Where does the time fly?

1/11/2016

I can't believe we're nearly halfway through January 2016! Normally I'm pretty good about posting updates around the holidays. Unfortunately, I've been under the weather for the past three weeks and having trouble shaking whatever it is. I don't know if it's all the traveling I've been doing over the past couple of months or the fact that I usually get sick around six months after moving to a new city. Perhaps it's a combination of the two. Whatever it is, I've been having trouble just functioning in general, let alone thinking about my misophonia.

For the most part, I've been in bed the past three weekends, only getting up to go to the doctor or going to work during the week, so my exposure to triggers has been limited to those I experience from TV commercials, my bird getting restless/whiny, or food triggers by my coworker.

I did have an interesting misophonia discussion with my uncle when I went home last month. I made a comment about how I need to push myself to go out and socialize more, so I can develop a network of friends in my new city. At first I attributed my homebody tendencies to being an introvert, but when my uncle mentioned he didn't like those types of classifications about people, I said even if it's not due to my being introverted, I tend to avoid public situations when I can to minimize trigger exposure. He was willing to accept that explanation but then when we started talking about misophonia and triggers, he asked me a question that I still struggle trying to come up with an answer...

I tried to explain how misophonia is not just an experience about being bothered by triggers... It manifests itself as extreme annoyance to the point of rage. That's when my uncle asked me, "How is misophonia different than road rage?" I honestly couldn't come up with a good explanation. I know misophonia is triggered by sensory input (sounds, visuals, tactile, etc) but I couldn't figure out how to contradict how road rage is different. People who experience road rage are angered by visuals such as a person cutting in front of them or maybe a sound of someone honking behind them. How is that different than being angered by someone bouncing their leg or listening to slurping noises?

Maybe my being ill is just not letting me see the obvious logical answer. Perhaps one of you readers can come up with a good explanation. I'm certainly open to suggestions. :-)

7 Comments

Jim

1/13/2016 06:38:14 am

How is misophonia different from road rage? His point being that when you are focused on driving, others' behavior angers you to the point where you are willing to risk your life and that person's life in order to... what? Teach that person a lesson?

The major similarity is the word rage. Like a word game. The same absurdity you see, for example, in The New York Times when it comes to political coverage.

One major difference is that our behavior is focused on removing the damaging stimulus. Our rage builds when we can't avoid it. With road rage, the stimulus has ended. What results is a narcissistic desire to punish the offending driver - at any cost.

A second major difference is that maturity can cure road rage. People with road rage can learn better driving habits. With misophonia, there's a connection in the brain that short-circuits with certain stimuli.

The similarity is in learning to control the rage. However, with road rage the cure is maturity. With misophonia, all we can do is learn not to express the rage in damaging ways.

Emlyn

1/13/2016 10:14:04 am

Thank you for the insight, Jim. Very interesting perspective, especially about maturity being able to control the road rage. In some ways, I feel like my maturity over the years has helped me control my reactions to misophonia, although that's in contrast to the increased number and sensitivity to the triggers themselves as I grew older.

Definitely something for me to ponder more...

Jim

1/20/2016 09:50:24 am

Your uncle makes a good point. The argument that the sound of chewing sending one into an uncontrollable rage could be due to a physiological cause related to some mis-wiring of the brain seems as reasonable as a racist arguing that the sight of a dark-skinned person sends HIM into an uncontrollable rage because his brain is physiologically "incorrect."

Is racism a mis-wiring of the brain that causes the brain's owner to react to stimuli incorrectly?

If the stimuli of chewing noises or breathing caused, say, a SEIZURE, then it would be much more believable as a disorder. That those stimuli basically just cause "pronounced annoyance" makes it seem more like pathologized petulance.

Jim (same as in response one, not this one)

1/22/2016 11:14:54 am

It seems Emlyn (and maybe me as well, given that he didn't take the trouble to differentiate his name) has acquired a troll.

This type of mean-spirited bullying is what we've had to contend with for decades. You don't understand something, so you seek to ridicule it in a rather weak attempt to turn it into a non-issue. That way you don't have to feel empathy for someone who doesn't fit your view of the world.

There are many ways in which the brain reacts. The fight-or-flight response, which is heavily connected to the parts of the brain that process emotion, is the function of the amygdala.

Research today suggests that these noises, when processed in the brains of those with this disorder, short-circuit the portion of the brain that delivers signals to the amygdala. It's rather complex, but it's not that hard to understand on a superficial level, unless you have a brain disorder in which a logical discussion is short-circuited to the place in your brain that triggers the bully response.

As for your racism example... it's purely emotional what-iffing. But if someone studied racism on a scientific level and found a portion of the brain actually reacted differently to dark skin, maybe that would be a disorder, too. Seems like a reach, but maybe worth studying. The burden's on you to make that association, though. If you were in neuroscience, perhaps that could be your dissertation-level product.

Emlyn

1/30/2016 01:54:25 pm

Thanks for the follow-up and clarification, Joe #1. (LOL!) This is the first time I had multiple people with the same name post here. :-)

I just got some feedback from the research study in London in which I participated back in 2014, so my next post (that I'll write in a few minutes) might be something interesting to note given your second to last paragraph above.... (To be continued...)

Bonnie link

1/24/2016 08:47:02 pm

Interesting thought. I have family members with anger-management issues. Dealing with my son's miso, I've been giving this some thought. 1. Anger control issues (which I put road rage under) may be hereditary 2. May be neurological-related.

I often wonder if these issues are related. They both involve the emotional center of the brain. There is also a need for control.

Emlyn

1/30/2016 02:01:39 pm

Hi, Bonnie. Thanks for the comment. It's interesting how the more I talk to people about this disorder, and read comments by others on various discussion groups, how some people with misophonia have other conditions too. I've had people reach out to me asking about potential connections between misophonia and ADHD, autism, synesthesia, even PTSD...

I still wish more research will happen in the near future. Without more research and attention to find out what misophonia is, what may cause it, how it can be treated, it may be harder to justify those types of connections without the quantitative statistics to back it up.

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.

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Where does the time fly?

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