Does anyone else have problems with sensory overload? I did a search but found no matches.
For me, sounds are the main problem. If I'm having a conversation and another noise happens, such as a beeper goes off, a car drives by, a plane flies overhead, or any other sound, then the conversation has to completely cease until the sounds stop and I can get my bearings again. If I'm in a group of people listening to one person talk and another person makes a comment further away from me, I thereafter lose the ability to focus on what's being said until everyone stops talking (and there isn't any other noises) and I once again get my bearings.
Another aspect of it is that if I'm accosted with an unending loud noise it's like my brain stops working and I can't even come up with the idea of moving away from the noise. Being sensitive to noise (so that loud sounds are painful to me) doesn't help matters, but it wasn't until recently that I realized how much I completely freeze and shut down in those conditions...I instinctively cover my ears and beyond that, unless or until my caretaker resolves the situation, time stands still for meand I'm completely stuck.
The same happens with rapidly flashing lights. I do have photosensitivity, but again the sensory overload seems different. For example, when riding in the car on a sunny day, the alternating sunlight and shadows cast by the roadside trees results in "flashing lights" within the car, and when that happens it's just like with the really loud noise....I instinctively cover my eyes (which only marginally helps), and beyond that depending on how bad the shadows are it can be mild enough that I simply cannot listen to or carry on a conversation until it's over or bad enough that everything just freezes and I can't think at all until it's over. Generally flashing lights are rarer than loud noise, so I don't encounter this problem as often.
Anyone else experience these sorts of things? I was just thinking the other day of how dangerous this problem would be in the case of a fire alarm, where I'd freeze instead of moving out of there.
For me, sounds are the main problem. If I'm having a conversation and another noise happens, such as a beeper goes off, a car drives by, a plane flies overhead, or any other sound, then the conversation has to completely cease until the sounds stop and I can get my bearings again. If I'm in a group of people listening to one person talk and another person makes a comment further away from me, I thereafter lose the ability to focus on what's being said until everyone stops talking (and there isn't any other noises) and I once again get my bearings.
Another aspect of it is that if I'm accosted with an unending loud noise it's like my brain stops working and I can't even come up with the idea of moving away from the noise. Being sensitive to noise (so that loud sounds are painful to me) doesn't help matters, but it wasn't until recently that I realized how much I completely freeze and shut down in those conditions...I instinctively cover my ears and beyond that, unless or until my caretaker resolves the situation, time stands still for meand I'm completely stuck.
The same happens with rapidly flashing lights. I do have photosensitivity, but again the sensory overload seems different. For example, when riding in the car on a sunny day, the alternating sunlight and shadows cast by the roadside trees results in "flashing lights" within the car, and when that happens it's just like with the really loud noise....I instinctively cover my eyes (which only marginally helps), and beyond that depending on how bad the shadows are it can be mild enough that I simply cannot listen to or carry on a conversation until it's over or bad enough that everything just freezes and I can't think at all until it's over. Generally flashing lights are rarer than loud noise, so I don't encounter this problem as often.
Anyone else experience these sorts of things? I was just thinking the other day of how dangerous this problem would be in the case of a fire alarm, where I'd freeze instead of moving out of there.