[Catgotmytongue]

Does anyone else have misophonia or find they have sound sensitivity? Is it a common thing for those who have psychosis to find noises really bothersome?

I seem to find that particularly when I am stressed it bothers me so much more to the point I feel if I can't get away from the sound then I cannot do anything but cry and get very stressed out.

[Shadow wings]

I totally relate to this. When I visited my family and went to see my sister and her kids I could barely cope with them chattering and laughing, it was just really too much, I think when you're being bothered by psychosis too much noise or visual stimulation is really overwhelming. Sometimes I love listening to music but other times I can't stand it and have to sit quietly without anything else going on

Yes, I have a massive problem with sensory overload now. It can be very hard to cope with

My community pdoc said it was because of aberrant salience: supposedly the dopamine system in psychosis notices stimuli that normally your brain would filter out. That's apparently why we notice signs and meanings in things that others think is irrelevant too. So our brain is supposedly noticing every little thing and finding meaning in it and it just gets totally overwhelming. The theory is that APs reduce the dopamine and thereby the aberrant salience (and normal motivational salience too unfortunately, which causes the apathetic-type side effects of APs), but APs haven't helped that for me at all.

Does anyone have any strategies to cope with it? I try to leave the overwhelming stimuli, or if not, put my music on loud through headphones and try to focus on that. But it doesn't usually work and, when I get to the point where I'm completely freaking out, all I can do is focus on my breath and tell myself it will pass, which it does eventually do, but it is awful

*Willow*

[junkDNA]

I have to this too. Children's voices. Dogs barking. Motorcycles and other loud motors in cars. And mouth /eating noises. They all make me so angry

Sometimes I'll be driving and listening to music with the air conditioning on. Then all of a sudden it's way too much. I shut everything off. It's like one second it's fine.. The next Its unbearable

[Gr3tta_0]

Sometimes a sound i choose, like music, is helpful, but sometimes all it does is add to the noise and make it worse.
Sometimes i can try to stimulate other senses to cope like putting vicks under my nose but sometimes adding anything just adds to sensory overload.

[Catgotmytongue]

Originally Posted by WeepingWillow23

Yes, I have a massive problem with sensory overload now. It can be very hard to cope with

My community pdoc said it was because of aberrant salience: supposedly the dopamine system in psychosis notices stimuli that normally your brain would filter out. That's apparently why we notice signs and meanings in things that others think is irrelevant too. So our brain is supposedly noticing every little thing and finding meaning in it and it just gets totally overwhelming. The theory is that APs reduce the dopamine and thereby the aberrant salience (and normal motivational salience too unfortunately, which causes the apathetic-type side effects of APs), but APs haven't helped that for me at all.

Does anyone have any strategies to cope with it? I try to leave the overwhelming stimuli, or if not, put my music on loud through headphones and try to focus on that. But it doesn't usually work and, when I get to the point where I'm completely freaking out, all I can do is focus on my breath and tell myself it will pass, which it does eventually do, but it is awful

*Willow*

That's really interesting what you doctor said. Sounds like it could be true..
Honestly I have only found very little to help this issue. One was therapy, it helped me to deal with my emotions and in turn cope with sounds more.
The other thing which has helped somewhat may sound strange and kind of will do the opposite but it was ASMR.
YouTube has so many ASMR videos these days. You'll have to look it up to understand completely but it's like sounds etc that can give you those "tingles". They have helped people to relax and sleep as well.
I've watched eating ASMR videos which sounds horrible for misophonia but realised that some of them have relaxed me. It's made it easier to hear some noises but not all the time.

i used to have a serious problem with noises like people eating, or clocks ticking or any annoying, repetitive sound

but since i started working with kids (who cry a lot) then i realized that i am not too bothered by sounds, although when i first started working there i got horrible headaches because of the sound and sensory overload

I almost completely lost it the other night because this woman kept coughing/clearing her throat constantly for over 20 mins before I was able to cover the sound. Like full on feelings of rage! And the other day I cried my eyes out because the satnav kept beeping and my parents wouldn't turn it off as they had no idea where to go. It's like each beep was boring into my skull!! It's ridiculous! Why is this happening to me???

I will check out ASMR, thanks.

I do use other senses as grounding/calming techniques too. Tough is a good one for me; either smooth or rough textures. I'm very sensitive to smells too though so I usually find they make it worse. And music can make it worse too, but sometimes it'll drown out the obnoxious noise and help me focus on an enjoyable sound, and I find singing along relaxing too. But it is very hard to cope with. Sometimes even the birds tweeting in the trees will set me off - the normal nice birds, not the evil crows/Ravens/magpies. It's just so strange to me as normally I find them tweeting relaxing

*Willow*

[bukowski06]

Does sensory regulation help with this? I work with pediatric population for ASD and this is a common symptom. Usually pressure helps or if it is sound related then dimming the lights and lowering the volume is helpful

[Bbop]

I am hyper sensitive to sounds. I all ready have sounds in my mind so anything added to that is overwhelming for me. I sit in my house with no sound at all the majority of the time. Music can help on occasion. Hope this finds you well!

Originally Posted by bukowski06

Does sensory regulation help with this? I work with pediatric population for ASD and this is a common symptom. Usually pressure helps or if it is sound related then dimming the lights and lowering the volume is helpful

Thanks for this! Yes, I find it can help, but often I'm out and I can only leave the environment in certain circumstances. Mostly I try to control my responses rather than the environment as it's more practical.

I've heard of weighted blankets in ASD, but do you know if there are more portable ways of using pressure when you're out??

*Willow*

[Catgotmytongue]

Originally Posted by WeepingWillow23

I almost completely lost it the other night because this woman kept coughing/clearing her throat constantly for over 20 mins before I was able to cover the sound. Like full on feelings of rage! And the other day I cried my eyes out because the satnav kept beeping and my parents wouldn't turn it off as they had no idea where to go. It's like each beep was boring into my skull!! It's ridiculous! Why is this happening to me???

I will check out ASMR, thanks.

I do use other senses as grounding/calming techniques too. Tough is a good one for me; either smooth or rough textures. I'm very sensitive to smells too though so I usually find they make it worse. And music can make it worse too, but sometimes it'll drown out the obnoxious noise and help me focus on an enjoyable sound, and I find singing along relaxing too. But it is very hard to cope with. Sometimes even the birds tweeting in the trees will set me off - the normal nice birds, not the evil crows/Ravens/magpies. It's just so strange to me as normally I find them tweeting relaxing

*Willow*

I can't say that the ASMR will be helpful but you never know. For me it was.
The other day I was painting my mums shed and there was someone drilling in the distance. It was so aggravating. Then the next day, no drilling, just chirping birds and it was so relaxing. But yeah she. I'm stressed particularly noises can be so intense!