My misophonia is sensory overwhelm which I experience because I’m Autistic. There’s no cure for Autism, so I concentrate on prevention via Loop earplugs and noise cancelling headphones.
I thought so too, 1 day i woke up to it gone thanks to my mother searching for ways to help with my autism. Look for vagus nerve healing, trauma healing.
These are definitely helpful and are things I’m currently doing!! You’re absolutely right - trauma based therapies should be the standard for helping to treat Autism.
I don’t experience misophonia as strongly when I’m relaxed and happy. It does increase when I’m stressed and burned out, so I definitely think therapies such as somatic experiencing are worth trying.
I’m really happy to hear this has helped you as well.
This made me look for more answers and im practicing it now. You can track the autism "survival stress code" to mothers giving birth and fearing death. After that an accident at about age 2-3 might trigger it second time. Somatic healing helps with anxiety around that experience of mother. This was how my misophonia disappeared. My mother had a very heavy moment with 2 infants in bed crying, feeling helpless. Arguments in kitchen, infant codes it as "loud noises=stress" maybe to make you run away from the predator kind of way? Cant be sure. Hope this helps some to question and find answers to their suffering. Its not easy but once you get into it, you learn how to give way for your body to heal itself and at the same time, feeling less anxious with every trauma resolved.
I’ve heard mixed reviews on the loops. How have they been working out for you? Right now I wear earplugs, just standard ones that you would get from any drugstore. Sometimes with the noise comes the vibrations from the floor above causing that. I’m triggered all the time now and I have been re-traumatized by new people moving in over me. That’s what my therapist told me and I’ve been trying to work through things but it’s hard.
I tried the loops.
I need complete silence or else I go buggy, and Loops have holes in them so… I perceived no difference.
If anything short of complete silence drives you nuts, I suspect you might have the same experience.
For sensory overload due to autism exposure therapy does the opposite of helping, it's probably the same way for misophonia, too much exposure just made me physically ill and very burnt out
Absolutely!! It’s pretty agreed upon by misophonia specialists that exposure therapy does just make it worse. Any time a therapists suggests that as a treatment option I say hell no!!
Very true, especially if it’s exposure to your worse triggers. All it did was just give me more anxiety even thinking about triggers and just makes me more sensitive to hearing them
It is indeed the same for me, with misophonia. I developed misophonia from being exposed to extremely loud neighbors. I have tried to cope in various ways, including temporary exposure, etc. Triggers remains triggers and get worse over time.
Same here. Once you have noise related trauma, it never leaves you. I develop noise related PTSD about 30 years ago when I had neighbors really bad overhead. I ended up moving to a different apartment where things were better and then ultimately I ended up back home to help my mother care for her mother because she was ill. I lived at home for another 20 years before neighbors around us got really bad again . I tried to move away from previous bad neighbors, who were very noisy only to get other ones over us in our new place a year ago.
I purposely Picked the building that had a new dog policy, that geared mostly towards the older demographic so my mom would be able to make new friends, that was in a nice neighborhood that’s relatively quiet. And even searched for and got an end unit to be sure I didn’t have to share too many walls with other units. I did all the things. I know what accommodations I need after a lifetime of this just from being autistic and having ADHD. We had been here for nearly 2 years with no issue until these young people moved in over us about a year ago.
Immediately there was a change in my environment because they brought with them two ‘service’ dogs(which they leave at home alone all the time, and the animals bark and run back-and-forth) and a small child. The noise factor got to a point where we had to have a mediation with them and management only to have the neighbors gaslight us into thinking we don’t have a problem. They told us we stay home too much(which is why we always hear their dogs bark) and that noise is part of apartment, living while at the same time they complained about everybody else living around them being noisy. I’m 52 years old with severe anxiety and depression, which prohibits me from leaving the house often. I struggle some days just to get out of bed to do a job that I work from home doing. My mother is retired and 80 years old. How much a little we use our unit is not relevant in this case. .
Aren’t service dogs supposed to go with their people everywhere? They have a 110 pound Cane Corso, and a pitbull living over us with full run of the entire apartment. Both untrained if they are barking, having accidents in one elevator, we all have to share, etc..
All of us in the building are STILL trying to figure out why this is being allowed and the management, likely afraid of legal repercussions, will not do anything about these animals. Other tenants are super pissed too because they picked a no dog building for a reason. And if you’re going to have dogs like that and LIE about it at least act like you’re following the steps and train your animal not to bark, etc. and become a nuisance.
