Readers Respond: ADHD and Sensitivities

It often helps to hear from others, so please share about sensitivities you or your loved one experiences related to ADHD. Share Your Experiences

Sounds drive me nuts

It’s so nice to see I’m not alone. I’m 21 and I was diagnosed around 9 with ADHD. About 2010 or so I had acid reflux back up into my ears and made me go pretty deaf for a while. Since then I've been drove nuts with noise such as the creaking of the floor boards in my old house and so on. I guess it’s just a combo of the two.

—Guest Katherine

my experience

I like music and I can study and read with music and the TV on. I cannot stand screeching chalk or startling shot gun noises. I sleep with the radio on. I'm very easily distracted. I have to be careful about the clothes I wear. When my mother lived with me she bought dresses that had material that felt very uncomfortable. Clothing tags are nasty. Underwear is quite an issue. If it's cotton it's OK but I can't stand synthetics. I am a college graduate and then some and I work as a data entry clerk. I am fortunate that I do not have OCD or dyslexia.

—Guest Shasta

I relate so much.

I never thought that my sensitivities would be related to my ADD. I'm super sensitive to sounds - not loud ones, but quiet ones. The sound of other people chewing, or creaking doors, or my husband twisting his beard hair drives me up the wall. I'm sensitive to light touches, but in a good way. Even the lightest human touch feels awesome. But if I get a single hair touching my skin (not attached to my head, when it's fallen out) I can't stand it. It itches so much! I have a sensitive personality, which made me the biggest victim of bullying growing up. I'm in my late twenties now, so I've gotten a bit better, but I still don't like people teasing with me or playfully insulting me, because I take it to heart. If a TV is on, I can only pay attention to that. Don't know why, I guess I'm drawn to the moving picture. The maximum number of people that I can socialize with at one time is 3, any larger than that and I get annoyed by the amount of talking. I don't do well at parties.

—Guest yellowdove

ADHD

I found this information useful. My stepdaughter was diagnosed with ADHD in Kindergarten. We could never understand why she insisted on seamless socks, not eating certain foods, or wearing pants that are too long. She has now had an issue since the beginning of the year where she refuses to write without wearing a glove because she doesn't like the feeling of the paper touching her hand. We are concerned that something serious is going on with her but reading these responses helped because it might just be an ADHD problem.

—Guest Lindsay

So glad it's not only me

It makes me so happy to see that I'm not the only one who experiences life this way. One of my first memories is of being about 4 years old and counting how many individual, separate thoughts I had running through my mind at the same time. I remember getting to 8. I can't stand socks with toe seams, I hate touching dry microfiber with my dry hands. The cotton in pill bottles makes me feel nauseated and I have to have someone else pull it out, I have to turn my back when they do it because it makes my skin crawl and start to have an anxiety attack. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water in the bad way. The sight of maggots makes me vomit. I hate having air blowing on my skin. Every little sound wakes me up at night and I am overly sensitive to smells. On the other hand, I love to touch interesting textures and I'm always going up to strangers and asking if I can touch something that they are wearing and I seem to need to smell everything at least once. Glad I'm not alone.

—tapioca4me

Sensitivities

My daughter has ADHD, and in reading this I'm finding a lot of things I didn't realize were parts of it. My sister and I have ADD, the H adds a different world. I have some of the symptoms listed, social events are draining, I'm always early for everything and it drives me crazy that people are late. I'm very detailed oriented, and I tend to hyperfocus. I haven't been on meds for many years, and I do okay. I tend to drift in and out of conversations though, and I find that troubling. My daughter though, is very jumpy, you can scare her just by walking into a room. She hates when others touch her, sometimes even me or her dad. I'm that way too though. Her grandparents don't get it and overcrowd, push it on her. She'll come to you if she wants something. She's almost 12 now, and I see so many of these things in her. I like to read forums on days where I need to find some extra patience. Today is one of those days. I'm not sure why, but it calms my shot nerves, and I'm grateful to have it.

