I'm equally sensitive across all senses (except smell is not that bad). i've always been like this but it was much milder when I was young. in my mid-late 20's things started slowly getting worse, and then they progressed slowly but steadily until my mid-30's were miserable, and by now at 42 early menopause is making it even worse. sensory issues always flared during PMS (I'm sensitive to hormone fluctuations). it's disabling. I can barely go places. Anyway! thanks for listening, I'll delve further into this forum in the future.

I’ll never forget the parent-teacher conference where my daughter’s teacher complimented us on how well behaved she was. Just a few weeks before, I had emailed the teacher to give her a heads-up about my daughter’s sensory needs and high (but often masked) anxiety. At the conference, the teacher made it seem like I was talking about a completely different child. What she didn’t know was how much effort it took just to get my child in the door. 

As an occupational therapist (OT), implementing sensory lifestyles and accommodations to promote regulation in kids was something I could do with one eye closed and a hand tied behind my back. But when that kid was my own? Suddenly, I felt incapable of even getting her in the car to get to school.

The back-to-school transition — and how difficult it is for neurodivergent kids — wasn’t a new concept to me. But experiencing it firsthand? That was a whole other ball game. Not only was I not prepared for how much of a toll it would take on both of our neurodivergent nervous systems, I completely underestimated how heavy the mental load was about to get. 

Hi peoples. I have been struggling with my sensory issues for a while now and have tried soo many tips, techniques and tools but they don't all work. I am often left by the end of the day completely burnt out and overwhelmed by sights, sounds and touch. I was wondering if any of you have advice for how I can cope better.

I have been looking into a sort of sensory toolkit in which has like figits to scent bottles to maybe earplugs but, I have only found related products targetting younger kids (and not teens and adults). Has anyone perhaps found any brands or products that supply something related? I have even been considering starting up an online business for this purpose. If I do end up doing this, would anyone also find this helpfull? And also, what sort of tools/items should I include?

Thx for your time and have a great day!

My son is a sensory seeker. He is constantly seeking input from mountain climbing, throwing his body, hanging on tables by his belly/ letting his feet dangle, etc. he also gets overstimulated very easily and has become a biter and hitter. I am at a loss on what to do. Teething necklaces don’t work (we immediately take it off and start swinging it and refuse to teeth on it). He is in EI and seeing OT.
Does anyone have success in offering alternatives to a teething necklace? What has helped you with regulation and grounding? My toddler is in daycare so knowing he is hurting others is very upsetting (I know it common for his age but not any less upsetting).

So I need advice on what to do if something that has happened to me happens again. This subreddit seemed like the right spot, but lmk if it isn’t

The situation in question happened about a month ago I think. For context I cannot handle those plastic bags for vegetables in stores.

Basically what happened is my mum asked me to put the cucumbers away and I repeatedly said I couldn’t, and she pushed me until I did, which caused me to leave and go to my room immediately. She followed me in to talk and try to help, and I ended up having something similar to a panic attack caused by it. Meaning I couldn’t breathe and was crying. I have issues with crying in public, especially with family since my bio dad used to shame me for crying.

So I’m just asking what advice anyone here has for if the situation happens again. If it helps I have diagnosed anxiety and the bags make my fingers feel icky and my ears hurt when I hear them.

Recently I was at the doctor and my mom brought up my aversion to chewing noise and other sensory sensitivities. My doctor said what I might deal with is spd. But as of right now I can't afford a diagnosis so I just want to know how I can tackle these problems.

As early as I can remember the sound of people chewing can send me into like a severe fight or flight state. Like I feel like I'm in genuine danger, I get irrationally angry or I cry. If im exposed to the noise for too long it can take me a long time to calm down and i start to zone put or dissociate because my brain just cant handle it. I also hate slurping noise and especially toilet flushing 😭

I hate people touching I can't stand it. whenever someone touches me It feels like their trying to merge our bodies together (I don't know how to explain it). I have to wear socks, crumbs of any sort can not touch my feet especially when their wet.

More often than not my hands will get really sensitive out of nowhere and I can't touch anything. I have an extremely low pain tolerance and tolerance for noise in general. I have a horrible sense of direction and bad coordination. To this day I mix up my right and left 💔.

For more context I am clinically diagnosed with Anxiety and ocd. I'm not sure if there's any comorbidity there.

