Comment Archive

Archive spans 2015 through 2017

• Christie on February 2, 2015 at 5:13 am (Edit)
I’ve never heard this word before but I sure have experienced the pain! It is easier when it happens with my family cause i can just tell them to stop though they dont understand why i feel angry (and most of the time they dont care and even did it on purpose just to annoy the heck out of me). But when it happens with people I’m not close to, i feel so pissed but i cant do anything about it!! It’s like the worst combination ever. I feel soooooo annoyed but i cant ask them to stop shaking their legs and sniffing. Sometimes i just want to cry or run away or both.
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Jami on July 29, 2015 at 12:41 am (Edit)
I have dealt with the same problems. It’s hard for others to understand what’s happening or why we feel this way. I often just tell people I wish I were deaf half the time. It’s nice to know I’m not crazy and alone in this.
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Andrea on October 28, 2015 at 8:36 am (Edit)
I say this all the time! And people look at me like I’ve just slapped them or asked for cancer. Seriously, they have no idea what we live with.
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Renee on September 16, 2016 at 9:59 am (Edit)
I definitely have this,& just this morning I kept hearing a ticking in my Car while driving my Son to School,& couldn’t find where it was coming,& it literally was driving me CRAZY!!! & the crinkling of Chip Bags,paper Bags etc.drive me CRAZY!!!! Barking of Dogs!!!I’m glad I’m not the only one who is going through this
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Riley on October 24, 2016 at 9:45 pm (Edit)
When I am at school, I will be walking to class. Even if thins makes me be late, if there is a small click in my backpack, I will take everything out of my backpack to stop the noise. Once I ripped a backpack off a complete stranger and did that, because they had a noise in there backpack. People think I’m crazy in my school……….

Maria on December 20, 2016 at 12:20 pm (Edit)
I have experienced this since I was little. My sister would walk across a masonite floor with bare feet and anything extremely dry would freak me out like nails on a blackboard and newspaper pages rubbing together.
I care for my husband who has alzheimer’s disease. He paces back and forth all day and shuffles his feet. He needs to go through a child gate and tries to figure how to open the latch. He’ll tinker with the latch and I went so nuts I removed the latch just so I won’t have to hear it. Many triggers have been added to my list over the past 50 yrs but I’ve learned I can eliminate a few from the list by actually removing a trigger such as the gate latch

Mal on December 19, 2016 at 6:33 pm (Edit)
I have suffered with this all my life. Sometimes I wish I had tourets syndrome too so that I could have a legitimate excuse for punching people in the face while they slurp, sniff munch or burp in my presence. I can’t go to the cinema to enjoy a movie because of the fear of hearing people digging around in their giant popcorn cups and licking the salt from their fingers. The sound of that makes me nauseous.
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calvin Ketteridge on January 3, 2017 at 4:37 am (Edit)
For me it started when I was about 10 and my siblings just say deal with it but they don’t know what it’s like having something as lovely as food be made into a hellstorm of hatred.
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Noah on May 4, 2017 at 3:39 pm (Edit)
So true. I hate those kinds of people who do that. Why can’t they just stop?
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Anna on June 11, 2017 at 5:25 am (Edit)
Yes, I’ve had it ever since I was seven years old. It’s horrible. People need to be more educated about it. Most of the time my teachers thought I had OCD. No one understood what it was, but I’m glad I’m not alone.
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Anna on June 11, 2017 at 5:33 am (Edit)
Yes, it’s horrible. People should be more educated about it. I’ve had it since I was 7 years old. No one really understood what it was. My teachers thought it was OCD. Which I do have also. Until my mum found out about misophonia. It’s horrid, it will never go away, but I’m glad I’m not alone.
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Rhea on February 18, 2017 at 12:30 pm (Edit)
haha, i so absolutely agree. i have to totally bite my tongue at times, especially having meals with some people. i absolutely lose my appetite. and i have always said, if I ever end up in a long term care place, i hope to be deaf or else have a crate of earplugs..
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Georgia on February 19, 2017 at 9:19 am (Edit)
Same i hate it i told my mum and she thinks i am crazy it is just getting me mad and where i am know there people eating like that is is really getting me really mag fuck it
It is so hard
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John. on April 24, 2017 at 8:52 am (Edit)
I get very angry at the noise when people scrape their bowls or scrape out a yoghurt pot or slurp drinks I am accepting people need to eat.but please make it easier for me please.somtimes I just leave the room otherwise it stumps me and I get defensive or very frustrated I wish it would stop somehow.my sister told me about this.affliction I also think my mom and sister have the same complaint as misophonia.any ways people love and blessings to all. Thank you.
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Suz on January 18, 2016 at 6:41 pm (Edit)
I am so glad I am not the only person who finds all these things annoying. I am 18 years old and for as long as I can remember I have had this problem. The sound of heavy breathing, eating loudly sniffling and unnecessary tapping sends me crazy. The worst for me is when people continuously snifle, it actually makes me angry. When I’m doing exams I usually have to keep one hand up to my ear and try to rest the other ear on my shoulder to dull out the sounds of sniffling. I don’t understand why people find it easier to snifle every 10 seconds instead of just blowing their noises. This literally is the worst thing ever!!!
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Ana on March 21, 2016 at 5:17 pm (Edit)
My coworker sniffles her nose every 10 seconds, I have to blast my headphones which ends up giving me a headache. I have thought of quitting my job just because of her. I am 32 years old and I have lived my entire life with this issue since I got it from my mom who got it from my grandma and I though it was just “in my family” reading all these comments gives me a little bit of peace of mind, knowing that there are other people who understand the struggle. Thank you for sharing.
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Rhea on February 18, 2017 at 12:25 pm (Edit)
Ana, I am the same way and have been most of my life. I am now almost 67 & for many years I wear earplugs to sleep as I can even hear the furnace & fridge running. Drives me nuts. I have been on my own for some years because the snoring, deep breathing etc etc, yuck… I have never heard of this term, misophonia. nice to know we’re not alone, huh… I always have a few containers of new earplugs just in case, overnights at friends, emergencies; hospital etc…. just thought i’d share how i’ve dealt with this over the years…
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ughhh on June 11, 2016 at 10:56 pm (Edit)
This is me! Thank goodness I’m not alone. WHY DON’T PEOPLE BLOW THEIR NOSES?!?!?!
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Ian on November 20, 2016 at 5:20 am (Edit)
I whistle through my nose when it’s completely open, it’s annoying because of my nose is full of mucosa it won’t whistle but that’s uncomfortable so if I blow my nose clear the crooked anotomy (from broken nose) creates a high pitched “dog whistle” if I use a nasal decongestant I can play tunes with my whistling nose. I wish I didn’t have a whistling nose! I think I’m starting to make it calm down, whistling happens when people are hyperventilating, a lot of elderly people have constant hyperventilation syndrome and whistling results. Not fun for anyone, please don’t be mad because I have a broken nose..
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Georgia Schofield on January 10, 2017 at 4:44 pm (Edit)
IF people blow their noses when i am eating I freak out and vomit!
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Rachel Tew on June 22, 2016 at 5:01 pm (Edit)
Sniffing is the worst for me too. I dropped out of school, because of it. I live in the southern US and everyone sniffs around here… I have become a hermit.
You should visit Misophoniainternational.com
If you are an artist or writer, we want to feature your work in our magazine run by volunteer Misophones. Our goal is to spread more awareness, and support more research into our disorder.
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Renae Shale on November 11, 2016 at 9:02 pm (Edit)
Of course it is glorious to feel validated. I absolutely knew that what I was feeling was clinical. Then when I read the words calling my torture a name, all I could do was have a moment of silence. I may or may not have shed a tear… Yes, I was validated…. but damn does it suck! And the limits are terrifyingly broad. It is not only sniffing, tapping, chomping, shuffling, wrappers crinkling, swallowing, gum popping and forget about CHEX MIX CRUNCHING!!!! It is also incessant hair fondling, leg rubbing, thumb twitteling, head scratching, leg bouncing repetitious movement that literally reduces me to defeat. Me. The me that had six children all under the age of nine and was always smiling. Me. That has waited on 35 people by herself with an open bar and never broke a sweat…. And I am not a glass half full girl. My cup in fact runneth over. I do believe in faith and forgiveness and making every interaction count… but mesophonia literally turns me into Mr Hyde.
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Maria on December 20, 2016 at 12:28 pm (Edit)
I’ve been sensitive to sounds since I was little but it got supersensitive after my accident. I can relate to you so much. Life went on, and so did my list of sensitivities.

Cynthia Breanne Mackey on March 22, 2017 at 5:36 pm (Edit)
Smacking is the worst for me. People just don’t understand and they think it’s funny to smack louder. It literally sends pain,and I just yell. Most of the time I try to plug my ears and listen to music. I don’t like calling it a brain disorder. I think it’s rude and annoying. ????
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Nez on July 6, 2016 at 12:01 am (Edit)
OMG!!!! I am really laughing my ass off right now.lol, I didn’t know that my problem had a name for it…Also that there are others who share my pain. what a weird sens of relief.
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Ingela on September 4, 2016 at 12:47 am (Edit)
I am 49 years old and I have never heard of this until today. I can’t stand it when people are thewing on crackers or something else chrunchy. I have to leave the room. Loud breathing is also something that drives me crazy.
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Nicole on December 16, 2016 at 7:26 pm (Edit)
I can hear at night my husband blinking , is awful . Fans omg can’t take them
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Frank Merit on November 16, 2016 at 9:59 am (Edit)
Hello Suz
I have recently discovered that misphonia exists as a disorder. I have had the symptoms for years but, as many have said, it is a huge relief to realise that I am not alone.
For me, too, the worst sound is sniffing. I have a 40 minute journey by train to and from work each day, and dread being seated next to a sniffer. If they sniff once, I then spend the rest of the journey tensed in anticipation of them sniffing again. I would far rather give up my seat and stand elsewhere in the carriage.
The other issue is with the sounds of eating. Even with my family, I have to leave the table as soon as I have finished a meal, because I rely on the sound of my own eating to blot out theirs. Forks and spoons clanking on teeth is terrible!
Other than a few obvious culprits, which I suppose many people find unpleasant – cutlery scraping on plates, etc – all the noises I can’t bear are bodily. I wonder if this means anything? (Ironically, I had to abandon a meditation for stress class because others in the group kept sniffing!)
Recognising the condition helps, but I cannot see any way of dealing with the problem.
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Glenn Jacobsen on December 15, 2016 at 3:39 pm (Edit)
If you have it, you KNOW you have it. For me, it is, of course, “crunching,” “clanging,””lapping” as my dog drinks, doors slamming, there are too many others. I always carry high density ear plugs and avoid places where the sounds are likely. The sounds actually feel like they hurt my brain.
I also have hyperekplexia, some of you might too … a startle syndrome. A startling sound, touch, even flashing lights cause myoclonic type of jerks, blinking eyes and a fall to the floor. Clonazepam works well to manage most of the severe symptoms but for me sounds still cause troubles.
FYI, for those in doubt my neurologist told me about the disorder. He too lives with it.
