

 

[Meg]

Oh man I can agree with you on that show! Growing up my mother had a daycare and still does, and some of those shows get on my last nerve. ( I don't remember his name but the annoying pink kid, sid's buddy, like cleaning my ears with sandpaper, his voice just hurts)

 

[Cali Cat]

It's funny. I never thought much about sensory overload because I didn't really know what it was. After reading about the experiences of others, I now realize I do experience it myself. I always thought it was just a sign that I was going crazy.

Today, in an In-N-Out Burger joint, I thought I was going to freak out. There were so many people and so much noise I could barely eat my food. I had to simply focus on the meal and not look around or speak to my friend at all. Just eat and leave. It was touch-and-go there, but I managed to do it without slapping anyone or yelling at them to shut up.

 

[Meg]

This may seem weird but I was just thinking about when I was younger or even now, and going into toy stores, that pink Barbie isle was so overwhelming to my eyes it was like the sound of the children or almost as bad as the detergent and fabric softener isle in a grocery store, I felt like the toys were going to attack me, it was always a relief to go into the isles containing games, legos, or cool sports stuff. That pink will always haunt me.

 

[OddmanJive]

That pink will always haunt me.

Word! I bought my first pink shirt last year—to try to be cool and because my daughter likes pink—but I've only worn it once, and it's not even that shade of pink!

 

[AsheSkyler]

Some very cruel jails out there actually have a cell that shade of pink. They say it has a calming effect on the prisoners. For only a few minutes, then it pisses them off worse than when they were brought in.

[sarcasm]I wonder why? [/sarcasm]