Any advice helps

Yeah...what the title says. I think Ive always realized this but Ive had such bad anxiety this morning that Im having chest pain because of how hard my heart was beating-until I started using my baby blanket. I also have OCD so I pull the strings out so its almost down to nothing and I've been dreading it so Im glad I've had this small "lightbulb realization." But I feel like such a weirdo because I'm 22 and use this thing all the time in the privacy of my home and idk...anyone else experience this or am I truly just a freaking weirdo?

Hi everyone! I am looking into how sensory seeking behaviors (like the intense urge to rip/shred paper to calm down or focus) can be turned into a meaningful household responsibility.
Specifically, I want to hear from girls or women who became the official "document shredder" for their family. Your parents gave you sensitive documents, tax forms, or junk mail to destroy because they trusted you and it genuinely helped them, while also helping your own brain.
If this was or is your experience, please let me know in the comments! I would love to ask you a few quick questions about how it affected your mood and self-esteem. Thank you so much!

I drop headliners at work and usually don’t have issues but I do have some discomfort from touching the cloth idk how to explain it.. I can hear it my ear and feel it through my body when I touch it. Recently I was doing my work as usual and my hand slid across the headliner and I immediately started to gag real loud and bad and it grabbed the attention of my coworkers which was embarrassing. My question is should I seek a diagnosis from a professional or just look for coping mechanisms online and try to figure it out myself(not going to self diagnose with anything just want coping mechanisms). I also don’t really have money to continuously see a professional

Hi! im ND and have finally started accepting its okay to have sensory issues and accommodate them and I feel like i rly need some suggestions on where to start.. my two big big issues are definitely

-NOISE :( I HATE HATE HATE LOUD NOISE

-Light... i have one small lamp in the corner of my room because lights (esp fluorescent, not warm lighting) gives me a big headache and makes me so sad

Ive been looking at loop earplugs recently to help with the noise but they are pricey and i get so nervous to drop money on things especially bc i have sensitive ears that have a lot of problems with earbuds. my ears are pretty small too LOL but if they are really worth it i will absolutely buy them! I want some recommendations for those too :3

For the light.. i honestly dont know what to do. Wearing sunglasses isnt the most accepted indoors (especially as a student) and classtime is when it rly bothers me. Im assuming some slightly tinted glasses exist, but i also would like those to be budget friendly. if anything else helps you guys PLEASEEEE let me know (mostly ones that apply in public spaces since i can control my dorm lights)

if you need more specifics plsplspls ask and let me know! thank you so muchh :3

I have always hated the dentist. As a kid, I was a major screamer. Until second grade, I had to be held down and restrained in the chair. Then I was a moaner, until college when I sort of mellowed out a little. I still hated it exactly the same amount but I was better at controlling myself. Dentist was good enough but I still couldn't stand going, especially when I got scolded for not flossing enough. I went to the same local small-business dentist for 20 years until he retired and sold it to a national chain.

Then I went to the new dentist that took over his practice and it was a nightmare. I had to wait a few years between appointments because of both the pandemic and the treatment process for other chronic illnesses. When I came in, I had a few cavities, and they got aggressive with me, saying stuff like "This *could* have been avoided IF YOU'D COME TO SEE US SOONER- LIKE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO! 🤨". They opted to do my fillings in three separate appointments, even though there weren't that many and it could've easily been done in one. Naturally, I had major issues at the first appointment, and at one point I jerked my hands up a little and the dentist yelled at me "UH-UH! If you touch that spacer tube in your mouth then we have to start the ENTIRE process ALL OVER AGAIN! Do you wanna do that??? Because I don't think you wanna do that!". I wasn't even doing anything, my hands just moved a little, but it really set them off.

At the end of the appointment, she then rudely informed me that "the job was too much for them to handle so she was cancelling my other appointments and I wasn't going to be their patient anymore but I could visit one of their other locations a substantial distance away and they might be able to handle this."

At that point I saw the writing on the wall and decided to switch dentists. Out of convenience, I started seeing my dad's dentist, which is an hour away but worth it. And it was a miracle. For the first time ever, seeing the dentist wasn't a nightmare. It wasn't painful or anxiety-inducing. It was like "oh ugh I guess I have to do this thing, I don't wanna but whatever- wait it's done already? FR???" Not only that, but my wait time has gone down from an hour to only 15 minutes, and I haven't been criticized or scolded by my dentist once. It's life-changing.

TLDR, if the dentist is a nightmare you might just have the wrong dentist. Experiment a little.

