I run into the problem of people think I am exaggerating all the time. Mostly because I use a lot of adjectives when I talk. However, often I try to let people know just the bare bones about my disabilities so that they don't freak out and call 911 if I have problems in public. I hate having to deal with an emergency team when I am close to non-responsive. Especially since they can do nothing for me and the standard things they do just make me worse.

People think I am joking when I tell them that it is no big deal that I fall to the floor paralyzed and can't respond for 5 minutes. Just leave me alone and I will be fine. At least they think I am joking until I fall to the floor and can't respond for 5 minutes...

For most people, they can't empathize with a problem they can't imagine. You can either spend a lot of time and energy explaining your issues in great detail to someone who may or may not be interested or you can let them come up with explainations on their own for your challenges. I prefer spending all that time and energy personally. It prevents me from being called a drunk when I haven't been priviledged to have even 1 glass of wine in the last month. If I am going to be insulted it is going to be about problems I actually have, not imagined problems others try to give me.

Why did you quit school, sports, and music? Was OCD and/or SPD that made them too difficult? What exactly where the problems you faced in each of these areas that led you to quit?

Honestly I'm only 21 but I already reached the point where I don't give a crap about what people think about my problems. They think what they want it's not going to make it better (or worse).

Honestly the OCD made me reach a point I never imagined I would reach. And this being hypersensitive is just part of it really.

Honestly I'm still not 100% sure about SPD. There is some stuff I can defenitly relate to and some stuff I can't relate too like when you say you become non-responsive I don't have that, I'm somehow clumsy but I don't have problems with my motor skills. But I have stuff like being really car sick (like I had today)

I looked at the SPD adult list:

General modulation -> 7/9
Over-responsiveness -> 20/26 (didn't answer 2 of the 28 questions)
Under-responsiveness -> 1/9
Sensory Seeking -> 0
Sensory Discrimination ->
Sensory Based Motor-Abilities -> 3/19
Social and Emotional -> 18/21
Internal Regulation -> 5/6

To answer your question. I can't just stay 1 minute without having to occupy my mind with something stimulating. It's just impossible for me. And if there is nothing (external) to stimulate me, I start thinking and thinking and thinking about stuff that doesn't even make sense and make up problems. Waiting for a bus is really difficult for me, most of the time I end up walking to the next stations and then I miss the bus lol. Walking if I have music with me helps me.
Put me alone in a room with nothing is impossible for me. I tried and I tried and I tried but I just can't. I really don't know what is causing me to have this but you can imagine that studying is almost impossible sometimes.

Rooms of nothing with nothing to do is my second worst nightmare after becoming permanently paralyzed.

I have Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis (HypoKPP) in addition to SPD. HypoKPP is sensitive to adrenaline rushes. SPD triggers adrenaline rushes for those who are Hypersensitive to sensory input. The HypoKPP causes the major of the motor issue and all the paralysis/non-responsive problems. I inherited it from my mother. It is a fairly rare condition so I wouldn't expect most SPD people to react to sensory overload by shutting down like I do.

Since SPD is triggering adrenaline rushes, I would expect a "normal" SPD individual to experience Fight or Flight modes. Fight mode would cause anger problems and potentially fighting until the sensory stimulous is ended. Flight mode would cause the person to flee until the trigger no longer has impact on them.

In my case, the adrenaline rush causes the Ion imballance that triggers the HypoKPP, which is why I temporarily become paralyzed and non-responsive until the adrenline rush resolves.

(03-06-2012, 03:28 AM)beck7422 Wrote: Rooms of nothing with nothing to do is my second worst nightmare after becoming permanently paralyzed.

I have Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis (HypoKPP) in addition to SPD. HypoKPP is sensitive to adrenaline rushes. SPD triggers adrenaline rushes for those who are Hypersensitive to sensory input. The HypoKPP causes the major of the motor issue and all the paralysis/non-responsive problems. I inherited it from my mother. It is a fairly rare condition so I wouldn't expect most SPD people to react to sensory overload by shutting down like I do.

Since SPD is triggering adrenaline rushes, I would expect a "normal" SPD individual to experience Fight or Flight modes. Fight mode would cause anger problems and potentially fighting until the sensory stimulous is ended. Flight mode would cause the person to flee until the trigger no longer has impact on them.

In my case, the adrenaline rush causes the Ion imballance that triggers the HypoKPP, which is why I temporarily become paralyzed and non-responsive until the adrenline rush resolves.

Thanks for the explanations.

So, being unable to do nothing is an SPD thing? But is there any explanation for it? It like I'm chronically understimulated when there is nothing going on and overstimulated when there is something happening.

In my case, being unable to do anything when overwhelmed is a HypoKPP thing, but triggered by my SPD. The adrenaline rush from the sensory overwhelm, steals the Potassium from my blood stream. My body, due to the HypoKPP, is incredibly sensitive to any Potassium (K+) changes. Even a 0.2 K+ drop within normal human limits is enough to temporarily paralyze me. An adrenaline rush causes at least a temporary 0.2 K+ drop in my blood serum. I can give a more technical description, but it isn't really relevant to SPD.

I personally need something to go on or I am just not really here, but too much and I shut down from being overwhelmed. One day I will master the ballance. The closest for me is to play board games with friends. It gives me social interraction, but I can look at the board if looking at the other people is too overstimulating. The board game also gives me mental challenges to accomplish when my friends' discussion becomes boring and repetitious. One of my friends brings her crocheting with her while we socialize. It gives her hands something to do while we talk.