Noises triggering anxiety

I am sensitive to noise as well. I was off my antidepressant for two weeks because I forgot to bring it on my trip over the holidays. I was very sensitive to noise. I was in a house where there were barking dogs and kids playing and I thought I would go out of my head! I would put my fingers in my ears when I heard a loud noise. I had to tell my bf to turn down the TV because it was so loud. I think getting enough sleep helps. If you are running on not enough sleep the noises can make you feel like a fragile glass. On the bus back home, sounds would make me dizzy and felt very intrusive. That happens when I dont get enough sleep. I wish you the best.

kitty you mentioned that you turn off the ringer to the phone in another post. I always forget to do that but let me tell you the phone ringing sends my heart rate into a rollercoaster! It's so annoying...I just lie there counting how many rings are left before the stupid phone shuts up. I'm sure people are frustrated that there is never a live person to answer their call, but I tell myself that maybe they think I have an incredibly busy life and thus don't have time to answer calls LOL.

Z

Sorry, Rhiannon that I don't have any advice for you. All I can suggest is earplugs as I have to sleep in them as I mentioned. But I also have to do that during the day if things get too bad. But they are uncomfortable when I'm awake; I'm aware they are in my ears! Sleeping is different!

Speaking of earplugs, I carry a pair in my purse. I have to use the computer at the library, and I'm often next to someone with music blasting in their ears that I can hear also! When I ask them to turn it down, they get hostile. The woman next to me now said something to me after she noticed me putting on earplugs! Something about me needing to leave! WHY ME? Why can't SHE be more considerate? She's not at home!

If I get a phone call from someone I know I don't want to talk to (like AT & T), I hang up on it rather than letting it ring. I'm not going to answer it anyway. THEY hang up all the time, so I do that to him.

I am bumping (bringing up) this thread again, cause last night my neighbors clomped aruond all night, literally shaking my room! They are h eavy and the building feels like it SHAKES. And below my room, there is a garage and they slam a car door and every hour, as I drift off, it slams and I am miserable.

I have my winter sinus thing and I could not sleep all night and I am exhausted.

If this happens tonight, I am calling my l lord again.

Billi

I wanna add that lately many ppl repeatedly stop under our bedroom windows and pick our trash, slamming our dumpster doors.

Sounds like MY upstairs neighbor. She literally makes my apartment shake. Geez, I can't tell if we had an earthquake or it's HER unless I turn on the news. She sometimes gets up at 5am on Saturdays, blasting the water in the bathroom so loud it sound like it's going to burst through the $#%^&*@! walls! Then, she slams & stomps around until she leaves. I posted about her in this thread earlier. Mean, ol biddy. Of course, she said I need to be more reasonable.

I woke up too early this morning, but I couldn't go back to sleep cause I was wondering if THIS Sat was going to be one of her early ones. I was waiting for the water to start blasting. I knew if I DID get to sleep, SHE'D STARTLE me awake with her noise. So I was apprehensive about even trying to sleep, thinking it was futile.

The garage is below me too, Billi. I used to have someone with a loud, noisy &^%$#@*! SUV parked under me. Vroom, vroom, vroom. REV the engine, slam the door, stomp with high heels or boots, slam the lobby door, slam the apartment door, slam, slam, slam.

The manager is a ***hole and doesn't do anything. He tells you to move.

So, Billi...I relate & sympathize.

LMAO!!!!

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who experiences, but sad to hear that so many of you do too! I mean they're noises, everyday noises, and impossible to get away from!

I am with all the other apartment dwellers who have commented. I'm not sure what kind of shoes the person the floor up from me wears, but I'm nearly sure she has an elephant for a pet!

Don't even get me started on the eating habits of my coworkers! Chomp, chomp, slurp, sip, squish....aaaaah!

My psych has me on Paxil to try to stabalize my anxiety. I'm up to 80mg and it isn't really working yet. Do you guys take anything to try to deal with the sounds?

I take meds that totally make me sleepy.

I dont hear my neighbor, I FEEL him.

the place shakes.

It SHAKES.

Like an earthquake.

I get seasick.

One day, I saw him walking past the car while I was sitting in the car and I knew by the pace he was walking that it was him who had been walking next door.

heavy, WIGGLE, WIGGLE, WIGGLE...

I swear.

That son of a b.