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tillie on July 1, 2016 at 8:49 am (Edit)
omg I know!!
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Virginia on July 3, 2016 at 6:46 am (Edit)
I have had misophonia since I was 10 now I am 13 and life at home and school is so hard none of my friends really understand it and when I tried to explain it to a classmate they laughed and walked away. Lunch is a nightmare I am constantly getting up and going to the bathroom just to get away from the sounds (Breathing, chewing, sniffling). There are times in class where I am sitting with tears in my eyes gripping on to my desk to stop myself from punching them because someone in my class can’t stop sniffling every 5 second. I am so thankful to find a community like this and to find kids and people just like me. Good luck to all of you.????
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Bri on September 1, 2016 at 5:21 pm (Edit)
When I was in second grade I hated the way my teacher talked. I would have random outbursts of anger/tears in class too because of this.
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Katelyn on April 2, 2017 at 2:50 pm (Edit)
I am so relieved to find that there are people going through this just like me because sometimes I feel like I’m the only one. I am 13 as well and school is the most difficult for me and I often get tears in my eyes as well in class because I can not stand the loud breathing or sniffling of other classmates.
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Nancy on July 22, 2016 at 7:03 pm (Edit)
My doctor put it down to “very good hearing” – the crunch of an apple, people eating crisps and yes, sorry to say, people with breathing problems, flattening tin cans and tons of other noises is like its inside my head. Can’t do night clubs for years. So lucky my friends and family understand – although the they try to speak “quietly ” if they are talking about me – but still hear them !!! So glad at last I know I’m not the only one.
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Michelle on August 18, 2016 at 10:34 pm (Edit)
My fiance and husband to be listens to constant repetitive drum and bass music non stop. There is always music on of a heavy nature. When I was physcotic on 2 occasssions. I had informed my psychiatrist I wanted to join a silent order of nuns. Sometimes I go to a quiet church to get a break from home. I will get a pair of noise cancellation headphones but I don’t know the best ones to get. This music is driving me crazy for the last 13 years non stop. I didn’t realize that I had this condition it makes sense and rational that these were the solid reasons why I yearned for peace quiet and tranquility. Could anyone please here on the panel please recommend a really good pair of noise cancellation ear buds. I have constant tension and most of the time he’s unreasonable and wont listen to his music on headphones. Please help!. Michelle from Ireland
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Jayne on November 13, 2016 at 10:09 am (Edit)
Repetitive bass music is one of my triggers too. I have to turn music off when it gets to be too much.
Good luck, I know I couldn’t live with people who always have that playing.
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Nicole on December 16, 2016 at 7:24 pm (Edit)
Any of the ones for airplane rides are great! I found mine on Amazon , go by the ratings.
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Marla Turner on March 29, 2017 at 8:01 am (Edit)
I hate to be rude when love is involved but continuing a practice that causes physical or mental pain to your loved one is to me a deal breaker. It’s cruelty in a sense. Sorry, but I’d either live separately or not go on with your plans. I have this too, and I had to bash my head against a wall because a former friend has OCD and has to tap the desk three times constantly.
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Carol on September 20, 2016 at 8:14 pm (Edit)
I can’t take when people crinkle paper candy wrappers.I was never told this was a brain disorder. I see doctors for my bipolar and I have told them. They just say I am sentive to sound. I can’t sit in groups fear that someone will be crinkling candy wrappers. It’s sounds funny but I get this rage and I have to leave.
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Rio on October 6, 2016 at 8:55 am (Edit)
I have the same thing I hate people chewing with there mouth open making there lips . My roommate always scrapes. His fork at the bottom of the plate not even to eat .it drives me crazy . Sometimes I have the urge to get up an slap him . I told him yet he doesn’t care the other day we were digging a hole in the ground some other guy hit a shovel against some wood an he had to leave because he said he’s shell shocked even though he was never in the war . I don’t know if I should just beat him down or make that sound to see how he feels
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Making Me Nutty on October 11, 2016 at 2:04 pm (Edit)
My husband eats like it is his last meal….smacking like a dog lapping up water! I hate it. His daughter is the same way! It is worse when he eats an ice cream cone. I have to cover my ears! LITERALLY! It is disgusting. He fancies himself as a classy guy. He goes out to eat with clients all the time. I wonder if those people sit there with their mouths gaping open as I do seeing this horrible behavior and listening to the horrible smacking sounds by a man in an expensive suit! He goes into what appears to be a trance of some sort….ignoring his surroundings and conversations till he is done. I have mentioned this to him, not to be selfish with my issues (well sorta), but so that he is aware of what he sounds and looks like. He thinks it is funny and starts “smacking” right in my ear! RIGHT IN MY EAR! It makes me want to punch him right in the throat! The positive side of it all is, I get so disgusted and grossed out, I can’t finish my own meal. It is good for the figure at least, but drives me absolutely batty! I look at him and think to myself….HOW CAN I EVEN LIKE THIS GUY! I am a horrible person! I hate that these things bother me. His son, he eats upstairs in his room…we have a large house but I can hear him clanging his spoon against a bowl eating very very fast on the other side of the house….I want to punch him in his throat too! They all get upset with me for eating so slowly, but their disgusting habits, though I have watched it all for many years…. mesmerizes and surprises me that these people don’t see what they do! GOOD GOD! Am I nuts? People standing in the doorway of the pantry or frig just eating out of packages and boxes….dropping food in the frig or on the floor and not picking up their mess. Make a freaking plate and sit down! Slamming doors too. TURN THE DAMN KNOB AND QUIETLY SHUT THE DOOR WOULD YA!? Why do you have to slam the door? OMG, just talking about it makes me want to run for the hills! Is there help or a cure for this? I am in my fifties. It has never bothered me as bad as it has over the last few years. Is this my first encounter with disgusting selfish people, or am I just now developing this “disease”?
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Issues with Smack on October 13, 2016 at 2:53 am (Edit)
This is too good lol, I could not agree more. I get serious anxiety when I hear people smacking their mouths. Be it when they’re eating or they just have a naturally smacky mouth. That, guttural grunting/throat-clearing, the sounds of chewing (even when the mouth is closed), people sucking food out of their teeth, singing (even good singing), the sound of talking through walls, it all drives me insane.
My father has an especially “smacky” mouth (and disgusting loud CONSTANT grunting/throat clearing.) I have been driven to literal tears before, on rare occasions when he’s sat me down to talk about an issue or something, and I’m forced to listen to him speak without earplugs or an ipod (which are virtually my lifelines I carry with me at all times) at close range. It is unbearable torture to me. I will hyperventilate, become teary-eyed, and just whimper at the fact there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
One time, my family had a get-together in our living room to discuss the plan for summer vacation. I sat across the living room from my father, but even from there, hearing the constant thick, viscous smacking his mouth would make when talking normally drove me INSANE. I was so angry and distressed, I plugged both earbuds in and started playing loud metal music on my iPod. My family, of course, was confused and frustrated by this. They demanded I take my earbuds out and “listen”. But I couldn’t stand it. I had a meltdown unlike any I’d ever had. It was so random and severe that had my family convinced I was suffering from some detrimental case of bipolar disorder. But it’s not as though I was angry for no reason, I was angry because of the sounds. I’ve NEVER met anyone who understands, everyone seems to think I’m just weird or a whiny jerk. So this forum is amazing to me.
When I hear him grunting and clearing his throat through the walls I will cover my ears with my hands and sit there for ten minutes, whimpering, and trying to keep myself from running out there and slugging him in the face. My sister has a similar issue–she will clear the mucus from her through in a disgusting and very loud “GGGLLLEEEEGHHHG” like every ten minutes. The worst part is that of all these issues, I will tell my family to stop. They either get SUPER offended and call me a jerk, and not stop, or they’ll just say “whoops, sorry, I’ll stop” AND CONTINUE DOING IT!!!! I am so tired of how much this affects my at-home life. And it’s not just my home life–it’s anyone who has a smacky mouth. Whenever I hear someone smacking or being a disgusting heathen, I will glare at them like I want to murder their family. A great deal of the time, and to my despair, they don’t notice me, and don’t think to stop.
It’s even gotten to the point I’ll insert earplugs during class lessons (I’m a senior in high school) so I can’t hear the teacher smacking their mouth. I have been caught before, and even a few sit-down talks with those same nasty teachers regarding my “behavior” have been had.
Also, my best friend has a really smacky mouth. It’s less of a viscous smacky and more of a foamy spit smacky, which is equally disgusting and unbearable to me. Spit will literally bubble at the corners of her mouth sometimes. It also takes talent to eat as nastily as her. I just can’t stand how people can be so disgusting without realizing.
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Zoe on October 10, 2016 at 1:05 pm (Edit)
I get very upset and angry with many noises such as sniffing burping sneezing coughing crunching slurping sucking sipping gulping talking with your mouth full scratching people picking food from their teeth grunting eating noisily…. the list goes on.. I just fell angry more than anything else and more than always tell them so shut up or just sigh and give them the look but they just tell me to grow up and get used to it (its usually my family and friends) I just get so angry and feel like slapping them I usually have to leave the room before I scream at them and get sent to my room with no dinner its good to know others fell the same because sometimes I just say to myself What’s wrong with you?.
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Paula Nieuwendijk on December 25, 2016 at 10:27 pm (Edit)
you sound just like me it is sniffing breathing chewing leg movement tapping fingers to music that make it unbearable for me.
I know for the person (s) in my life it must be hard they don’t know how it feel. Ģgggrrrr
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Murene on March 5, 2017 at 2:52 pm (Edit)
I am learning to understand what my son is going through. He has had this for years, but as he gets older (34 years old)it seems to be getting worse. I want him to go to the ENT to have them diagnose him and help him. This stops him from socializing as much as he would like to.
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Claire on March 9, 2017 at 4:37 am (Edit)
Christie, I had never heard off this before but like you I wondered why I felt so irrated by noises and sounds and why other people did not feel agrivated by them, now like you I know. My husbands snorts and clears his throat a lot, chews gum, sips drinks, eats noisily and all these sounds like right in my ear. I have a quick temper anyway, so always trying to fight feeling so annoyed and just wanting to leave the room. He thinks I am just picking on him, it is such a relief to know that in this area there is a real reason and it was not just him, my daughters, etc it would be difficult to hide my feelings of irritation and rising anger.
I hope you feel reasrred by what you have found out and it will help.
It will for me. Take care.
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Erin on May 7, 2017 at 11:39 am (Edit)
I feel extremely distressed with sounds. Have for years. I love music, but that even gets on my nerves after a while. Tea kettles boiling, clothes dryers running, my husband shuffling his feet or smacking when he eats. Dogs barking. Televisions. I feel this is getting worse and I just want to run away. I need to add that I have an Adult paralyzed Son that lives with us and I care for him as his caretaker. My husband does next to nothing, but sit in his recliner and waits for meals or his alcoholic beverages (he prepares those for himself as I refuse to promote his Mr Hyde personality). I may have misophonia, but I think severe depression is involved. Any comments?
