Misophonia and BPD

[lbjnltx]

What is Misophonia?

According to WebMD:

Misophonia, also known as selective sound sensitivity syndrome, starts with a trigger. It’s often an oral sound -- the noise someone makes when they eat, breathe, chew, yawn, or whistle. Sometimes a small repetitive motion is the cause -- someone fidgets, jostles you, or wiggles their foot.

If you have a mild reaction, you might feel:

•Anxious

•Uncomfortable

•The urge to flee

•Disgust

If your response is more severe, the sound in question might cause:

•Rage

•Anger

•Hatred

•Panic

•Fear

•Emotional distress

•A desire to kill or stop whatever is making the noise

•Skin crawling

•Suicidal thoughts

The disease can put a cramp in your social life. You might avoid restaurants or eat separately from your spouse, family, or roommates. Or worse, you could act on what you feel. You might attack the person who’s making the sound -- physical or verbally -- cry, or run away from the situation.

Over time, you may respond to visual triggers, too. Seeing someone get ready to eat or put something in their mouth might set you off.

How Do You Get It?

This lifelong condition usually starts between the ages of 9 and 13 and is more common with girls. It comes on quickly, but isn’t related to any one event.

Doctors aren’t sure what causes misophonia, but it’s not a problem with your ears. They think it’s part mental, part physical. It could be related to how sound affects your brain and triggers automatic responses in your body.

Because your ears are normal and your hearing is OK, the doctor may have trouble with a diagnosis. Misophonia is sometimes mistaken for anxiety or bipolar or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Some doctors think it should be classified as a new disorder.

How Do You Treat It?

The condition does affect daily life, but you can learn to manage it.

More than a dozen misophonia clinics around the country offer sound therapy combined with psychological counseling. The doctor sets up background noises to counteract your trigger sound.

You might try a device like a hearing aid that creates a sound in your ear similar to a waterfall. The noise distracts you from triggers and reduces reactions. Other treatments include talk therapy and antidepressants.

Your lifestyle also plays a role. Get regular exercise, plenty of sleep, and manage your stress. You can also wear ear plugs and headsets to tune out sounds. Set up quiet areas or safe spots in your home where no one will make the noises that bother you.

And find support. The Misophonia Association has chapters across the country. It holds annual conventions to bring together doctors and patients interested in this subject.

You can also find online and social media groups where people share coping strategies.

Our objective is to better understand the struggles our child faces and to learn the skills to improve our relationship and provide a supportive environment and also improve on our own emotional responses, attitudes and effectiveness as a family leaders

[Lynnsie]

I didn't even know about the misophonia until I read your post.  My daughter rages at what she says is a fork going across teeth while eating.  I really thought she was just being  a pain in the butt and finding a reason to rage.  She rarely eats with us anymore.  I'm sorry she has this but, it's reassuring to know that she's not just doing this purposefully to drive us crazy.

[Shell Shocked]

I never heard of misophonia either.  That is helpful.  My daughter flies off the handle at the sound vinyl makes and when he sister whistles.  Also makes sense as to why she ripped the smoke detector out of the ceiling in the middle of the night when the low battery started chirping and I told her that I couldn't address it at 3 am but would try to fix it in the morning.

[Panda39]

Misophonia!... .There is a name for it!  I can not stand the sound of people chewing and heavy breathing.  Have been this way since childhood but do seem to have outgrown my aversion to snoring... .or maybe it's just love, my honey snores in a big way but it doesn't bother me.  However snoring drove me nuts as a kid.  I remember sleeping on the bathroom floor of a hotelroom to escape my dad and my brother's snoring.

I always thought those symptoms were just part of being a highly sensitive person but there may be more to it.

[Smileypants]

I think my husband has this too!

[livednlearned]

All the women in my family have this.   And my son does too.

For me, it's mild. I would say it is severe with my son. We cannot go see movies because the sound of people eating popcorn will bring him to tears. Literally. He will cry if someone behind us sits down and starts eating popcorn.

A friend of mine sent me this article about misphonia (*warning to anyone who hates the sound of chewing -- there is a video of a guy eating that automatically starts when you load the page).

If you don't want to visit the page, here are some interesting highlights from the article:

Coined by the married researchers Margaret and Pawel Jastreboff of Emory University in 2002, misophonia (“hatred of sound”) is sometimes referred to as selective sound sensitivity syndrome. Like me, those with the disorder identify a series of specific sounds that bother them. A 2013 study by Arjan Schröder and his colleagues at the University of Amsterdam identified the most common irritants as eating sounds, including lip smacking and swallowing; breathing sounds, such as nostril noises and sneezing; and hand sounds, such as typing and pen clicking.

The range of responses to these noises is broad, from irritation to disgust to anger. Some sufferers even respond with verbal or physical aggression to those making the noises. One woman reported wanting to strangle her boyfriend in response to his chewing.

Researchers are only beginning to understand the science behind misophonia, but early data suggest a hyperconnectivity between the auditory system and the limbic system, a part of the brain responsible for generating emotions. Some studies have found associations between misophonia and other psychiatric conditions, such as obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, but many sufferers appear to have no other major emotional problems. Dr. Schröder and other researchers are developing specific diagnostic criteria.

Having a mild version of this really helped me validate what my son was feeling. He also sometimes feels like he's going to faint when he hears certain sounds and can't get away. Like in math class, the teacher lets kids bring snacks. The sound of people eating chips is a strong trigger for my son, and he can't focus. I'm proud of him for advocating for himself -- he asked the teacher if he could sit on the far side of the room away from the sounds. He told her the sounds of people eating was so distracting he couldn't concentrate and she let him move.

