Autism

Mostly about the same, but I am now more aware of them and able to manage them better and, hopefully, catch myself before things get too bad.

Better, but I suspect that’s largely due to the fact that im way more economically secure now. Thus I can afford, literally, to avoid situations and sensations I can’t handle.

ND here, with autistic spectrum trails.
For me it's getting worse.
But my sensory issues started around puberty.

Major issues. I can't work in noisy environment, like excessive talking, loud music, machine buzz.
I started using earphones when I'm outside (walking or riding a bike) or do shopping.
I hate sunny days in the summer.
Can't stand blinding car headlights at night.
Room temperature comfort, looks like the range is shrinking.

As for me...I just experienced my least favorite sensation on the face of this planet. Or at least, that's what it felt like when I experienced it. It fills me with doom, and makes me want to rip off my own skin. In fact, that's what I imagine through flashes of what I can only describe as "pain" but can also describe as a "serious case of the yucks." I know it sounds like I am downplaying this, but legitimately I feel so unbelievably awful still. But it cools off after a while. But I have noticed it has gotten worse for me as I've gotten older. Maybe because I am not so mean to myself, and just accept my experiences as valid. But it's still hard, because it's something so casual for most. And it's like finger-rippingly awful to me.

I can still acknowledge that I am okay though, and that's pretty good. Phew!

Anyone else wanna share?

Over time, I've noticed a significant improvement in how I manage sensory issues, though the nature of the triggers has remained the same. My sensory experiences with ADHD differ from what might be typically reported in autism. For me, sensory overload is not constant; it's specifically triggered by stress and diminishes when the stress is relieved. This transient nature of my sensory responses has stayed consistent through the years.

Interestingly, I've found that engaging in multisensory activities or even intentional sensory overload can actually be calming. For example, focusing on multiple sensory inputs—such as watching TV while listening to music—provides a sense of control and helps to regulate sensory responses rather than overwhelm them. This approach creates a structured sensory experience that can reduce feelings of being overwhelmed.

The sensation of being overwhelmed usually doesn't stem from direct sensory inputs like noise or lights. Instead, it's triggered by intense environmental or emotional situations. When overwhelmed, I feel a surge of mental clutter and physical tension, as if every nerve in my body is being pulled tight. While I've become better at recognizing when to withdraw and give myself space to recharge, sometimes I fail to manage effectively.

In moments where I can't withdraw, it can lead to outbursts or complete shutdown. The outbursts are intensely cathartic, serving as a release valve for built-up pressure. They happen because, despite my best efforts, the sensory and emotional overload reaches a tipping point where it becomes too much to contain. It's a constant reminder of the challenges I face with ADHD, where the boundary between being in control and losing grip can be very thin. As I continue to learn and adapt, my methods for managing these situations improve, helping me reduce the frequency and intensity of these outbursts.

I'm curious about potential overlaps with autism, as exploring these similarities might further enhance my understanding of how to navigate my own path with greater clarity.

They've gotten worse. I became a parent, and that's stressful. and Stress makes my sensory issues worse. and Kids are a sensory nightmare.

I think I've mostly gotten to understand them better, and put more meaning to them.

The older I get, the more loud noises bother me. That might be normal though? Hearing loss is pretty common among the elders in my family. 🤷🏻‍♂️

now in my 30's they are definitely better than back in my early 20's. used to hurt my ears when people just talked in the same room, that went away completely. couldn't touch some materials like cardboard and paper, now i can but it still irritates me a little. some things have stayed, like it hurts my skin if someone rubs me over a t-shirt but direct skin contact is fine.

It's a bit hard to describe. Because I've learned to have much more awareness oh what is happening to me when I'm experiencing sensory issues. One the one hand, this has made me hyper aware of them sometimes, which makes me sometimes hyper focus on them, making them worse. But on the other hand, I've learned to actually realize what is happening and get myself away from the situation, or at least practice some coping mechanisms and to practice self compassion. A bit of a two edged sword.

I've gotten way more sensitive to clothing textures as I get older, and I don't remember having too much texture sensitivity as a kid (except for hating itchy tags). I'm also way too aware now of my clothes when I sleep, so sleeping in any kind of pajama bottoms or socks is impossible for me. That never used to be A Thing for me until a few years ago. It doesn't really impact my life very much though.

Much better, but then again, leaving my parents house and finding myself on a safe environment for the first time in my life made a lot of things better I did not expect.

This might be an experience that more autistic people have

Better - but not through age.

Since I got diagnosed late, my before-diagnosis time was a mess and I had no idea why. Since my diagnosis and me subsequently understanding what's happening I have become less likely to compromise on things that will cause meltdowns.

I also have disabled status so I can request accommodations at work, and lucky enough my team and workplace are lovely about that.

I can't tell if time made a difference for me, but I feel like I've lost patience for people telling me "don't be like that", but that's probably also due to knowing what's going on now. I keep asking them if they'd tell a quadriplegic to not be like that and just real quick get them something from the high shelf. Surprisingly efficient, although there's always people claiming you're just being dramatic. Thankfully they are a minority around me.

The actual experience of them? About the same. How much that impacts my life? Less than before.

Because I have greater vocabulary for describing what's wrong and have greater agency in my life to decide not to experience it I can avoid it better. I've also found that drowning some textures with others works;

Ex: melted cheese outside of the context of pizza or as a sauce is not good to me. However adding several other textures helps a lot. So getting a cheese burger when I ordered hambuger is only really a dealbreaker if it was meant to be bun, catchup, & burger. But if I get other ingredients light cheese isn't unacceptable.

Worse. Or maybe I starter noticing more that my headaches and ear pains were caused by it.

They stayed mostly the same, experience wise, but as an adult I can make more choices myself. And I have more experience about what causes issues and what I should avoid in general.

I however still have issues with loud noise, itchy clothing, bright light and too much touch. But as an adult I can just buy (or sew) the clothing I can tolerate, I can wear noise cancelling headphones and wear sunglasses and just don't touch people and pretty much nobody can force me to do otherwise.

I do better with light-based over-stimulation than I did in my early 20s, but I have a lot more trouble with sounds. There's a retailer here in Japan that has its store music (loud), various TVs and other devices playing separate ads at the same time at high volume, and just people noise that leads to a cacophony that triggers my fight-or-flight. I can't go in there for long without noise-cancelling headphones. My brain I think tries to listen to everything at once and can't separate things out leading to issues; I hear them all so I can't listen to or discern any one of them (which is a more general issue I have that gets worse as I get older trying to hear people over any background noise).