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overstimulation sickness

KuriouslyAutistic44

Yesterday I went to a Korean Hot Pot Restaurant, and it was an experience. The place was loud with music as well a lot of moments of everyone scurrying around. They had a robot going around handing people their drinks.  A television with a lot of weird videos. The menu was hard to understand due to the plethora of options and not to mention the person I was with was talking and I couldn't understand what they were saying. I began to shut down and physically started to feel nauseous. The next day I felt like I was flu-ish. I was thinking possible food poisoning, but I reflected that when I got home the night before my whole body was sore from being tense and immediately had to put on my hoodie and be surrounded with my stuff animals. Have anyone else experienced this and how did you recover?

  • I've had similar experiences in restaurants. Last year, in one restaurant at lunchtime with my wife and daughter, I didn't even bother to order food, as I couldn't focus on the menu; it was just a bunch of words. There was too much noise, too much movement, the lighting was too bright, and worst of all for me, my back was to the room. I don't like sitting like that: I couldn't relate noises to what was causing them, I couldn't see anyone approach, and I was constantly on edge in case I was bumped. It all felt so "wrong"—and I felt so "wrong"—that within a few weeks I finally started to believe the second half of my 22-year-old diagnosis of "ADHD + Asperger's".

    Putting on your hoodie and surrounding yourself with your stuffed animals sounds like it was the right move. Some quiet time to unwind some of the tension works for me, too. It's not unusual for me after a social event to be home at about 11 pm – midnight and then sit in front of the TV watching something "boring" like cricket until 3 am while sipping my way through a litre of water. Though I generally don't feel particularly distressed or ill, it might take me a day or two to feel "back to normal".