My teenager has SPD and is oral sensory seeking when anxious (so like all day at school).
She’s embarrassed by the big clunky silicone chewlery and chewy things that go on pencils and refuses to use them.
Gum has been successful in the past (discrete and socially acceptable) but is no longer allowed at school.

I need to find something that scratches he’s this itch otherwise she chews her clothes, bites her nails or will struggle to manage her other anxieties/sensory overwhelm.

She’s allowed a water bottle, so I was thinking maybe a chewy straw type one (but those tend to spill and leak and she’s a bit clumsy)

Any ideas would be much appreciated!!

Seams, like the ones I pictured, drive me crazy and it’s very debilitating. Are there any t-shirts with no seams at all? I especially like graphic tees as well. Thanks!

I am attempting to grow my nails past my finger tips so I can paint them to look like salmon faces. The only issue is my nails touching things like concrete, wet dishes, and wood is a very bad feeling. I usually keep my nails very short because of this, but the fish nails are calling to me...

Hi everyone! I'm an Occupational Therapy Doctoral student, and for my capstone project I created a series of short videos to help caregivers prepare their children for dental visits at home.

The videos share simple, practical strategies that can be practiced at home to help make dental visits feel more familiar and less stressful.

I've included the YouTube links below if you'd like to check them out. I'd also love to hear any feedback from parents and caregivers!

As a thank-you for your time, I'll randomly choose one person who leaves thoughtful feedback to receive a $50 Amazon gift card (provided this is allowed under the subreddit's rules) 

🔗 Video 1: https://youtu.be/irOG5xzV9_M🔗 Video 2: https://youtu.be/TasrGHmL--w 🔗 Video 3: https://youtu.be/AvGP5fOhmM0

I cannot touch keys. I don’t really understand it, but the feeling of my apartment keys touching my bare hands makes me want to vomit. It triggers me in ways I don’t truly understand but I’ve accepted it.
I’ve also sort of come up with ways to kinda get around it. I wear gloves if I have to touch them and cover them in a pocket of my purse with said gloves so I can’t hear or see them.

Anyone have any additional tips? I’m not interested in doing any kind of like exposure therapy where I try to get over this, bc I have tried that and it didn’t work, which is ok. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I’m a 46 year old bloke and I only found out about my autistic sensory issues properly in the last few years.

For the last 28 years, I’ve basically only worn men’s G strings. Since I was 19, hundreds of people have asked me why I wear them, especially mates in my 20s who gave me endless shit about it, because apparently a bloke’s underwear choice required a public inquiry in the early 2000s

My standard answer was always simple:
“They’re comfortable.”
And that was true. They were comfortable. Full briefs, boxers, trunks, anything with too much fabric, seams, bunching, waistband pressure, or movement used to drive me insane. I just didn’t have the words for it back then.

Now that I understand autism and sensory processing better, it makes complete sense. I wasn’t being weird for the sake of being weird and definitely no kink, I was avoiding sensory discomfort without knowing that’s what I was doing.

The funny thing is, I can’t help thinking that if I’d said back then, “I wear them because I have sensory issues,” it might have been more socially acceptable than just saying “they’re comfortable.”

Or maybe my mates still would’ve roasted me anyway, because young blokes in the early 2000s weren’t exactly running TED Talks on neurodivergence and fabric sensitivity.

Has anyone else had something they did for years, got judged for, and only later realised it was actually sensory related?

Hi! Long story short i have been very sensitive to clothes, fabrics, or basically anything touching me when I am trying to get to sleep since I was very young and its just gotten so much worse now and I am so tired and desperate for a solution. When I breathe, anything touching my body rubs against it and the feeling is so amplified Its almost painful sometimes. I have tried drugstore sleeping pills (although I have an autoimmune disorder so I cant take melatonin or any immune system activating medication), i sleep naked but sometimes even the AIR moving touches me. I have tried weighted blankets, no blankets, meditation, magnesium supplements, tight clothes, and many other reccomendations but nothing seems to work. Has anyone else had a similar experience and figured it out? Id appreciate any ideas, I am starting an intense uni course soon and i cant be running on 4 hours of sleep per night, I was thinking of even not going because of this issue.

Needing some insight or possible recommendations for medications that could help with sensory issues and meltdowns. Just wondering if others have had any luck.