Billi

Same here....I used to have a guy like that walking PAST my place several times a day, causing everything in the room by the walkway to rattle.

Although, Billi I once had a SKINNY, BONY woman above me who WALKED LIKE A $#%^&*@! ELEPHANT! She was skin & bones and looked like a slut and walked like an elephant. I bet an elephant would have been quieter. She caused at least at 3.0 earthquake. #$%^&*@!

I have meds for anxiety, but the problem is they KNOCK ME OUT. They are mostly for insomnia. So nothing for neighbors. I wish they'd invent something. Just to calm you so you don't want to murder them, not knock you out. What good is that? You still want to be awake to do what you need to do.

Yep, I know.

once I had a landlord who rented out the apt upstairs to a family of 5. they had three very noisy children who were hyperactive. There was no carpting. And the walls going downstairs were only made of sheetrock. My bedroom was on the other side of the stairs. So even if they did not wake me up running and stomping, ( yes the place shook ... in addition to the loudness of it all) they woke me up running up and down the stairs. I finally had to be hypnotized to be able to handle it all. Oh yes, and they refused to pay their rent. Saying that the landlord was doing things to them. which was not true. they just wanted to live there free.

they got legal aid to take their case. Using pure lies. finally I had had it. I called legal aid, talked to their lawyer and told their lawyer the truth. Within an hour the case was dropped, and they were finally out of there.

But just the fact that the landlord would have been willing to rent to a family with three young children in a non carpeted upstairs apt let me know it was time to finally move from my home. So they moved.......... And so did I, a very responsible tennent of 10 years, two months later. But while I was there I had to get hypnotized so I was not as sensitive to the noise.

Maybe I could discuss desensitization with my hypnotist.

good on you.

It should be illegal to even build these crap apartments so thin. They are made out of "tissue paper & spit" it seems. As for landlords, they just want to collect a rent check; they don't have to live with the #$%*@! noise or riff-raff people.

Right now I've got #$%^&*@! construction noise next to me as they renovate that crap place. They have to start at 8am or earlier, and they work on f****** Saturdays too. Jeez, how much more can they do to those ***** units other than blow up the building & start over? They already fixed it up before the last tenant moved in; now they are doing more work.

My former neighbor was quiet, so I have all this anxiety over what kind of crap I'm going to get in there now, esp. since they no longer use carpet but hardwood floors. Screaming, running kids? It's a one bedroom apartment, but that doesn't mean anything. I've seen them rent one bedrooms to couples with kids. And they aren't babies---old enough to actually run and talk. They are ******** apartments.

Yes, Billi, the type of hypnosis I had did help. It was just messages. No talking by me. And I got a tape of it to listen to each day. To reinforce the messages. I hope something can work for you. So you can have some relief.

nonightowl, you checked to see what your renters rights are re when construction can happen, and also if there are any laws about how many tennents can occupy a one bedroom apt? Have you called legal aid? Just a thought. Some places do have laws re this. I am sorry this is happening t you.

hello again.

I did discuss desensitization wth t and I will again. we had to discuss other things about Dane and about my roommate Bruce too cuase he's also been an a h to me, too.

anyway, we will talk too about desensitization again.

I think, too, that the shaking is from wind moving the bldg. we get santa anas (I live in CA) and also a lot of windstorms and rainstorms.

Billi

For me its usually some phrase that doesnt compute , i get instantly bunched up about it. And when there is too much sensory input going on (tv, talking, radio, computer). When a kid gets loud i almost feel faint.

I hope you get through thìs <3. Consider using an ipod while outside or amidst noise, with ear buds :3.

Exactly! I always feel so bad when my son is talking to me sometimes and all that goes through my mind is "please stop I can't take much for of this." Sometimes I even say to him, "I am sorry but I am feeling over stimulated so I need to sit alone in quiet for a while. We can talk some more later." Talking can become difficult especially when my brain is muddled. I can literally start to stammer trying to find the words to express myself.

Mediation has been helping me tremendously to more quickly transition for the anxiety of overstimulation to the calm of focused breathing.

