Too loud, too bright, too fast, too tight

Joe, you'll come to meet the Super G next weekend I hope? Dunno when and where yet, waiting to hear from him. Frank Apisa will show too!
New York is too much for me also. I like to visit, but when the hubbub doesn't stop at night, I grow very very tired in a few days.

Soz, how do you 'not think' about something? i need that trick!

I know! That's why I said impossible. ("Don't think about a white elephant." "Um...")

I just can kinda force my brain to switch gears. Useful. Took a while. Absolutely no practical advice... just happened, eventually.

Some people have a timbre to their voice, a shrill sort of overtone that cuts like a knife.....drives me CRAZY!!!!! My ex is one of them.

;-) no wonder he's an ex!
white elephant, white elephant, did you haveta mention it?!?!

Labyrinthitis - it's me. And the tinnitus. I have to sleep on my right side, or the roaring in my ear will wake me up. The nighttime noises when I was a kid - i used to get up and open closet doors between the living room and my room - to try to divert the sound. then shut my door and put something across the bottom. anything.

I often have to have white noise for myself, so the crazy-making sounds don't make me shriek. I've started using a tiny radio with earplugs when I'm using public transit - keeps all the rustling and such, behind a sort of aural barrier.

Smells and sounds. <shudder> Some of them make me just cringe. Office crosstalk can be a problem for me.

OK, how many only children here?

Me, Osso, ehBeth...?

ehBeth, did you have ear infections when you were a kid?

Don't know what being an only child would have to do with it, but Osso mentioned it in passing, and I know at least us three are. (Dag? Joe?) I'm pretty sure Piffka isn't.

I have a perfectly normal sister, 5 years older. Well, normal when it comes to the five senses anyway. My mother, that's another story. She understands what I go through, at least the concept of it.

Ear infections? ohhhhhh yeah.
mrs hamburger and i apparently have middle ears full of scar tissue

i had to have an ct scan after a particular bad run of episodes of vertigo - they had to rule out a tumour

i'm an only, mrs. hamburger one of 7 girls

one eustachian (sp?) tube is smaller than the other - definitely has an impact when the barometric pressure changes - oops, did i just walk into the wall? am i walking straight? i think i'll just sit down.

This is so so so interesting. E.G. and I have talked about it, wondered what it was. I have to check with him about ear infections, we haven't linked it to that in his case.

Some of this crabbiness is normal or at least sensitive person normal. The loud eaters/plastic bags thing is a separator, diagnostically, I think. I wouldn't want to Kill quite as much as some of you.

Joe, I mentioned on some other thread how sorry I was I didn't find you and Bree, and then recently mentioned you and Bree on Gautam's thread. I always pay complete attention to what you write; I know you have a bunch of fans, all deserved.

I thought of it, but I didn't know you as well a year ago, and was torn as Gautam is on whether to go to Boston or not, where I have relatives, or Philadelphia, where I have friends. Turned out I could afford less than my eye was wide and just stayed at the YMCA on 63rd (yech) and Diane came up from Fla and stayed there too, and we hiked and looked at art and ate at lots of neato places. I would so love to go back (I lived there when I was nine) but live a convoluted low level monetary life. Am not saying I won't get there again, but not for a while. (send lottery tickets...)

(or lottery winnings. lottery winnings would be good...)

I'm in a lottery pool at work. If I win - new bicycle, red with basket - snow shoes - travel!

Oh, thank god I'm not alone. I thought I was going nuts for awhile there. I grew up in the city and noise never phased me at all until I was about 30. It stated off with a few things bothering me, but it has gotten much worse over the years. When I was still in the city and this started happening I was bothered by police, ambulance and firetruck sirenes, but then it expanded to car horns, car alarms, people yelling, etc. Now I'm also bothered by any kind of banging noises and the sound of someone making all kinds of noise when they eat. When my mom does the dishes I could just scream because you'd think she was throwing the pots, pans and dishes around the room. I also can't stand being around her when she eats. Just today I went to the grocery store and on my way out a guy started his truck just as I was walking by, which startled me and in turn ticked me off. Then there's the bright lights. I hate bright lights. I absolutely hate being this way, but am glad that I now live in the country where it's usually quiet :-)

I also had many ear infections when I was young and to this day I'm very protective of my ears. I keep my hair covering my ears at all times, I cover my ears with my blanket when I go to bed, and I always wear a hat or earmuffs outside when it's cold.

Welcome aboard, Montana. Yup that all sounds familliar. With a chronic middle ear infection, I get pains and aches with the slightest breeze. Used to go to bed with a neckwarmer on my head on cold nights, to much chagrine of my man, ha. Sounds like you found a good place for yourself, tucked away and quiet. I don't think I'd survive in a big city for longer than a week either. I was lucky to find quiet dwellings every time. Funny how animal sounds don't ever bother me, just human... but i like humans! (they should just be more....quiet!)

I'm going to scan parts of that book by Dr. Heller - my mom wants to read it and in Slovakia you can't find it. But since I'll already have it, whoever wants can PM me an email address and I'll send it. Can be a few days from now, but it's an option. Highly recommended read, for now I at least know what to work on and how.

Too loud, too bright, too fast, too tight.... but what about too rich? Or too thin? Or.....too BIG?

hmm, i don't mind anyone too rich myself, unless he/she is a loud eater or indulges in crinkling with plastic bags. willing to tolerate that if some of the riches be passed onto me! too thin upsets me, for that is 'sticking it' to me and all my diet failures. (not that there were any serious efforts to speak of ever).

Things that make me want to kill:

Open-mouth chewing (ironically, I eat like a pig, but always with closed mouth)
Gum-chewing
Nail biting (watched a basketball game a while back where a kid was chomping on his nails every time play stopped. I couldn't even keep track of the score.)
Any contact with my seat by the person behind me in a theater or classroom
Ticking clocks
Dripping faucets, even three rooms away
The damn dog with that damn bone she likes to chew on at 1:00 am. The gf sleeps right through it.
Pretty much any short noises when I'm trying to sleep. Have a fan on, even in the dead of winter, for the white noise. (But no problem at all with birds outside the window.)
Trying to have a conversation in a noisy restaurant or bar. Don't mind the noise per se, just can't carry on a conversation in those circumstances. I hear everything.
Whisperers and candy-rustlers during movies.

Still and all, though, I think I'm just an irritable person. Was practically an only child and kind of had my own quiet little world.