Sense Haven: A Site Dedicated to Misophonia
  • Home
  • Triggers
  • Resources
    • General Information
    • Scientific Research
    • Non-Scientific Articles
    • Video and Audio Clips
    • Articles Focused on School-Aged Children
    • Other Misophonia Websites/Blogs
  • Coping Tools
  • Support Venues
  • Blog
  • Past Polls
  • Contact

The "Butterfly's Whisper" Blog

Welcome to my blog. I hope by sharing my own misophonia experiences, others who are frustrated with misophonia sensitivities will discover that they're not alone. I also hope that people who may not have misophonia will gain some insight about what it's like to have this condition.

Please feel free to post any comments or use the "Contact Us" page if you have any questions/comments you don't want to post online.

Contact ME

Spring is here...

4/25/2015

0 Comments

 
As you can tell, things have been quite busy for me. Between deadlines at work, physical therapy for my shoulder, getting ready to go back to NYC to visit my family - which is back to back with attending my annual lighting conference - I've been pretty distracted (yet again). Hoping to balance myself out soon.

The mornings I do physical therapy have been quite a misophonia challenge. I try to remember to bring in my earplugs but when I wear sweatpants that don't have pockets, I wind up forgetting. Those wind up being the most annoying sessions... When my physical therapist isn't working with someone, every now and then he'll break into a whistle (my biggest trigger). Sometimes the repetitive motions that the other patients are doing in their workouts are visual triggers for me, but usually I can close my eyes to block them out. On Tuesday though, I was doing an exercise where I lay on the floor on top of a foam cylinder with my arms outstretched to the sides as far as they can go. It just so happens that I forgot my earplugs that morning and the patient directly next to me starts sniffling. Over... and over... and over... My exercise was only supposed to be for 4 minutes but I couldn't take his sniffling for even 10 seconds. I wound up getting up and walking into the other room. The technician knows about my misophonia but I really don't think she understands it. Oh well. At least it forced me to bring in my Bluetooth earbuds for the Thursday session.

Wednesday, I had a full-day professional event by one of the manufacturers we use. Two of my coworkers also attended - one of whom is the junior designer who used to share the cubicle pod with me, so she knows and understands my struggles with triggers. We entered the first seminar late, so there weren't many seats left where we could all sit together. So, I sat with them about 2/3 back from the speaker. Not a fun experience for me. Between the people next to me bouncing their feet/legs, chewing gum, opening soda cans, and drinking water/coffee and the people in front of me setting off visual triggers... I wound up saying to my coworkers for the subsequent sessions that I didn't mean to be rude but I have to move to the front row. Moving to the front row wasn't perfect - since the first few rows had tables with tablecloths, the person next to me bouncing his foot shook the tablecloth right in my field of view below me - but I was still able to focus on the presentation better than when I had been sitting much further back.

I look forward to the day when I can go to a presentation and not have it matter where I sit!
0 Comments
    Want to know when a new blog entry is posted, then click the RSS Feed button below to sign up for the "Butterfly's Whisper" update notifications.

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    About the Author

    Emlyn Altman has been suffering with misophonia for over 35 years, even though she only found out about the actual medical condition much more recently. As frustrating as the condition has been over the years, her heightened sensitivities across all the senses considerably influenced her talents within the visual fine arts (particularly sculpture), music (singing, piano, and many other instruments), writing, and culinary backgrounds, as well as professional achievements as an architectural lighting designer. Her goal in developing this website is to promote more awareness about misophonia and help other sufferers as well.


    Archives

    January 2018
    December 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012

Copyright © 2017 Emlyn G. Altman