What does sensory overload feel like?

[flowersintheshade]

Just the title really. What does sensory overload feel like?

I have heard the term used a lot but I'm not clear on how it differs from stress or anxiety in terms of how it physically feels?

Really curious!

It's probably different for different people, but for me:

I get it when there are several competing sounds at once, it's also worse if there are too many things moving in my field of vision as well as the sounds. It just kind of makes my brain shut down, all the sounds/stimuli mash together and I get this rushing feeling and I need to either leave, stop one/several of the sounds, or I will get very agitated and shout/snap or even lash out. I can't perform tasks in that state or think and my patience is absolutely zilch.

For example it is quite likely to happen in the kitchen when I'm cooking, because of cooking sounds + I often listen to a podcast (which is fine if it's just me) and one or two small children come in to be near me and somebody (one of the kids or DS1 or DH) tries to talk to me, I will generally hit a kind of shutdown point and just go "Out! OUT! Everyone out of the kitchen I can't concentrate!" and then tell people outright to go away, which isn't very nice but it's sort of survival because it makes me very panicky like one of them might get hurt because I can't concentrate on safety.

Sometimes sounds get distorted and start buzzing rather than sounding normal so I can't hear them properly.

I get it in the bathroom as well when DH is bathing one of the smaller children, the extractor fan is on plus music that he has just too loud for my comfort level.

Or if there is a diesel engine outside for more than a few minutes it will start to make me feel run down and tired and snappy. It's something to do with that low level singular noise. Extractor fans I tend to turn off as well.

Heat AND cold both set me off as well - it's a pain in the arse because there are only about 3-4 months of the year I'm actually comfortable outside. If I'm too cold, everything hurts, I want to curl up into a little ball, I cannot think, I can barely talk, all of my being is consumed with getting to somewhere warm ASAP. If it's too hot, then I'm drowning in sweat, I feel faint, I can barely move or think again and it just generally feels intolerable.

I don't honestly understand how people can work outside or with noisy engines etc - I would not be able to cope in those environments at all.

As a child I used to have full blown meltdowns due to sensory overload around noise. I would panic, cry, find it difficult to breathe and hide if I could.
It doesn't look like that now, but only because I'm not displaying those behaviours to the outside world. Loud or unexpected noises still full me with huge panic. Noise is my biggest struggle but sensory overload from other things can leave me exhausted and wanting to hide.

Struggling with sensory processing difficulties can be really debilitating and make everyday life and the outside world quite a frightening place.

I'm not formally diagnosed with anything other than generalised anxiety disorder but I'm fairly sure I have ADHD (based on my DS who has it; I share a lot of his characteristics), so take this with a pinch of salt but it's like my brain shuts down - I can't concentrate or focus, can't think straight (so if I'm cooking, I'm literally walking from one place to another with no real clue what I'm doing, I drop things if there are a few sounds happening and someone then tries to speak to me, for example, and in a supermarket where I assume it's the lights, noise, people all combined, I suddenly just feel wound up, anxious and like I need to get out. Almost like a flight or fight kind of feeling with palpitations, shallow breathing, etc.

Oh wow, reading this made me realise that my hot/cold thing could be sensory? I've always struggled with being cold because it's like my entire body shuts down; I have raynauds but also I always end up slurring my speech and not being able to speak properly, my entire body hurts and all I can think about is getting warm. I just thought I was a baby 😶

I'm also stupidly sensitive to warmth; the slightest increase in temperature and my face goes bright red, I start feeling sweaty and I feel excessively hot to the point I feel like I might pass out!

I don't have Reynaud's, but yes, exactly the same.

I assume it's sensory - I could just be a wimp :D but I've been living in a warmer country than the UK for 10 years now and I still have the same issues in the summer. I have got a little bit more used to it so I can tolerate up to about 30 air temperature rather than 28, as long as I'm not in direct sunlight.

Thanks for such in depth responses! It's interesting. I guess a lot of this is what I would instinctively describe as stress but perhaps I am using the wrong language.

I am wondering how easy it is to tell generally what the cause of sensory overload is? Like did you have to work it out from observing your own instinctive behaviour in certain environments or did you just always recognise that certain sensory things were hard to cope with?

I think for me it's like intense unbearable stress, that can appear suddenly or in other circumstances build up over time, until I can't cope. I was diagnosed with autism last year.

I have always had significant issues around noise, from my very earliest memories. Back when I was a child my meltdowns were punished as poor behaviour or 'being difficult'. I was utterly terrified of loud noise. I'm so glad there is better understanding of meltdowns and sensory processing now. As I spent so much of my childhood so frightened of noise and then the consequences of my reactions to it.

I use loop quiet ear plugs now which do help a bit.

I guess my curiosity comes from the fact I am a very stressy/anxious person who is very particular about my environment. I have lots of intense likes and dislikes. I can identify with what the previous poster described as unbearable stress which can come on very quickly. It occurred to me it could be a sensory thing like what people describe as sensory overload but I'm not sure..

The best option, in my experience, is experimentation. For me, the primary issues are light, noise and heat. I generally can't do a huge amount about heat when I'm outside the house, so I started wearing yellow-tinted mirror shades whenever I go shopping (always a nightmare environment for me). That helped a lot, and helped me focus, but for years I struggled with the sheer amount of noise. I originally thought it was the volume, but ear plugs didn't help because I'm so used to using sound as a way to detect what's going on around me.