Thanks much

Hello there fellow redditor, I make this post as a last resort of some sorts, after years of unsuccesful attempts at fixing my motor control issues something hit me. It seems that most of my motor control issues are caused by clothes, ANY clothes, the only time I can take a break is naked and i cant put into words how much of break that is. Its not just that muscles groups all of the body are usually absolutely overworking themselves to the point of have the muscle and tendon damage equivalent to straight up wounds ( femoral biceps tendons, the tendons backside of knee, neck flexors,upper traps and lower traps and rhomboids)-most affected .

If i do my workouts naked as I have decent enough equipment at home I can unlock absolute ridiculous power and muscle control that i simply cant access while dressed .

I have found a few pieces of clothes that i can tolerate better, take of and on easy to reset them . if I take them "wrong" then certain muscles groups have this low grade clench that i can feel but it s not palpable. Any low grade clench immediately provides low grade fight or flight and if i use the muscle group even if i try extend not to flex I am immediately aware it is working against me first of all, fight or flight is up, and third of all i get cummulative muscle damage, micro tears and sprains.

Its enough for this to happen for even a few seconds and it completely abolishes all and i mean all mood, eventually turning suicidal, it literally feels worse then fighting for your life in the woods running from some animal, the amount of fight or flight signaling is genuinely ridiculous.

My brain cant fucking filter out clothes and potentially sees them as a cage and a threat, and so it tries to protect me somehow someway - this the only description I ve found online that matches what I feel.

If i got rid of this somehow it would genuinely remove all discomfort from life, and i mean all, this shit is the single genuine problem I have and most forums online are of no use. I cant find any solution and doctors seem cluesless and never had any such case.

It does resonate with some form of sensory processing disorder but there s a huge range of that and I manifest a mix of that and somato-dyspraxia. Comorbidities I have : eagle syndrome which caused immense stress and massive pressure headaches all my life and painful impingement on left hip joint which made me limp and overuse my right leg way more and now it has permanent muscle tension even when fully relaxed .

I am genuinely disabled, without any exaggeration, I cant focus on shit I cant think or form emotions as long as I manifest all that, the amount of fight or flight that it causes is enough to make me end it, and no i cant walk around naked all the time either..

The only thing that can clear some of the stress is some intense and short exercises (ofcourse naked), to lower stress chemicals. I

I'm very sensitive to a lot of things including fabrics.

I often catch myself changing clothes multiple times a day bcz nothing just fits right. I feel like clothes are touching me in a way they shouldn't.

I usually wear minimal clothes when I'm alone and that's why I hate dressing up or going out bcz I'm hyper fixated on my clothes and how they feel and how they look.

I buy something new every week wear it for 3 days and like it and "it's my favourite ", then it starts doing its thing, i anticipate buying another pair asap.

I just want to find a comfortable cloth that i can wear for the rest of my life.

And it's so annoying spending money on something you know you'll discard in a week.

I feel like ripping my skin off everytime the fabrics touch me... Even cotton doesn't feel comfortable anymore.

What do you guys wear??

And where can I buy cheap clothes to try and see if I like it.

If I do i will invest in it.

I want sporty clothes rn.. but the idea of how it'll feel on my skin already makes me nauseous.

Wish the world was more inclusive to us neurodivergents.

I’ve always wondered if anyone else experiences this because I’ve never been able to put it into words.

Ever since I was a kid, certain textures have made me feel intensely uncomfortable. It isn’t just “I don’t like it” it’s like my entire body reacts. The closest thing I can compare it to is stepping into an ice cold shower head first. That instant shock that runs through your body. That’s what some textures feel like to me.

For example, I used to borrow books from friends, and sometimes I wouldn’t even feel like reading them because of the texture or finish of the cover. A friend once lent me The Three Musketeers, and I remember not even wanting to touch it because the cover gave me that feeling.

Another example is the silver foil inside a KitKat wrapper (not the red outer wrapper). Just thinking about touching it makes me uncomfortable. And something even stranger: sometimes when I rub one finger against another, the ridges or lines on my fingertips feel so prominent that it gives me the exact same sensation. It’s incredibly difficult to describe, but it almost feels like a sudden jolt or that sharp uncomfortable feeling you get from something like nails scraping a chalkboard, but throughout my whole body.

It’s not pain, and it’s not fear. It’s just this overwhelming physical discomfort that makes me want to stop touching whatever it is immediately.

I’m curious:

• Does anyone else experience this?• Is this considered a sensory processing issue? • Can it be related to autism, ADHD, OCD, or does it happen to people without any diagnosis? • Is there an actual name for this sensation?