The post on rejection sensitivity dysphoria (RSD) lead to the post on emotional hypersensitivity but we ADHDers are hypersensitive to many things, not just emotions.
I’m hypersensitive to noise in general, and certain noises in particular. Certain smells. Even my pet peeves could be an example of hypersensitivity, probably based on irritability, which could also be a part of hypersensitivity.
There are also positive examples of hypersensitivity. There are certain sounds that I really like, like my tapping in rhythms, or making a glass ring, and I can spend time just making them to enjoy them. A slight touch of autism?- I don’t think so, although there is an overlap of ADHD and autism genes.
We could be hypersensitive because our frontal lobes may not do a good job of tamping down our amygdala; controlling our emotions. Or of tuning out distractions, which I call the gating function, which I think is a big part of schizophrenia.
Our strategies can come from being aware of our hypersensitivities, like dealing with irritability for example
Pet Peeve Number Two:
Representative on the phone, after my long long wait: “Thank you for your patience.”
Me: “Who in the hell told you I have patience? I’ve never had any patience.”
Poem O the Day:
I’ve gained so much weight
It’s a terrible thing to see
I blame it all on the virus
What else could it possibly be?
Links:
ADHD Irritability – Strategies
Welcome O the Day:
To Sharman, welcome to our tribe.
And to all of you.
And a special thanks to all who contribute comments. Love them!
doug
#ADHD, @addstrategies, @adhdstrategies, @dougmkpdp
ADDadultstrategies 
Lovely! Hypersensitivity is a blessing (I marvel at some stuff like colors and textures that most people don’t notice) but also a curse. For example: I’m too sensitive to pain. I have a hard time ignoring pain.
But also, I’d love to share the most recent hillarious example of ADHD gone wrong (well, I thought so, myself…). I had knee surgery last Monday (removal of an exostosis, i.e. taking out a chunk of bone from the tibia) and I’m doing swell: I was affraid of post-op pain, but to my surprise, there was close to none with the meds! When pressed to describe my pain from 0 to 10 I shrugged and said “0,5?”. So when I got back home on Wednesday, I took my pain meds the first day. But the next day, I woke up feeling so well, I decided against pain meds – I didn’t need to go out anyway – and I did perfectly fine, pain free!
Then yesterday, I woke up and had a slight ache, so I didn’t risk it and took some pain meds, knocked the pain right away.
In the afternoon, my mind was completely absorbed by a new PC game when my knee started hurting on the side. But I absent-mindedly figured it was about the way my leg was positioned, so I started moving my leg around. I did this for at least two hours, the pain spreading and getting worse and all the while I’m shuffling my leg to keep it from hurting and wondering why it’s hurting so bad from the position it’s in if I’m moving the leg around so much, anyway. Until it finally it dawned on me: Maybe it has something to do with surgery? Ya don’t say!
I was so sure that I didn’t need pain meds, I completely underestimated, so… FORGOT all the other facts against me: that I had already had pain waking up; that unlike the previous day, I had had to go out of the house for a doctor’s appointmentm so I was on top of my leg for longer. And it had been 10h since the last pain meds.
I see this as a beautiful mix of hyperfocus and distractedness. I litteraly burst out laughing everytime I thought of this, even home alone.
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ram – glad you’re doing well anyway. i had the same experience with a molar extraction. I didnt need pain meds. late that evening, i did. took them all, then all of my wifes cramping meds, then some other stuff in the cabinet. then lay on the sofa rolling back and forth and moaning while my wife went to the pharmacy to see what else she could get me.
i had an appointment for another extraction the following week. i didnt keep it.
thank you for commenting, as always.
best wishes on continued healing
doug
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I feel you, Doug! Tooth pain is the worst. I remember once going as far as taking opioid painkillers (legally obtained, of course) for a toothache and even THAT didn’t work. So I gave up on the idea of pain meds for toothaches a long time ago.
That one time, though, when the opioids didn’t work, my sister did bring me an anesthetic ointment from the pharmacy that was tricky to keep in place and did numb the pain for a bit. Sadly, it also numbed my saliva glands, which started throwing saliva like crazy, making me swallow quite a lot of saliva. Which in turn also contained bits of the anesthetic ointment I was applying. So after a while, my throat started numbing up as well and I couldn’t swallow properly and I ended up drooling over the sink and waiting for it to go away LOL It eventually did. But the tooth pain was back in a jiffy.
(Sorry, I’m on storytelling mode, lately…)
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ram – that’s quite a story, an adventure of sorts.
hope you are healing well from surgery and comfortable now
best wishes
doug
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I am, thanks! Though the surgery was through the knee, it wasn’t real kneee surgery and it went well. So I can run after buses to catch them and I rode my bike today, for the first time in a couple of months. 🙂
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ram
great! go for it.
thank you for the update and the comments
doug
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You and I were twins separated at birth. Joking. But how you describe yourself is exactly me. It’s crazy.
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geek- interesting. with so many possible symptoms of ADHD, there are many possible combinations. you and i must have the same combination.
as always, thank you for commenting
doug
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Thanks! My most difficult sound sensitivity is chewing noises. One of many. Your posts, Doug, are comforting, informative, sometimes hilarious.
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ann- thank you. made my day. yeah, i dont care for chewing noise so much either, but worse for me is sawing with a knife until it’s sawing on the plate. Arghhh!
thank you for commenting.
doug
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Chewing noises only really bother me when it’s someone chewing with their mouth open (which a couple of people in my family manage to do at an adult age). I heard a fancy term for disliking sounds, which is misophony (Like misanthropy, but with sound. And maby phonies).
I don’t know if I’d bother qualifying the feeling with the term, since it’s just another annoying thing to add to the list of ADHD symptoms. My most hated noises: anythhing that comes regularly but unpredictably. Jackhammer? If it’s not directly above my head, I can fall assleep. Somone occasionally banging with a hammer on the wall? Drives me mad in an instant.
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ram – i like your term, misophony.
yes, its funny how some noises bother us, some dont, and some are pleasant.
thank you for contributing
doug
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I’ve always been sensitive to noise. I didn’t really realize how impactful that was until the last few years. I visited a new church on Sunday and brought ear plugs with me and my husband thought this was way over the top. He was so embarrassed as we are probably in the target audience of contemporary worship. So of course I also had my sound level meter app out on my phone. It was ranging from 80dBA-90dBA! He thought my app was over the top too. I can’t win! 😉 We love this church, but I don’t think I can go into the main sanctuary during worship.
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Chrystal – yeah, it can be a problem. The ADHD Effect On Marriage might be helpful to you and your husband.
thank you for commenting
doug
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Thanks for your welcome!
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Doug, we always love your cartoons to which we can all relate! k x
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Karlyn -glad you like them. thank you for commenting
doug
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