Overcoming Misophonia?

[Wildernesstips]

Anyone successfully managed to reduce the rage caused by misophonia by CBT or hypnotherapy? I’m getting desperate, and I swear the menopause is making it worse.

I literally have to shut two doors and put headphones on when DH eats granola and I still get murderous.

I've ordered some actual noise cancelling earbud/headphones to help in the mean time, hopefully some kind of white noise will help drown other things out. She knows not to use them constantly because as far we know and have read the avoidance makes it worse. It's being stuck with no escape at school which exacerbates the issues, much like being in an office I imagine.

The feeling stuck and not being able to escape is horrid :(

I know theres 2 pathways here and cmht leads to cbt and talking whereas OTs are the ones with practical ideas and sensory experience. Other than via a gp Ive no idea how you'd access one though.

It sounds like you being clued up on it helps though, so she's not blamed for it. And school sound like they've tried to put some things in place for her.

I've personally found me chewing something at the same time sometimes helps. I have chewy mints for this purpose. But once its in my head andnif its my worse triggers I have to remove myself. I've made up excuses to go to the loo for example just to buy a bit of time. Sometimes working thru tables in my head can help. But really I just need to get away.

Im torn with the idea of "making it worse." Depends on the child and the problem. I was initially worried about my child and ear defenders/ear plugs for that reason but an autism person I spoke to asked me if I'd leave my glasses at home, or ask a child not to use their wheelchair....
It worked out in the end she doesnt use them all the time. Just knowing she could if she needed to is sometimes enough.

I’ve taken to wearing ear mufflers (like workmen use) most of the time at home, it helps to reduce noise to an acceptable level. I am finding ,like others, the older I get, the worse it’s becoming.

Agree with others that WFH has been the best thing ever, lost count of the amount of times I had to leave the room because of noisy eating work colleagues, the “fight or flight” syndrome kicks in almost immediately.

I have this and i don’t think it is possible to cure it. I find it so strange because certain annoying sounds trigger it but other really annoying sounds don’t.
I get pure rage which makes me feel like attacking someone (but I never have), an increased heart rate, sweaty, or the desire to run away. Absolute definition of the fight or flight response.
Can’t stand sounds of biting nails, animals/people eating, clipping nails, metal on metal, people speaking other languages on the phone (I feel bad about that one), also can’t stand most kinds of music and I’m most drawn towards hip hop.
But there’s also other sounds I probably get way too much enjoyment from.

And like a physical pain which is hard to describe but like a skin crawl deep in your soul.

@pineappleupsidedowncake haha yes she chews chewing gum too sometimes but blows constant snapping bubbles which get rather annoying for us when you can hear it for a good 30 mins 😬
The school are alright, I guess they're limited to what they can do they're very reluctant to let her do any work in a room alone or separately now because they either don't have the space or obviously the Covid thing. She got upset a few weeks ago about it but they said there's nowhere for her to go and "everyone can't have their own room" We have a rather noisy household in the day because of two younger ones and although it can get irritating (for all of us) noise wise it doesn't bother her as much as at school.

At home is very different though because you know you can remove yourself from it (ie go to the loo when you want/go to your room/into the garden.)

Although noone can chew apples or crisps near me at home and everyone knows that! Also certain repetitive sounds (tapping sticks or ball bouncing in the living room.)

Bubble popping would also be a trigger for me!!! I guess if it helps to imagine what she is feeling it might be like several people standing in your personal space popping bubbles at odd intervals repeatedly.

D does sometimes get an earwax build up as did her dad, she has recently complained of ringing in her ears. I'm not aware of this being a constant problem or just a one off as I'm concerned about overreaction possibly creeping in....she did find a feather in her ear and freaked out about it 😆 obviously got in there from a pillow.

My mum had tinnitus and had operations on her ear to try and lessen the impact but it didn't really work as far as I know, she ended up being hard of hearing on one side. My Dad has developed it and so has my sister so I am concerned about that side of things. Luckily I haven't experienced it or developed it ...Y E T I hope I never do

Yes true, I can't stand knuckle cracking, the pitch and volume of certain things, my son crying is sometimes unbearable (he scream cries) and various other noises used to irritate me a LOT. I probably do suffer from it a little or at least some kind of auditory "thing" however not to the extent she is suffering at the moment I'm at home most if not all of the time so I can somewhat control it like you say

(Sorry for taking over the thread with comments)

Sorry about direction of replies, I'm on the app (so annoying)

This is SO helpful to read, and to know other people have first hand experience of it. I had never heard of mesophonia until dd herself researched it.

@DaisyDreaming, we always have the TV on at dinner time anyway . DD used to sit next to me, but then started sitting further away, saying the chair was 'more comfy' but really it was because of my sounds and she hadn't liked to say .

@QueensPaws, I can see that letting her eat alone would help, but mealtimes are pretty much the only time we spend together now she's a teen, always in her room. I'd hate for us to be in separate rooms for meals too. Maybe tonight I'll try sitting in the dining room, with her in the living room, as we're open-plan so it won't feel quite as separate.

@Mokusspokus I feel exactly the same, it stops me relaxing when eating. It's so hard. I'm afraid I used to get cross with dd's reactions, until I realised about the condition, but it's still hard sometimes when it feels to me that I'm being really quiet.

I wondered, does anyone have a connection between this and OCD? My dd was displaying OCD behaviours for a year or so before this started, although they seem to have minimised recently. I've read that there can be a connection.

Interesting views here about cahms - I spoke to our GP to try to get a referral for my dd, but she said we should self-refer. We haven't done yet, and I'm now unsure whether to bother? I've seen that the Tinnitus Society have information on their website and tried to call their helpline today but didn't get through.

A lot of people with autism have this, and there are co-morbidities (is that a word? It's been a long day!) between autism, epilepsy and other neurological conditions.

Which is probably a fancy way of saying we don't know why some brains are weird but they're weird in similar ways.

I have this so badly.

I can't listen to FM radio unless it's crystal clear. Thank god for DAB.

Seeing someone talk with their mouthful fills me with rage too.

My stepson constantly blows his food and I have to walk out of the room.

Someone at work was talking to me at work today in the phone while he was eating. I put the phone down.

My DP throws food around his mouth when eating, I split up with him in my head so may time.

@theliverpoolone if you think your d may have OCD and suspect misophonia is related to or is part of it then I would probably go down the cahms route they may refer to audiology as part of the assessments. I wouldn't damn the camhs experience as a whole, it just wasn't really for us I suppose, several things about it left us with a bad taste. You may be more successful, you can definitely self refer there are forms online I seem to remember 🙂 12 week wait normally however I would probably double that now, it depends on the seriousness I would say. My d was told she had generalised anxiety, won't go into detail but a rather traumatic bereavement was involved amongst other things. We tried that route a second time as she was up and down a lot mood wise in various ways and asked about possible autism (possibly clutching staws at the time) or at least on the spectrum as she also has palilalia (as did her Dad) ...could be part of it, could not 🤷‍♀️ the mental health nurse hadn't heard of it, she'd only heard of echolalia and said it's probably that (it's not lol) so we suspected there may be something sensory going on but just can't really pinpoint it.

@theliverpoolone I love that you are really trying to do the best for your DD. I totally feel the same about losing the family time by allowing us to eat in front of the TV or separately. I’ve been trying to involve my boys more in the food prep.

@thedevilinablackdress I tried really hard to focus on the TV earlier rather than my DH eating and it did reduce my rage.

Mine is long standing, but I also think the anticipation makes it worse. I used to get so stressed about the noise from next door starting (had to buy a detached house).