[VanillaBean]

I hear things other people don't, and sounds that "normal" people hear and don't care about agitate me greatly. I have learned not to freak out every time I hear these things (for the most part, but some actually cause me discomfort because they are so loud), but I still get a twinge when I hear:

-ice cream truck music
-nails on a chalkboard (I know even non-Aspies hate this, but figured I'd throw it in anyways)
-balloons rubbing together
-sometimes when I'm watching a sitcom the audience laughter drowns out everything going on in the show, and I have to stop watching
-the booming of a subwoofer in a passing car
-metal hitting metal (like if someone drops nuts and bolts into a can)

Those are just a few. I have other sensitivities to light, touch and taste, but the sound sensitivity is much more extreme.

What kinds of sensitivities do the other Aspies out there have?

What is so so tiring is having "all channels open at the same time". Having AS you're into details even when it comes to the senses. You have a very hard time filtering everything that goes on around you. You take it ALL in.
Then you try to analys it too at the very same time. The brain's working like crazy.

You hear, see, feel, taste and smell everything more distinctly than those not having AS.
I have issues with them all. I would say feel, smell and taste are the worst ones in my case.

((((((((( VanillaBean )))))))))

[VanillaBean]

(((((( daynnight ))))))

[Michah]

I am an anteanna that is earthed........I cannot filter, I get it all!! I am better at sending it down into the comforting soil but sometimes I get "burnt" or surprised.........sometimes it takes alot of effort not to spontaneously combust from all the stimulus and information that courses through me.

Pretty good at weeding out w$%kers though, just by a simple touch on the arm.......facial expressions have never done me any good, confusing, blank.

I hear you vanilla bean......high frequency noises that no one else can hear almost make me howl.

(((everyone))))) I do want you to know that with PDD as my son has the same thing happenes. Its a over load of the system as i have always put it. He could only take so much. Other days he did ok with it.

[Callista]

I think that has to do with the base stress level.

This morning, for example, I was extremely sensitive. I was at chemistry lab, and the smells nearly made me throw up. The sound of lab glassware being used felt like explosions in my head; I had a lot of trouble distinguishing speech from background... You know, the usual.

If I had overload that bad every day, I wouldn't be able to live independently, plain and simple, because I'd spend so much energy dealing with it that I wouldn't be able to care for myself.

Most days, it's not that bad. This morning, I was sleep-deprived, hungry, and worried about a test. That's the base stress level. On top of that, even mildly annoying sensations can really overwhelm you.

Lots of people waste time looking for direct meltdown/shutdown "triggers". They're only looking at half the picture. The overall stress level, too, is huge. If you're sick, if you're tired, if you're depressed or anxious or you haven't had enough time to relax (60-hour-a-week ABA, I'm looking at YOU!), you won't have the mental resources to filter all that incoming information, and sooner or later it will just turn into a tsunami and wash you away. Even worse if people have been trying to suppress your stims. Those are how I regulate sensory input, and I'd be a lot worse off without them.

I distinctly remember going into total shutdown one day last quarter because I was walking next to somebody whose shoes were squeaking. If you look at the surface, you think, "Oh, squeaky shoes, that's a meltdown trigger, we have to get rid of that or get her used to it." Well, there have been days when my own shoes squeaked and I had no trouble with it. I remember that day, I was tired, had a cold, and had had to sit through a two-hour commute on a loud, bouncy "assisted transport" van. If it weren't for that, there would have been no problem with the shoes.

[eskielover]

Reading about these things that bother you.....I can really relate & I don't have & never had the mental disabilities you are experiencing.....but I remember growing up in school & still even now when I am trying to concentrate on something, I have to have complete silence so I can hear what I am trying to think & learn when I am reading something.

As a child, even the TV on low level would keep me from retaining what it was I was trying to read & learn......it was like the sound would drown out everything I was reading. I still find that when I want to concentrate on something....even the radio going will drown out my thinking. If it isn't anything important that I don't care if I retain, then the background noise is ok.....but otherwise, I need complete silence to be able to concentrate.

With that said, I can relate to what you or your children are experiencing.

Reading your post made me think about my own experiences which made my Mother very angry as she wanted to enjoy her TV.....she didn't care about the test I was studying for...lol.....but she did care enough to turn down the sound to help me out most of the time.

How strange the things around us create those reactions.
Debbie

[wheekergirl]

I am extremely sensitive to most things the ones that are worst for me are

the vacuum/hoover. I have one I can tolerate
hand/hair dryers
people talking as it mounts up.
static/white noise on the radio