Sensory Defensiveness - NO! I Can't Just 'Get Over It'!

In My Humble Opinion
1

My whole life, certain ‘things’ have bothered me to a degree that drives me to the point of being irrational. The tast and smell of mint, prolonged loud noises, bright white fluorescent lights, people standing behind me, the constant hum of electrical appliances, people touching me without invitation, the feel of most synthetic fabrics, any kind of form fitted clothing above the waist, the sound of somebody chewing with their mouth open, etc.

Everybody has a ‘thing’ that drives them crazy, but this goes a little further. When I am exposed to these sensations, my sympathetic nervous system goes into hyperdrive. My BP goes up, I get nauseous, my skin will crawl, my hair will stand on end, all my muscles go into tension overdrive, and I have an uncontrollable feeling of revulsion The sensations are UNBEARABLE!

Of course, when affronted with these sensations, I will do just about ANYTHING, to get away from them. Of course, to others, who don’t, or won’t, understand, I seem like a neurotic freak.

After doing some research on the subject, I have come up with a few ‘sensory self defense’ moves. I carry on my person at all times, brown tint sunglasses, earpulgs, leather gloves with the fingers tips removed, scented petrolatum (for under my nose when in an environment befouled by mint; I got this from CSI. They put mentholatum in their nostrils to block out the stench of decaying bodies)

Some things, however, can’t really be defended against unless I want to lock myself in my house or wear a t-shirt in public with the message, ‘COME TO CLOSE AND I WILL KILL YOU!’; not the textbook way of fitting in with regular society.

Anybody else deal with this? Any coping mechanisms?

BTW, Sensory defensiveness is slated to have its own diagnosis code in the new DSM V. I Love external validation.

2

It sounds like you are an HSP. http://www.highlysensitivepeople.com/

3

I’m sorry that I have no advice for you, but I’m intrigued by your condition. (Mint, really?)

Does this have a physiological or psychological basis? Have you sought treatment?

4

So, like have you even been to see a doctor about this? Or is this a self diagnosed thing?

Were it I, the doctor is where I would start. If she recommends a specialist I’d pursue that, ditto a therapist.

Not that coping mechanisms aren’t a great thing, good on you for finding some, but it’s not really addressing the cause and I’d want that explored in the hope it can be addressed/treated/cured.

It’s a hell of way to go through life, I wish you luck in your journey.

5

I didn’t know this was a thing, thanks for enlightening me. Out of curiosity, what is the leather glove with the tips cut off for?

6

Everybody gets annoyed and irritated by certain things, but if you find yourself having to carry earplugs and gloves everywhere, you are halfway to being a crazy person.

I suggest you speak to a doctor and look into anti-anxiety drugs. They might help.

7

Yourself or other people? Because that’s just no way to live.

Seriously though… As for options, my first line of recommendation is cognitive-behavioral therapy. It takes real effort but it gets results. Some people also have luck with exposure therapy, but I can’t personally speak much about it. Barring that, perhaps sheer force of will? Surely you must realize how, ummm, out of proportion, these stimuli are compared to your reaction?

In any case, I don’t think you need coping mechanisms. I think you need to start on the path to having these things bother you less. IOW, what elbows said.

8

Reading that checklist, it seems that I may be a Highly Sensitive Person® too.

Sadly for Mr Hallowes, one of the things I’m sensitive to is snake oil.

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What about Sensory Integration Dysfunction / Sensory Processing Disorder? It sounds like some of what you describe bears some similarities to SPD.

There are things that can be done to help this a bit.

Also - I too sometimes overreact to sensations etc. though not, I think, to the extent you do. I know that when I’m stressed out about something, I react more strongly to unwanted sensations / sounds / smells. So the person who mentioned anti-anxiety medication might possibly be onto something? I know some kids with autism (which has a strong co-morbidity with SPD) have benefited from the SSRIs such as Prozac. I freely admit I don’t know what I’m talking about here, however :).

10

Doing all of the above. I see a cognitive therapist twice a month, and take Zoloft. I found that Topamax really helped, but it gave a really bad case of ‘the stupids’, and I had to stop. I noticed that opioid meds (supporting the similarity to the ‘gate theory’ of pain) work very well for indidvidual situations, like if I have to be in a field of wild mint for a tractor show or farmers market, but I DO NOT want to go there if I can help it.

And yes, it is a sensory processing disorder. It is a physiological reaction that develops from a psychological source. Think of the saying, ‘once burned, twice shy’, only its not a burn but some other sensation. The sensations listed initiate an uncontrolled sympathetic reaction stemming from a change in certain neurological pathways.

Jean Ayers was an occupational therapist who pioneered this field. She initially observed it in austistic children but the scope of the affected population has grown to include people with mood disorders as well.

