Hi all.

Been lurking on and off here for a couple of months, after it was first suggested by my brother to me that I might want to look at SPD (physio mentioned that he thought I was hypersensitive to pain. When I mentioned that elsewhere, my bro suggested looking at SPD, as my nephew has it). After evaluation through an OT, was diagnosed with SPD. I'm in the mild category, hypersensitive and with lousy proprioception, with only visual not a problem. Worst area is probably smell/taste. It's been a time of ups and downs while I've been processing this - times when I think, no, I really don't have it, and times when I'm certain. If nothing else, it has allowed me to think "I know why I'm reacting like that, it's okay, you can still do it anyway" about some things, particularly in relation to touch (rubbing butter into flour while cooking- that's an exercise in control). And to go "oh, so that's why I've completely freaked out at the thought of hearing popping balloons. It's a result of that birthday party when I was a kid when there was a hallway full of them and mum and dad told the kids to pop them all and with the hypersensitivity to hearing it's left an emotional scar." It's only in the last year or so that I've been able to hear a balloon pop and think, okay, that's all right, what am I freaking about?

I've still got a long way to go - we haven't started any of the therapy side of things, but I'm hoping I may get a fair bit out of OT. I've been doing a lot of reading, however. On the other hand, there is that bit of terror of 'but this is me... who am I without this?'

Otherwise, I'm a fairly avid reader, astronomy nut, amateur photographer (nature particularly insects) and I like drawing (well, when I get it right ).