Sensory Overload

by newspd
(NZ)

For those of you have SPD, does any of your senses(hypersensitivity) frequently suffer from sensory overload? I have tactile defensiveness, hypersensitivity to sound and visual input as well as hypo sensitivity to movement.




After 1 or 2 hour visual or sound stumuli (in normal working condition for example), I realised my senses become very strained and I process things slower or none at all. I also suffer from fatique very easily because I move around alot.

I am wondering because this could be related to low/high energy symptom of SPD which could be caused from sensory overload or fatique.

In short I think Hypersensitivity will often cause sensory overload which causes your senses to strain and therefore appear low energy level or fatique. Hyposensitivity causes high movement or senses which can appear high energy level but over doing it will also cause fatique.

It hard for me to determine because I have Alpha Thalassemia which is a genetic blood disorder which could contribute to my fatique.



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May 02, 2019
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starstarstarstarstar 		Yes - definitely!
by: Anonymous

My formal diagnosis is of dyspraxia with orthographia and functional blindness (CVI), but SPD is often part of dyspraxia as far as I can make out, and how much I have a visual problem and how much an integration problem (of which there are other signs) remains a vexed question.

I have massive problems with overload in ordinary environments: there is just so much to take in and it is just so much work trying to sort out all the chaotic input. It seems to me that it is like other people trying to go through their day viewing everything through a broken mirror and listening to everything over a really crackly audio system. It is just overwhelming and exhausting.

Things I have found help are: reducing physical stress in general (try things like weighted blankets or compression garments if they help), trying to keep immediate surroundings simple (e.g. organise your desk with a lot of colour contrast of the sort that works for you, if you are free to do it), and using active noise cancelling headphones to soften background noise, perhaps with a feed of white noise or other soothing sounds.

I'm not glad anyone else has the problem, because it isn't nice, but it is such a relief to find I'm not the only one with this experience!

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