Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone,
I'm Keith and 46, married with 2 children.
I am a Team Leader for a Train Maintenence company. To reach this position, I have worked from the shop floor as an engineer.
I have ADHD and High Functioning Asperger Syndrome. I was diagnosed after my son was diagnosed where I spotted the same traits.
I am on medication for my ADHD which coincidentally helps with my AS, as it somehow boosts my confidence to socialise with others but not fully.
I have made it a point to tell everyone I meet about my ADHD and AS and found this has helped tremendously, especially when I am very blunt or with my many facial expressions which I don't know I'm doing.
I'm finding home life very difficult at the moment where one of my sons traits is making very loud sharp noises which irritates the hell out of me.
I work very hard when at work, not stopping at all so when I get home mentally exhausted and all I want is to relax in a peaceful environment. I don't get this with my son and it's becoming more and more difficult. I'm not meant to be working today but I've gone in just to get away to have some peace and quiet.
I very much enjoy my work which has become my salvation but deep down I know it's not right. I crave peace and tranquility which I'm not getting.
My wife is understanding but she can only tolerate so much and finds my traits difficult to deal with in not fully understanding.
Has anyone here experienced this?
Thanks,
Keith
I'm currently experiencing stress caused by sensory sensitivities, affecting me pretty much as you describe, although mine are not caused by another person.
Mine are caused by noises (loud humming / buzzing / vibrating) from my heating system unit which have gotten (or appear to have gotten) increasingly louder, more continuous and more brain-searingly uncomfortable over the past three months.
The noises from the machine never used to bother me so much and never seemed so continuous before so I'm convinced that there's something wrong with the machine recently. Workmen have been out and can find nothing wrong. The rest of the family say they only notice the noises when I point it out. Previously I only heard the noises in the hallway or when I was home alone with no other noises in the house but for the past three months the noise feels deafening in every room of the house and I can't relax in my own home anymore - it's driving me to distraction because it's still too cold to leave the heating system turned off for long! I can't live my life wearing earplugs and I have no idea how to deal with this.
I too have HFA and know that sensory sensitivity is an associated problem but it doesn't explain why this is suddenly bothering me more now than it did before. (Unless there actually is a problem with the machine.) I can relate to your frustration, tension, stress and anxiety over these irritating and exhausting invasive noises but I haven't yet found a way of coping with them.
Perhaps explaining to your wife that sensory sensitivity is a part of HFA would allow her to understand that you need to get away more often than usual while your son goes through this phase would help? It's not, perhaps, an ideal solution but it's the only one I can think of. Sorry!
I have but all I get told is to ignore him.
If only it were that easy! Perhaps posting a thread called something like 'Sensory Difficulties' might attract more attention from others who know more about these things than I do, you might get much more helpful advice that way?