—Guest Lindsey

My ADHD Son

My son is 5 years old, about to be 6. He has a very sensitive gag reflex. He can't stand fabrics touching his neck - it literally will make him vomit and he says it's "choking" him, when the fabric is just sitting there (actually below his neck) like a regular t-shirt. It's very difficult sometimes-like this morning-because it was cold out and he had to lift his arms out to put on his jacket and when he did the t shirt barely touched his throat-the school bus was waiting outside. So now I had to tell them to leave without him, change his shirt and take him to school myself. It's hard to explain to people (especially when stomach viruses are going around all the time at schools) that he's not sick-it's just a sensitivity. And yes, he may actually throw up - but he's not sick.

—Guest Lisa D P

Amazed

I began looking on this site for help in understanding my husband but found answers for my own quirks. When my daughter was 17 she was diagnosed with ADD and at that time I was also diagnosed. I always wondered why I had a hard time sitting through lectures, or sitting for long periods of time at all, it's like my brain is on overload and I get extremely tired and need to sleep. Holidays when I am surrounded with people and many conversations at once are torture for me to the point of the family joke that I fell asleep. It becomes overwhelming even socializing for long periods in a stretch. I used to self medicate with alcohol, drugs or food, just to sit and focus. I try to take separate cars even though my husband does not understand and thinks I don't like people, that is far from the truth. I am learning my limits now. I do much better in a one on one conversation, and people with run on stories make me want to scream so I ask them to get to the point before they lose me.

—Guest Angel

Sensitivity

Wow...I thought I was alone..I am 43 and never been diagnosed with ADHD, but recently took a few online quizzes that all scored with high probability of ADD..I hate loud noises and get extremely angry at someone if they scare me..like jump out at me from behind a door...I can't stand for a metal fork to touch my teeth when I eat...I can't stand the way some materials feel..it makes me nauseous to touch them..I hate the sound of someone typing on a keyboard or the sound of a ringing phone that just goes on and on...have to have a very loud fan going year round in my bedroom, hate, hate, hate overhead, harsh lights...my ears are super sensitive to sounds from everywhere...I hate for my hair to brush my face and keep tickling my skin...hate the material that seat belts are made out of...can't stand for any part of me to be sticky for any reason...get hot very easily, very sensitive to smells, good and bad...always hated the seams on my socks and have terrible sleep problems.

—geauxangel

I was diagnosed with ADHD At 19

I've started to realize that I am not comfortable at all without my car running and the radio on, that and when I pass the 100mph mark it puts me in this amazing and calm state and I'm wondering if this is natural cause I do have the emotionally sensitive part really bad but it's getting to the point where I feel uncomfortable without something there like sound or speed and it is worrying me.

—Guest John d

Yogic Relief

People who are energy vampires, or that lack sensitivity by imposing their presence or sounds within another's personal space drive me nuts! I'm highly professional and poised, but when idiotic noise blocks out the subtle, natural beauty of our world it is so sad to me that I could cry, and when I am stuck in that situation it builds to anger ...like nails on a chalk board. I feel nuts when I get dry skin, hangnails, long finger nails, the touch of dry paper, fabrics that touch my neck, belly button, twist or itch. I started an Anusara Yoga practice 4 years ago and Neelakantha Meditation Practice last year ...I've never had this much relief from these sensitivities in my life, or been with so many like minded people. There are other Eastern perspectives for these sensitivities that have been helpful to me - i.e., understanding excess Vatta dosha, Indigo Adult characteristics and practicing under a Certified Anusara Yoga teacher with Vatta dosha.

—excessvatta

Loud Noises

I am 52 years old and last year I was diagnosed with ADHD. Noises drive me up the wall. Loud vehicles make me cringe and especially the cars with the loud noises banging away. I want to get out of my car and smash in their windshield. Now I wear ear plugs while driving and walking outside. Tags on clothes make me nuts. If I put on new clothes and forget to cut off the tags and I have already left the house and feel the scratching; I will rip the tag off along with ripping my shirt. One time I took off my shirt in the car since the tag bothered me so much and I couldn’t get the tag off. I have to remove every single bit off the tag, even in the seam part. I can't stand to feel mesh. It gives me such a creepy feeling and it makes my hands curl up. I am always late for everything, and am disorganized. I can't concentrate if people are talking around me. My fan is on 24-7. It drones out other noises and comforts me. I miss words when writing, very frustrating.

—Bubble51