Sensory Overload

Does anyone else feel like this in a crowded/busy place or if there seems to be an excessive amount of noise ?

Yes I do I even have trouble at home and get cranky when the TV is too loud or people are talking too loud.

I hate, hate, HATE being in crowded and/or noisy situations. I get irritated at repetitive sounds, too, like beeping and hearing the thud of someone's bass in traffic.
And I don't do well at parties or other situations where I have to deal with lots of people---not that I don't like people, I just don't like big groups of them.

Oooooh yeah. Especially stores. Too many people, too close, in a place I already don't want to be(!) Sometimes I will use my ipod to help give myself some space (albeit imaginary). Granted, it could be considered more input, but it's controlled input. Events can be overload too, and that one bothers me more because they are places I might actually want to be. I'll go regardless when it comes to music. Which doesn't mean it can't be without issues(!) (There's not all that much worth my while out there these days anyway, so when something good does come around, I'm motivated! )

How good or bad it is tends to be a convergence of how I'm doing in general mentally, how much I want to be somewhere (or DON'T want to be somewhere!). How many people we are talking about. Crammed in or room to wander? (Or better yet, be on a fringe.) How easy is it to get out? Are there likely to be hordes of kids? THAT is a dealbreaker. (All that whining, crying, screaming, squealing, loudness and squeaky voices --UGH!!!)

Definitely. I hate noise. I hate crowds. Makes me go dilly.

Absolutely! I get set off by anything loud, crowded, or repetitive! What a great thread.

Just to add a different scenario to the mix then has already been posted:

My family thinks home theater sound systems are fantastic (me excluded) and have artfully selected the surround speaker system and placement to maximize the theater experience. I get SOOOOO rattled the second the audio starts, I ALWAYS ask for them to turn it down. I usually just go to sleep so that I can still be near my family, but my body has to shut down because I can't handle the over-stir. Nobody seems to understand how much it really bothers me.

Yay senses!!

I cant handle it!!! If its not too loud I am ok but when its a large crowd and loud...I get anxious and on edge.

Does anyone else have issues with the noise part. Like......if I am in a cafeteria and lots of people are talking I cannot listen to someone next to me. Its like I physically cannot hear/understand/concentrate really on people I am with. Or if there is a speaker somewhere with a microphone and all and someone is talking near me...I cannot hear the speaker.

I can identify. I just shut down and don't talk. Then when I leave, I feel exhausted.

Multiple conversations drive me nuts. Don't deal well with that at all. Often will end up leaving the room

Heck yes. Noise sends me into agitation and don't like loud ppl or noises in crowds.

OMG me too! Having several conditions that are particularly sensitive to noises, crowds, & people invading my space I have a lot of trouble sometimes managing being out & about. I have to be in a super good space in order to even tolerate all that sensory overload. I've had panic attacks & had to just leave groceries or shopping & going out with my parents when I visit-forget it. It seems like they pick the loudest most crowded obnoxious places to eat & shop-think they do it just to irritate me (like they don't do that enough on their own). And flying-I used to enjoy it but it's like being shoved into a cattle car now & people all up in your space-the last 2 trips my husband made to go back home I did not go-could not deal with it-that's what Skype is for. Eeeeek-at least I see I am not alone on this one-great thread.

I have always had trouble with sight sound and smell .. I have to ramp up my coping skills to extreme until I am able to find a way to leave the situation.

Ex... I live in a rural town, I go to the stupid store ( Walmart ) , I am surrounded by Camo wearing non bathing loud a.ss people, Maybe that sounds rude but its a fact in "my" town, more so during hunting season right now of course.

I feel like a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

I just never knew people felt like I do

I had not noticed before you were from TN-the long tailed cat remark caught my eye-spent the 1st 44 years of my life there-can totally relate as I was surrounded by those same loud stinky people-happy to say I haven't been near a Walmart in over 5 years-make sure you wear enough orange when you go outside & keep your head down.

Did I mention the fact that I work retail. ?

On a rare occasion , surround sound doesn't bother me. It just depends on the volume and pitch.

Ong! High pitch makes angry!

Yes, my husband is one of those people that want the TV on even when he's reading! I can't stand it. I find it very distracting. He, however, can't stand silence. Just one of our differences.

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My hubby's the same way, although he'll turn the volume down because I am so sensitive to it. A lot of times I just dive under headphones and listen to music so I don't have to deal with the TV. I can't handle hearing two or more sounds at the same time---if there's 2 TVs on in the house and they're on different stations, it makes me crazy. Same with conversations: I can't talk on the phone and then to someone else in the room. Even texting with two different people is hard for me because I forget where I'm at in each conversation. It's a ginormous pain in the @$$ but I can't do anything about it.

My solution to this problem used to be excessive amounts of alcohol. Now I put the my headphones on and hook it up to my mp3 player and problem solved.

Multiple sources of noise drives me wild. I cannot concentrate. This makes Christmas shopping very challenging. I love giving but I hate shopping. I generally have to drug up on Benzo's to get through. It can be especially bad when I am hypo/manic of the irritable kind. God help the people who are with me at the time.

This is interesting. Noise bothers me too, but not all the time. I have learned how to tune out some noises and ignore them completely, while other noises cause more of a PTSD reaction. When my head is spinning out of control, I will sometimes purposefully have the TV on and music playing just to help overload my circuits and exhaust my brain.

When I was really unwell I used to do my food shopping with sunglasses and an iPod on to reduce the sensory overload. This was when my PTSD was really bad. I even struggled to go to the deli across the road from me as I kept thinking everyone was looking at me and talking about me. I wanted to hide and hated the feeling of being exposed.

Omg, yes. I can't deal with loud noises at all. They make me feel exposed, irritated and like the world is closing in. If you overload me sensory-wise, I will get very agitated!

I flew for first time today and them talking on the intercoms drove me nuts cause I couldn't understand!