In the end, I treated myself to a set of Sennheiser Momentum 3 earbuds for other reasons, and discovered the transparent noise cancelling mode - the difference it makes is astonishing! It turns out that my problem isn't the amount of noise, it's the amount of noise sources and the many directions they're coming from. The transparent mode effectively reduces hundreds of noise sources down to two - left and right - and everything is immeasurably more bearable. I can still hear my other half talking perfectly well, while being able to turn the outside world up and down using the app as much as I want/need.

For reference, my experience is so similar to that of @BertieBotts it's spooky (but, at this point - having talked with a lot of other autistic folk - I'm kinda used to that).

It's worth adding that I've had far too many conversations that started with someone asking why I'm wearing shades indoors, and ended with them looking at me like I'm an escapee from an institution when I say "Because it's too noisy". Part of me wonders if I should say something else which might be more to their liking, but then the militant part of me says "Fk it, it's their problem, maybe messing with their head might make them think for once".

It's interesting what everyone is saying about temperature. I have always disliked the height of summer because it's too hot but also too bright. I hate the beach for this reason, I live in a popular seaside town so going to the beach comes up a lot. My family have always just put this down to me being a bit of a misery tho!

Do you listen to music with your earbuds @xyxygy or can you just use them to cancel out background noise?

Oddly, I bought them because I fancied a properly high-quality set of earbuds for music, and they do sound spectacular - far, far better than any other headphones I've ever used (including studio cans). In reality, though, that's probably about 10% of my usage time; I use them to turn down the outside world far more often.

I actually used them at a Devin Townsend gig a couple of weeks ago - I didn't think they'd cope with the volume but they worked perfectly, and with the app I could even tweak the sound so that what I was hearing actually sounded better than everyone else got!

They're pricey - I paid about £240 for them - but probably one of my best purchases.

My worst struggles are with noise (misophonia) and it is just immediate massive tension/rage…. I visibly tense and flinch at the offensive sounds, screw my hands up or dig my fingers into my skin to try to cope but generally end up having to either cover my ears or leave the room very quickly to prevent a total meltdown/shutdown….. Interestingly I am fine with loud noises (I love thunder!) but just can’t cope with small, irritating ones whatsoever. Earplugs help me a LOT though - I don’t know how I would cope with being a parent without them!

When I have experienced more general sensory overwhelm, for me personally it is more a feeling of desperately needing to escape/to run away and hide and escape whatever the over-stimulation is….

(No diagnosis yet but awaiting both ASD and ADHD assessment).

I’m not sure if what i experience is ‘sensory overwhelm’ but I think of mine as being like if someone was screaming in agony in the middle of the room, and you weren’t able to help and were expected to filter out both the noise and your distress at the situation and concentrate on something else.

At the supermarket: The lights are too bright, my eyes hurt. The piped music is distracting me, I can't find the items on my list. I hold my breath to buy shampoo because of the stench of perfumed cosmetics. The makeup aisle is a no-go zone.

At the pub: Too many people talking at once, I can't make out a single voice in the morass. I'm disoriented, people are too close, the walls and ceiling are closing in on me.

At work: Will you stop having a conversation next to my desk, I cannot think for the noise. Who decided that we don't need blinds in this office? I can't see the screen for the glare. Your aftershave makes me feel sick and gives me a headache. The pink flowers on your dress pulsate against the black background.

For me it makes me grumpy, snappy and angry.

i had a sensory meltdown just on Monday!

looking back the triggers were (and this will be totally outing to anyone that knows me 😬)

I was attending bank holiday beach bootcamp run by my friends. I live on the south east coast and it was blowing an absolute gale at 08:30 Monday morning SO windy and chilly

my sensory does not like very windy weather

so that already had me in state where I was likely to “go” after prolonged exposure
I lose my words when I am like that and cannot communicate

our group moved onto next circuit station which was press ups on the bar on the sea wall. As I held the bar my hands got covered in all this black stuff and I was like uuurrrghhh . My friend tried to get it off me

as we moved onto the next circuit station my friend running the bootcamp blowed his whistle next to me (I do not remember that bit) and that was it I was on the floor screaming and crying uncontrollably. When it was over my friend take me to her car and we have to sit it out

then at the end of bootcamp male friend with whistle give me a hug and tell me he still loves me and everything is fine (he tried to touch me in the meltdown and got clobbered)

I really really hate it when that happens but so lucky to have these friends now I no have family

Apologies going to be replying in chunks to posts. Can't read the whole thread first as today that is too difficult.

Bertie's heat cold thing is interesting and perhaps something I should pay more attention to.

I get cold. I wear lots of layers. Can't cope with cold. I struggle with too hot. (Sometimes when I have put too many layers on and can't take off more as they are underlayers) ...

...
However, I do struggle with sensory meltdown to sounds.

I need to escape and get cross if noise continues.

It feels overwhelming. Too much. I feel agitated to start and need to make the noise stop. Bertie described it quite well. My autistic teen has no off button and can trigger a meltdown in me. I can't think or concentrate. It takes a long while to calm down. I can get shouty if it doesn't stop.

It's interesting reading others' posts. I know I react to sound.

Yes to the number of sound sources being a main issue.

I don't like bright lights. I don't like light touch. I don't like heat and cold. I am wondering whether these contribute to sensory meltdowns without me realising it.

Oh and flicky fluorescent lights don't help.