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Claudia on June 24, 2017 at 8:35 pm (Edit)
Glad to have found this ! I know no other person besides me who can’t tolerate being in a waiting room with some person snapping and cracking their chewing gum, smacking their lips is the worst ! I have to escape from all that irritating uncalled for noise…pronto !
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Rebecca on June 26, 2017 at 10:48 pm (Edit)
I’m the same way. If someone is shaking their leg, smacking, slurping, sniffing I can’t focus on anything else. It invades my senses. I become extremely agitated and aggressive. I wish I could tell everyone to stop but when your family doesn’t understand what makes me thing that a stranger would. Sometimes I literally get nauseous when I here certain sounds. I try to focus on something else but it doesn’t work. It’s a life altering issue.
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Kaitlyn on February 3, 2015 at 10:10 pm (Edit)
I am so glad that there is research being done on this. I’ve been suffering with this problem since around age 8 and nobody quite understands. Most people I speak to about it just say that I’m being over sensitive but it’s more than that.
The worst part for me is the feeling of complete and total lack of control. I like to have control of all aspects of my life and the lack of control I feel when something is triggering me makes me feel insane.
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Allie on July 28, 2015 at 4:15 pm (Edit)
Thank you for this! I have been suffering the same. I am so glad that we are not alone!
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Jenny on February 8, 2015 at 2:27 pm (Edit)
I’m so relieved to know this is an actual condition! I’m sure it’s hereditary, now that I know what it is. My dad hated the sound of us eating and we didn’t dare chew with our mouths open. Knowing is power.
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Diana on September 26, 2015 at 7:52 pm (Edit)
I agree i think its genetic because my mom also goes through this.
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Claudia on June 24, 2017 at 8:42 pm (Edit)
Oh my God !! when my husband eats just like a pig, making loud smacking noises with his food and slurping things like soup, I do all but go nuts ! I had this friend after high school days, who said her father would send any one of the kids into the bathroom with their dinner, if they made a sickening racket with their food…my husband has done this for years now, so I take my meals to my bedroom where it’s peaceful and quiet.
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Chris on February 12, 2015 at 4:40 am (Edit)
It’s awesome to know that I’m not the only person. I personally dislike the sound of people sniffling or obnociously coughing. Some noises would bother me and then they suddenly stopped bothering me, but those two have remained constant. I am 22 and it has been an issue for over ten years. It’s really embarrassing for me. Only people close to me are aware usually, but other catch on due to my noticable angry reactions to such a petty thing. I am tired of reacting. I am so ready to learn how to cope with my enviroment.
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Wendy on February 12, 2015 at 11:01 pm (Edit)
Have any sufferers out there found that their misophonia is focussed on a certain person that is close to them? Also, has anyone experienced their misophonia transferring from one trigger person to another?
I am 45 years old now and since the age of about 10 my trigger person was my Mum and the noises she made when she swallowed a drink or just swallowed saliva. It was that horrible wet splashing sound. It made me completely tense up inside and feel angry. I’d feel trapped in her presence and want to run away. I sometimes tutted at her and gave her angry looks which made me feel awful.
However, for the past two years or so this has transferred from my Mum right onto my partner who I have been with for ten years. His swallowing and eating noises never used to bother me one bit. I didn’t even notice them. Now its got to the stage where I have to make sure that we’re playing music at a certain volume when we have a meal together. When we’re sat in bed at the weekend having a morning cup of coffee I keep an earplug in my closest ear to him under my hair which helps to muffle the sounds and makes my own drinking noises (which don’t bother me)louder to mask his. When we are sat together on the sofa watching TV I’ve noticed he swallows saliva approximately every 20 seconds. The sound reviles me so much that it often puts me in a foul mood with him and I have to constantly sit in a position in which I can rest my head on one hand so that I can cover my closest ear.
Strangely, swallowing noises made by other people don’t bother me at all. I can sit in the tearoom at work with people eating and drinking all around me and be perfectly happy.
I am so sad that I feel this revulsion for my partner whom I love and I’m worried that it will affect our relationship. I can’t tell him about my problem as I don’t want him to feel self conscious about making normal noises that wouldn’t affect most people.
I only discovered misophonia about a year ago and am relieved to find that it is an actual condition and not just a peculiarity of mine. I just feel such sympathy for all those sufferers out there that are severely affected by it (I judge myself to be a level 4 on the self-test).
Any suggestions of self help brain-training exercises or self hypnotherapy techniques (if such a thing exists) would be most welcome. I really want to overcome this.
Love to and best wishes you all.
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robby on August 9, 2015 at 11:40 pm (Edit)
Thanks for sharing this. I only found out the name Misophonia yesterday, but I’ve been suffering with it for over 40 years. I can relate to all you say. Background music, ear covering, leaving the room are coping tactics. Haven’t explored any healing techniques yet. It does have detrimental effects on close relationships, but I can see your wisdom in not telling your partner. Non-sufferers will find it hard to understand
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Jennifer on September 4, 2015 at 7:35 pm (Edit)
I can so relate! Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything that helps beyond what you’re already doing, which I do as well by the way. I am 53 years old and have been suffering with this since I was about 9 years old. At times, I have been suicidal because I couldn’t stand living with this condition and I thought I was the only weirdo out there. I guarded my secret from everyone and still do. I notice that the closer I am to someone, the more they bother me when they eat loudly or chew gum. I don’t know why, but I avoid being very close to people because of it. I also think there is a hereditary component, although I don’t think each family member has it, and if they do, it may be only slightly and not debilitating like it has been with me at various times of my life. My niece seems to show some signs of having it, but she is just 10 years old now. I pray to God that it doesn’t get worse because I wouldnt wish this on my worst enemy. One thing you might try is an anti-anxiety medication because I’ve noticed that when I’m stressed about other things, it’s worse. A few years ago, I started taking Zoloft to help me get through my divorce. It’s an antidepressant that works well on anxiety and doesn’t have any side effects (or at least none that I experienced). I found that it took the edge off my symptoms considerably. It doesn’t take it away entirely, but I cope much better when I’m on it. Don’t know if it is something you would want to try, but it might be worth it. I hope this helps you even a little bit. Good luck and know that you’re not alone!
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sherri on November 25, 2015 at 10:12 am (Edit)
Wendy, I am also 45 and I so feel for you, I have only experienced this for the last 9 years ever since my daughter was born,she thank goodness is not my trigger. It started with my mom, we were going through a bad patch my father had a stroke and was in hospital for almost a year and my mother was living with us I realize now this is why I was so angry with her all the time, but now the trigger has switched to my husband and niece, who is 30 and disabled and also lives with us, she has all sorts of ocd’s and she is constantly chewing on her nails and fingers it makes me want to rip her head off with my husband it is his eating chewing and slurping and smacking this one makes me very angry and also makes me nauseous, does anyone get nauseous?
Any way hang in there that is what I am trying to do
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sherri on November 25, 2015 at 10:19 am (Edit)
Also animals licking themselves and I have three dogs and three cats fortunately the animals are more tolerant of me and don’t get mad when I tell them to stop
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Angela on December 1, 2015 at 1:43 am (Edit)
Me, too!! Out of all my sensitivities, pen/ pencil tapping, drumming, leg fidgeting, clocks ticking, TV high pitched sound without a picture, teethbrushing, chewing, candy wrappers… by far the worst ones are pets licking and nail clipping. The others rate between 5-7, but those two are a 9 for me. I pray they never get to 10.
I am SO relieved to know I’m not alone.
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Dawn on July 11, 2016 at 5:08 pm (Edit)
I have problem with my dog picking too. Bless I love her.. she knows not pick in front of me.
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Ingela on September 4, 2016 at 12:51 am (Edit)
I am the same way. Can’t stand the sound of my dog licking her self.
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Claudia on June 24, 2017 at 8:53 pm (Edit)
Even my beloved, spoiled dog makes constant smacking noises, but I feel lots more tolerance with him than with humans, who make all that same noise without regard to how it vexes people who are in their earshot – didn’t they get raised by their parents to chew with their mouths CLOSED and to not make noises that irritate the snot out of other people ? what gives here, anyway ??? I’m perplexed.
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Claudia on June 24, 2017 at 9:23 pm (Edit)
One person mentioned they have slight ADD, well I have had SEVERE ADD all my life…are these 2 things ever related in any way ? I am so surprised that everyone on here is basically the same as me (I didn’t know I even had ADD till I was 50 years old) I was glad to find there was a word for the way I had always thought and done things…glad there is finally a word for this, which I have had troubling me since the age of 12.
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Abby on December 31, 2015 at 11:18 pm (Edit)
Oh my gosh yes! In my case my dad is my #1 problem. Ever since I was about 7 his nasal drip annoyed me sooo much. He would (and still does) clear his throat very hard and swallow his mucus loudly. He knows it annoys me but I never wanted to hurt his feelings so I was polite. However it makes me so angry and disgusted! Also the gum chewing of him and kids irritates me.Even regular chewing if I can hear the chomping and swallowing. I can tolerate others for some reason. For years I have been suffering and I always thought I was a cruel freak for scorning my family and friends. Im trying to deal more graciously with this and not let it stop me from eating out and being around sick people.
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Vicky on March 25, 2016 at 6:52 am (Edit)
I’ve only just found out about this condition and I’m so glad I’m not alone in my torment as I thought I was going crazy. My main trigger is the sound of fingernails tapping, I even hate the sound of clocks ticking! It sends me into a rage. I totally agree that this can be caused by a person or persons close to you. Mine too was my Mum. From as early as I can remember my Mum has always been what I call ‘a tapper’. I know it’s an unconscious move on her part, but it was like she couldn’t not tap. When we were at the dinner table, if were watching tv etc. there was a constant tap tap tap of her fingernails on something. Instead of just being able to close off the noise and simply not notice it, over the years it developed in to a complete phobia of the sound. I would have to sit with my hands over my ears sometimes or leave the room. I too would tut at her or make comments, which usually got a telling off from her or my Dad, but mostly they would laugh at me and I had two older brothers who thought this was hilarious and would deliberately do it to wind me up.
I now sit in an office with an older lady who also has an unconscious habit of constantly tapping her fingernails on the desk. I had to ask her not to do it as it was driving me mad. She understood and obliged but I feel bad that my intolerance has to change others behaviour. A previous colleague thought this was funny and would deliberately tap her fingernails on her desk. The only thing that stopped her was me literally exploding at her and losing my temper big time. Which scared the hell out of me too. I felt like I’d lost it. I did apologise and she stopped doing it. At the time I didn’t know it could be misophonia causing my irritation. My husband knows about my extreme dislike of the noise and stops himself from tapping, or if he does he immediately says sorry and stops. Which again I feel bad about. Hopefully this site will help me, it’s already a relief to know I’m not the only sufferer.
