Hearing/Mental Illness?

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LeedyGuy
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Post by LeedyGuy » Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:14 am

snakeskinboots wrote:
Perhaps you have aspergers syndrome. Are you really good at anything?
not genius good, but when reading up on it, some of the symptoms sound familiar. interest in parts/components... since around the same age that I noticed this (5 or 6) I would completely disassemble any new toy, bike, etc. and put it back together. Maybe this is normal for a kid. I don't know. My brother didn't do it.



Thanks for all of your input.
No really, this sounds a lot like it. I'm a teacher and occasionally I have an asbergers student. They sometimes never stop looking around the room for noise. The thing about any kind of autism is that it is all rated on a spectrum, so you could be ever so slightly on the slightest end of the asbergers spectrum and merely have this and some other small thing (good at building stuff and a knack for perfection).

ADD also makes it tough for kids to block out noises. Think you're ADD? You can be ADD without being hyperactive. You can also have the ability to be extremely focused one moment as well as extremely distractable the next.

Really though, get it checked out.

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Post by ;ivlunsdystf » Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:18 am

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Post by fossiltooth » Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:57 am

Alex Netick wrote:Since your own noises don't bother you, I'd say your interpretation of the noise is the root of the problem. Our brains evolved to hear foreign sounds as threats, and for good reason. The only way to deal with it would be to adjust your interpretation, or to isolate yourself from sounds completely, which isn't possible.
My thoughts exactly.

I'm also sensitive to background noises. I just choose to find them interesting rather than annoying. Right now I'm very conscious of the sound of the refrigerator. It's kinda nice.

The only thing I absolutely can't deal with are analog clocks within a five-mile radius while I'm trying to sleep. My god. That ticking! How did people get along before digital alarm clocks? If you can't stand someone, it will probably prove very difficult to find the noises they make "interesting" rather than annoying... so I can't help you with your professor and his case of the "Ums".

Aside from that, sounds are pretty cool. Don't be embarrassed if you're occasionally distracted by sounds. If you choose to find them interesting rather than annoying, there's no harm. I can tell when my wifey shuts off the cable box but forgets to turn off the TV. The blank screen emits a very low level, very high frequency, right up around the limits of my hearing range. I know for a fact that she can hear even higher than I can! She just doesn't notice. On the other hand, she might find a stray sock on the floor without even looking, while I could be standing in a pile of garbage and not notice. My eyesight is fine. It's all about perspective. Different brains have different priorities.

Sidenote:
I know a couple people with aspergers. Based on your writing style, I can say with some certainty that you wouldn't be classified as having the condition. The mere fact that you seem to think their own quirks are extremely interesting and worth talking about in a self-congratulatory way doesn't fit with the standard diagnosis. Then again, I'm not actually a doctor. I just play one on the interweb. We have to be careful not to over-diagnose people, or all diagnoses become meaningless. For instance, just because I can get very focused on tasks, and I don't always make eye contact doesn't mean I have aspergers. Saying so would render the term meaningless. Medical conditions are like astrological signs. You can read about almost any of them and convince yourself that it accurately describes you. Self-diagnosis is never a smart idea.

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Post by tubetapexfmr » Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:35 am

Look, forget about this specialist crap. That will just cost a lot of money and leave you drugged and hooked on some pill. Modern science can't do anything for what you have, not unless you want them to remove your eardrums.

Consider what you have a gift. It sounds like you're like that Monk character on TV only your gift is aural not visual. I am curious, are your aural organizational skills as a acute as your aural observational skills?

Think about it this way. Sound is like the sea and you're trying to put up a levy to keep out the flood of sounds. Your levy is full of leaks and trying to patch them up all the time is maddening. Instead of trying to keep the flood out, just let it in, let it wash over you. Wallow in it. The more you fight it the more it will make you mad. I say do some meditation to try not to control your ears per se, but to control how your brain responds to those sounds. Learning how to focus how you experience sound is how you turn this from a curse into a true gift. Doctors will only fuck this up and try to make you NORMAL. Then what are you going to do, get a job at a Mal-Wart?

I don't have the same problem as you, but I do have some weird freaking ears, at least compared to everyone else. I hear extreme high frequencies in a weird way that doesn't seem to bother others. Squeaking brakes and motors, TVs, CRT screens, 'Mosquito' ring tones, etc. All these things cause me varying amounts of physical pain, from mild to excruciating. I've learned to not only live with it, but to use it to my advantage. It just takes focus and discipline.

