Menopause making autism more intense

Hi Kit,

I am a recently diagnosed female aged 50. I have found the last few years my reactions to sounds, smells and visual distractions much more increased and I have found I am less able to mask my frustrations than ever before. As I type I am sat in my office at work, tears running down my face from the hammer-typing colleague in the next room. Someone walked up the corridor just now snapping their fingers and I was damn near homicidal! I also find myself catastrophising far more than ever. Another colleague just used his inhaler and all I could feel was anger and contempt at the noises. I don't want to feel this angry but it is overwhelming moment by moment. If you have asked this because you are also finding your reactions enhanced/more intense, then yes I concur. OMG he just blew his nose so loud arrghhhhhh why is no-one else bothered by this in here - literally feel like an alien on the wrong planet :(

Hi yes, this is the kind of thing I mean and had read about on some blog's.  I was severely oversensitive to sound as a child. I was given furry ear muffs as a young child, tried ear plugs, tried walkman's. Was much relieved when I experienced some hearing loss due to a medical issue but of course they gave me hearing aids, which I found actually blocked quite a lot of environmental sound if I had them in but turned off (or I'd put dud batteries in incase someone looked behind my ears to see if they were in the 'on' position!).

I had a phobia of speaking in public due to developmental delay causing me problems actually getting speech sounds out and this causing a stammer and getting extensively bullied so I went to a college for the deaf and learnt to sign. I was fascinated to find for others who'd never spoken due to been born profoundly deaf, it was acceptable for them to 'write notes' in shops and sign indicating they were deaf. The nearest town was better than most regarding deaf awareness having a famous deaf school nearby.  Even many bus drivers could sign.  I didn't speak again in public for years. 

I hid being people assuming deaf because I was wearing 2 hearings and ids didn't speak to get through university via interpreters so I never had to 'speak in class' but the intensive masking led to some kind of a breakdown in my last year and I barely managed to finish, by the skin of my teeth came out with a 2:1 but ended up in a specialist unit and a formal diagnosis of autism.

By the time I got out and into my own flat the internet was becoming more affordable (though still 'dial up' using an ethernet cable). I was more relaxed in my own flat so often left hearings out more and felt confused I could hear sounds but still really struggled understanding speech regardless of whether I had the hearing aids in and on. It was several more years before I discovered conditions such as Auditory Neuropathy and Auditory Processing Disorder existed, the fact that I had actually had hearing loss when I was originally tested and had autism confused the issue greatly too I suspect. As even as an hearing autistic person I wouldn't react reliably to auditory testing.

It was also some time in my 40's before I realised my degree of symptoms also corresponded to my thyroid levels and not taking thyroid meds meant my airways tend to become more inflamed my responses slower and so I appeared more deaf when levels had dropped than when they were high (which had the opposite affect and made me more hypervigilant and paranoid). It's been difficult to find the right level but I finally think I'v cracked it and then the menopause starts and everything intensifies again!

I've no patience and the tiniest thing 'going wrong' is 'uncope-able' and sends me into a rage or panic meltdown so I'm finding it exhausting just getting through a day most days. I thought I may have chronic fatigue too but it seems like this is just a result of having autism and struggling with the changes in the body perhaps?

Hi yes, this is the kind of thing I mean and had read about on some blog's.  I was severely oversensitive to sound as a child. I was given furry ear muffs as a young child, tried ear plugs, tried walkman's. Was much relieved when I experienced some hearing loss due to a medical issue but of course they gave me hearing aids, which I found actually blocked quite a lot of environmental sound if I had them in but turned off (or I'd put dud batteries in incase someone looked behind my ears to see if they were in the 'on' position!).

I had a phobia of speaking in public due to developmental delay causing me problems actually getting speech sounds out and this causing a stammer and getting extensively bullied so I went to a college for the deaf and learnt to sign. I was fascinated to find for others who'd never spoken due to been born profoundly deaf, it was acceptable for them to 'write notes' in shops and sign indicating they were deaf. The nearest town was better than most regarding deaf awareness having a famous deaf school nearby.  Even many bus drivers could sign.  I didn't speak again in public for years. 

I hid being people assuming deaf because I was wearing 2 hearings and ids didn't speak to get through university via interpreters so I never had to 'speak in class' but the intensive masking led to some kind of a breakdown in my last year and I barely managed to finish, by the skin of my teeth came out with a 2:1 but ended up in a specialist unit and a formal diagnosis of autism.

By the time I got out and into my own flat the internet was becoming more affordable (though still 'dial up' using an ethernet cable). I was more relaxed in my own flat so often left hearings out more and felt confused I could hear sounds but still really struggled understanding speech regardless of whether I had the hearing aids in and on. It was several more years before I discovered conditions such as Auditory Neuropathy and Auditory Processing Disorder existed, the fact that I had actually had hearing loss when I was originally tested and had autism confused the issue greatly too I suspect. As even as an hearing autistic person I wouldn't react reliably to auditory testing.

It was also some time in my 40's before I realised my degree of symptoms also corresponded to my thyroid levels and not taking thyroid meds meant my airways tend to become more inflamed my responses slower and so I appeared more deaf when levels had dropped than when they were high (which had the opposite affect and made me more hypervigilant and paranoid). It's been difficult to find the right level but I finally think I'v cracked it and then the menopause starts and everything intensifies again!

I've no patience and the tiniest thing 'going wrong' is 'uncope-able' and sends me into a rage or panic meltdown so I'm finding it exhausting just getting through a day most days. I thought I may have chronic fatigue too but it seems like this is just a result of having autism and struggling with the changes in the body perhaps?