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Claudia on June 24, 2017 at 9:08 pm (Edit)
The sniffing thing is such BAD MANORS ! who could possibly want to hear someone’s snot, over and over again ? I always feel like saying “would you please just blow your nose !!” or get them a snot rag myself. I’m shocked that there are so many of us who are not able to tolerate these awful noises…I’ve had bad reactions to all these noises all my life (in other words, the person making the noise thought I was such things as “hyper sensitive” etc. Seems we all get annoyed by the same disgusting sounds – gum snapping, loud eating of popcorn in theaters (I won’t go to one, ever !) lip smacking, runny nose issues, CLOCKS TICKING, (ugh !) I even hate electric fans and car radios with all the annoying commercials, a drippy faucet, these noises suck !!
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Brenda on June 8, 2016 at 9:54 pm (Edit)
My trigger person is my husband. I have never heard of this disorder, but I have always become very agitated when he starts whistling. And he does it a lot. I have to leave the room to keep from screaming. And he wouldn’t take it well, if I told him how annoying it is. More recently, the older he gets, the louder his yawns have become and that also drives me crazy. And his snoring is unreal. And that too, is irritating me more and more. I was beginning to think, I was just annoyed by him, but realized, anybody whistling irritates me. I’m not around anyone else that snores or yawns loudly….. So, is there a treatment for this?
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Brayden Koster on July 3, 2016 at 11:06 pm (Edit)
I’m 19 years old. I have suffered with this for a long while, as long as I can remember. And for a long time I thought it was simply a side effect or bi product of my slight ADHD and anxiety and depression, which I held in since it began, when I was 12. Anyways late last year I started getting treatment for it and since I began going to counseling and getting medical treatment. I have seen an incredible improvement in my mood, ability to logically think through anxiety, and my overall will to live because I don’t feel dead and empty. Yet I can’t help but see that the tinnitus(which I avoid by always having headphones, always) and misophonia type symptoms have remained and even worsened. Now completely different side note, I’m a bright kid, at least I think so. I was taking concurrent enrollment college classes and AP classes as a sophmore and junior in high school. And I’ve learned a fairly high level of focus and comprehending information. Furthermore I would consider myself a fairly level headed person, like in highschool some jack-wagon rammed into my parked car and I didn’t get upset. Because I looked at it and said well it will get fixed and it will all be fine. And I don’t find that most things in life are really worth getting angry about. I logically think, just fix it I guess. (Which is contrary to how I thought in anxiety fueled depression trips I sometimes went on, the empty feeling depression was always much better).
Now keeping those two kind of behavioral qualities I have, when I hear a certain smacking while chewing, I lose it. I become a completely different person. If I hear my dad chewing I will be instantaneously filled with absolute rage. And I try to logic my way through it like I do with other things. But it’s a whole different kind of anger than when someone rams your car. It’s almost barbaric. And I try to tell myself, “No Brayden it is unreasonable to bludgeon people for eating”. And every time I have brought it up with them, and told them they can’t eat around me because I turn into the hull, it’s hard for people to take me seriously. They say well you just need to stop being so mood swingy or annoyed by little things. Or stop being overly critical of the way people eat, it’s rude (which is kinda true). But this is different than things getting on your nerves, it’s like my blood is instantly turned into thick murderous rage. And so I leave or put on headphones. But soon in escalated to where just the sight of a mouth opening turns me into a violent Antichrist. And it’s gotten bad to the point where I avoid even being in the same house as my father or little sister (my mom and 3 other sisters chew fine, sometimes). I panic at the thought of eating at the same table as them. And I get mildly perturbed when my dad starts getting food, because I know if I don’t leave, or put on loud music, I will… I just won’t be able to even. And the apple headphones weren’t enough to block the noise so I dropped like $150 on some nice audio technical…. can’t really complain about though they are mighty fine sounding.
But this condition is unbearable. I hate being a rage monster when people are eating. I hate the fact that if I try to enjoy valuable moments like family meals, or going out to enjoy with people (I forgot to mention that it’s not limited to my dad and sister there are other people who make sounds specifically just like they do… but I did notice it first with my father). And it’s hard to build relationships when you become hostile the second the put food in the mouth. Furthermore it impacts the way I plan my days, to avoid situations. And it is unbearably difficult to calm down, and conceal, the rage monster within me… I named it Phyllis, because why not? It is hard for me when I get into that mood and feel so stupid and unreasonable for being beyond this earth mad that someone is eating (I try and talk myself out of this feeling too, because thinking you are stupid for having a condition you have no control over is not good for self esteem). It becomes hard when I think, how am I going to live with a wife, or kids if I might snap and go into a rage. I can’t bring myself to tell new people who trigger me to stop eating (but that’s mostly the anxiety because it’s like yo.. if you ask them to stop eating they are gonna hate you forever and murder you and burn your grave… dumb I know). I constantly try and guage myself for how much I am letting out, and 99% of the time when I’m stuck in situations where I’m triggered I just turn into a mensurating teenage girl, which is good compared to the fact that I wanna whack their mouth with my freshly lotioned baby soft fist. And I have never snapped to the point where I actually become outwardly aggressive but the thought always looms in the back of mind, what if I do?
Overall it kinda sucks but I’m still alive and well, for the most part. I got nice things and a job. I don’t feel suicidal anymore, that’s pretty good I guess. Overall life is good. Just as long as there isn’t chewing involved, then it’s slightly more unbearable. But, eventually every raging session ends and I feel good again.
P.s sorry, I have a tendency to ramble, and go off on tangents sometimes.
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Elle on July 9, 2016 at 9:50 pm (Edit)
Same! Especially in Asian countries people slurp their noodles so much. TT.TT
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Jay on August 9, 2016 at 4:15 am (Edit)
I realized this a few years ago moving to Guam there are so many different Asian cultures here. I just want to blow my brains out, it’s unbelievable how much noise they make compared to American and European cultures. Not just in eating but throat noise and spitting. They sneeze and cough with out covering up. Age or sex doesn’t matter for the most part but older Filipino women seem to be the worst.
I’m sure were not the only ones that have noticed this and I’m sure some wouldn’t agree. But for anyone that is as sensitive as we are and living in an Asian environment, oh my god I’m about to go insane. I have to stay at home a lot just to deal with it.
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Jala on July 12, 2016 at 4:43 pm (Edit)
I know exactly how you feel. I remember when I started to noticed the way my dad chewed his gum and food, and it drove me unbearably crazy. Because of this, I can’t sit in the same table as him( I do anyways, because thats my dad and I love him so much that will sit in the same table as him and listen to his obnoxious chewing.) I try to avoid telling people it bothers me because I don’t want to seem rude, but they don’t understand what I feel and what’s going in my head, and how much I would love to run out the door and never come back. When I tell people it bothers me, they think I’m joking and do it to bother me, but little do they know I have murder them like 20 times in my head. Because of this, it makes me like I shouldn’t say anything about my problems and to keep it locked in a box and to never say anything about it, because it will be wrong. It’s not wrong, it’s a real thing and I love the fact people are experiencing what I am experiencing. I thought I was the only one, and when people say, “oh yeah food chewing bothers me too!” I felt like saying, “no I seriously have something wrong with me.” I would always avoid it by going to my room and closing the door, play my music really loud, or either cry. I’ve cried over this so many times. And it hurts so much, and nobody knows it does expect me. And what makes this whole thing worse, that it’s making me have tension with my parents because of their load chewing. And to top on that, they know it bothers me, and they chose to keep doing it, but they don’t know that I can’t function unless they stop. They don’t know that chewing is driving me insane, and I can’t say anything becuase it would be morally wrong for me to do so. It would be wrong for me to say what I feel. This disorder is making me feel like I don’t have a voice anymore. I should just suck it up and deal with it, but I just can’t. I just can’t block the noise and pretend it’s not there, becuase it is! I hate the fact I above this, and I wish it can just go away. But sadly I don’t think it will for me.
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Nancy on July 22, 2016 at 7:22 pm (Edit)
Oh Virginia, I’m a Grandmother 67 years old, and so sympathetic, I too have this and know people think it’s so funny and make every noise just to see my reaction, please don’t dispair, it’s not easy but you seriously have to live with it, it’s not easy but self control is your only armour. Please try mind over matter. Good luck sweetheart ????My goodness Wendy
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Erin on May 7, 2017 at 11:50 am (Edit)
I think it only gets more pronounced–at least for me. My husbands ‘noises’ bothers me more than any others. Gulping, smacking, shuffling his feet, fake coughing, constant complaints about his health, off the wall comments about people with some ribald sexual comments thrown in. Extremely disgusting for an almost 75 year old. He thinks he is cute and entertaining but no one else does. I think a separation is needed. I feel like I’m losin my marbles.
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shirley frantz on February 14, 2015 at 3:14 pm (Edit)
wow i had no idea other people was in the same boat i am i thought i was a crazy cold hearted bitch . sounds have always bothered me espeacially loud sounds wow everything makes sence to me now .to bad no one in my life is going to believe me ! im always shhhhing people to talk lower even though im partially deaf i thought it had become a habit which i needed to break i now realize its an actally condition and i have it wow ! my daughter thinks i just did it to make her mad cuz i know it makes her mad !i thought in the back of my mind i was doing it just to piss her off cuz when she knows a sound upsets me she will keep making that sound wow im just blown away by all this right now !i dont know if anyone is going to e mail me about this but i cant get e mail rite now i forgot my pass word im forget full to !i feel ive had(misophonia)my whole life wow that might exsplain all the stressful pain ive felt for a long time the doctors couldnt find anything wrong wow im just in awe about this i will be looking for a support group i didnt read the comments here im going to now if i can im going to message people thank u for listening and thank god im not a coldhearted bitch
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Joan on April 10, 2016 at 10:48 am (Edit)
I also so happy that I’m not just a bitch. I have all of the above , I haven’t been to a movie in about 15 years, my mother used to crack her gum when I was probably 8. I could usually get away from hearing except on trips in the car. It drove me crazy!! Even today I check around me for gum chewers and avoid them. My children have made fun of me rhere whole life , they warn their friends that came over not to chew gum are sniff constantly. Now I’m retired and taking care of my father, my sister and I have started to trade off. She is a Pen clicker, finger tapper , a heavy nose breather I could go on and on thank you for letting me get this out. And I’m so happy I’m not nuts!
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Hannah on February 17, 2015 at 10:57 pm (Edit)
I find it so stressful and upsetting when i ask someone to please stop the noise they are making. They always respond with some insensitive comment like “you just need to be more tolerant” or “get over it”. Little do they know that when i hear these noises i am screaming inside my head and feel like i will explode at any second!! I don’t want to seem “rude” by asking them to stop, so i endure it constantly. Only very very rarely do i actually pluck up the nerve to ask them to stop, and it is ALWAYS met with resistance.
People should try to be more considerate, instead of asking me to be more tolerant! it is just so frustrating that no one ever wants to help. I wish there was some kind of treatment, because at the moment i feel like i am a magnet for noises i hate! i always seem to get stuck next to the person sniffing, or clearing their throat or eating loudly and tapping their cutlery on the plate!
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Andy on October 29, 2015 at 10:41 am (Edit)
I know exactly how you feel, it’s really weird to me that there are other people that are experiencing the same thing as me. I’ve been dealing with it for years. I’m never able to ask them to please stop, and it’s getting harder to deal with.