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Post by Seamonster » Sat Feb 16, 2008 10:53 am

My sister's kid has Asperger's. Based on the moderate amount I know of it -- as if anyone really knows that much about it -- it doesn't sound like you have it. But, as pointed out, it manifests throughout a broad spectrum of symptoms and behaviors, so I wouldn't categorically rule it out.

Based on what you've laid out here, it's impossible to say whether your thing would be better served by professional help vs. something more like meditation, mind over matter, or some other self-help approach. Maybe try some of the suggestions in the latter vein. If they don't seem to work, then at least when you go to a pro you'll have more "case history" by which to help narrow down the possibilities.

My more opinionated comment would be to think twice about getting into any therapies that involve behavior modification drugs -- for any number of reasons.

With patience and a little luck you should be able to reach a point where it's manageable.
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Post by snakeskinboots » Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:56 am

I talked with a friend who is a therapist at a mental hospital about this over dinner. Her advice was much like some of the advice offered here: try meditation and re-training my mind first. Apparently there are some audio CDs out there that can help with this. She works with many of the doctors in the area and told me that, based on her experience, they would just throw meds at the problem as a first course of action. So, I'm gonna give the holistic route a solid, heartfelt try before popping any pills.

Many thanks to all of you for your help and insight.

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Post by lancebug » Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:15 pm

Its an interesting conversation to be sure, whatever your diagnosis might be. People with apserger's can present with a extremely wide variety and intensity of symptoms and experiences, ranging from extreme and debilitating cases to almost invisible and often undiagnosed cases. I myself have a pretty significant case of add/adhd and take medication for it. I frequently have a hard time conducting business meetings in public places because both the sounds and the motions around me make my head swim. The pills have really helped a lot in supressing some of these symptoms, but they don't work or aren't appropriate for everyone. If your described issues are really impacting your quality of life, I would encourage you to see a psychologist/psychiatrist that has a strong clinical background (vs. someone that specializes in family/marriage counseling). A good clinical psych will have a barrage of diagnostic tools to rule out the stuff that it isn't and include the stuff it might be. Some things are treatable and some things aren't, but if you can find out what is causing the problem you can start finding our what treatments and workarounds have helped other people.

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Post by infopimpster » Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:29 pm

Have you tried Brian Eno CDs at night? "Neroli" might be nice?

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Post by Judas Jetski » Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:54 pm

dwlb wrote:
Knights Who Say Neve wrote:Don't get our opinions; go see a specialist.
Could be as simple as ADD. Could be something else. If it intrudes on your life, get it checked.
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Post by wheever » Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:04 pm

fossiltooth wrote:The only thing I absolutely can't deal with are analog clocks within a five-mile radius while I'm trying to sleep. My god. That ticking! How did people get along before digital alarm clocks?

Oooh, you are singing my song, brother! Analog clocks make me totally batshit! First they irritate me, then I find myself doing rhythms and counter rhythms in my head...and then I just lose it. I can't stand the goddamn things. Anywhere. Ever.
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Post by Professor » Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:57 pm

I started noticing it when I was maybe ten years old. I had a family full of the most obnoxiously noisy eaters - a lot of breathing while chewing, and it drove me nuts. I'd guage how fast they were eating and either rush to get away or slow down and wait for them to leave.
Funny thing is that now as an engineer I will hear a lip-smack or saliva click in a vocal track through the full density of a mix, but I have the ability to dive into the track an remove it. Although I was with the family for a holiday visit a year or so ago and started hearing my brother doing that next to me at the table. The sound crawled into my ear and started scratching at my ear drum until I just had to pull my ear plugs out of my pocket and stick 'em in... while casually blaming it on the screaming nieces & nephews in the next room who were brutally loud, but really not what was hurting the most.
I have to say that it has definitely lightened up a lot since I started working so intimately with sound. I still don't like certain tones and sounds, and things like scratchy upper-midrange sounds can really piss me off. Can't stand hearing silk tweeters. Lots of weird little quirks. But on the other hand, I love walking around the neighborhood at night after it's dark and just listening to all of the sounds as though I'm hearing/creating a soundscape piece, or gathering sound effects for a film.

