Too loud, too bright, too fast, too tight

I recently ranted elsewhere (a thread about what we can do to help the environment, or something) about my extreme dislike of fluorescent lighting. Couldn't put my finger on why, just hate it.

The touch one is interesting. E.G. and sozlet know that there are very specific ways to get my attention and that I react badly if they don't. Shoulder, a couple of quick taps, fine. Most anywhere else, I jump and get pissed off. I thought it was a Deaf Culture thing -- there are right and wrong ways to get people's attention -- maybe it is, maybe it's both. Maybe more deaf people have this SD thing so it's become part of the culture.

Not many others fit though. Eye contact, no, intolerance of foods... oh "due to texture". Hmm. That one happens. Temperature, too. I hate lukewarm food.

Moving on, overwhelmed when exposed to a lot of sensory stimuli, not really -- I do enjoy, what, art fairs and stuff. I often dislike crowds though. (That's not unusual though is it?)

I've had the meltdown, the "I must get away from this before I do something violent" thing. It seems to be closely linked to my general frustration level though. In high school, when I was miserable (who isn't?) and taking a calculus class from a teacher who refused to make any allowances so I could understand what was going on (he'd teach half the class with his back turned, writing things on the blackboard while explaining what he was doing) and I was a seething mass of frustration, there was a kid who sat in front of me who I hated with a white hot passion. He was a archetypical nerd, greasy, no social skills, and would not ******* stay still. Oooh, I can still get myself worked up thinking about him. I bet he's some multimillionaire computer guy by now.

ANYWAY, nothing like that has happened in a really long time. I think college, in lecture situations, was the last time it really happened. Used to be more general -- airplanes, buses, etc.


I'm very aware of light, color, etc. The highlight of my brief art career was my sensitivity to/ skill with color.

Just took off a really cool sweater because the wool was driving me crazy. Again, that's not uncommon though, is it? Generally prefer smooth, natural fabrics. (Cotton, silk, etc.)

Intolerance of high-pitched noises... well... But I don't remember if that's what used to bother me. It was more deep, repetitive noises that infuriated me I think. (Like the bassline of music playing when I was trying to sleep.)

oh, I have some of these symptoms.
Very interesting....
Haven't read the whole thread, I'll go back and read more....

Why? i am an introvert, sure, but being on stage or in front of the classroom is different. I mean, other than mild stage fright at the beginning, it didn't really have much to do with my SD. No loud chewing or plastic bags or other obnoxious to me people sounds.

I don't have the other symptoms (eye to eye, or food stuffs -unfortunately i like most everything except for fried tarantulas and crickets and 10 days old ducklings still in eggs raw none of which i tried). I'm a teacher and trainer by profession and I love that work. (but no food in the classroom)

Yes, I have quite a few of the same symptoms.
I could just be sensitive though.
I don't have a problem with eating or, for the most part watching/hearing people eat.

Hate certain lighting.

Hate crowds,

hate labels in my clothes or clothes that I don't feel comfortable in.

ugh, no loud noises, I'm the one at work that can only tolerant so much before asking if the music can be turned down (there's just a certain degree, too)

Not a touchy-feely person, unless I really like them, even then, not all people.

Smells! Smells are my worst! Not all smells, but aromatherapy, or any of the stuff that gets sold that people seem to like. perfume, incense.

Yeah, I have problem with eye contact. I have the tendacy to look past the person, focusing on the wall. I've made people look over their shoulders...

Yes, I can be overwhelmed. At musuems, in crowded busy places...


At my job, there is alot going on all the time. Carpentary noises, people. I can usually handle it.
At work, if it gets too much, I put head phones on and go away.

I've found overall that I need a lot of quiet downtime to myself.
I do have a tendacy to avoid certain things.
Movie theaters!

And I sleep in earplugs...

I handle it by being a little anti-social, I think.

Wow, I feel like I'm with family.

Yeah, I experience a lot of these things, not so bad now, it used to be a lot worse though.

Not to take any credit from Dr. Heller, but when I was diagnosed with Panic Disorder, and was in therapy then started taking Zoloft, most of these things went away, and the few that remain are more managable.

