Misophonia - anyone else?

[RosaMoline]

I think I’ve suffered from this for many years now - it’s worse now to be honest.

I feel triggered and irrationally angered by:

whistling (I have a colleague who does this. I literally have to grit my teeth and stop myself from shouting at him to shut the fuck up)
throat clearing, coughing, sniffing
eating sounds - this isn’t such an issue for me now, as I live alone, am for the most part a lone worker, and tend not to notice it whilst in restaurants etc with friends as background noise phases it out
there’s a bench behind my workplace, and you can hear everything, I hate peoples sitting there and having long phone conversations. If I could move the bench, I would
people sitting in their cars for hours playing r n b music, something with bass
car engines idling

I’m sure there are more. Rather conversely I love watching ASMR videos. Especially whispering, mouth sounds, tapping and so on. What’s that all about then?!

My dh has misophonia. He was telling me today about someone eating pistachios on the train which was awful for him.

I really struggle though as our life is so compromised by the misophonia - plus he’s constantly telling me off as it’s impossible to avoid his triggers completely.

He’s tried CBT so interested to understand any other solutions

I feel your pain, OP! I've worked with a whistler, a loud talker, and a gum snapper and the stress had a significant impact on my health.

I've just ordered Loop Quiet earplugs, which claim to block 27 decibels. Might be a solution for you.

@Eyesopenwideawake please can you DM me also? Misophonia makes my life miserable, and my dad is the same. If I’m awake with the baby overnight and even think I can head DH snoring through the wall (sometimes I’m imagining it) it makes me so angry I can’t get back to sleep. Would really love to get a handle on it.

Japan was heaven, bar the slurping noodles!

Omg, and the heel dragging!

for me it’s people eating crisps or crunchy food (eg. raw carrots), I honestly become so angry.

my daughter knows and now goes to another room to eat crisps. My husband is not always as supportive though, he knows it’s real but won’t stop eating something just because I’m near.

I heard the comedian Sarah Silverman on a podcast saying she has it too and cannot watch any movies with Brad Pitt on them because of the way he eats, she can’t stand it.

@Eyesopenwideawake - could you dm me as well please. I feel like the noises I am sensitive too are increasing and I would describe them as almost painful to me. I've always been quite jumpy too- whenever my DH coughs it makes me jump so I never feel like I can totally relax when he has a cold( which seems to be often!)

DS(10) has this I think. Makes family mealtimes VERY challenging. He gets what we would consider irrationally angry at our eating noises. Just ordered some loop earplugs. May make a difference.

Any other treatments for a child? Would hypnotism work?

Anyone clearing their throat ... and my husband snoring! I definitely think it's made worse by being menopausal though!

Oh god, yes. Right now it’s noisy cars that are getting me down. The exhausts are the worst. Some of them are like canons, banging and exploding at all hours of the day. I don’t know how they’re allowed to get away with it.

Noise affects me a lot. I dread ‘nightmare neighbours’ moving in next door. I have heard so many horror stories over the years, and I’ve known two people driven to suicide attempts by noisy neighbours. I can’t afford to move, and honestly think it would be a death sentence. It literally keeps me awake at night - just the thought of it. Goes without saying that the police would be useless.

Yes, all of the above 😢 I hate that that is the case & it is really affecting my relationship (from my own perspective, my husband is wonderful), but it is unbearable.

Might be a useful read
www.telegraph.co.uk/recommended/home/best-earplugs-restful-nights-sleep/

For those of you with the Loop Quiet, can you tell me how you wash them, and how often you change the tips. I was looking at this which gives you 4 pairs at different sizes so you choose the best fit, but that would only give you one pair of the right size, so you need to buy more of that size?

www.loopearplugs.com/products/quiet

I don’t know if it counts as misophonia but for years neighbours’ loud music blasting into my house stressed me to instant vomiting and diarrhoea point, and I will not sit in noisy cafes. It’s not so bad now, especially living in a retirement village, but I still hate hearing neighbours’ televisions or radios through connecting walls.

My partners cough makes my skeleton shudder

Also hate whistling

Oh and (old) people on the train whose phone makes a beep or tapping sound when they send a text.

Yes to barking dogs, extra loud TV/radio (especially adverts) and dogs licking themselves.

Not a noise, but another thing that makes me homicidal is sharing a train seat, public bench etc. with men people who fidget so hard the whole thing shakes.

I used to have this, especially with cutlery noises (people clanging their knives and forks around), eating noises and other small bodily noises.

Then I permanently moved out of my family's home and to my surprise, the misophonia went. This made me think that it actually might be more of a stress response than anything else. You said in your case that it's got worse over time, so this might be the same for you as well.

Maybe you should look into the stresses you have in your life that could be causing/worsening the misophonia.

I was aware that living with my family was stressful, but I had no idea it was affecting me in that way.

I've tried loop earplugs but hated them as they magnified internal noises (breathing, movement, chewing etc). So they weren't helpful.

I've also bought some Bose Quiet Comfort II ear buds. They're amazing and do their job well, but don't fit right for me with the standard fittings. I'm still waiting for the xs size to be posted out to me.

I have this too, it's been a part of my life since I was about 10. Eating sounds, kissing sounds and quiet talking are my worst problems.

The Secret Escapes and Tresemme adverts are the current bane of my life because whispering fills me with rage.

I was in a waiting room recently where one couple were whispering, one person was eating a seemingly endless supply of sticky, chewy Maoam sweets so I could hear all the saliva swishing on their mouth and another woman kept slurpily kissing her baby's head. It was horrible 😩

I can't watch the episode of Friends where Joey and Rachel try to get together because the kissing sounds repulse me.

I'm happy doctors are now treating it as an actual condition and not just a personal dislike of sounds. It's interesting to read about the biological reason for these aversions.
It tried to talk about it with a friend but she assumed I meant rudeness, as in it's rude to whisper in company and eat sloppily.

I have found that mimicking the sound in a caricatured way can take away the uncomfortable feelings of rage and disgust. If someone close by is eating I make over the top eating noises to myself.

Omg this has a name?! I feel like this over chewing gum chewing, nail picking, my dog licking something or nibbling, today I was on the bus and someone behind me was making clicking noises (almost like a nail clipper type noise) even thru headphones and a podcast I could hear it and it was taking all my self control to not turn round and tell them to stop! Asmr videos make me cringe and feel sick and itchy, can't bear to listen to them!

For me, and not necessarily for others, an increase in my misophonia means that I need to seek treatment for my depression. Once I’m on the medication, it goes away. Once back off the medication, it can (and has) taken up to 15 years until I need help again…

@JaneyGee
Wow I could have written your post ! in fact I have new neighbours who.make garden noise and have several friends with those car exhausts. I dont like living here much anymore and dread nice weather and weekends. I dont understand why they cant ban them altogether . So triggering .

@Eyesopenwideawake
Me too please x

Have this too. Adverts are a nightmare. The crunch on the magnum advert and that robinsons ad where people are gargling squash are horrible! I can’t watch live TV in case I see them. I’ve almost got into fights with men who were whistling, which is terrible because it’s usually noisy burly blokes. Luckily I work from home now as office sounds are awful. I worked with a gum popper and she must have wondered why I hated her so much. Hair twirling really gets to me too. I was in A&E the other day and this patient’s wife was twirling her greasy red hair the whole time while muttering to him and even though I was ill, it was all I could focus on.

I tried the Flare earplugs which were completely useless. Will have to look at the loops.

My NDN does this all the time,it sounds like a fucking avalanche.