to ask about your misophonia struggles?

[awesomeauntie]

After seeing the feature on This Morning today about misophonia I just wanted to start a thread to hear other people's experiences and what they struggle with as it makes me feel better to know I'm not alone

The sound of feet tapping or nail biting sets me off, but my absolute biggest trigger is neighbour noise and specifically music. My ears tune into bass and low sounds and I can't hear anything else.

If my neighbour plays music with bass I honestly sometimes feel like I could smash up the house. I can't stop myself from going and standing in the room next to it to listen to it, it's like self torture and only makes me more age filled but I can't stop myself! Last summer someone at the other side of our estate was playing loud music with thumping bass for days on end. You could only hear it if you tuned into it but my ears automatically tuned into it and I couldn't stop, I was on edge every day waiting for it. I honestly nearly had a break down, the stress I felt in my head from it brought me to tears. It was awful and my partner just didn't understand, but I do understand why as even writing this out here I can see how odd it all sounds to people who don't have it.

After the feature today I've made a GP appointment to see if I can get referred for some kind of therapy - I need to try something as it's starting to control my life.

Definitely eating and breathing noises. Doesn't have to be noisy either - my colleague eating his sandwich VERY quietly is just as bad as DP slurping up spaghetti, in some ways worse!?

People typing on little clicks clacky keyboards like those you get with tablets or laptops. Normal ones are fine.
A certain noise on my partner's phone when he types on that keyboard.

I have to take deep breaths and try to get out of the situation. It's horrible.

In the Night Garden:

One pontypine
Two pontypine
Three pontypine
Four pontypine
Five pontypine
Six pontypine
Seven pontypine
Eight pontypine
Nine pontypine
Ten pontypine

All said in one breath. It makes me so uncomfortable. I can't watch it if those little fuckers appear.

Oh just remembered, some people's voices if they are particularly bass-y.

Neighbour noise is the main one for me; in my old house my neighbours regularly played loud music or shouted (often at 3AM) and were generally terribly inconsiderate and rude and it left me a total wreck. I couldn't sleep and was always so tense anticipating the next disturbance.

I have since moved and my new neighbours, in all fairness/honesty, only make "normal" noise, i.e. they have a child who clatters around for an hour or two during the day, they occasionally sound like they are moving furniture, it's nothing malicious or at really antisocial hours or anything. But as PP said my ears just zone into it and it's all I can hear and it distracts me from watching TV or writing or whatever else I was doing and sets me on edge and puts me in a bad mood. I actually asked my partner if he could hear the clattering next door in the early evening the other night and he genuinely couldn't until I pointed it out and even then it didn't bother him, whereas I was totally tuned into it and getting irritated.

I ended up having to wear earplugs pretty much 24/7 in my old house and I don't really want to have to do that again but I'm already feeling so wound up by it.

@TipseyTorvey I feel your pain. DD is NT but has some autistic like traits and clapping or whooping are her favourites. The clapping just drives me crazy, if I'm driving I fear I might crash sometimes.

Oh also to add, I actually don't get annoyed by the sound of people eating in general but my dad seems to make this specific slurping noise that really gets on my nerves! Fortunately I don't live with him.

I'm like this with neighbour noise, it makes me feel incredibly anxious and full of rage, my neighbours are very quiet but last summer their son played bass music loudly a few times made me a nervous wreck and I started wearing ear plugs ! I'm not at all like that usually. My dd is like this about eating .we play music if eating together. It's strange like an alien takes us over!

Another one for eating and breathing here. My DH breathes soooo loudly when he is concentrating on something, if feel the rage building to dangerous levels!

I have to leave the room when my three year old is eating certain foods for fear I'll scream at her

My teenager smashes her teeth together when eating soft foods like boiled eggs. I’m like WTF are you doing?! In my head obviously... I just leave the room when she’s eating. Hate it.

The noise a train makes when it's coming to a stop....it seems to go on for ever and gives me palpitations and makes me tap my fingers on my leg.

Teenage DS eating cereal is like hell. I can't even be on the same floor as him let alone in the same room.

My dog barking makes me angry.

Too many people talking in one space or loud music when someone's talking to me

@PaperMonster

My OH eating goes right through me. I try not to be in the room when he’s eating. I get the most horrendous rage. I was once in a lift with a man who started eating an apple. Still makes me feel sick thinking about it.

I used to sit next to a guy at work who would eat his apple like he’d been starved for a year previously.

He’d also take a massive bite of sandwich then try and start a conversation... off you fuck pal.

My dh clears his throat. A lot.
Also plate scraping
Smacking lips
I have had ten sessions of cbt for it. Helped a little but still difficult.

@Moreofawonderingment

Music over a certain volume if someone is talking to me. It’s just too much and it sends me into a frenzy!

It’s like sensory overload. I can either do music or conversation. Unless it’s quiet background music obviously.

Eating - not as bad if I'm eating also, but need the radio on in the background.
Heavy breathing
Whistling
Tapping
Nail-biting
Snoring

I have to leave the room.

Truck (lorry) backup beepers. I feel my life is haunted by them.

Bizarrely, as a yoof, I loved clubbing. So so happy listening to a trance beat for hours prancing about. Maybe it drowned out all other irritating sounds? I think lock down has made me far angrier as the family are always HERE, clattering, singing, chinking and stomping. Please let it end.

Other people eating, cutlery on plates and bowls, neighbours noise that’s too loud to ignore but to quiet to hear properly 🤣
I found noise cancelling ear phones perfect!

So many things. But dh is sport obsessed. The fucking whistle on sports matches. He loves to watch football and rugby. Rugby whistle is the worst. It literally flattens me. Takes all my energy away.

My daughter was diagnosed with it in her mid teens. It seems to be linked to her autism.
Anyway, eating and breathing noises give her the rage! And she physically cannot step inside a room if someone is snoring.
She's very good with it though, bless her, and loves music so her earphones are a constant godsend.

My mother used to use her finger to wipe up sauce like gravy or whatever from her plate when she'd finish eating. The sound of her mouth opening and then sucking her finger used to make me feel on the edge of violence.
I absolutely adore her and she's otherwise a lovely human being but I just cannot with that. I avoid eating with her or leave to "pop to the loo" if she starts that shit.

Because I've been working from home I've had the radios on all day and there are some voices and noises that actually induce tears of rage

Sara cox and her fucking wowowowowow and foghorns over decent music.

And two newsreaders that shouldn't be allowed on radio.

Any and all neighbour noise. It can be anything. Window cleaners, workmen, kids in garden, dogs barking etc. All perfectly normal noise but because of a couple of periods of very problematic noise in the past it makes me feel like hurling myself off a bridge. I can and do have total meltdowns over it. I have to leave and walk the dog or go for a drive. This past summer with everyone at home all the time was hellish.

Screaming
I have 6 kids who I taught not to scream unless in serious danger
I have 2 stepdaughters (18 and 13)who think it’s funny to sit in the back of the car screaming at each other
They get told to stop it-only to start again minutes later
It’s like my brain latches onto the noise,then it goes right through me until I think I’m going mad-Ive been in tears many times
Next doors kids are there 2 weeks out of 4 and they do nothing but scream in the garden in the summer months
We have to live in our house with all the windows shut-I’ve not used our garden in 3 years because of them
I’ve tried asking the parents to teach them not to unless they are hurt but they haven’t
It’s torture

Sniffing..it makes me want to scream