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Anonyvox on February 18, 2015 at 10:31 pm (Edit)
My triggering sounds are: people eating crunchy food, lip-smacking, one of the dogs licking its body, soup slurping and the sound of a nail clipper. I physically feel irritation in whatever ear is closer to the sound, and feel a slight adrenaline pulse (flight or fight). If I have a co-worker eating at their desk (or God forbid, clipping their nails), I have to physically leave. I have been unable to figure out a way to talk to them about it without feeling like an awful person.
I try to cope by having ear buds and music handy when I hear someone start snacking, but it isn’t always an option. At those times, I have to leave my desk or gut my way through it. I know my boss would be supportive if I came to him and told him about my problem, but I want to have some tangible ideas on how to help me cope with it before I bring it up.
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Stacy on August 29, 2015 at 10:49 am (Edit)
I have all of the triggers you mentioned, but my number one is GUM and people eating with their mouths open (which seems to be acceptable these days…manners are gone). I have had the same problems you mention in the workplace. I usually find a gentle way to approach the person and say that I have this weird condition. Then I go on to explain my triggers and the angry/stressed response they elicit. I always say it’s MY problem, which is true, and that tends to keep them from getting on the defensive. In my current job people have been very understanding and either spit their gum out when they are around me or at least keep their mouths closed. However, it is a slippery slope because if someone is immature or doesn’t like you, you are handing them the perfect weapon to drive you crazy, so choose carefully.
I wish you good luck if you decide to share with co-workers and I wish for a cure of some sort for us all.
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Kim on September 19, 2015 at 9:20 pm (Edit)
Stacy, my main trigger is also GUM. They main thing is the cracking sound and popping. It controls my life. Fortunately I work alone in an office 90% of the time, so this isn’t a problem at work. When I go to places I immediately scan the room to make sure I sit far away from anyone chewing gum. I have had other triggers too. Ice crunching and when my hubby eats with a spoon and it hits his teeth. He is also a mouth breather and he makes a clicking sound that drives me nuts. I am always asking him to close his mouth. Just found this today. It is good to know I’m not alone.
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Juli on November 9, 2015 at 11:18 pm (Edit)
Gum. I detest the stuff as well. I was raised to chew with my mouth shut, silently. Apparently, many others were not, and the problem seems to be getting worse as I get older. I am 50. All of this started when I was 15. I had to sit in front of 2 girls who smacked, popped and slurped spit over their nasty gum. They were sluts, and today I cannot look an open mouthed and/or audible chewer in the eye. It is simply too gross. I have a male boss who does that. Makes me batshit effin crazy….I either escape, or use earplugs’ which don’t always work. Glad to know u r out there. Hope a cure is found soon.
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Kevin on December 15, 2015 at 8:06 am (Edit)
I could have easily written this. I have the exact same triggers and it happens at work everyday. The guy who sits behind me is a very “aggressive” eater and it drives me nuts. Not sure how he even keeps food in his mouth. People wonder why I wear my earbuds all day. But its not just him. I can hear people crunching on things across the room. Another trigger I have is whistling. I once asked someone at work to stop whistling and it caused a lot of issues so I now just keep quiet and deal with it by listening to music or leaving. Its nice to know I’m not alone.
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J Rose on February 24, 2015 at 12:18 am (Edit)
MRIs are the worst. I can’t get away from it. Whistling and my dog licking, licking, licking forever. I’ve learned to touch my dog who is 13 and get her to stop. I ask the offenders that are whistling to please stop, or I leave the room. Clocks, ticking make me pull batteries. There are more but these are the top offenders. I always thought it was just my ADHD over stimulated nervous system. I wonder if there is any crossover between the two. The biofeedback has helped me to react less to the sounds. I sleep with sound on, TV or music. White noise like fans keep me awake. I’ve never gotten violent but whistling nuts me up a bit and I’ve startled some people with my pretty please stop that! It cracks up my husband.
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Robby on August 9, 2015 at 11:44 pm (Edit)
I can really relate to what you say. Thanks for sharing. We need more clocks that you can’t hear ticking.
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Quinn’Tez’ on February 24, 2015 at 4:31 pm (Edit)
I hate when people whistle around me it just makes me want to shoot them and I have a little sister that just loves to whistle and I tell her to stop but she just keeps on doing it and that makes me even more frustrate. The only way I block it out is if I have headphones in and when I don’t it feels like I’m going to kill someone
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Dan Clay on February 24, 2015 at 8:51 pm (Edit)
WOW I thought I was the only one. Snapping fingers has me hitting mute button and many commercials use that sound. I cannot be in a room when someone incessantly snaps their fingers. When people dont blow the mucus from their nose and are constantly sniffing back, that bugs me. Stomping, is one of the worst sounds. In my building the slightest tap, on floor, will send a bass drum sound into my ceiling.I am presently seeking to relocate due to a stomper. Loud bass from tv/stereo in other apartments drives me insane. My family doesnt understand and are capable of conversation when bass rumble is present in a shared soundscape. I cannot block bass rumble and my attention goes directly too the source of that sound and I get angry when I cant focus on a conversation.Clicking sounds when people talk make me want to run as far away as possible. I have not been in a disco , bar or live music venue in over 30 years, due to ear discomfort for weeks,which I experienced in 1984 from a Grand master flash concert, my last live venue ever.I am so glad to hear of Misophonia. by the way ear plugs do not stop any sound and make my ears get warm and sweaty, and open me up to infections.I look forward to hearing others struggles…..
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Joanne on October 12, 2015 at 7:16 pm (Edit)
Bass rumble makes me absolutely 100% insane! And like you say, I cannot concentrate on any conversation if there is bass rumble. If I am sitting in my car at a stop light with a car next to me with the bass cranked all the way up, the red light seems to last for an eternity! Torture.
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Jim on February 24, 2015 at 10:05 pm (Edit)
It drives me absolutely crazy to listen to someone chewing food, and even worse, to listen to them talk while chewing food at the same time. It has been viewed as an oddity in my family for the longest time, but I have not been able to explain my reaction to it or the absolute rage I feel when observing this.
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lexie on February 25, 2015 at 5:28 am (Edit)
A phone keyboard’s clicking sounds, or someone playing games with noise on their phone, I automatically hate the person who is making that noise. I want to rip the heads of people who make crinkly noises with wrappers or paper, or shuffling through a popcorn box in a movie theater. That is why I don’t go to movies anymore. How bout the tinny filtered noise of cheap head phones that are way too loud? Why do I have to listen to someone elses noise garbage.
When people stir their coffee, and the spoon clangs against the mug it ruins my mood entirely.
Canned laughter on tv is the worst. I didnt let my kids watch any shows that had that hurtful noise.
Waiting rooms that play tv, I go insane. It disturbs me to the point of extreme physical discomfort.
A neighbor’s dog barking is all I hear.
The worst is silverware clanging when a waiter sorts them. It’s like nails on a blackboard.
I’m not talking like I’m just a little annoyed…it makes me chemically mean, upset, and it hurts my head so bad. I can’t hear or think about anything else except the overwhelming amplified sounds.
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Meg B on March 4, 2015 at 8:39 pm (Edit)
Oh Lexie I totally feel your pain. You are probably one of the nicest people in the world but these noises create a monster. I am with you!! I left my feeling here today.. I kinda feel better now. No one should give coffee drinkers a spoons. A plastic stir stick will do them just fine… Deep breath (internal of course)
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dhammagirl on February 25, 2015 at 12:42 pm (Edit)
I developed misophonia about 3 years ago. I always had a problem with people who chew with their mouth open, but then it got to where the sound of my husband eating, chewing, swallowing, slurping coffee, made me want to scream. Punch him in the face. And the dog! Geezuz! The drinking, eating, sniffing, snuffling, licking, swallowing, “grooming”. Dogs can make some of the most disgusting noises. I wanted to kick the crap out of him. (I don’t, of course!) How Terrible!! Instant rage. I did some searching online, because the level of rage was frightening, and for no good reason. After working with a therapist, and cognitive behavioral therapy, and regular meditation, it’s now more tolerable. I find that if I’m eating at the same time, it’s not so bad. But otherwise, I’ll tend to go somewhere else if I can. I put a small tabletop fountain next to my bed, next to where the dog sleeps, so that his nighttime mouth noises don’t drive me crazy. My husband tries to be understanding. I try to not throw him the stink eye when he seems to be chewing forever. I’ve generally become more sensitive to all noise, and my husband seems to be a source of almost constant noise. I love silence, and often wish I could be selectively deaf.
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Robby on August 9, 2015 at 11:47 pm (Edit)
Thanks for sharing. It’s such a pain, and a shame and trial that the people closest to us are the trigger people.
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Tami brown on February 25, 2015 at 6:05 pm (Edit)
Both my sisters have this and they DRIVE ME CRAZY by constantly complaining. They have always made me feel like something is wrong with me because i talk too loudly for them, “smack” my gum when I don’t, etc. GET SOME THERAPY!
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Stacy on August 29, 2015 at 11:00 am (Edit)
Tami,
Please try to be patient with your sisters. I understand how you feel as I have Misophonia BUT so does my daughter. She has extremely acute hearing and can hear things that even I can’t so she is constantly hounding me about every move I make, especially in the car. She can hear if I even rub my fingers together with the radio playing! I can tell you that this is a horrible condition to deal with. Everywhere someone with Misophonia goes, they have no control over what they are subjected too. Sadly, sometimes at home and with the people we love is the only place we can come out and ask for someone to work with us and not make those sounds. Your sisters are just looking for a “safe place”.
Hang in there. It is hard for you too!
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Araceli GH on February 25, 2015 at 7:00 pm (Edit)
This problem makes me feel so depressed, I do not want to stay at home because I do not want to hear all the noises that make me feel sad and drives me crazy, there are many business near my house and all of them make all kind of noises, sometimes I feel like I can not stand it anymore.
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WTF on February 26, 2015 at 1:31 am (Edit)
So happy to know that this has a name. Have suffered with it my entire life. It makes working with others in enclosed spaces almost impossible.
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Alan on February 26, 2015 at 6:45 am (Edit)
Yep. I am irrationally irritated by open-mouthed eating. It’s the animalistic combination of moist salivary sounds and mouth-breathing that disgusts me. It’s interesting how specific it is – I have no issue with slurping drinks or dry crunching. It’s wet-sounding, open-mouth chewing that drives me nuts. Take a handful of chips for example – I actually don’t mind the first crunch, which is relatively dry. It’s when the person continues to chew them with their mouth open, getting moister and breathier, that I want to hit them. I also don’t really mind little kids doing it, but it’s disgusting when it’s adults. Come to think of it, I dislike mouth-breathing and saliva sounds even when they’re not related to eating, but they are worse in an eating context. Weird.
