(04-13-2011, 09:56 PM)I have SPD. Wrote:

(04-11-2011, 10:59 PM)animaluver Wrote: Well I'm pretty sure that I have oral defensiveness. Thinking about eating can make me feel nauseated. Eating (any food or drink besides soda) tends to cause me to get nauseated, gag, and occasionally throw up. . . . On my worst days, I'd rather die than have to eat another meal.

That stinks! I don't have the same severity of oral problems, but I feel for you. That must be awful.

Yeah, some days are okay though and I have barely any of those symptoms so I'm not sure why it fluctuates (although stress seems to be a factor for me). Do your symptoms ever change or does that not really happen since SPD is a neurological disorder? I have depression, anxiety, an aversion to eating in general for some reason (I don't consume enough calories or enough of a variety), and what I think is undiagnosed SPD, so unfortunately they all play off each other. I'm 21 (tomorrow!) and have been telling my parents my entire life that something is wrong and I needed help with it. A couple years ago, I was misdiagnosed with anorexia twice and I managed to confuse quite a few doctors and therapists with my symptoms. I was forced into treatment for anorexia (even though I clearly WANT to gain weight) because I got so sick and nobody knew what else to do with me. Imagine people like us having to participate in multiple groups a day about a negative body image and emotions when we're the only ones in the group who don't necessarily have those problems. Obviously that was not super helpful. I kept trying to tell my parents, doctors, and therapists that I knew it was something different and that it felt like more of a physical problem that had a small psychological component. So that leads me here, seeking more information on my own so that I can be my own advocate

Good for you. Happy birthday! Yeah, my symptoms change. I get new ones. They vary. Every day is different. Some things (like grass) are bad no matter what. Sound sensitivities change with the days. I hope you can find answers and get relevant treatment.

Thanks for everything! I hope you're getting good treatment and doing alright too.

My sensitivity levels change all the time (except my light sensitivity which usually consistantly yucky). Many things make the sensitivities more active for me. Usually the cause of them being more active is I am not feeling well or I am in a lot of pain. I always have a mild level of impairment from SPD going on.

I do a lot to minimize my sensory problems negative impact on my life.

Taste is the one sense that is least affected. Specific foods annoy me and I won't eat them unless I have to, but I can choke them down when necessary.

Happy birthday, animaluver! I think I had more oral issues when I was a teenager. Eating was something I did to stay alive. It wasn't something to enjoy. I hated the texture of meat, especially red meat. I lived on yogurt, pineapple, and broccoli with cheese sauce during my high school years. My parents divorced when I was 15 so I was often fending for myself for meals. I was very thin and underweight (for the first 30 years of my life). My eating habits have gotten a lot better has I got older. I eat meat now, though now I'm cutting out as much red meat as I can for health reasons, not sensory issues. I'm more willing to try new foods. I love Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian, Mexican foods. Though, I hate cooking and think I will always hate cooking. The one luxury I'd love to have is a personal chef so I never have to cook again.

Definitely have ups and downs with sensitivity. Some days even the slightest things overwhelm me and I just can't handle things. I think mine has to do with stress, as well as the weather. I seem to be very sensitive to the amount of sunlight I get. The other day, it was cloudy and rainy and it was everything I could do to get out of bed and motivate myself to get the kids ready for school. On sunny days, I'm energized and very productive.

I DEFINITELY had more oral sensitivities as a kid/teenager. As pretty much the entire world saw it, I was ridiculously picky. I basically didn't eat any meat, because I HATED the texture (so I understand what you're talking about Lynn). It was too thick and I just couldn't stand it. It got so bad and my mom was trying so hard to get protein in me that WASN'T cheese, that she ground up meat for me in the food processor and I would eat it with a spoon and some ketchup. I literally would take a tupperware container of ground of chicken with ketchup on it for lunch at school. It sounds so gross, but it was the only way I could handle eating it. In retrospect? Um yeah, GROSS. However...it was what it was. My turkey sandwiches consisted of 1 piece of paper thin turkey and I could never prepare it because the meat felt too slimy to me.