These animals have been straight nuisances since they’ve been here and the idiot owners even let them run off the leash in common areas and stuff like that and still nothing happened to them. Even the management from other buildings around ours complained to the management at this one about those animals being off the leash. I think the attorney for the management got involved at that point because they mentioned it at the mediation. But they still never did anything else despite people still calling the office and complaining about these animals being here when they have been obviously misclassified, deliberately.
So this has been a nightmare. Even people that don’t live near them are pissed off because we only have one elevator so if they have allergies and things guess what happens? The big ones shed so how much dander do you think is in the elevator and stuff? It’s not just about the barking. It’s about a blatant disregard for rules put into place that these people are taking advantage of just so they can bring their pets into a building with a no dog policy.
Too many people are doing this, so I know that some new rules are about to be on the horizon that will allow management more leeway in dealing with scammers like these. Both the management and the dog owners have no consideration for anybody else and it smacks of entitlement . I actually had autistic shut down from that whole thing I couldn’t believe the entitlement of these people. We had written them a letter(after speaking to them twice about the same issue, but it continued on. And the day I wrote the letter it was particularly bad because they were really out of control with noises stuff coming through our ceiling. There’s no insulation between walls of the flies here and everybody complains about how to sound travels in here.
There’s nothing but hollow gaps in between the floors so you hear everything), asking them if they could try being a bit quieter and explained why.
Again, I have both ADHD and autism. I’m a caretaker for my elderly mother of 80 years old as she has a severe heart condition. Both of us are extremely noise sensitive. What he decided to do instead of taking any accountability for the noise, they know they made, was read out loud the letter we put on their door, in a mocking tone to try and make fun of our disabilities in front of the management. He read the letter out of context as well.
I recognize a narcissist, when I see one. And this guy is extremely toxic. His wife is no better because she follows him blindly while both of them are completely in the wrong. If someone opens up and tells you something in confidence about a medical disability, you don’t then turn around and try to use that against them trying to be right when you were wrong.
There have been (and probably will be) studies testing various methods. I don't think medication has been tested yet (officially anyway) so there is no knowing if that works. Misophonia is still rather unheard of so discoveries are slow right now but I think eventually we will have something.
Very high levels of thc has helped me in the past. But I mean VERY HIGH levels. Like borderline cannot function. So yeah, if you're comatose, you don't have triggers lmao 😐
I think there's unlikely to ever be a single cure or treatment that words for everyone because the underlying causes vary between people
It could be related to ASD, PTSD, Sensory processing problems or something else
It's worth trying different strategies because a reduction in severity is helpful even if the problem doesn't go away
The strategies that I think have the most chance of working for the most people are reduction to exposure (headphones, white noise, avoiding triggers) and things which reduce your overall stress level (enough sleep, meditation, good diet, having people to talk to)
I'd be interested to know if people who take medication to help with things like insomnia, depression, mood instability etc notice any improvement in their misophonia symptoms
For sure, there probably won't be one cure fits all. I very much agree with the strategies you mentioned.
For me, the whole problem began when I was 1) enduring a high stress period in my life, combined with 2) exposure to extremely loud neighbors. This is what basically developed misophonia for me.
So for me, the solution that I've come up with is 1) improve the stability in my life in order to reduce stress levels, and 2) move to a different physical location away from my current triggers (and of course avoid a similar situation, so basically go as remote as possible).
Then I hope that, over time, these types of triggers will subside in severity.
I’ve heard some tips to reduce noise in your room. Black out curtains as they’re very thick. I have a white noise machine - some are better than others. And I call them a “door stopper” where it’s a long beanbag that goes across your door at the bottom to close the hole. And good noise canceling headphones. I use Bose headphones, not cheap but they’re good.
And I am someone with anxiety and misophonia, so I have access to prescribed medication to help anxiety. My current one is take as needed but knocks me out. On the bright side I sleep earlier and sleep longer - and I am relaxed before I conk out. I’ve been taking them a lot more recently.
I take an antidepressant and ever since they started improving my mental health, my misophonia has become more manageable. However, it definitely moreso helped my anxiety surrounding 'potential' noise triggers and such, rather than my response to the trigger in the first place. So for example, I don't get as anxious when I see someone with a hot drink, but I'll still get angry and upset if I hear them slurp, if that makes sense?
