I've got both visual and auditory processing problems. They seem to be common with ME and also with autism spectrum disorders, judging from the people I know with ASDs.
I reckon the APD is lifelong, but it wasn't recognised until a few years ago. There's stuff on record about repeatedly testing me for deafness as a baby, and apparently I'd come home from primary school with my hands over my ears saying I couldn't stand the noise, and I've always spoken rapidly which is another sign of APD, but I have crappy parents and they decided that my hearing difficulties were a deliberate behavioural problem. I gradually learned to compensate for it in childhood, high intelligence can mask a lot of things, and was actually a keen musician. When I got ME at the age of 19 it exacerbated the APD to the point that I started to get major problems with it, which I first noticed when university lectures stopped making any sense whatsoever.
I saw a hearing therapist a few years ago, and while she was in a hospital where they hadn't heard of APD, she did have a few good ideas. I was sternly told to avoid ear plugs, they make the hyperacusis (hypersensitivity to sound) worse. It was already pretty bad from living alone (I was single then), rarely leaving the flat, and generally being used to silence. Instead, I was given a pair of in-ear white noise generators and told to wear them an increasing amount to train my brain out of the hyperacusis, plus I was to wear them for shopping centres etc. so that the noise would bother me less. It's a bit tricky if you need to have a conversation, but otherwise they were quite useful. She also gave me a bedside white noise generator (well, actually I used the rain sounds, there were several options) to use at night, which has been particularly handy when there's been noise for some reason, and you can get versions that plug in to a special pillow if you have a partner. I'm not really using any of this any more, that particular problem doesn't seem to be as bad these days. I should probably dig out the in-ear ones for hospital visits, now I think of it, as sensory overload is a big problem there.
She gave me a few tips, such as working out which ear I favour and teaching me where to sit when I was in groups (at the front, to the side which allows me to favour my good ear), but I've long since lost the bit of paper and can't remember the rest. I think it's worth researching APD and at the very least asking about on APD forums, or getting to a hearing therapist who can work with APD if that's viable.
The visual processing problems are for another thread, and another day when I'm less tired! Though can I just wish that there were more colour scheme options for this forum?
I find that sensory problems bleed into one another, and if one sense is overloaded the others get bad as well. Someone on another ME forum I know said that they find that a small dose of valium can be helpful for sensory overload. Does anyone know more about that?