Misophonia - My hatred of sounds
Definition: Misophonia is defined as "hatred of sound", and is a rarely diagnosed psychiatric disorder in which negative emotions (anger, flight, hatred, disgust) are triggered by specific sounds.
Since I was a young girl of about 9 years old, certain sounds have SEVERELY irritated me. The intensity level is so high that I literally have to grind my teeth not to hit someone. I almost instantly go into a terrible rage, up to the point where I could even possibly attack you physically.
The quickest way to really tense me up is when someone chews ice. I cannot stand this sound, and my own personal rev counter immediately jumps into the red when someone chews ice.
Overall I am an irritable person, but when someone eats ice, it causes such an intense anger that my heart start racing and I literally have to grind my own teeth to try and stay quiet. It is a sudden automatic uncontrollable response. I will be dead calm and peaceful, minding my own business, but when a sound triggers me I can turn into a real nasty person.
I have always thought that there was something wrong with me as this is such a silly thing, until I found out that this is an actual "syndrome" and not something that I made up in my mind.
My one child is a very lovable and calm child, but he is always fidgeting with something. He always has something in his pocket that he plays with, and while we were watching a movie a while ago, I realized that I was getting anxious and irritated. He was playing with a piece of elastic and the sound triggered me.
Perhaps it has something to do with my hearing, but might be more in the way that my brain interprets a specific sound.
I am very sensitive to the following sounds:
- The sound of someone eating with a knife and fork on a plate.
- The sound of someone stirring coffee or tea.
- Someone tapping their fingers.
- Someone eating anything crunchy like crisps, popcorn or ICE.
- Water dripping from a leaking tap.
- Grinding of teeth.
This issue has caused me to become less sociable. I don't go to the movies often because of the popcorn chewing issue, but surround sound has mostly eliminated this issue. I don't go to pubs for a drink, because of the ice and the loud music issue. I simply try to avoid situations where I might be confronted with these sounds.
The weirdest thing is that I don't trigger myself. I can eat ice and it doesn't bother me in the least! Sounds like scratching on a chalkboard doesn't bother me at all, although it can irritate others tremendously. I have other weird phobias too, but I will tell you all about these in a later post!
Is there anyone else with such a weird "syndrome"? I know my dad has this too, and it might be hereditary but none of my friends do, so it will be interesting to find out that I am not the only weird person on this planet.
One common misconception is that misophonia is a hatred of any background sound. Actually the trigger sounds can be quite specific.
Oh definitely. It is an absolutely weird feeling. Not all sounds trigger me though but certain ones would drive me up the walls...and I tell myself to just keep calm and walk away.
Easier said than done, I know, but this means your health and stress levels in general, outside of you misophonia.
The more relaxed you are in other areas of your life, the better you will be at dealing with triggers.
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Hi nice post.
https://steemit.com/heart/@vikramrana/heart-attack-know-the-signs-of-heart-attack-before-one-month
Read this post like Upvote and share for heat attack awareness
Very weird, indeed. I hope this syndrome doesn't deprive you of all music. Music in public places can be very annoying, but I hope at home you can listen to your personal music.
Funny that you don't get irritated by chalk on a blackboard - horrible sound. However, not so horrible as the sound of a knife scratching on a plate. That's the one sound I cannot stand, even thinking about it makes me nervous!
I am a teacher and I am used to writing with chalk on a board, perhaps I taught myself how to control my feelings about that. No don't worry about music. I listen to music daily through earphones...perhaps to block out other sounds come to think of it...lol
The sound of two irons clanging together goes down my spine. extremely annoying
Ha ha....the only thing that makes my spine shiver is when someone has a piece of wool in their mouth or cotton wool...that kills me!
Haven't heard of misphonia before and I haven't heard of anyone experiencing it.
The closest to this is my sensitivity to loud noises in general, like loud music in a club or a bar. If I'm too long in an environment with intense noise my heart starts to beat and my breathing accelerates. It's like getting overstimulated or "overcharged". But luckily there are earplugs which I always take with me when I'm anticipating of going out (those rare occasions, like celebrating someone's graduation or birthday). And the experience is so much better.
This is because I recognize myself as highly sensitive person which is a concept of describing people with more sensitive nervous system and attributes correlated with it (like sensitivity to intense external stimulus). The concept isn't pulled out of nothing but has a strong science behind it (read the book of Elaine Aron, the inventor of the concept, where he described the science behind it).
On it's core it's a neutral quality which can be thought as a part of neurodiversity in the human genome. It might have negative implications because "highly sensitive" can be associated with being emotionally unstable (not denying a highly sensitive person couldn't be unstable, but having the attribute doesn't cause it).
But in my daily life I don't really think about it anymore and I don't really "label" myself with it (except now, hehe). But it sure was a good tool to understand myself better and it has definitely increased my self-confidence.
Got little extensive with my answer but you know, can't help it when I get into something interesting :D
LOL! Thanks for your comment I will try and find the book it sounds very interesting! People already think that I am crazy so they label me and I don't...LOL!
It's definitely worth a read, no need to limit yourself with labels :D
I know of this. My son suffered a bout of this years back with the sound of chewing, sniffing, loud breathing throat clearing. Basically any people head noises. He had to run, get away, make it stop. The noises triggered fits of rage and crying. He also had this with seeing certain things, like an obese person. It seems related to OCD in that some inocuous stimulus triggers anxiety, panic, and the compulsion to get away and cleanse from the offensive experience. Intensive cognative behavior therapy and a period on medication helped him settle his symptoms. You are not alone.
It does sound like that...I feel the same way if I see a mime. Here in South Africa we have mimes everywhere at the robots trying to beg for money...it takes a lot of willpower not to shout at them. I am not scared of them they just make me terribly angry! LOL
So what to do?! I guess The alternatives are living carefully planned avoidance and holding in reactive anger, or else finding a way to minimize the effect of the trigger on our insides. Not easy.
My child cannot stand somebody else chewing too loud - I am in trouble a lot of times when eating chips
Eat softer...my mom sucks on her crisps so my dad can't hear her eating...
Your mom is a good person - hahaha I like the way I eat thank you
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I have misophonia, did not realize it till we were listening to a program on the radio about this topic and my husband just glared at me. I have actually lost it a few times while he was eating. I HATE the sound of his chewing, it drives me into such a rage I now have to walk out of the room. I can tolerate most people's chewing but his particular way of chewing is just intolerable. Just typing this now and thinking about how he chews is making me get upset.... Too many people speaking at once and too much noise is also bothersome. So you are definitely not alone, I suspect it's hereditary my mother refused to eat at the dinner table with us because she did not like hearing people chew. Great post!
Hi nice post.
https://steemit.com/heart/@vikramrana/heart-attack-know-the-signs-of-heart-attack-before-one-month
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