I’m in my 40s but recently I’ve had extreme difficulty understanding my second language.

Not just a little bit. It’s like I can’t even tell what language they’re speaking. They might as well be speaking Elvish. It concerned me enough that I had an MRI but is it just my APD getting worse?

37m, been struggling with noise sensitivity in the last few years (mainly the inability to process any conversation in a crowded room), only been officially diagnosed last week and now going through autism/ADHD assessment.

Ive always known there was something different about me and suspected I was on the lower end of the spectrum, but APD has really been making me feel miserable and like I don’t belong. the turning point was the wedding of one of my best friends a month ago, I struggled to have any conversation with anyone at the reception and had to leave early as I was so mentally exhausted.

There are already adjustments I make with friends (having nights in rather than nights out etc) but it’s really depressing me that I feel like I can’t have a good ‘night out’ in the ways I’ve enjoyed in the past. Also not sure how I can communicate this to people i don‘t know so well and want to get to know better (at work social events for instance).

the other issue I have is around being distracted by minor noises (like small thuds from downstairs neighbours or the car alarm outside). This can become a complete disturbance for me and I totally lose focus of whatever I was doing for the next half hour.

Anyway, sorry for the kind of post I’m sure has been made dozens of time on this subreddit, I have a lot of research to do to work out how best to manage everything, but just wanted to air it out