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abuela1 on March 4, 2015 at 11:35 pm (Edit)
I’ve had problems with sounds driving me crazy since I was a child. It’s awful. I was so happy to hear that I’m not the only one. I stay home and away from social situations to avoid listening to people making noise particularly while eating. I grocery shop late at night. For me, mouth noises are the worst. Tooth sucking, gum smacking, chewing and slurping make me want to scream and run away. I’ve rushed through meals, left the table at restaurants to and hid in the bathroom for awhile until I could control my nerves enough to go back for awhile. I change the TV channel or hit mute if I can hear chewing, kissing or dishes clinking. I drive my family crazy. Little noises drive me out of bed until I can make them stop. I turn the television or radio up or leave the room during mealtimes regardless if we have company. My now adult children thought I’m just easily irritated. I’ve hid my problem until recently because I thought I was just plain weird or a B*&^%$#@ as someone suggested. My husband thinks I hate kids, he doesn’t understand that their yelling, screaming and little voices simply drive me crazy. I can listen to little ones laugh so there are some things I can handle and actually enjoy. Is there a treatment for this condition? I’m not willing to take meds, or go to psychotherapy, though I would consider hypnotherapy.
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Robby on August 9, 2015 at 11:52 pm (Edit)
Had problems like you from childhood. People don’t understand. Only discovered the name yesterday! Haven’t explored treatments.
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Joanne on October 12, 2015 at 7:22 pm (Edit)
You are not alone. I could have written this myself. I am just like you. It sounds like you have developed some good coping techniques, the same as I have.
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Abuela on March 4, 2015 at 11:39 pm (Edit)
Wow, you’re tough. I just can’t help myself. I have to ask them to stop, I leave if they don’t or do anything to make it worse.
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Kat on March 5, 2015 at 7:07 am (Edit)
Can misophonia include an oversensitivity to bass notes (and bassy sounds)? I feel incredibly stressed and scared and angry around bassy music eg coming from a neighbour’s house or a car, can’t focus on anything else, have to leave the area, feel threatened by it, will make plans to avoid it and it has made me cry. Psych said I had ptsd without being able to identify the trauma but when I read about misophonia it feels like it fits better except that bassy sounds aren’t mentioned anywhere.
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Robin Stitt on March 11, 2015 at 8:12 pm (Edit)
You are not alone on the bass sounds; it is one of the tortures of our society that this goes on and there is no help for it. I have moved several times because of a neighbor with a booming bass stereo, or a neighborhood where there are frequent drivers busting their bass amps! I don’t understand why this is allowed in a civilized country. And for some reason it’s not mentioned a lot, that and loud mufflers. It’s an annoying sound and can become a trigger for a miso- reaction, definitly. Would be so nice if law enforcement had sympathy,…….maybe someday?
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Kirk P. on May 29, 2015 at 7:28 am (Edit)
Kat and Robin: You are not alone on the base sounds–or on the loud mufflers. Certain low-pitched sounds such as a fire truck’s engine or one of those cars with a loud after-market muffler drive me absolutely crazy. I, too, have wondered why the cops don’t go after some of these vehicles with very loud exhaust noises for disturbing the peace! I will say, though, that in the last 14 years since I moved to this neighborhood, many of the newer vehicles have become quieter and my neighbors have become older so they don’t hot rod around my place as much as they used to!
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Jennifer Weber on May 30, 2015 at 4:31 am (Edit)
I have a real problem with “booming car stereos” too. They literally make me sick and I am seeing a therapist over them to no avail. I can talk till I’m blue in the face, or my therapist can perform this rapid eye movement procedure that is supposed to help PTSD that I have developed from the sound of booming bass, and it all goes down the drain when I hear bass. Anxiety attacks that last for days, and I even worry about hearing thunderous bass when it’s quiet… But there isn’t much you and I or anyone can do. I’ve researched this a lot as I can’t believe it’s allowed in our so called civilized society either. These name brand companies Pioneer, Sony, JBL, ect, that manufacture stereos with thunderous bass even put out ads stating: “Destroy your neighbors peace”, “Give your neighbors heart attacks” “Disrupt, disturb”, “Earthquake sound: The meanest, loudest motherfu… Amplifiers that money can buy” which appeal to the many anti-social amongst us. There are even politicians and lobbiests who protect these companies because they make fortunes and donate to politicians, so tougher laws won’t be passed. It’s very sick and sad. Profit over peoples feelings is all they are about.
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Cate on June 21, 2015 at 10:11 am (Edit)
Oh gosh I am SO GLAD to have found others who suffer like I do! Makes me feel better. My friends are understanding up until a point, but I know I must come across as a ‘weirdo’ on some level.
I’ve always hated loud sound, being the only one who didn’t want to go to the school disco’s or local mart due to the sounds as a child, but it was never a bit part of my life, it wasn’t a ‘focus’ whatsoever. Then, I moved into a flat when the man who lived next door put his music on at 8pm every friday night until about 4am on Saturday, then again on the Saturday night and once, from 3pm on Sunday until 5am Monday morning (*he* was going on holiday, so stuff everyone else who had to work). Thump thump thump through my wall, so loud it made the pictures shake. He ignored my knocking on his door at 1am and on the one occassion my housemate managed to rouse him, he was rude and abusive. It literally ruined my life, I’d work all week and know my weekend was going to be sleepless, full of rage and powerlessness. I moved out at the end of my year contract but it’s had a devestating effect on me to the point that I now live at home with my parents as I dono’t trust renting, and I have to wear headphones all the time becuase I am *listening* for noise even when rationally I know there won’t be any (and a neighbour at the back who has occassioal parties makes it worse). I can’t make my brain stop being in that ‘state’ and I know it’s PTSD but nothing has helped. That one idiot has ruined my life. I have to take headphones with me when I go out in case I hear it. My whole life is focused around avoiding bass sounds. Recently I booked a weekend away with a friend in a hotel, and they had a wedding in a marquee in the grounds and you guessed it, 1am and the bass is driving me insane – resulted in leaving and driving across the country home at 1.30am just to get away from it as it’s fine if one person wants a wedding with crap music, but the hundreds of other guests have to lump it! That’s the 21st Century!
Security Serivces use bass sound as a form of ‘torture’ by playing it 24/7 into a cell, so it is a RECOGNISED form of abuse and yet we as a society are expected just to put up with it in our lives and unless the person rents and can be evicted, there is NOTHING we can do it about (believe me, the noise abatment teams are worse than useless). Not only is it part of our lives as you say, it is advertised as a LUXURY! I don’t see what can be done about it other than banning the sale of them but there are so many out there already and it’s totally impractical. We’re stuck with it. Selfishness Rules OK.
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tracy c on March 7, 2015 at 7:15 pm (Edit)
Just fought with my husband over his chewing and he left the house to run errands. Wondered if there was something wrong with me so I grabbed the computer and just found this site! I guess I have been suffering from misophonis for a long time. My sister is also a sufferer. My oven fan has made me cry, I hear the buzzing of light bulbs, I make my husband spit out his gum, I throw stuff at my dog to make her stop licking, I unplug anything that ticks or knocks at night (fans/clocks) I immediately shut off the radio when the kids turn it on in the car….I can go on and on. It has turned me into an ugly mom. I am critical and miserable. I hope I will find some “help” reading through this site.
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Sarah on March 8, 2015 at 4:35 am (Edit)
I’m not the only one. Thank goodness.
I didn’t know what was wrong with me for years. I thought it was just because I had perfect pitch. But it’s an actual disorder. That’s why I think about hitting people when they snort in class. I literally saw this website and burst into tears, because I thought I was going insane even though I’m fine most anywhere I go.
Please help me.
These are the things that affect me:
Screaming. Breathing. Sniffling. Snorting. Snoring. Congested breathing. Nose whistling. Wheezing. Overused words (Um, ah), the letters ‘S’, ‘T’ and ‘CH’. Bad singing. Whistling. Repeated words. Utensils. Dogs barking, cats barking, licking. Finger snapping. nail biting. Styrofoam. Fidgeting. repetitive foot or body movements.
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Shar on May 29, 2015 at 8:29 pm (Edit)
Sarah,
I’d find cats barking to be difficult to take too… dog ok, but cat?? can’t stand cat barking.. ok… j/k!! I sympathize with you on this, just had to chuckle on that typo..
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Sarah on March 8, 2015 at 4:39 am (Edit)
I’m there, girl. I live in my room because I can’t STAND the sounds that things make. I don’t know what to do about it. *internet hug* Stay strong. You’re not alone.
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maclenzie on March 8, 2015 at 7:10 pm (Edit)
I got this when I was 9 Yeats old. I guess it came slowly. Now I have to sit at the other side of the counter to eat and I constantly yell at my friends and siblings. The sounds of chewing, spit , gum or slurping make me want to yell and hit people. My brother and sister are always chewing with their mouths closed but I still feel the need to tell them that their mouths aren’t. I was never affected by this when I was younger and it has always gotten worse. Its starting to scare me.
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Deb on March 8, 2015 at 11:04 pm (Edit)
Finally, there is a name for what I go through every single day, all day long depending who I am around. My husband , bless his sweet heart, he usually gets the blunt of my rage. If I say anything at all. I usually just leave the room. Some triggers for me is, smacking on food or drink,scwanching on ice, clipping fingernails, smashing a coke or Pepsi can, the clicking of a water bottle, whistling, breathing hard, when you really don’t have to, popping chewing gum,chewing gum with mouth open, any repetitive clicking noise. My days are usually filled with trying to keep myself out of a trigger situation and that sucks. I am glad I found a name for my disorder,but I am not glad I am not alone because I would not wish this on my worst enemy.
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Sally on March 11, 2015 at 8:21 pm (Edit)
I am so relieved to know that I am not alone in this matter. I am a solid Level 7 and at certain times possibly even an 8. I can vividly remember as a little girl being extremely agitated by my family member’s breathing and eating habits. I absolutely can’t stand hearing someone eat, cough or sniffle repeatedly and especially the sound of a wrapper. I am 31 years old and it still makes me crazy. I literally have to remove myself from the room. I am very curious to know if this is in fact a Brain thing or not. It’s a little scary
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Robin Stitt on March 11, 2015 at 8:28 pm (Edit)
Just goes to show we all have our own triggers….can’t judge, but try to understand if ours aren’t all the same. Those commercials don’t bother me, but let Obama get on and start with his uuuhhh…….aaaaand; I can’t get the TV on mute fast enough!!
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Liza on March 13, 2015 at 2:52 pm (Edit)
” shuffling your feet as you walk’….one of my biggest triggers. When someone shuffles by me in a store I have to say to my husband “they must be tired because they can’t lift their feet”. Each time, I say it in closer and closer proximity to the offender. Soon I will be saying it to their face. Help me.
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Liza on March 13, 2015 at 3:26 pm (Edit)
“Music is a huge part of my life, and has been since I was little. So how ironic is it that I have a condition that literally means “hatred of sound”…?” Michelle, I believe being sensitive to sound causes many of “us” to have a higher appreciation for music. I think there’s a correlation. We have a stronger aversion to bad noises and a stronger fondness of good noise.
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Kirk P. on May 29, 2015 at 7:43 am (Edit)
I agree. I have always loved music and have played the piano by ear since I was 10 (I’m 63 now). My mother had perfect pitch. One of my biggest triggers is traffic-related low-pitched engine noises. They often invade the music I am listening to in my headphones and cause me to think I’m hearing a really off-key base note in the music! I can’t walk anywhere near traffic without headphones and I never ride a bicycle because it’s too dangerous to ride in traffic with headphones on.
