Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi,
I'm 38 and following chatting to a friend recently diagnosed with high functioning autism and doing a lot of research I'm reasonably sure I have aspergers. I'm in two minds about actually seeking a diagnosis but that's probably another discussion altogether.
One big issue I've had for a number of years is bad reaction to noise caused by other people, although in specific circumstances. The usual thing is if I perceive it as someone being unreasonable (linking to the known issues with people 'not playing by the rules') so even if it's not very loud it can cause problems. This has led to quite violent reactions and sometimes I don't always remember the entire episode, I'm guessing it's effectively a meltdown but I experience extreme anger towards the source of the noise. A classic example would be neighbours playing loud music, even if it's a few doors down the road having a bbq at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon.
I'm due to be seeing a psychiatrist soon to have an assessment related to these specific issues (so not specifically for anything asd although I have mentioned I think I may be on the spectrum).
I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced similar issues and if so if they found a way to cope. I've had brief sessions of cbt over the phone before but it didn't help. It was all based around me being the issue not the people being noisy and the problem is because I believe it's the other people being unreasonable so it went agianst what I believe.
Arghhh, thought I don't have such issues really, maybe a bit with high-pitched noises others can't even hear, but not generally. Now my new officemate snuffles all day long. No cold, no allergy, no nothing, just what she does with her nose... Snuffling - seems way too cute a word to describe that noise. I want to take a pillow and stuff it in her face! Sorry, not contributing much here, just needed a bit of a rant...