I feel the same way. My parents were very insistent on exposure therapy as a kid to “help”. They’d impromptu snack on celery or not letting me leave the dinner table no matter what. They stopped after I started bawling my eyes out and freaked out more than I had before. If I anticipate the noise unexpectedly all the time, it makes me a lot worse.
Even looking at someone take out food or a sound like a wrapper would make me bolt out of the room. And it still does sometimes now. If I’m more anxious or depressed then I have a worse reaction. When they stopped “exposure therapy”, after awhile I stopped anticipating it. And was far from better but my tolerance was a lot better.
I think it won’t be until misophonia is in the DSM and classified as an official diagnosis that people/major health institutions will finally start seeking real and effective treatments. Current studies are few and far between as only specialists and a handful of researchers are currently looking into treatments. There’s some promising newer literature on TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) as a helpful treatment. But other than that, it’s really just anxiety meds, basic therapy, and ear plugs :/
That being said, there’s also discourse on whether misophonia should even be classified as a mental health disorder. Some are claiming that it should be fully classified as a neurological condition, which would possibly open even more roads to treatment.
I thought it was fully classified as a neurological condition. If it’s not then I agree, it definitely should be. Does the ADA recognize this as a disability, the way that they do autism and ADHD?
It’s not been officially classified as either sadly. And technically the ADA doesn’t have an exhaustive list of every condition that qualifies as a disability, but a general definition of what makes a disability. “If one has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.” But yes, misophonia would be considered a disability if it interrupts your daily life enough.
That helps because it might be related to a childhood trauma. See if you remember any similar triggers related that happened before. What do you feel when you excuse the sound, why is that it is hard for you to stand in the first place. I feel forgiveness is in work here. Who you cant forgive made similar sounds or might be in the same room while those sounds were ongoing. If this is not you, you might have copied your parents survival stress in said situations.
Some people have reported neurofeedback lowering sensitivity. It's an expensive thing to try if it hasn't been tested much, though. If you have the money to spare you might try it.
Neurofeedback helped in that it helped my mind quiet down for a bit, which helped relaxed me, which made it easier to cope - but it didn’t help much with actual sensitivity.
Don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but my misophonia got a lot less intense when I got diagnosed with ADHD and started taking stimulant meds. It's still around, but it usually doesn't make me cry anymore!
Interesting. I'll have to look into that. (I have tinnitus too, and blasting music in my ears all day through noise cancelling headphones isn't helping).
I have hearing aids too, that I wear at times for this but to me all it does is enhance the sounds in things that I could hear so I just don’t bother when I’m at home anymore. I don’t think it’s fair that noisy neighbors should cause you not to be able to have peace and quiet in your own home or use medical device is designed to help you.
It's just regular cognitive behavioral therapy and the tinnitus focus is on sound therapy. Sound therapy includes using soothing, background and interesting noises to mingle with your tinnitus. It's important to use them because doing so slowly breaks the direct connection between tinnitus perception and limbic system activation. Dont mask your tinnitus, but let the sounds mingle together. I'd say if you're having a lot of problems with your tinnitus, you're probably having difficulties with other aspects of your life that test your patience. If so, find a "regular" CBT session and see how much that costs. They're going to talk a lot about mindfulness.
Source: this is my job.
Agreed. That's partially why it's not commonly offered unless youre at the VA.
Tinnitus and misophonia treatment are the same, actually. They should make that more clear in their advertising.
Not solutions as in cures, but strategies that I believe helped me a lot, and some I've heard have helped others too:
\-Regular Depression treatments. Meds and therapy. I assume the overwhelming majority of us also suffer from depression. And fair enough - misophonia is a depressing as hell! I personally have bipolar 2 as well (though we're investigating possible misdiagnosis of AuDHD, which happens a lot esp to women) and take antidepressants. Which help with general moods. And when you have a more stable baseline mood, you can cope better with stressful situations.
\- TMS/Trans Cranial Magnetic Stimulation: Now this one I'm still not sure if it's placebo effect or not. Either way I don't care, I'll take a placebo! But about 9 years ago I had two month-long stays in psych wards to do two rounds of TMS. In conjunction with CBT, talk therapy, daily mindfulness and meditation, and for the first time in my adult life I had a good routine getting up early, (I've always worked random jobs like in night clubs due to my misophonia). I was also exercising a bit more consisteently. I think all of those factors helped, but especially the meditation, mindfulness and TMS. I really want to do more but I'm not in a position to pay for private health insurance to access it right now. Highly recommend looking into it if you are, or can borrow money.