The oversensativity, hyper-vigilence, anxiety of going into tunnels or other situations, and a bunch more were attributed to that.

Watching TV is really annoying to me, plus I'm not interested. Commercials are the worst. Music being just a little too loud as compared to others opinion. annoying high pitched sounds (women who wear charm bracelets should be shot with no trial)

Any thoughts on this connection and what Dr. Heller rights of?

I don't think I have SD but I share some of the difficulties. Or then again, maybe I do. Will go back and work on the list, from Dag's quote of Heller's description.

In the meantime, anyone notice that Australia is mandating, or talking about mandating, low energy lighting, banning incandescent light? That's a question in California too. Freaks me out, I LIKE incandescent light.
Energy conscious girl that I am, I bought a bunch of those fluorescent spirally things, at the highest wattage equivalence. Because of my pretty decimated rods, I see less well than others in dim light (dimelight?). I am very unhappy going around in dimville, and the fluorescents made me anxious, not from being overhead, but from being too depressingly low light, low and not very warm light. Perhaps they'll improve in range of light. Anyway, I ended up just using those in closets.

Now it doesn't matter, since there's no lights at all in my tract town closets.
I don't know enough about myself and halogen lights, they may be ok for me.

halogen's not a bad light.

dag is a lunatic, I know because i sat next to her as some freakin' bar in Boston. Lunatic i tell you all.

Pffffffffft!

Halogens are awful, they make noise and have a bad profile. Can't abide them except in industrial/theatrical applications. The light is almost as bad and the noise is worse than old fluorescent tubes.

I gotta say, I recently bought some compact fluorescents to stick in around the house, and I am impressed. They're not dimmable, unfortunately (I thought that technology had become cheaper...), but I got the warm color profile and it really is almost like having real light around (after a couple of minutes to "warm up").

Maybe they've changed since I last tried them... maybe I could deal with them in clusters.



I know there are long tube fluorescents of varying colors, and "daylight", and I don't know much about those either, though I considered putting one in my long and squat hallway...

Never seen a tube that wasn't hideous. I'm talking about the little compacts you can screw into a light socket.

I know you are. Those are the ones that weren't bright enough for my, er, happiness, but that's getting to be several years ago now. (I'm really a foo' in dim light, splat).

Yeah, they are a little dim -- but I like that. I'm kind of a cave-dweller like ehbeth.

What a group we are...

Osso

We changed out all the bulbs in the house to those flourescent sprirally bulbs.

I was skeptical, since I hate flourescent, but like pdog, I ended up being impressed.

In the living room/library, appox 500 square feet, we have 2 ceiling fans with 3 lights each, one recessed light plus 2 small table lamps. This give plenty of light for reading or doing anything else.



The 2 table lamps stay on 24/7, as night lights and just because. It gives a nice glow to the rooms and isn't harsh at all. Believe me, they wouldn't be there if they did. In fact when they are the only lights on, it's very restful.

A real plus is they give off very little heat, so you can leave them on without collecting heat in the room in the summer. Plus they of course cost significantly less to use.

They also make excellent grow lamps for starting vegetables from seed in spring - no, they won't work for the good stuff.....

Nonsense - you just hafta use a balance of fluorescents of differing spectral output. From the seedling stage 'till just about as soon as budding begins, you want about 2/3 cool, or "bluish daylight" fluorescent grow lamps, 1/3 warm, or "Reddish daylight" fluorescent grow lamps (both commercially available at better hydroponics purveyors everywhere). When budding begins and from then throughout the flowering stage 'til harvest, you switch the proportion of spectral balance.

Lamp holder assemblies accommodating either 6 or 12 compact fluorescents are perfectly suited for this application, and also are commercially available. Of course, along with the spectral balance, you hafta pay attention to light/dark cycle timing as well, and make provision to vary the proportion there too ... seasonal progression is very important; you can force it some, but ya wanna be careful to neither underdo it nor overdo it.

A little extra effort, perhaps, but the energy savings are significant compared to incandescent or halogen grow light rigs - and lots less heat, too.

as we slovaks say: "crow sits with another crow, man searches for his equal."

Now we know who bought all the extra RAM for A2K....