Adults can do things to accommodate, but kids are treated like they are always trying to pull a fast one, and often have less control over their environment. I'm learning to accept that S13 has strong emotional triggers that need to be validated, and then help him learn how to advocate for himself and if necessary, avoid the triggers. I'm also hoping he will be open to learning about mindfulness so he can help center himself when the feels are excessively strong.

[jellibeans]

My dd has complained about this for some time now. She doesn't always eat with us and rarely takes a lunch to school. She has been very aggressive at times with people while she was in treatment. I am not sure how to treat this and we are already dealing with so much. She manages it pretty well.

My H has a very strong sensitivity to niose... .the dog barking... .the phone ringing... someone knocking at the door and TV commericals. I think of these as very common nioses. Our dog is not a barky dog but his tolerance for even one bark is very low.

Are these two disorders related in anyway? I have thought in the past my H had aspergers and My dd might have some of these traits as well. I would be interested to here is there was any connection.

[Harri]

Hi.  There are treatments available and the most cost effective and the simplest to start with is to introduce sound in the environment.  Avoidance of silence 24/7 is key here just as it is with tinnitus treatment.  It could be something as simple as a fan in the room or using an old radio with a dial tuned to static and set the volume so that it is just barely audible and then over time, increase the volume a bit.  There are also inexpensive sound generators used in babies rooms that have several sounds from which to choose.  Choose a sound that is acceptable and 'neutral' to the person with misophonia and anyone else in the area though!  Avoiding silence 24/7 is critical.  Depending on the severity, you may need to start with very very low level sound.  One of the things people with misophonia tend to do is try to avoid any sound and that is actually the worst thing to do as you want to train your brain to accept sound so that you can then learn to ignore it.  Another thing to avoid is focusing on the problem to the point where it becomes pathologized or emphasized in the person mind. 

More expensive options are available in terms of noise generators, but I would start off simple and inexpensive and go from there.  there is also a psychological/counseling portion to treatment as well primarily focusing on breaking the 'dislike' of sound and trying to put it in a more neutral context.  you can get some great information from by googling misophonia + Pawel Jastreboff who is one of the, if not The, founders of Tinnitus Retraining Therapy.  Tinnitus is often comorbid with misophonia.  Do not be confused with hyperacusis, which is similar but different from misophonia... .though treatment can very very similar.

Caution for those who choose to google this:  there are a lot of 'snake-oil' treatments out there.  No 'supplements' will fix this, unless there is a deficiency in a particular vitamin and mineral of course... .and even then, taking a supplement may have no impact on the misophonia or tinnitus or hyperacusis.     Try to stay with those that are based on the work of Jastreboff.

You can also research audiologists in your area to find people who are trained in tinnitus/hyperacusis therapy.  Be aware though that insurances generally do not cover such treatment as it is considered experimental.

 

Good luck with this.   

[livednlearned]

Are these two disorders related in anyway? I have thought in the past my H had aspergers and My dd might have some of these traits as well. I would be interested to here is there was any connection.

I don't know of any connection. The women in my family who suffer from misophonia don't have any other conditions.

[Kate4queen]

How interesting!

I think I have a mild version of this. Can't stand hearing people chewing and swallowing or clacking their false teeth. Now my BPD son would fly into a rage if someone scraped their fork on their plate.

[Turkish]

My Ex was a little like this. No one else around a table would notice a thing, but she would about me, and get angry about me chewing. I later thought it was due to her anxiety about herself and seeing me as a represenatation of her vis-a-vis how she perceived how others viewed her. She was very sensitive to smells, however. Our son is very sensitive to textures and visual things. Luckily, no sound sensitivities yet that I can tell.

Our objective is to better understand the struggles our child faces and to learn the skills to improve our relationship and provide a supportive environment and also improve on our own emotional responses, attitudes and effectiveness as a family leaders

[SafeAwayFromHer]

My daughter was diagnosed with BPD at age 23, but I saw BPD traits in her from a very young age.  Her misophonia started around age 9 - went into a rage when hearing people chew, breath, yawn, snore, stretch, sigh - it was awful.  She liked eating out but her rages would make things so embarrassing.  She ate by herself when she couldn’t rage people into leaving the room themselves.  When she left the eating event, she’d rage some more about the noises people made. 

[Lollypop]

Thank you for bringing this forward. I’d never heard of misophonia.

I have had a problem with noise for a number of years. I’m 57. I’d guess it’s been in the last 7. This would tie in to stress levels or hormonal changes.

I find tv noise unbearable. Things like tv game shows. This is a problem when my MIL visits as she’s deaf and loves these.

My husband always seems to make SO MUCH noise, it grates. Mostly coughing, sniffing, yawning ...sighing. I try to disappear for a bath.  I thought it was him but can see maybe it’s me!

I started with tinnitus about a year ago. I can hear it in my left ear as I type this! And my husband making noises...sigh  

I’ve wondered about a hearing test. Or running away  . I don’t rage but have a flight response. It’s emotionally challenging.

LP

[mggt]

I think I have a mild case of this.  Drives me crazy when people are snapping  gum. Also chewing loudly making smacking noises with there mouth. Maybe a littler more than mild.  Lol.

[SafeAwayFromHer]

Misophonia is different than disliking bad manners like people popping gum or smacking when eating.  Misophonia is when - most often example I’ve heard - someone HATES hearing you chew your food (with your mouth closed).  Like when you’re crunching a bite of apple with your mouth closed?  Or pizza - there’s a “sloshing” action that happens in your mouth even when you’re chewing politely simply because of the cheese and the sauce.  People with misophonia go ballistic over this.  I cook a lot - it’s my passion, so if I possibly hear these polite noises it brings me joy! It tells me people are enjoying their food!  People with mesophonia can become violent over this.  Mesophonia is common with BPD.