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Liza on March 13, 2015 at 4:00 pm (Edit)
Jamie, similar thing happened to me. A co-worker presented me with a set of foam earplugs at a Christmas party. They all got a hearty chuckle out of it. I can’t tell you where I have shoved those earplugs in her time and time again in my thoughts.
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Josh H on March 14, 2015 at 10:25 am (Edit)
I can here eating noises, if your an open mouth chewed I will probably try to tolerate it for about 3 mins whilst staring at you and with a look of horror and a feeling like your just no manner piece of crap. Until I pop and wind up either leaving or if I know you I will probably compare you to a cow chewing with its mouth open or ask you a smartass question like “does that taste good? Sounds REAL good from way over here you nasty !@#$.” Worst of all my wife, doesnt even chew with her mouth open, just makes lots of eating noises like she has a hollow head, sounds crazy I know believe me, but I will lean way over in my chair and actually pretend to be resting my head on my hand when in fact I’m jamming my head/ear against hand to not hear her. Or if I’m feeling like an a$$ I’ll just stare at her with a stupid look on my face. Glad I’m not alone. I feel crazy,wasn’t bad as a kid, but after I served in the army and did the whole Iraq Afghan thing I kinda elevated to the next level.
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Dan Niemiec on March 25, 2015 at 7:57 pm (Edit)
Yeah Josh,
I can totally relate to your reactions and comments. I justify my reactions by thinking and sometimes saying, “What? You have no F**king manners?” What animal pack brought you up”?
For me, I can tolerate my daughter cracking her knuckles and my son “backwashing” his drinks more than I can strangers.
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courtney on March 16, 2015 at 6:51 am (Edit)
I didn’t understand why the sound of my dog licking herself made me so angry inside.when I tell people this they laughed.I was serious.it felt like this rage growing in my chest and if it ontinuesd another second I would explode.my dog had puppies and the sound of them nursing disgusts me.it’s comforting and yet confusing to know it isn’t just me.I thought I was just looking for something to be annoyed at.
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Sakura on March 17, 2015 at 6:01 pm (Edit)
Misophonia to me is a grinding halt to all thought processes regardless of the activity that I’m doing. What makes it worse is once I hear a trigger sound I tend to lock onto it and tunnel-listen it. I can almost barely or sometimes not ever be able to focus on anything else I’m doing once I hear a trigger.
Usually my response is to stare in mild disgust at most of the sounds that happen at random, for example, someone sneezing or something tapping/clicking (at the same time) intermittently.
For the more sustained noises, like the tapping/clicking for more than a minute, I very much have the fight or flight response. Typically I choose the flight response and leave if possible. In the case of my work environment I will put on music in an attempt to drown out the noise. Most often this will work for a while unless the noise becomes louder. If it becomes louder I have been known to lash out by means of yelling.
I have had a few times where the noise is so unbearable that I have to stop everything I’m doing and search until I find the source and use whatever means I can to silence it. Even then it takes me a few minutes to an hour to calm down before I can properly resume any sort of activity of what I was doing before.
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David on May 23, 2015 at 5:24 pm (Edit)
Sakura,
Thank you, your description is almost exactly how I react to trigger noises. It is really difficult at work. I’ve taken to putting on noise cancelling headphones and putting on http://simplynoise.com/ to mask the offending sounds with white/brown/pink noise depending on the sounds that are bothering me. Only one outburst at work so far…about peanuts, now no one eats them unless I’m gone. Thanks again and remember you are not alone.
Dave
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Octobercider on June 7, 2015 at 6:30 am (Edit)
Dave and Sakura,
I can totally relate! I’ve never yelled at anyone ( maybe pets though), but I’ve definitely been on the verge. I usually glare at the offending person, or look in his or her direction repeatedly hoping s/he will stop. People are so agonizingly unaware of themselves though! I want to scream or tear my hair out! I’ve pulled on my hair before in these situations. I feel so helpless because people don’t get it, and would probably think I’m crazy or rude if I were to speak up. The tunnel listening makes me feel so out of control. I want so badly to be unaffected by the trigger, but I end up zeroing in on it instead and can’t stop!
I’m glad you guys understand, but I’m sorry you have to deal with this too. Let’s all try to remember each other in our moments of intense annoyance or rage.
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Pepper on March 20, 2015 at 7:04 pm (Edit)
I really hate the sound of towels drying glass. Whenever I have to wash dishes, I can never bring myself to dry the glasses and leave them out overnight so I don’t have to hear that sound.
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Angelica on March 23, 2015 at 8:51 am (Edit)
I didn’t know this was a condition until I did research. My family would always snap at me when I told them to stop chewing loudly or slurping their drinks. They didn’t understand how much it angered me the noise itself also when my sister would mindlessly tap her fingers I found the sound unbearable as is the noise of a indicator in a car I just feel so angry they didn’t understand how I felt they would always criticise me I feel lighter now I know I’m not the only one who suffers from this.
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Dan Niemiec on March 25, 2015 at 7:48 pm (Edit)
My daughter sent me the misophonia link to my FB. I self-diagnosed as a 9 on the “miso” scale.
My all-time favorite is people who chew ice cubes after finishing their drink. Puts me into very aggressive state of mind. I hear it, my eyes immediately look for the source. I give the person a withering look. I had a subordinate at work, not knowing my intolerance, innocently crunch ice while he stood next to my desk. I said, “DO NOT CRUNCH ICE CUBES”! I took his cup and emptied the ice cubes in my wastebasket. He was a little surprised, to put it mildly. I finished by saying to him, “I hate the sound of people crunching ice. If you’re done your drink, either get a refill or throw the damn thing away”. Then I gave him some advice my dentist gave me. “Crunching ice can damage your teeth”. See, I was justified in doing what I did!
I intensely dislike: Crunching ice cubes, cracking knuckles, slurping soup, coffee or any other beverage (my usual response is “you sound like a sewer backing up”), chewing food with mouth open and making smacking noises).
Other than these, I’m very easy going! LOL
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Kellie on March 26, 2015 at 3:48 pm (Edit)
I posted a comment on March 24th and it was still there on March 25th and today it seems to be gone. Was it too long? I was hoping that I would get some feedback from others on how they . I have noticed many of the same comments as I made. I would really like to know if anyone has found a positive way to deal with these issues. I would prefer to not go through the rest of my life this way. Thank you.
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Ire on April 1, 2015 at 5:15 pm (Edit)
I have a mild form, and my self-test rating is a 2, but that doesn’t mean that little sounds aren’t irritating or extremely annoying…to the point where I cannot think. Clicking pens and toe-tapping here at work is THE worst… I find that lack of proper sleep worsens the episodes, and the trigger is so sensitive, that I cannot ask nicely once it starts. Like my brain chemical turns from happy to aggravation. I do suffer from tinnitus, which may help me with the other noises that I hate, slurping, teeth on forks, gum snapping, to name a few. I had thought that the person doing this was simply rude, or had no manners, and didn’t know why I felt so irritated by the noise. Now I know. I have more information to help me cope, and I am just at 2. I cannot imagine being a higher number, and so hope that others find ways of coping. This is not funny. I dislike it when I cannot control myself for something as insignificant as a noise. I still can’t figure out why a ticking clock or typing on keyboard does not bother me. Good luck everybody…
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Katie on April 8, 2015 at 12:19 pm (Edit)
Misophonia has been a problem for me since my mid-teens – it’s apparently been a problem on my dads side of the family for a long time, but I seem to be the worst affected.
Mine is pretty bad – loud typing, eating, slurping, sniffing and breathing are all triggers and this obviously causes a lot of anxiety at work, socially and at home. (apples and crisps are particularly popular at work….arrrggghhh!)
One of the worst things is that, even though I’ve explained what it is and told them about the websites etc, my family and my fiance really don’t get it. Even my dad thinks i’m OTT and my fiance makes fun of it and say I’m being ‘over-dramatic’ when i tell him it that isn’t funny and that feels like it’s actually ruining my life.
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Lizabeth on April 8, 2015 at 10:54 pm (Edit)
Tracy you have described my childhood exactly! Some of the ways I was punished were rather abusive.I totally get you!
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Angela on April 14, 2015 at 2:30 pm (Edit)
my 12-year-old daughter has been suffering with this condition for a few years. It is absolutely heartbreaking. What makes me feel even more powerless, is I am an audiologist – trained to recognize these things.I am also a mother who wants to help her daughter. So far, it seems education is the only defense.
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Jeff on April 28, 2015 at 1:55 am (Edit)
This has been happening to me my entire life, I’m 43 now… People that I tell this to think it’s a joke so I stopped telling people and just walk out or leave the situation. People think I’m so mean and rude but if I stayed they would think I was a psycho – it’s damaging to every relationship I’ve ever had and even my kids hate me for it… I hope they can find a way to cure or treat this some day… Thanks for creating this board…
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jazz on April 28, 2015 at 3:20 am (Edit)
I can’t stand it when my sister eats with her mouth open so I leave the dinner table till she is done because I don’t what to have a big argument. citing the grass with the push LAN motor Its just to loud. I hate the sound of what my friends make.
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pat on April 29, 2015 at 6:40 pm (Edit)
i seem to have 95% of these issues and it started with my little sister having asthma and sleeping in the same room. The wheezing,the plastic sheets that crinkled all night and the pillow never took the noise away. School was horrible, no consentrating for me…breathing of students behind me, spit in their mouths making noise…the last 16 years i’ve been at a surgery control desk with people who hang at the desk and talk about stuff i don’t want to know about, they chew and snap gum, they have annoying pitches to their voices, they have no respect for my work space and i feel like i don’t matter. I get mad at nurses who call with annoying questions like wheres dr. so and so, did he go home? well how the h would i know. call his cell, whatever, but use some common sense. the lights are so bright i need to have my glasses treated inside and out so they wouldn’t bother me so much, the cold air is blowing by me and they wont let me wear a fleece jacket with the hospital logo because i wouldn’t look like every one else. I am retiring due to the constant torture and rage i feel every day.
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Beatrice on May 19, 2015 at 4:58 am (Edit)
I finally know that I am not just irritated for nothing or just being unreasonable.
I am definatly a Categry 3.
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Bethany Nicks on May 19, 2015 at 11:32 pm (Edit)
Having this really sucks. I can’t sit in restaurants without breaking out in sweats. I can’t sit in class without having a mental breakdown. I hate watching people eat. People tell me to get over it but i can’t. It gets stuck in my head. I hear even after its gone. I wish there was something I could do to make it stop. I can even ignore it. It’s just makes it worse.
