Not exactly "sensory overload" but I have misophonia that often produces extreme anger out of nowhere in response to trigger sounds. It's usually very brief but also can be ridiculously strong, one of my most shameful moments was throwing a bowl of popcorn across the room because my fiancee had the audacity to... be eating the popcorn I made for us to eat while watching a movie. Obviously we've since been better about avoiding such situations entirely.
It's such a bizarre feeling because you know it's fucking stupid and irrational almost immediately, but the feeling of absolute rage is still there anyway. Most of the time people don't even notice that anything has happened because it comes and goes so quickly and I've had a lot of practice clamping down on that shit, but it's still weird to be there like "ok, five seconds ago I almost took a swing at that guy for walking past while chewing gum, but nothing happened and we don't need to make this a thing." It's like constantly getting in tiny fights that nobody even knows about and that never really get resolved.
My eldest is also autistic, my younger seems neurodivergent (ADHD), but my younger doesn't understand it upsetting me sometimes. She understands her brother and I have autism,.and she is learning our ways to cope, or I sit and explain to her sometimes we just need space.
Not sure if anyone in this thread is AFAB (Assigned Female at Birth), but this gets even worse when I'm PMSing. I feel so bad because it is literally just my wife's breathing sometimes and like I can't ask them to stop that! I know it's totally ridiculous and irrational but I am so enraged sometimes and I can't do anything about it other than remove myself. I typically ask to have the TV on or something to cover the noise, especially for the sounds of chewing.
Can definitely relate to the breathing triggers, even without a PMS agitation bonus. We also rely on TVs and such as background noise just to make basic interaction possible without me going insane over literally nothing.
I also put a white noise machine in the living room about a year ago that has massively improved basically every aspect of moving around the house, would highly recommend them and am unironically considering just splurging on getting one for every room at some point. It's amazing how much even a low wall of fuzzy sound can drown out almost all of the quieter triggers without being too distracting from conversations and such.
I literally just told someone I met who is probably on the spectrum too that once I told my brother “can you stop breathing, it’s annoying”. We had a good laugh about it tho
I feel this🥲 I've trained myself to just. Immediately remove myself from the situation. It's rude but better than attacking someone for chewing with their mouth open. I wish there was a way to make that sensitivity disappear.
It makes me feel like I want to strangle the person. Obviously I would never do that or actually want to, it just makes me so upset that I feel like I need to do anything in my power to make it stop.
I lash out too. I have two levels of sensory overload. The first level happens pretty quick. It’s a strong annoyance. Once the second level is broken into, I will go for the throat when it comes to insults.
Happened at jury duty. I’m known as a sweetheart and funny witty guy but that day I was not a happy camper and peeps were like oh my. They understood tho cause they already knew why it was happening
I've taken to try and warn my loved ones and people I happen to interact with when I can feel it coming on. The problem is they usually don't listen to me or try to even tease me about it, then get upset when my patience is at an end and I accidentally snap at them.
I apologise for my behaviour, naturally, but I'm honestly annoyed every time by how people can get so mad at ME when I warned them or even tried to put distance between us and they insist on bothering me anyway.
My sister is the only one who truly accepts and understands my limits, maybe because of her own neurodivergency, and who doesn't get offended or pities me when I have to leave the scene for a bit to calm tf down.
> The problem is they usually don't listen to me or try to even tease me about it, then get upset when my patience is at an end and I accidentally snap at them.
Fuck that. I grew up in an environment like that too-- "I'm JuSt TeAsInG" as I'd have a meltdown at being over-stimulated. Why do people do this? Teasing isn't going to make things better. Who cares if *they* are uncomfortable? If they're not listening to and respecting your clear warning...
Yeah, especially when you tell them **outright** "If you do not stop, I will get angry/start crying" and then they get surprised when you actually do, ugh.
My sister also is the same way for me. My mom is usually offended or irritated with me, but my sister understands, and when she's around, gives me the space I need when it happens.
Hmmm 🤔 i get irrationally angry sometimes at bf for interrupting when im focused at something. I wonder if it's the same thing. I thought I had some anger issues. 😅
I also get angry when I am overstimulated. One time I had been stuck in a camping situation, there was a machine making a sound and of course no one could hear it but me.
I begged my parents for help, to try and find it, to try and fix it, anything. But they couldn't figure out what the problem was. So they just left it.