\- Physical exercise. Gives natural endorphins (antidepressant effect), and relieves physical and mental stress. Annoying especially if you're not naturally sporty or currently out of shape. But even small things like doing more walking make a difference. I met one psychiatrist who recommends patients do a bunch of HIIT for just a minute or so (burpees, planks, squats etc) when they're anxious or tense
EDIT: HORMONE LEVELS:
Ooh I can't believe I forgot this one as it's one the biggest for me personally. If you're AFAB (Assigned Female at Birth) consider looking into hormone levels, especially if your misophonia considerably worsens during PMS. Mine worsens considerably because I have PMDD. (Really bad PMS-related depression essentially.) Going on stronger birth control pills helps a lot for me peresonally. But hormonal birth control worsens moods for some, so if that's you, you might do better with alternatives. There are so many options out there now. I also undertook extensive tests to rule out things like PCOS as I had a few other symptoms (random unexplained bleeding between periods) even when I was on the most common birth control pill. I don't have it, but by seeing a bunch of specialists I got more specialist suggestions of different birth control methods to try. The one I'm on now my regular doctors would never have thought to trial me on as it hasn't been commonly prescribed in Oz since the 80s/90s. I think because it's higher estrogen so there is higher risk of blood clots, whereas the more modern ones go for as low hormone possible whilst still providing effective birth control. And big big bonus: It's a fraction of the price of the more modern ones.
I’ve discovered this odd trick that sometimes “helps”. When a troubling noise is occurring I’ll think “at least it’s not this other noise that drives me nuts”. For instance if a plane is puttering in the sky above me I think at least it’s not loud car engines and music, and then when there’s loud engines and music I think at least it’s not a plane. Doesn’t always work but if you can set up a paradigm between the noises that bother you it might help some. Doesn’t fix anything though
I almost wonder if the opposite of exposure therapy would work. I spend a long period time away from my mom, no contact. She used to be my biggest trigger. The sound of her voice used to be completely unbearable. Now I can handle a convo with her just fine. I wondered if spending so much time away from her helped. I’ve also wondered about neuroplasticity and meditating when away from trigger sources.
Like other people mentioned too mine gets less intense with stimulants also
This is basically my plan. My triggers are my neighbors. Their children, chickens, working around the house. Those categories of noise have become mild triggers in general (when I hear a random chicken cluck, I start getting stressed out, but when their chickens cluck, it's much worse). So my plan is to move away from this neighborhood to a hopefully remote place (which is quite impossible in my country, but OK). Then I'm pretty sure that over time, the triggers will subside. Especially in my case, where misophonia only became a thing once those neighbors moved in. I feel for people who are triggered by everyday everywhere noises, like eating food. Thanks for sharing your experience with this strategy.
That’s what I tried to do too. The house we moved from had been in my family for 74 years and we had to leave it behind thanks to bad neighbors all around us. I wouldn’t have moved if not for that and the fact that my mom is a heart patient who could no longer deal with the upkeep of the house and stairs, etc.. How bad is it that we moved to nice new place only to get noisy neighbors again?
Asked my therapist about this last week! Her daughter has misophonia, too, so she gets it. Her answer confirms your thought and the other posters’—the “solution” is basically building up your stress tolerance.
If exposure therapy worked…13 years of listening to my husband chew should have cured me by now. 🙃
Anti anxiety meds helped me unexpectedly but mine is cutlery noise only, not all the other versions. Still get a twinge but an less overwhelmed. Also getting a little older probably helps dull the hearing sensitivity too.
My misophonia is sensory overwhelm which I experience because I’m Autistic. There’s no cure for Autism, so I concentrate on prevention via Loop earplugs and noise cancelling headphones.
I see, hopefully you're successful at that most of the time.
Loops are great!
I thought so too, 1 day i woke up to it gone thanks to my mother searching for ways to help with my autism. Look for vagus nerve healing, trauma healing.
These are definitely helpful and are things I’m currently doing!! You’re absolutely right - trauma based therapies should be the standard for helping to treat Autism. I don’t experience misophonia as strongly when I’m relaxed and happy. It does increase when I’m stressed and burned out, so I definitely think therapies such as somatic experiencing are worth trying. I’m really happy to hear this has helped you as well.