I didn't know this had a name. I visited the hyperacusis site briefly and will go back. thanks

I know this is old, but it's still open. I'm going to blow off steam about that old ***** upstairs. When this new year started, she changed her schedule. Gets up at 4 or 5am, water is blasting with full force around 5:30 a.m. (Hours earlier than her old schedule. I don't need to be up till 7 or 7:30) I hear the toilet lid slam after the flush, the closet door slam, heavy walking and shaking of my bedroom. It all wakes me up, and I couldn't go back to sleep.

I lay there listening and waiting, if I happen to awaken before all that is over. For the first 3 months of the year, I was so sleep deprived. What I had to do was sleep on my sofa the 2nd half of the night, to get away from all that NOISE! The sofa isn't as comfortable, and I think it bothers my back since the cushions are "shot". But sleeping is as necessary as eating and breathing. I also have to use a "white noise" machine to help camouflouge her noise. It doesn't cover it all, but it distracts me somewhat so that I listen to THAT and not her. Nothing will cover the sound of that blasted walker though. As far as the "white noise", I had to get used to THAT first. THEN, the sofa....

It's taken me about 4 months to get used to the sofa. I still sometimes wake up when she's getting up, but at least sometimes I can go back to sleep. Before, I couldn't do it. She finally leaves at 6:30 a.m. banging that walker around by the door and slamming the door on her way out. I don't even know why she has that %^$*(# walker. I can hear and FEEL her walking above me everyday. She knows I'm below her, yet she has no consideration for ME, getting up at that ungodly hour. Does she have to slam everything?

My previous neighbors didn't make the unit SHAKE like an earthquake! I hate that place now, and her as well. Wish I could move, but I can't afford it.

Though I hate waking up & hearing that walker so early, at least I KNOW FOR SURE SHE IS GONE. Sometimes I sleep through it, but the caveat is I don't know for sure she's gone until I wait until 9am or so. That's the latest she'll get up during the week, if she doesn't do her usual EARLY ROUTINE.

I miss my bed for the whole night. Having to change my routine cause of her. OLD BAT!!!!!

GRRR....I FEEL FOR YOU!

This morning I woke too early. It causes me anxiety, waiting and wondering if she's STILL home or has she left yet. If it's still dark out, I know she hasn't left, but is she even up yet?? I try not to be overvigilant and to go back to sleep. But it's hard, since I can have more anxiety over what MIGHT happen than what is happening. Like, if I start to drift off, I'm afraid I'll be startled awake by her slamming of SOMETHING! Thankfully, this doesn't happen to me every morning. But it's taken me months to make THIS much progress...

I hope somebody keeps HER up, since she seems to go to bed around 8pm. I hope the people above HER are walking around and slamming stuff. She's asking for it.

this is why i REFUSE to even consider living in an apartment. I dislike having neighbors at 1,000 ft away!

You're lucky you don't live in an apartment, AriesMars. But I must say not all of them are crap apartments. It all comes down to money......A friend lives in a place where he does NOT hear his neighbors at all! Next to him or across the hall, he doesn't hear anything. BUT, he pays hundreds of dollars more in rent to live there. It's also very upscale, and better constructed too (steel and concrete, not "tissue paper and spit").

On the plus side of this ***** getting up so early, I get a peaceful, quiet morning when it's time for ME to get ready for the day. I can enjoy music, breakfast, etc. But at what cost, LOL? Losing sleep sometimes. I do get breaks on Fri and Sat night, since she doesn't get up early on weekends. So I get to stay in bed all night those nights, no being exiled to the sofa.

BUT, this morning, I heard noise around probably 5am or 5:30. I started getting anxious, thinking, "It's SAT. It can't be her. Maybe it's coming from the garage below, like someone is going to their car." I listened, wondering if the water was going to blast any second and if I should go to the sofa....

It WAS her; she left at 5:45 a.m. Geez, where is she going so early? I heard those wheels on the pavement, and I looked out the window to see if it was her. Because she was gone, and I was RELIEVED, I was able to fall back asleep for much needed rest. Plus, I knew I'd have a nice, quiet breakfast---no anxiety about wondering when she's getting up or what noise she's going to make or when she's LEAVING.

Weekdays are predictable. It's the weekends when she's inconsistent. She hadn't gotten up this early on Sat since President's Day weekend. So she threw me a curve ball this morning.

Since it's summer, it IS cooler in the living room, but in the winter, it's COLDER. When it gets hotter, it might be a good thing (sort of), that my body is somewhat trained to sleep on the sofa.