The problem you have certainly sounds like an autism-spectrum problem, but that's just based on my understanding of some of the common autism issues. I know that in severe cases kids will freak out when the vaccuum is turned on, and immediately chill out again when it is off. I used to work a little with a place that used the "Tomatis Method" of music therapy to help stimulate certain areas of the brain and reprogram which parts of the brain we use for certain functions. That type of treatment has been really successful with those types of autistic cases.
Of course, I suppose there's an outside possibility of mercury poisoning too.
Or it could be psychological, and the more you focus on it, the more it becomes a problem.
There are lots of different possible causes and the only way to know is to start considering & countering them one at a time.

As a potential concept to try, have you ever tried masking sounds? This is where you intentionally put some sort of noise into your environment to distract you from the stuff that's bothersome. Over the last year or two, I seem to have developed a weird need to have background sound going to fall asleep, and so the TV or radio tend to stay on. Some people use those running water, blowing wind, and other nature sounds, while other people use straight up white noise.

Either way, let us know if anything works out for you.

-Jeremy

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Post by mrufino1 » Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:29 pm

I work as a behaviorist with people with disabilities, a lot of them having autism. I don't like it when people say "medication" is bad. The wrong medication for someone's issue is bad, the wrong dose of the right medicine is bad, the right dose of the right medicine can be very good. Can be. But even then, meds don't necessarily solve issues on their own, such as in depression, biplolar, OCD, etc, they get you to a place where you can work on it. For instance, with bipolar, the right medications can help even out the mood swings, but then you should work in therapy to recognize the symptoms and how to deal with them when they arise. The lowest dose of medication to get the job done should always be the goal, coupled with appropriate therapies. When you hurt your back, you may take medicine for pain but you also need physical therapy to fix the issue, right? So anyway, off the soapbox- you should see a doctor to see if there is a medical or psychiatric condition (hyperacusis could be there, could be asperger's, could be OCD, could be a lot of things), then maybe you want to look at other interventions if nothing turns up there, whether it is behavior therapy, meditation, whatever. Do whatever works, but don't necessarily dismiss traditional means. But definitely don't diagnose yourself (the person that posted that was right- every psych 101 student has every condition they study! I remember those days...) and don't rely on our diagnoses, see qualified people in your area.

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Post by Alex Netick » Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:17 pm

I don't know -- I don't think it sounds very serious. I just got through watching a real sad show on the Children of Chernobyl, whose problems make ours sound really insignifant. I personally hate the sound and smell of other people; and I love my own noise, farts, loud music -- and I think that's perfectly normal. Forget about this doctor crap.
mrufino1 wrote:I work as a behaviorist with people with disabilities, a lot of them having autism. I don't like ewhen people say "medication" is bad. The wrong medication for someone's issue is bad, the wrong dose of the right medicine is bad, the right dose of the right medicine can be very good. Can be. But even then, meds don't necessarily solve issues on their own, such as in depression, biplolar, OCD, etc, they get you to a place where you can work on it. For instance, with bipolar, the right medications can help even out the mood swings, but then you should work in therapy to recognize the symptoms and how to deal with them when they arise. The lowest dose of medication to get the job done should always be the goal, coupled with appropriate therapies. When you hurt your back, you may take medicine for pain but you also need physical therapy to fix the issue, right? So anyway, off the soapbox- you should see a doctor to see if there is a medical or psychiatric condition (hyperacusis could be there, could be asperger's, could be OCD, could be a lot of things), then maybe you want to look at other interventions if nothing turns up there, whether it is behavior therapy, meditation, whatever. Do whatever works, but don't necessarily dismiss traditional means. But definitely don't diagnose yourself (the person that posted that was right- every psych 101 student has every condition they study! I remember those days...) and don't rely on our diagnoses, see qualified people in your area.

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Post by RefD » Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:27 am

mrufino1 wrote:...meds don't necessarily solve issues on their own, such as in depression, biplolar, OCD, etc, they get you to a place where you can work on it..
i wish someone would tell that to the pharmaceutical companies and their pushers who pose as "doctors"!

"I can't give you a referral to a psychotherapist until you have been on this for three weeks."

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snakeskinboots
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Post by snakeskinboots » Sat May 10, 2008 5:54 pm

To all that have responded with great advice and insight, thank you. Like someone wrote earlier, in the grand scheme, this is a minor problem. With careful planning and positioning, things have been much, much better. Masking these unwanted noises has been pretty helpful as well. Most helpful was when I took a trip to the hill country down in TX, slept near the the bank of the Llano river. For some reason, I am able to recall that beautiful sound... it works wonders on my psyche.

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