The leather gloves are for when I know I will have to handle things that I know are icky. They limit the skin contact, but leave my fingertips free enought to function. Any kind of glove will do, but the leather ones just look way cool.

11

This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of it. I used to know someone who was emotionally abused by her mother, who always smelled of mint. In this case it was a bad association from childhood, and a really strong one.

Last I saw of her, she was repairing her relationship with her mother, but still couldn’t stand mint.

12

My sister has this, so I can sympathize. She has most of your problems, although maybe the mint thing is just you?

She found Paxil to be incredibly helpful, but then its side affects (including significant weight gain) caused her to switch onto other things.

I’m not actually sure if she is medicated now. She has a highly developed set of coping mechanisms which seem to be huge. I think also that at age 33 her system has somehow “settled down”.

She has a couple of hours every day dedicated to “down time” which means basically doing nothing at all and being alone. As opposed to my idea of down time which might involve watching TV or chatting on the phone.

Anyway, don’t despair. My sister is married, has a job, and can generally live like a “normal” person.

13

A must have for my sister (and me) is an electric fan. A good one with no rattles or whining sounds. This can drown out other sounds.

When she was younger, my mom would get all of my sister’s clothes from the thrift store. Old cotton clothes are often softer than anything you can buy new. Today my sister makes a lot of her own clothing from nice special order fabrics.

Obviously kitchen gloves are hugely helpful around the house.

Clonopazam is a big help to be able to take as needed.

I’m sure there are lot more coping mechanisms that are more internal thought processes but I can’t speak to those. I’m sure your therapist can help you there.

Good luck!

14

surrounded by literalists

You poor thing. I’m glad you found doctors who believe you and are able to help you.

One of the most interesting classes I took to get my Psych degree was sensory psychology. Our senses are the interface between the rest of the world and our mind, and there are some really non-intuitive aspects to this interface. One factoid I picked up from that was that it is possible to create a conditioned response to pretty much anything that you can perceive with your senses, although it’s easier to condition nausea with smell or taste, and flinching or anxiety with visual or aural stimuli.

If someone doesn’t believe you in the future, I recommend that you ask them if there is any type of alcohol they can’t drink because they got sick drunk off of it. You’re dealing with the same basic process, you’ve just got a really bad case of it.

I’ve heard about a guy who would throw up nearly any time he went into a grocery store. He had been a concentration camp survivor, and for the longest time there was always a book out with a swastika on the front…

15

Wow. This is the crap I’ve had to deal with since going off the benzos. And, two years later, it’s still intruding if I get off on my Celexa.

I can’t imagine it being something I’d have to deal with my entire life. I really do feel for you. Though I admit I don’t get the mint thing.

16

I kind of get it, especially when sensory input is related to something psychologically negative. My dad used to whistle. Not any kind of whistle, that talented, concerto style whistling where he could sound practically like a flute.

To this day, I hate that sound. In my teens and twenties I would yell at strangers to stop it, I couldn’t help it, it made me see red. I’ve tolerated it much better in the last 10 years, I still don’t like it and don’t go/feel crazy about it, but it took a long time.

Obviously, I can’t stand my dad. Haven’t seen or heard from him since 1985.

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We put threads asking for medical and psychological advice in IMHO, so let me move this thither for you.

twickster, MPSIMS moderator

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Sensory defensiveness is part of my 6 year old daughter’s diagnosis. For a long time they said she had Sensory Processing Disorder but about a month ago the dx was changed to autism spectrum (PDD-NOS). It’s very mild but her most obvious symptoms are much like yours. The first week of the year at school her teacher kept getting on to her for humming under her breath and one day realized she only did it when the A/C was running. She was humming to cover up the sound because it hurt her head. The weekly tornado warning siren test goes off every Wednesday at 3:30 and we know we need to make sure she’s wearing her headphones or we keep the music up loud on the radio. She also doesn’t care to be touched, even with me if I walk up and touch her hair I’ll feel her shiver and flinch. She’s really very affectionate but she likes to initiate the touches. She can’t deal with certain materials. Unfortunately the cute girly things she loves often has that gauzy net-like fabric. We stick with plain loose tee shirts. She hates shoes, but that’s a kid thing, right? But they really seem to annoy her a lot. She also has trouble with ceiling fans and vacuum cleaners, just the sight of them will send her into a panic attack. She’s not real fond of blenders or anything robotic looking either. And she’s terrified of Spongebob; not sure what’s up with that one.

Very very very very picky about food too. Textures keep her from enjoying most fruit and vegetables. Even mashed potatoes and macaroni, the kid gold standard meal. She can mess up some meat though!

19

do you have ADHD or autism?

20

I’m curious too. When I worked with special needs pre-k/k kids, all the kids with sensory defensiveness diagnoses had one or the other too.