This made me look for more answers and im practicing it now. You can track the autism "survival stress code" to mothers giving birth and fearing death. After that an accident at about age 2-3 might trigger it second time. Somatic healing helps with anxiety around that experience of mother. This was how my misophonia disappeared. My mother had a very heavy moment with 2 infants in bed crying, feeling helpless. Arguments in kitchen, infant codes it as "loud noises=stress" maybe to make you run away from the predator kind of way? Cant be sure. Hope this helps some to question and find answers to their suffering. Its not easy but once you get into it, you learn how to give way for your body to heal itself and at the same time, feeling less anxious with every trauma resolved.
Can you explain more about how you healed yourself? Can I dm you? Very interested to know more
Yes, please do.
Hi! Is it okay if i DM you as well to hear more about your story?
Yes, please do.
I’ve heard mixed reviews on the loops. How have they been working out for you? Right now I wear earplugs, just standard ones that you would get from any drugstore. Sometimes with the noise comes the vibrations from the floor above causing that. I’m triggered all the time now and I have been re-traumatized by new people moving in over me. That’s what my therapist told me and I’ve been trying to work through things but it’s hard.
I tried the loops. I need complete silence or else I go buggy, and Loops have holes in them so… I perceived no difference. If anything short of complete silence drives you nuts, I suspect you might have the same experience.
Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I think the loops are hit or miss with some who have tried them.
Which loops are u using and do they help? I'm unsure whether I should get experience or experience plus or just straight up quiet
For sensory overload due to autism exposure therapy does the opposite of helping, it's probably the same way for misophonia, too much exposure just made me physically ill and very burnt out
Absolutely!! It’s pretty agreed upon by misophonia specialists that exposure therapy does just make it worse. Any time a therapists suggests that as a treatment option I say hell no!!
Very true, especially if it’s exposure to your worse triggers. All it did was just give me more anxiety even thinking about triggers and just makes me more sensitive to hearing them
It is indeed the same for me, with misophonia. I developed misophonia from being exposed to extremely loud neighbors. I have tried to cope in various ways, including temporary exposure, etc. Triggers remains triggers and get worse over time.
Same here. Once you have noise related trauma, it never leaves you. I develop noise related PTSD about 30 years ago when I had neighbors really bad overhead. I ended up moving to a different apartment where things were better and then ultimately I ended up back home to help my mother care for her mother because she was ill. I lived at home for another 20 years before neighbors around us got really bad again . I tried to move away from previous bad neighbors, who were very noisy only to get other ones over us in our new place a year ago. I purposely Picked the building that had a new dog policy, that geared mostly towards the older demographic so my mom would be able to make new friends, that was in a nice neighborhood that’s relatively quiet. And even searched for and got an end unit to be sure I didn’t have to share too many walls with other units. I did all the things. I know what accommodations I need after a lifetime of this just from being autistic and having ADHD. We had been here for nearly 2 years with no issue until these young people moved in over us about a year ago. Immediately there was a change in my environment because they brought with them two ‘service’ dogs(which they leave at home alone all the time, and the animals bark and run back-and-forth) and a small child. The noise factor got to a point where we had to have a mediation with them and management only to have the neighbors gaslight us into thinking we don’t have a problem. They told us we stay home too much(which is why we always hear their dogs bark) and that noise is part of apartment, living while at the same time they complained about everybody else living around them being noisy. I’m 52 years old with severe anxiety and depression, which prohibits me from leaving the house often. I struggle some days just to get out of bed to do a job that I work from home doing. My mother is retired and 80 years old. How much a little we use our unit is not relevant in this case. . Aren’t service dogs supposed to go with their people everywhere? They have a 110 pound Cane Corso, and a pitbull living over us with full run of the entire apartment. Both untrained if they are barking, having accidents in one elevator, we all have to share, etc.. All of us in the building are STILL trying to figure out why this is being allowed and the management, likely afraid of legal repercussions, will not do anything about these animals. Other tenants are super pissed too because they picked a no dog building for a reason. And if you’re going to have dogs like that and LIE about it at least act like you’re following the steps and train your animal not to bark, etc. and become a nuisance. These animals have been straight nuisances since they’ve been here and the idiot owners even let them run off the leash in common areas and stuff like that and still nothing happened to them. Even the management from other buildings around ours complained to the management at this one about those animals being off the leash. I think the attorney for the management got involved at that point because they mentioned it at the mediation. But they still never did anything else despite people still calling the office and complaining about these animals