Hi, Jukali! Welcome! I've been learning about SPD since my son was diagnosed in '08, but the more I learn, the more I find things that I relate to. And a lot of the things you've listed sound like things I've experienced too! I can relate to the smell sensitivity. I'm addicted to candles to cover up normal house smells. I can tell immediately if a food has gone bad. My husband is always asking me to smell the milk to see if the milk is turning bad because he can't tell.

Most sounds are too loud for me. Everyone seems to watch TV louder than I like. I talk very softly and people ask me to speak up often. I also say "what?" often even though I've heard all the words, but it takes my brain longer to put them together so they make sense, usually by the time I've said "what?" I tend to watch a person's mouth while they speak to help me understand and process what they're saying. I have to remind myself to look a person in the eyes and not watch their mouth all the time. I've had hearing tests and they are normal. The sound of my dog licking makes me crazy--it will even wake me from a sound sleep in the middle of the night. If he doesn't stop right away, I have to plug my ears and hum to cover the sound.

I've always been clumsy too and tend to not quite make it around corners, usually hit my hip or shoulder. I think I have a higher pain threshold than most people. I have 3 tattoos and thought they weren't that painful, more like an annoying scratching and then feels like a sunburn afterward. I've delivered both of my sons naturally with no pain medication--painful but not beyond tolerating. Yet my feet are extremely ticklish.

I'm very empathetic and emotional too. I fainted in college while watching a movie (Unbearable Lightness of Being) in one of the lecture halls, because a character in the movie dislocated his shoulder and I experienced his pain. Sometimes I can't watch The Office because of the embarrassing things Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) does. I have moments of very very low self-esteem. I have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety. One psychologist suggested I had OCD thoughts, but there's another thread elsewhere, where I discovered those thoughts (little movies, I call them) are probably related to SPD.

Are you receiving any treatment currently? You said about the ADHD diagnosis. I think there're a lot of people (kids and adults) who have been misdiagnosed with ADHD, or at least have both ADHD and SPD. Have you seen the checklist for SPD? There's a great one on this website: http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.c...klist.html I would bring the list above and the checklist to either your primary doctor or a psychologist if you're seeing one. You did a great job on your list!

I'm glad you've found us here! I hope you'll stick around and offer your perspective!