Ptsd and sensory overload

[Chondra]

(slight) Bump - I found the thread I was looking for. It is great to know I am not alone!

I was always very sensitive to my environment and for much of my life this was an asset. PTSD turned the tables on me and I now get Sensory Overload. It builds up in me over the course of the day to the point where I need to isolate myself, usually by late afternoon or early evening. Most activities must be done by midday or odds are I cannot manage them. That includes movies, music, any social activity and even the radio. (Which my wife likes to leave blaring in every room of the house)

The severity of this condition has eased slightly over the years. But other than isolation in a quiet environment, I just do not know what to do to properly manage this symptom. My therapist is clueless, I just get a blank look when I describe it to her.

I am trying a few things that seem to help. Number one is learning to lower my anxiety, to calm my hyper awareness. I take breaks during the day and go to a quieter location and/or just leave any active area. I also do many simple things like cutting the tags off all my shirts, sitting with my back to the wall, wearing noise canceling headphones etc.

I plan on trying aroma therapy, to further calm my anxiety, next. There is a good thread on it that will help me get started. It may make things worse by stimulating another sense - smell, but I am pretty desperate and it is worth a shot.

 

[Anomaly]

Sensory overload has had a huge effect on me. I do enjoy group settings and parties, but I become anxious when I am not able to have time to myself or get away to process everything. It is especially worse when I am surrounded by individuals that talk fast or ramble on and on as it takes so much more energy to quickly process everything that is being said.

I have neighbors that are troublemakers, have been in trouble with the law and are quite angry acting individuals. They frequently yell and scream at each other. Yelling and screaming continues to give me intense anxiety as my abusive mother used to frequently yell and scream terribly hateful and vulgar things at me at the top of her lungs. Nowadays, even innocent children screaming in fun can cause my heart to race and cause me to lose focus and be on guard. Similarly, normal loud everyday traffic sounds like large trucks, lawn mowers and any routine neighbors' repair work that causes any vibrations or grumbles can make me highly on edge. My mother used to frequently slam doors and cupboards and used to often throw and break things - sometimes directly at me. I have learned to wear earplugs when triggers occur. Earplugs do not cancel out all the negative sound (i.e. yelling, etc.), so I sometimes wear wireless headset over them tuned to my favorite stations so I can fully control what I hear. I was a mess before I learned these coping strategies, but now I am so much calmer. Fortunately, if I am in a setting (i.e. at a party) that I choose to be present at, loud yelling, noise and such doesn't bother me, but that's likely because I have chosen to be there. My anxiety occurs when I cannot control the stimulus. I'm not sure if this part of my response deals directly with over stimulus as opposed to my particular triggers, but they're related, at least in my mind.

 

[OKRADLAK]

Awful- to the point they thought I had autism. Of course, PTSD and autism both are (in my opinion) brain damage, so they could have the same reactions. It is so bad that I Have to wear earplugs to shop , to church, to go out side.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

I think I have this. Yesterday I passed a neighbor I hardly know. We were talking small talk about the weather, my mind went numb, I did'nt know what to say, she was saying the same thing over and over. So I finally said ok and went my way. It was weird. I zoned out. I have done this before with other people, I cannot hear what they are saying.

Sometimes noises are too loud for me. I am so out of touch with myself I never saw this as a issue before, I just thought it was too loud for me. And other times I can listen to loud music. something to think about. Interesting topic. I will have to look into this for myself and see what causes this to happen to me. I felt embarrassed when I zoned the lady talking to me out. It was'nt important to me, and I quit listening. I just shut down. I always thought this was shyness on my part, and my inability to relate to a stranger I hardly know. Weird.

 

[Lilly]

Awful here too. (OKRADLAK, me too! I wear earplugs everytime I leave the house.) Some tv shows and commercials even, I can't sit through because of the sounds. What gets to me the most are mouth & throat sounds. Chewing, swallowing, sniffling, throat clearing....*shudder*

 

[gms1976]

You are not alone Barberian. I was completely overloaded today. Thankfully it doesn't happen eveyr day, but when it does, it nails me to the wall.

I work in a small room of cubicles so the sound bounces off the walls amplifying things. There are no windows nor natural light and it feels very shut in. They were doing construction today to make room for some new desks so there was drilling, banging and hammering all damn day.

Then to add to thinks, we share the space with another department who has a really loud-mouthed, narcissistic director who was particularly bad today. The woman is like a foghorn, she never seems to shut up. Then there is the rest of that department whose employees are like a roving dinner party: yak, yak yak all day at the tops of their voices.