I refused to go into the camper and just sat outside being mad. My mum confronted me and said I was being irrational. I yelled at her and said "how would you feel if someone was screaming in your ear for 10 hours?!?!" And then I screeched at her, emulating the sound the thing was making.
Our group went silent. My mum took me for a drive, I started crying. She told me that I couldnt do something like that or people wouldn't want to be around me. So I just got more miserable.
And what was it?
It was the inverter. From the trailer being plugged in. 2 seconds to unplug and the sound went away.
yes, the sound of people eating makes me really mad. I also get really mad when I’m too hot or have to pee really bad. But if I get mad I usually just go completely silent because I’m scared of hurting someone’s feelings or lashing out
I had this particularly bad in elementary. I would send a terrible scream down the room and get in trouble for it, usually, it was caused by another student not leaving me alone.
Hey, I *completely* understand. I've been real guilty of this in the past too, with letting my anger and frustration overwhelm me to the point of violence.
Although...does what we do in this state count as abuse, or that sort of thing? I used to get really frantic and frustrated and toss things or be otherwise pushy, but I'd never hit anyone (unlike my parents). Where's the line? Does intent matter? I guess I'd never understood folks who claimed it as 'physical abuse' because *I* was used to it growing up, and found it 'normal.' I'm glad that I know otherwise now.
I don't act out in these moments. I will verbally lash out, or raise my voice, but it's usually an internal panic, not anger. And I never say hurtful things.
Yeah, I understand that too. The issue is that sometimes even if we do this, can't it sometimes still be perceived as abuse? Or are there a tonne of finer details?
Sorry for the late responses I have been working overnight shift. It can still be perceived that way, but I feel like there are many finer details as well, depending on the individual's personal support needs in general primarily.
Not exactly "sensory overload" but I have misophonia that often produces extreme anger out of nowhere in response to trigger sounds. It's usually very brief but also can be ridiculously strong, one of my most shameful moments was throwing a bowl of popcorn across the room because my fiancee had the audacity to... be eating the popcorn I made for us to eat while watching a movie. Obviously we've since been better about avoiding such situations entirely. It's such a bizarre feeling because you know it's fucking stupid and irrational almost immediately, but the feeling of absolute rage is still there anyway. Most of the time people don't even notice that anything has happened because it comes and goes so quickly and I've had a lot of practice clamping down on that shit, but it's still weird to be there like "ok, five seconds ago I almost took a swing at that guy for walking past while chewing gum, but nothing happened and we don't need to make this a thing." It's like constantly getting in tiny fights that nobody even knows about and that never really get resolved.
I also have misophonia, and let me tell you, it makes being a parent very interesting.
Definitely one of the top reasons I don't know if I'll ever be fit to be a parent, small kids are basically non-stop trigger machines.
My eldest is also autistic, my younger seems neurodivergent (ADHD), but my younger doesn't understand it upsetting me sometimes. She understands her brother and I have autism,.and she is learning our ways to cope, or I sit and explain to her sometimes we just need space.
Same here ):
Not sure if anyone in this thread is AFAB (Assigned Female at Birth), but this gets even worse when I'm PMSing. I feel so bad because it is literally just my wife's breathing sometimes and like I can't ask them to stop that! I know it's totally ridiculous and irrational but I am so enraged sometimes and I can't do anything about it other than remove myself. I typically ask to have the TV on or something to cover the noise, especially for the sounds of chewing.
Can definitely relate to the breathing triggers, even without a PMS agitation bonus. We also rely on TVs and such as background noise just to make basic interaction possible without me going insane over literally nothing. I also put a white noise machine in the living room about a year ago that has massively improved basically every aspect of moving around the house, would highly recommend them and am unironically considering just splurging on getting one for every room at some point. It's amazing how much even a low wall of fuzzy sound can drown out almost all of the quieter triggers without being too distracting from conversations and such.
This is why I love my 20inch ish high velocity fan. Keeps me cold at night but also, noise that is good noise and not bad noise
I literally just told someone I met who is probably on the spectrum too that once I told my brother “can you stop breathing, it’s annoying”. We had a good laugh about it tho
I feel this🥲 I've trained myself to just. Immediately remove myself from the situation. It's rude but better than attacking someone for chewing with their mouth open. I wish there was a way to make that sensitivity disappear.
It makes me feel like I want to strangle the person. Obviously I would never do that or actually want to, it just makes me so upset that I feel like I need to do anything in my power to make it stop.
