Epilepsy and Sensory Overload

I know EXACTLY what you are

Submitted by wldhrt13 on Mon, 2006-10-30 - 08:47

I know EXACTLY what you are talking about!!!~I posted under the (New to Epilepsy) part of this forum and the title was "Tactile Defensiveness". I bumped (pushed) the thread up for you to take a look. When you said, "....my agitation is much stronger than others in the same situation," bells went off in my head like "DING DING DING!! THIS IS TOTALLY ME!!"I knew instantly what you are talking about. If my 2 year old rams into my leg (which is like you say entirely normal for his age) I can actually get almost combative. There's nothing rational about it, I cannot try as I may "think" my way out of this reaction. For me it seems to be hard-wired and almost reflexive, the way it would be if a doctor taps your knee with a rubber hammer. I listed in my post about other "sensory overload" struggles I have: *the waistband of my clothes often feels too tight, sometimes the socks around my ankles will feel too tight/clingy, sometimes the cuffs/wristband of my jackets will also feel too tight. I simply have to get rid of the offending article of clothes *I have photosensitivity to many bright lights including sunshine. To compensate, I purchased a nice pair of shades, which happens to be in vogue *certain cloth has always been aversive to me, in particular polyesther weaves, it was so course it felt almost like it scratched my skin. to this day I cannot use bed linen that is not 100% cotton and has a 400 thread count or higher b/c it feels too scratchy on my skin *places with alot of lights, sounds, crowds of people, I get panic stricken and overwhelmed, like you said SENSORY OVERLOAD * cannot wear terry cloth in my socks b/c it feels to prickly and couldn't stant the feeling of some face cloths taking a bath as a child *I am overly sensitive to very hot or very cold temperatures, particularly bath water/shower water *my shoelaces have to be laced up with the "exact same" tightness on both shoes or I go insane,literally I cannot stand it and have to fix it! LOL *if I am in a bright store like WalMart sometimes the lights make me well...very on edge almost hair-trigger irritable *my ears actually hurt when a fire truck puts it's siren on to the point that when I was a child I would cover them up. As an adult I don't want to look weird doing that, so I learned to just white knuckle through it with my fist and jaws clenched *Smells are so strong in my nose that sometimes the scent is so aversive (like dog poo or skunk) that I gag and have to leave a situation. On the other hand pleasant smells are so strong it makes me feel like I'm in heaven if I like it (baking cookies etc) I speculate that I smell more keenly than everyone else *Taste is the same way but thank God I never had texture issues with food like my sister does. *If I get something sticky on my hands I have to wash it immediately, I just hate that feeling: maple syrup, jelly/jam I could go on and on but the bottom line for me, being 36 years old, is that I had to learn to compensate for my heightened sensory issues by either avoiding siutations or de-sensitizing myself. This wasn't a "formal" process it just happenened out of necessity and I consciously told myself to "sit with the discomfort" I just instinctively knew I had to do it. I am being examined for Temporal Lobe Epilespy and have also wondered about the Epilepsy and Sensory stuff connection. If you find out anything more, PLEASE email me!! ~pamela