Then there was another department who is being shifted due to the construction and they were arguing with the loud-mouthed director right outside my cubicle about office space. I wear headphones all day to create a sound wall to protect my mind, but it didn't work today.

I tried so hard to concentrate. I struggle as it is. My brain just will not cooperate. A good friend of mine is leaving this week for another job which is upsetting as his sense of humor is about the only ray of sunshine in this miserable hole.

By the time I left today my brain was fizzing and my skin felt hypersensitive and tingly. Voices were too loud, phones hurt my hears, traffic in the distance was unbearable. I was shaking inside, trying not to cry. I burst into tears on the way home anyway. I felt like the world was closing in on me. Right now my mind has a buzzing-type sensation. I would dearly love to hide away and never come out again.

God, I HATE what PTSD has done to my life. I didn't do anything wrong, so why should I be the one to suffer. Wish I could just give up some days.

 

[Elizabeth-Ann]

Even before my PTSD I was what they call a highly sensitive person. HSP - It got worse of course by the trauma and triggers are much less intense to cause strong reactions.

 

[Elizabeth-Ann]

It is so bad that I Have to wear earplugs to shop , to church, to go out side.

I know what you mean. It helps me a lot to "prepare" myself for these things also, like talking to myself softly like to a child: we are going in there now, and it will be hard, but it will only last for some time. I try to preview BEFORE I go shopping or so a sort of an award: Sit calmly at the lakeside, meditate in an empty church, relax in a warm bath... that helps my body and soul to less react on the stress. It sort of takes the fear from the reactions away - or eases them.

 

[OKRADLAK]

Even before my PTSD I was what they call a highly sensitive person. HSP - It got worse of course by the trauma and triggers are much less intense to cause strong reactions.

This is very hard. I also was sensitive before so the triggers can be very small because I am even more sensitive.

A shopping cart is too loud now and so I have to wear ear plugs to shop. People think I am nuts. Haaa.

 

[Elizabeth-Ann]

So I am nuts too... ;) Welcome to the club! I am in the "open doors slowly and close them quietly-club" as well - even more nuts isn't it? If I am waiting at the dentists I have my panic-attack not because of the dentist, but because a person bursts in the waiting room.

 

[kal]

I have been diagnosed with severe over-sensory (high senetivity) to everything: light, noise ect. I got a diagnosis for learning disorders which my university required and this is the cause of my ADHD.
While all of this was being explained to me, I was informed this happens either by chemical imbalances or by past trauma's which I was told I have no evidence of :laugh: .

 

[moosie]

I want to ask if anybody else has sensory overload at any time. What do I mean? It's as if the normal mental filters most people have are missing or broken for me. Most people don't hear background noises after a short time. The normal sounds of a city, traffic, lawn equipment, airplanes overhead, a train going by in the distance... The mind dismisses them as inconsiquential and no longer actively tracks them. For me it's as if ALL noises have been turned up to 100% volume. Often I can't even open a bag of snacks because the noise is too loud. Eating crunchy snacks can be unbearable at times.

Yup, I have this, too. Mine is a case of chronic lyme disease, which causes all manner of neurological issues. Environmental sensitivity: smells, sounds. Can't talk to my wife with TV on -- need to mute it first, or my brain starts spiraling out of control, and within ten seconds I can barely think, speak, or even walk, or perform any activity requiring coordination, like loading the dishwasher.

My startle reflex is whacked, too. You could be showing me that you're preparing to set your pen down on the table. But when it hits, I'll jump as if I've been shocked.

There's a lot of controversy regarding lyme. Whether I have active lyme in the brain, or if it's autoimmune, the problem is inflammation of brain tissue (according to my lyme-literate neurologist). I've been struggling with this for five years, and I've seen some improvement in the last year while I've been taking clarithromycin (Biaxin). Apparently this macrolide class of antibiotics also acts as a deep-tissue anti-inflammatory. It took 3-4 months before I saw results, but then when I stopped taking it after 13 months, all symptoms returned within two weeks. So, I'm back on it for the forseeable future.

I like the idea that I'm able to treat the inflammation, without having to "solve" the lyme controversy. I imagine this treatment might be helpful for Fibro and CFS sufferers, too. Really, I don't know where one stops, and another begins. I was perfectly healthy before contracting lyme. Now I have most of the symptoms of Fibro and CFS...

Hope this helps.

Cheers.