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

Second conference down...

5/17/2013

0 Comments

 
Hooray! The past whirlwind of back-to-back conferences is almost behind me. I'm sitting in a small club room at the Las Vegas airport waiting to go back to the Midwest and took this as a nice, quiet opportunity to catch up with this blog. Yesterday, two colleagues and I presented a panel session at a conference.  I won't say that things are going to calm down for me now that the presentation is over. Now that THAT presentation is done, I hopefully can focus on playing big  time catch-up at the office and try to get back into a more regular posting routine here.

Out of all the cities that I've ever presented seminars or attended conferences, Las Vegas is by far my favorite. In fact, I can honestly say that I had very little trigger experiences while at my Vegas conference compared to the nearly constant bombardment I experienced at my Philly conference a couple of years ago. I know some people can take it or leave it when it comes to Vegas but as a lighting designer, it is a truly inspiring and creative city.

The one consistent thing about Vegas that is tough for me, because it is one of my smell triggers, is the prevalence of smoking in casinos. Years ago I heard that there had been an attempt to have a smoke-free casino but from what I understand, it was a total flop. So, I try to minimize my exposure to cigarette smoke by staying at one of the few hotels on the strip that doesn't have a casino called TheHotel. (Yes, that is it's name.) Out of all the hotels I've stayed at while in Vegas (which is a lot), TheHotel is, in my opinion, is the best hotel for someone like me with misophonia. It's a fairly quiet hotel (no noises from the slot machines since there is no casino in the hotel), the rooms are all suites (so the bedroom is separated from the public corridor by the outside door and the door between the living room and the bedroom), the architectural finishes are pretty dark and soothing, and the staff pretty much makes sure that your stay is very relaxing. I also try to get what's called the "V" style suite, which is at the ends of the corridors, so since my room was next to the stairwell, I only had one neighboring guestroom. Didn't hear a sound! I did have to switch rooms once when I first arrived because they put me on a smoking floor but once that issue was resolved, I had a very relaxing stay there.

Outside of the conference, I don't go to Vegas to gamble. If I want to lose money, I'd rather spend a couple of hundred dollars to for a relaxing day at a spa instead of losing it all in 5-10 minutes at a gaming table.  For me, the spa is a place where I can truly put the stresses of work and city life behind me and bathe myself in relaxing sensory stimulation: The smell of lavender or other soothing scents, the sounds of harps and other lyrical instruments, the sensual fabrics and other luxurious tactile sensations, the calming dim lighting and even the refreshing drinks of cucumber water or, in this one spa I visited a couple of days ago, a pineapple/cranberry drink. Typically, I don't experience misophonia triggers when I'm in the spa because of how quiet the rooms are, except in some lounge areas that have water cascading down the walls - but even that to me is soothing. Kind of like the sounds of babbling brooks or waterfalls when I would hike back east. I did have an interesting trigger experience a couple of days ago while at the spa...

I just finished a manicure/pedicure (so I'd look my best for yesterday's presentation) and knowing that I'm notorious for messing up my nails shortly after having them done, I decided to go back to one of the lounges to relax for about an hour while they dry more fully. I was casually talking to one of the attendants when out of nowhere, another attendant walked behind me and at right when she was directly behind me, she started whistling a tune. She whistled it less than a foot or two from my ear so instinctively, I immediately put my fingers in my ears and the attendant with whom I was talking looked at me kind of funny. I explained to her about my misophonia and how whistling is one of my worst triggers. The attendant said to me that there's another attendant in the spa who has the same difficulty with whistling and other sounds. She even said that her significant other also has issues with some sounds. Since I had my purse on me, I was able to pull out a couple of "business" cards I put together for this website. I figured if I could help those two people, an perhaps be able to inform others about misophonia, it makes this website and blog all the more worthwhile to me.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    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 40 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

    October 2021
    January 2019
    March 2018
    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 © 2021 Emlyn G. Altman