misophonia
Ever since I was a kid, I've been really sensitive to certain sounds. Dogs licking themselves or lapping water. People chewing. Water dripping. The distorted sound of talking through a door or wall. My own heartbeat, if I lie with my ear flat on a pillow.
These sounds would make me crazy. They prevented me from sleeping. They made my heart race. If I were in a classroom with someone snapping gum, sometimes I would actually have to leave. God forbid it were during a test. I remember once, when it was at its worst, actually hitting myself in the face because I wanted the noise to get OUT of my ears. It got a little better as I aged, which I attributed to learning more self-control, and a lot better once I started taking antidepressants, which was a nice perk.
I found out the other day that this is a legit medical condition--somewhat recently acknowledged, to be fair, and still not very widely known--called misophonia. I'm not just a too-tightly-wound, oversensitive freak! Who knew!
Misophonia Activation Scale (MAS)
misophonia.com
These sounds would make me crazy. They prevented me from sleeping. They made my heart race. If I were in a classroom with someone snapping gum, sometimes I would actually have to leave. God forbid it were during a test. I remember once, when it was at its worst, actually hitting myself in the face because I wanted the noise to get OUT of my ears. It got a little better as I aged, which I attributed to learning more self-control, and a lot better once I started taking antidepressants, which was a nice perk.
I found out the other day that this is a legit medical condition--somewhat recently acknowledged, to be fair, and still not very widely known--called misophonia. I'm not just a too-tightly-wound, oversensitive freak! Who knew!
Misophonia Activation Scale (MAS)
misophonia.com