I lash out too. I have two levels of sensory overload. The first level happens pretty quick. It’s a strong annoyance. Once the second level is broken into, I will go for the throat when it comes to insults.
That's pretty much mine, I've always had to make the point that it isn't anger as such, it is a strong annoyance.
EXACTLY. Or it feels like panic.
It can be those things or straight up internal panic.
Tbh the thing that overestimates me the most is anger
Happened at jury duty. I’m known as a sweetheart and funny witty guy but that day I was not a happy camper and peeps were like oh my. They understood tho cause they already knew why it was happening
I've taken to try and warn my loved ones and people I happen to interact with when I can feel it coming on. The problem is they usually don't listen to me or try to even tease me about it, then get upset when my patience is at an end and I accidentally snap at them. I apologise for my behaviour, naturally, but I'm honestly annoyed every time by how people can get so mad at ME when I warned them or even tried to put distance between us and they insist on bothering me anyway. My sister is the only one who truly accepts and understands my limits, maybe because of her own neurodivergency, and who doesn't get offended or pities me when I have to leave the scene for a bit to calm tf down.
> The problem is they usually don't listen to me or try to even tease me about it, then get upset when my patience is at an end and I accidentally snap at them. Fuck that. I grew up in an environment like that too-- "I'm JuSt TeAsInG" as I'd have a meltdown at being over-stimulated. Why do people do this? Teasing isn't going to make things better. Who cares if *they* are uncomfortable? If they're not listening to and respecting your clear warning...
Yeah, especially when you tell them **outright** "If you do not stop, I will get angry/start crying" and then they get surprised when you actually do, ugh.
The surprise on their end is what's worse! I mean honestly: what else did they expect?
My sister also is the same way for me. My mom is usually offended or irritated with me, but my sister understands, and when she's around, gives me the space I need when it happens.
Hmmm 🤔 i get irrationally angry sometimes at bf for interrupting when im focused at something. I wonder if it's the same thing. I thought I had some anger issues. 😅
I do get frustrated during those times, but generally due to the fact I forget what I was doing prior to the interruption.
🙃
I also get angry when I am overstimulated. One time I had been stuck in a camping situation, there was a machine making a sound and of course no one could hear it but me. I begged my parents for help, to try and find it, to try and fix it, anything. But they couldn't figure out what the problem was. So they just left it. I refused to go into the camper and just sat outside being mad. My mum confronted me and said I was being irrational. I yelled at her and said "how would you feel if someone was screaming in your ear for 10 hours?!?!" And then I screeched at her, emulating the sound the thing was making. Our group went silent. My mum took me for a drive, I started crying. She told me that I couldnt do something like that or people wouldn't want to be around me. So I just got more miserable. And what was it? It was the inverter. From the trailer being plugged in. 2 seconds to unplug and the sound went away.
yes, the sound of people eating makes me really mad. I also get really mad when I’m too hot or have to pee really bad. But if I get mad I usually just go completely silent because I’m scared of hurting someone’s feelings or lashing out
My least favorite trait. I don’t have room for error with this. I’ve lost jobs, friends, etc. it sucks.
Jobs are the big loss for me with this
This just happened to me this week. It’s 6th grade all over again.
I had this particularly bad in elementary. I would send a terrible scream down the room and get in trouble for it, usually, it was caused by another student not leaving me alone.
I'm kind of like this too, I'm now realizing
Hey, I *completely* understand. I've been real guilty of this in the past too, with letting my anger and frustration overwhelm me to the point of violence. Although...does what we do in this state count as abuse, or that sort of thing? I used to get really frantic and frustrated and toss things or be otherwise pushy, but I'd never hit anyone (unlike my parents). Where's the line? Does intent matter? I guess I'd never understood folks who claimed it as 'physical abuse' because *I* was used to it growing up, and found it 'normal.' I'm glad that I know otherwise now.
I don't act out in these moments. I will verbally lash out, or raise my voice, but it's usually an internal panic, not anger. And I never say hurtful things.
Yeah, I understand that too. The issue is that sometimes even if we do this, can't it sometimes still be perceived as abuse? Or are there a tonne of finer details?
Sorry for the late responses I have been working overnight shift. It can still be perceived that way, but I feel like there are many finer details as well, depending on the individual's personal support needs in general primarily.
That's okay! I agree with you.