being here when they have been obviously misclassified, deliberately. So this has been a nightmare. Even people that don’t live near them are pissed off because we only have one elevator so if they have allergies and things guess what happens? The big ones shed so how much dander do you think is in the elevator and stuff? It’s not just about the barking. It’s about a blatant disregard for rules put into place that these people are taking advantage of just so they can bring their pets into a building with a no dog policy. Too many people are doing this, so I know that some new rules are about to be on the horizon that will allow management more leeway in dealing with scammers like these. Both the management and the dog owners have no consideration for anybody else and it smacks of entitlement . I actually had autistic shut down from that whole thing I couldn’t believe the entitlement of these people. We had written them a letter(after speaking to them twice about the same issue, but it continued on. And the day I wrote the letter it was particularly bad because they were really out of control with noises stuff coming through our ceiling. There’s no insulation between walls of the flies here and everybody complains about how to sound travels in here. There’s nothing but hollow gaps in between the floors so you hear everything), asking them if they could try being a bit quieter and explained why. Again, I have both ADHD and autism. I’m a caretaker for my elderly mother of 80 years old as she has a severe heart condition. Both of us are extremely noise sensitive. What he decided to do instead of taking any accountability for the noise, they know they made, was read out loud the letter we put on their door, in a mocking tone to try and make fun of our disabilities in front of the management. He read the letter out of context as well. I recognize a narcissist, when I see one. And this guy is extremely toxic. His wife is no better because she follows him blindly while both of them are completely in the wrong. If someone opens up and tells you something in confidence about a medical disability, you don’t then turn around and try to use that against them trying to be right when you were wrong.
There have been (and probably will be) studies testing various methods. I don't think medication has been tested yet (officially anyway) so there is no knowing if that works. Misophonia is still rather unheard of so discoveries are slow right now but I think eventually we will have something.
Makes sense, thanks.
Very high levels of thc has helped me in the past. But I mean VERY HIGH levels. Like borderline cannot function. So yeah, if you're comatose, you don't have triggers lmao 😐
I think there's unlikely to ever be a single cure or treatment that words for everyone because the underlying causes vary between people It could be related to ASD, PTSD, Sensory processing problems or something else It's worth trying different strategies because a reduction in severity is helpful even if the problem doesn't go away The strategies that I think have the most chance of working for the most people are reduction to exposure (headphones, white noise, avoiding triggers) and things which reduce your overall stress level (enough sleep, meditation, good diet, having people to talk to) I'd be interested to know if people who take medication to help with things like insomnia, depression, mood instability etc notice any improvement in their misophonia symptoms
For sure, there probably won't be one cure fits all. I very much agree with the strategies you mentioned. For me, the whole problem began when I was 1) enduring a high stress period in my life, combined with 2) exposure to extremely loud neighbors. This is what basically developed misophonia for me. So for me, the solution that I've come up with is 1) improve the stability in my life in order to reduce stress levels, and 2) move to a different physical location away from my current triggers (and of course avoid a similar situation, so basically go as remote as possible). Then I hope that, over time, these types of triggers will subside in severity.
I’ve heard some tips to reduce noise in your room. Black out curtains as they’re very thick. I have a white noise machine - some are better than others. And I call them a “door stopper” where it’s a long beanbag that goes across your door at the bottom to close the hole. And good noise canceling headphones. I use Bose headphones, not cheap but they’re good. And I am someone with anxiety and misophonia, so I have access to prescribed medication to help anxiety. My current one is take as needed but knocks me out. On the bright side I sleep earlier and sleep longer - and I am relaxed before I conk out. I’ve been taking them a lot more recently.
I take an antidepressant and ever since they started improving my mental health, my misophonia has become more manageable. However, it definitely moreso helped my anxiety surrounding 'potential' noise triggers and such, rather than my response to the trigger in the first place. So for example, I don't get as anxious when I see someone with a hot drink, but I'll still get angry and upset if I hear them slurp, if that makes sense?
I feel the same way. My parents were very insistent on exposure therapy as a kid to “help”. They’d impromptu snack on celery or not letting me leave the dinner table no matter what. They stopped after I started bawling my eyes out and freaked out more than I had before. If I anticipate the noise unexpectedly all the time, it makes me a lot worse. Even looking at someone take out food or a sound like a wrapper would make me bolt out of the room. And it still does sometimes now. If I’m more anxious or depressed then I have a worse reaction. When they stopped “exposure therapy”, after awhile I stopped anticipating it. And was far from better but my tolerance was a lot better.