I've seriously gotten better over the years, but there are still some textures I just don't do. I don't eat steak or any other thickly cut meat because I still hate the feeling of it between my teeth. I hate chewing something that thick...ugh. I also really hate the texture of pork chops. I eat chicken, turkey, bacon (as long as it's really crunchy), some fish (tuna, tilapia...working on this one) and a few other things that I can't think of right now.

Oddly enough, I've never been underweight. I wish that was my problem, but I gravitate to the other end of the scale I say that in jest, because I'm guessing you guys had a terrible time with it.

I really have my ups and downs with sensitivity too. My sensitivities shoot through the roof when I don't get enough sleep, that is a HUGE trigger for me. I hate touching almost EVERYTHING on those days (my tactual sensitivities are much worse than the others).

A new POSITIVE development is that I am now sometimes sort of able to handle writing with a regular lead pencil/listening to someone else write with it. This has really come about through repeated exposure. While it has absolutely been horribly uncomfortable, this sensitivity is getting somewhat better. I have written with a mechanical pencil for the majority of my life because I am so affected by the sound and feeling of regular #2 pencils.

The kindergartener I work with has weak fine motor skills, so we do a lot of writing practice. He has severe ADHD and cannot handle the mechanical pencil (pulling out the eraser, repeatedly breaking the lead, etc.). So I've just had to accept that we HAVE to use regular pencils. It's still hard to listen when he writes, because he writes REALLY forcefully. I don't have much of a choice but using his pencil when I am modeling something, otherwise he wants to use my mechanical. I still have to write very lightly/very hard, because otherwise the pencil makes too much of "that" noise and it must be very sharp. I bite the insides of my cheeks while I do it and it is very taxing, but it has gotten better.

Sorry that was so long!!

Jaimie

Paper. God I hate paper. The sound the feel the look. Also very strong spices bother me. And people touching the tips of my fingers, and my fingers being exposed they have to be in a fist or touching something that isn't "bad
Like the post above me, I HATE PENCILS. And erasers. I have to use sharp number two or mechanical.

(02-08-2011, 02:10 AM)jdefyingravity Wrote: Does anyone get a milder reaction from THINKING about the things you are averse to? perversely, my brain obsesses quite easily. So sometimes I will think about touching a bad thing and I experience it almost as if it were actually happening.

Same here! I have a problem with the sound and feel of little fuzzballs getting pulled off of fabric. I know it's something you can hardly hear, but it makes my insides shiver and my bottom teeth tingle unpleasantly. Whenever I just think about it, it almost feels the same as when I'm actually hearing it and feeling it.

My partner says his tactile response is often pain. He just informed me that almost all of the time, when someone touches him, he feels like it is cutting into his skin. If the touch is consistently applied, it begins to feel like the area is burning. We are doing the Wilbarger Brushing Protocol and he says that with the repeated stimulation he feels more comfortable but his stomach and neck are highly susceptible. When we are intimate it is very difficult to avoid these areas. He also has Tourettes and we cannot figure out if he reacts violently to the possibility of a touch from this or SPD. He anticipates the associated pain with touch and has a hard time feeling pleasure at all. He says that after a session of the Wilbarger Brushing Protocol he feels so different, he is not totally sure if it pleasure or just plain contentment from relief. Besides this treatment and physical exercise to build awareness of the body, how can I help him know what pleasure actually feels like?

I find myself very sensitive to bright light, or items with high levels of detail. A prime example would be at the local medical centre the other day where I was caught in limbo between staring at a patterned carpet or a glaring ceiling, but not wanting to sit for half an hour with my eyes shut. A solid night of sleep usually helps, but not always. Running in a open field is pretty much a thing of the past as there is far too much changing in my field of vision.
I'm also extremely ticklish (to the point of pain), a vulnerability my other half enjoys...