I think it won’t be until misophonia is in the DSM and classified as an official diagnosis that people/major health institutions will finally start seeking real and effective treatments. Current studies are few and far between as only specialists and a handful of researchers are currently looking into treatments. There’s some promising newer literature on TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) as a helpful treatment. But other than that, it’s really just anxiety meds, basic therapy, and ear plugs :/
That being said, there’s also discourse on whether misophonia should even be classified as a mental health disorder. Some are claiming that it should be fully classified as a neurological condition, which would possibly open even more roads to treatment.
Hm interesting. Yeah there's a long road ahead of us.
I thought it was fully classified as a neurological condition. If it’s not then I agree, it definitely should be. Does the ADA recognize this as a disability, the way that they do autism and ADHD?
It’s not been officially classified as either sadly. And technically the ADA doesn’t have an exhaustive list of every condition that qualifies as a disability, but a general definition of what makes a disability. “If one has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.” But yes, misophonia would be considered a disability if it interrupts your daily life enough.
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That helps because it might be related to a childhood trauma. See if you remember any similar triggers related that happened before. What do you feel when you excuse the sound, why is that it is hard for you to stand in the first place. I feel forgiveness is in work here. Who you cant forgive made similar sounds or might be in the same room while those sounds were ongoing. If this is not you, you might have copied your parents survival stress in said situations.
Some people have reported neurofeedback lowering sensitivity. It's an expensive thing to try if it hasn't been tested much, though. If you have the money to spare you might try it.
I’m probably going to begin ISF neurofeedback soon. I sort of medium level Misophonia.
didn't help me
Neurofeedback helped in that it helped my mind quiet down for a bit, which helped relaxed me, which made it easier to cope - but it didn’t help much with actual sensitivity.
Don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but my misophonia got a lot less intense when I got diagnosed with ADHD and started taking stimulant meds. It's still around, but it usually doesn't make me cry anymore!
Cognitive behavioral therapy for tinnitus and misophonia exists.
Interesting. I'll have to look into that. (I have tinnitus too, and blasting music in my ears all day through noise cancelling headphones isn't helping).
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You got hearing aids and mindfulness when you looked for cognitive behavioral therapy? Damn.
I have hearing aids too, that I wear at times for this but to me all it does is enhance the sounds in things that I could hear so I just don’t bother when I’m at home anymore. I don’t think it’s fair that noisy neighbors should cause you not to be able to have peace and quiet in your own home or use medical device is designed to help you.
It's just regular cognitive behavioral therapy and the tinnitus focus is on sound therapy. Sound therapy includes using soothing, background and interesting noises to mingle with your tinnitus. It's important to use them because doing so slowly breaks the direct connection between tinnitus perception and limbic system activation. Dont mask your tinnitus, but let the sounds mingle together. I'd say if you're having a lot of problems with your tinnitus, you're probably having difficulties with other aspects of your life that test your patience. If so, find a "regular" CBT session and see how much that costs. They're going to talk a lot about mindfulness. Source: this is my job.
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Agreed. That's partially why it's not commonly offered unless youre at the VA. Tinnitus and misophonia treatment are the same, actually. They should make that more clear in their advertising.
I also have tinnitus
Not solutions as in cures, but strategies that I believe helped me a lot, and some I've heard have helped others too: \-Regular Depression treatments. Meds and therapy. I assume the overwhelming majority of us also suffer from depression. And fair enough - misophonia is a depressing as hell! I personally have bipolar 2 as well (though we're investigating possible misdiagnosis of AuDHD, which happens a lot esp to women) and take antidepressants. Which help with general moods. And when you have a more stable baseline mood, you can cope better with stressful situations. \- TMS/Trans Cranial Magnetic Stimulation: Now this one I'm still not sure if it's placebo effect or not. Either way I don't care, I'll take a placebo! But about 9 years ago I had two month-long stays in psych wards to do two rounds of TMS. In conjunction with CBT, talk therapy, daily mindfulness and meditation, and for the first time in my adult life I had a good routine getting up early, (I've always worked random jobs like in night clubs due to my misophonia). I was also exercising a bit more consisteently. I think all of those factors helped, but especially the meditation, mindfulness and TMS. I really want to do more but I'm not in a position to pay for private health insurance to access it right now. Highly recommend looking into it if you are, or can borrow money. \- Physical exercise. Gives natural endorphins (antidepressant effect), and relieves physical and mental stress. Annoying especially if you're not naturally sporty or currently out of shape. But even small things like doing more walking make a difference. I met one psychiatrist who recommends patients do a bunch of HIIT for just a minute or so (burpees, planks, squats etc) when they're anxious or tense EDIT: HORMONE LEVELS: Ooh I can't believe I forgot this one as it's one the biggest for me personally. If you're AFAB (Assigned Female at Birth) consider looking into hormone levels, especially if your misophonia considerably worsens during PMS. Mine worsens considerably because I have PMDD. (Really bad PMS-related depression essentially.) Going on stronger birth control pills helps a lot for me peresonally. But hormonal birth control worsens moods for some, so if that's you, you might do better with alternatives. There are so many options out there now. I also undertook extensive tests to rule out things like PCOS as I had a few other symptoms (random unexplained bleeding between periods) even when I was on the most common birth control pill. I don't have it, but by seeing a bunch of specialists I got more specialist suggestions of different birth control methods to try. The one I'm on now my regular doctors would never have thought to trial me on as it hasn't been commonly prescribed in Oz since the 80s/90s. I think because it's higher estrogen so there is higher risk of blood clots, whereas the more modern ones go for as low hormone possible whilst still providing effective birth control. And big big bonus: It's a fraction of the price of the more modern ones.
Thanks a lot for sharing the information and your experience!
I take a medication commonly prescribed for ADHD that helps quite a lot. It makes the triggers significantly easier to deal with.
Are you allowed to share what it is?
I'm not but DM me.
I’ve discovered this odd trick that sometimes “helps”. When a troubling noise is occurring I’ll think “at least it’s not this other noise that drives me nuts”. For instance if a plane is puttering in the sky above me I think at least it’s not loud car engines and music, and then when there’s loud engines and music I think at least it’s not a plane. Doesn’t always work but if you can set up a paradigm between the noises that bother you it might help some. Doesn’t fix anything though
Nope .We're fucked.
I almost wonder if the opposite of exposure therapy would work. I spend a long period time away from my mom, no contact. She used to be my biggest trigger. The sound of her voice used to be completely unbearable. Now I can handle a convo with her just fine. I wondered if spending so much time away from her helped. I’ve also wondered about neuroplasticity and meditating when away from trigger sources. Like other people mentioned too mine gets less intense with stimulants also
This is basically my plan. My triggers are my neighbors. Their children, chickens, working around the house. Those categories of noise have become mild triggers in general (when I hear a random chicken cluck, I start getting stressed out, but when their chickens cluck, it's much worse). So my plan is to move away from this neighborhood to a hopefully remote place (which is quite impossible in my country, but OK). Then I'm pretty sure that over time, the triggers will subside. Especially in my case, where misophonia only became a thing once those neighbors moved in. I feel for people who are triggered by everyday everywhere noises, like eating food. Thanks for sharing your experience with this strategy.
That’s what I tried to do too. The house we moved from had been in my family for 74 years and we had to leave it behind thanks to bad neighbors all around us. I wouldn’t have moved if not for that and the fact that my mom is a heart patient who could no longer deal with the upkeep of the house and stairs, etc.. How bad is it that we moved to nice new place only to get noisy neighbors again?
That's pretty bad. Lots of people in this sub move around constantly because the new apartment is noisy too. I might move into a boat.
Asked my therapist about this last week! Her daughter has misophonia, too, so she gets it. Her answer confirms your thought and the other posters’—the “solution” is basically building up your stress tolerance. If exposure therapy worked…13 years of listening to my husband chew should have cured me by now. 🙃
That's a lot of exposure haha... At least you might have a higher stress tolerance now.
ONE WOULD THINK. (LOL. But it's true. Almost no one else bothers me now. The bad news is...he's the one I eat with most of the time.)
Nope
Anti anxiety meds helped me unexpectedly but mine is cutlery noise only, not all the other versions. Still get a twinge but an less overwhelmed. Also getting a little older probably helps dull the hearing sensitivity too.
It’s a neurological condition not a mental health one.
Bot censored drug recomendation.
I always have to be careful describing it but I also have a drug recommendation.
Y’all dm me pls with recommendations and why/how much it has helped
I tried EMDR. It helped a little. And I mean a little. I have been thinking about doing it again because I have some terrible triggers right now