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donna Williams on May 21, 2015 at 3:45 am (Edit)
I have had this since I was very little I cannot stand any noises from eating which would be the smacking dogs licking almost everything that everyone describes. the only thing that I would like to add is someone crumpling up paper like when you follow up paper that completely drives me insane
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tina on May 23, 2015 at 3:28 pm (Edit)
wow is all i can say im 54 and have bothered by noices all my life it is horrible never had much of a relationship with my mom when i was young cause she snapped her gum chewed her gum loudly and ate with her mouth open also my dad would jingle his change drove me crazy my friends also knew it drove me crazy but would forget and still do it also snoring, singing, humming, whistleing dragging shoes while walkig not many noices that didnt bother alwful life
tina
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David on May 23, 2015 at 5:29 pm (Edit)
I’ve got tinnitus, but over the past couple of years, misophonia symptoms have become more of a problem. With spring here, the near-constant grinding of lawnmower motors make it nearly impossible to go outside during nice weather and I keep hearing protectors strategically located around my house. I’ve found that using noise generators, either the machine or sound files helps, but of course at work, when you can’t hear conversations, it can be a problem. I’m happy to have found this community of fellow sufferers and hope a solution/cure can be found.
David
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katelyn on May 26, 2015 at 7:15 pm (Edit)
I hate the sound of people eating and talking when I’m trying to sleep I,get so angry and yell people don’t understand I didn’t even know this was a disorder instill I read it on Facebook
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katelyn on May 26, 2015 at 7:18 pm (Edit)
Do they have a group for this so,I can talk to people with the( same problems I do
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HARDLINE on May 26, 2015 at 10:16 pm (Edit)
From: HARDLINE, in Great Britain. Hi, everyone, I have really severe misophonia to such an extent that I can’t stand ANY adult social activity at all. I can’t stand ANY adult exuberance at all, or anyone “whistling” or shrieking as I call it, or anyone clicking their fingers or their mouth when they talk and I can’t stand ANY noises made by dogs. I also can’t stand any doors or gates banging or anything rattling. And I can’t help noticing when I read some of the stories on this page that some of the sufferers have jobs and partners and kids, etc. Well I can’t understand how anyone with misophonia can have ANY employment or social life, let alone a love life and marriage, kids etc. I live alone and have done ever since I left my parents home more than 28 years ago, because I HAVE to. I can’t even stand the neighbours. In my case misophonia means NO work, NO social life, NO love life and never have had any, I’m now over 50, it also means NO entertainment, NO holidays, and I can’t share anything, I can’t listen to any radio, I can hardly watch anything on tv, and I have to keep the sound off most of the time. I couldn’t share it with anyone. I have no enjoyment and no happiness whatsoever, and I’m often forced off buses and I’m frequently forced into angry confrontations with the public and police. And misophonia is completely IGNORED by all the media and authorities here in the UK, I keep writing to them but they don’t want to know, they won’t even recognise the condition as a disability, which it most certainly IS! I think it must be the ULTIMATE disability. All I get to do now is tedious chores and struggling to watch absolute GARBAGE on tv to pass the time and even that is frequently brutally disrupted. I have what must be the most awful, wretched existence.
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Leigh on May 30, 2015 at 6:02 pm (Edit)
I recently spent a week at a house with a really low ambient noise level. I’m sensitive to eating sounds and discovered in the course of that week that I can trigger myself. For me, misophonia means sitting at the dinner table clenching my hands and trying to eat without making any noise, trying not to let my frustration with all the chewing noises come out in the conversation, counting down the days until I’d be back at my parents’ house where the AC adds several dB to the noise level.
The comment above where I’m typing this describes dreaming of silence. Please, no. Give me birds and crickets and frogs and moving water. Don’t leave me alone with nothing but the sound of my own body.
And now hopefully I won’t look at this website too often. If I think about it, it’s worse. If I forget to be annoyed, I should be okay until I visit the next painfully silent house for dinner.
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Sasha Paterson on June 5, 2015 at 6:01 am (Edit)
I am 17 years old. I have misophonia for 3 years. It IS a real thing. I have it pretty mild. I hate it when people chew, burp, sniff, clip nails, chew on ice, and yawn. I feel annoyed and have to walk away. I hate it.
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Paul St John on June 8, 2015 at 1:34 pm (Edit)
For many years I couldn’t understand why some sounds that other people didn’t seem to notice made me very angry to the point I wanted to gouge out my eardrums. Finally, at age 51, a psychologist where I work told me that she had been noticing my responses to noise and sounds. She said she felt I suffered from Misophonia. I wasn’t sure what she meant so I started doing research.
I could not believe the descriptions I read. There were other people like me who had an extreme emotional response to sounds that didn’t bother others. I felt like a weight had been lifted because I honestly thought I was going insane. Now that I understand it, I am beginning to learn to cope with it.
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ginger sp on June 20, 2015 at 9:20 pm (Edit)
I have had hyperacusis for c 50 years but developed misaphonia in recent years.The hyperacusis has definitely marred my life in many ways,in relationships and at work as well as socially.I believe the misaphonia may also been there,perhaps, for longer than I care to admit…I did not recognise it as well as the hyperacusis. …..I have recently begun to discuss both problems with relatives and friends with mixed results with some people becoming understanding and sympathetic and one person,a family member, who has walked away from me and who now avoids me. But taking the decision to open up has mostly freed me from the secrecy.I had hidden this affliction from those close to me,and others, for most of my life.Life with misaphonia and hyperacusis becomes much more full of decisions.i.e the company I might have to keep on holiday,the hotel where I might stay.Walking home at night to avoid clubs or houses where they often hold parties,not sitting next to ‘certain types’ on the bus including screaming infants….I love children and have had my own.I occasionally get off the bus if it is unbearable…..and so on and so on……my husband bought plastic plates to avoid clanking his cutlery on china which was thoughtful and helps.Restaurants with music are a nightmare and people fail to appreciate why.Every eating place has to be scrutenised before I can eat there……My ability to ‘withstand’/tolerate, things varies from year to year. i cannot say if things are getting better or worse.But these sites are very supportive and thank you all for them.
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Olivia on June 26, 2015 at 7:01 pm (Edit)
I have had misophonia or have been “suffering” from misophonia since just this last year. However, (I judge myself to be a 3 on the scale, or 4) I feel like I’ve had it forever. I have to leaving the dining room because of my family members smacking their food. I was always told to chew wth my mouth closed, yet they are incable of closing their mouths while chewing. I get very angry because of that noise and people either do it to annoy me or don’t understand. I hate it and it’s hard to not be mad or angry at the dinner table
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Poppet2015 on June 26, 2015 at 9:20 pm (Edit)
When I discovered, this year, that misophonia existed as an actual condition I felt immediate relief. I have suffered from misophonia since I was about 6 or 7 years old. I am now almost 40. I’ve lived for all these years thinking there was something seriously wrong with me because I feel SO angry inside every time someone eats with their mouths open or speaks with their mouths full of food. It literally drives me insane. The worst thing is that it is usually directed at my family (a very common symptom by all accounts) and includes foot wagging, sniffing, eating loudly, speaking with mouth full, hair twiddling (or twiddling pieces of material or clothing) and loud purposeful sneezes! There are a few more but I’d be here all night. These are the worst offenders. Mine is visual as well as the sounds. I used to hate the sound of our cats eating their cat meat but that doesn’t bother me at all now. But I get seriously wound up when children stand in front of me and smack their lips as they eat……I want to physically punch them and scream “SHUT UP”! (obviously I don’t but it’s still awful to feel like that!)
I remember when I was young my Dad ate with his mouth open and I used to sit there with my hands over my ears and eventually have to run out the room either screaming, crying or both.
I remember having numerous conversations with my Mum through the years, starting very young, and describing getting really really angry and wanting to scream and, obviously, my Mum didn’t have a clue about it really. She used to just say that people get irritated sometimes by things. What an understatement.
I still really really struggle with it and would love some advice on how to cope with it. I dread family get togethers every single time when it involves a meal. I try to think about where I’m going to sit, who next to, who opposite. I get anxious and stressed as the event is looming, even days before because I know how I’ll feel.
It’s so good to be able to say how it feels on here without the risk of being judged completely mad. When you type it out it sounds mad doesn’t it. But that’s how it makes me feel.
If anyone has any coping tips and strategies I would be more than grateful at hearing them.
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Sophie on June 29, 2015 at 9:40 pm (Edit)
I’m sixteen and I’ve been suffering with misphonia for about 4 years (I think!). When I recently found out about misophonia, and read up about different symptoms, I burst into tears because I finally didn’t feel alone – there are other people who suffer like I do! It was so overwhelming to learn that there was a name for the condition, let alone a whole community of people who share my pain! I would put myself as a level 7, and my triggers are numerous – sniffing, leg shaking, chewing, swallowing/gulping, spoons clinking on bowls, etc, etc…
I generally use music to cover up my family’s eating noises, but they can’t always be drowned out – this is okay, as I can live with a few things a day, but I recently finished doing my exams and I found it really hard to cope in the exam hall with sniffers and leg-shakers and coughers and the invigilators walking up and down the hall in noisy shoes. Does anyone have any way to deal with this? Also, when I’m in class, a few of my teachers know about my condition and they are very sympathetic, but when a classmate’s action is a trigger I don’t know how to cope. Honestly, my wrists and ears are sore from always leaning on them to block out the noise.
It’s really good to get all of this off my chest, but I’ve noticed that no-one has really talked about what this page is for – does anyone have any advice about telling friends and family about misophonia? How do you convince people that it’s a real condition? Whilst people are sympathetic, I always feel as though they think I’m just a freak and over-sensitive. Then there are the people who, once you’ve asked them to please stop, laugh in your face and continue to chew with their mouth open. How do you deal with them? Finally, there are people with other conditions – I know at least one person who, although she doesn’t have ADHD, is always shaking her leg and her chewing really annoys me. I feel as though if I sat her down and explained everything, she wouldn’t take it seriously, or would feel bad but not really understand. What am I supposed to do about people like her? Finally, what about potential partners? On the first date are you supposed to blurt out that you’ve got this condition that will probably drive the both of you insane?
I realise that this is a very long entry! I would just really like some answers, or advice on how to deal with everything!
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Holly on July 1, 2015 at 9:37 pm (Edit)
I’ve had this all my life (I’m 42) but just thought I was barking mad. My mother is my main problem, but a few other women bother me too. I seem to be OK with men. When I meet my mother I have to wear earplugs. I’ve done this since I was 11 to avoid hearing her eat, drink, breathe, everything. I can only cope with her if the sound is incredibly muted. When I read that some sufferers have unwanted sexual arousal, I nearly fell off the sofa because I get this and I thought I was deranged. It’s a sort of helpless anger, my fists clench, I feel tearful and resentful but also aroused which is horrible. I have never hit her but I have snapped several times because I can’t cope. The weirdest thing is that she’s a great mother and I think the world of her. I just can’t be in the same room as her without earplugs.
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Jessica on April 9, 2016 at 8:10 pm (Edit)
I thought that I was completely psychotic!! Same thing here, if anything disgusts me badly enough, it happens. Nose sniffing or the WORST farmer blows kill me, but also dogs licking themselves. I am so glad I am not alone!
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Tom on July 5, 2015 at 9:57 pm (Edit)
Ugh–I’ve had this problem since I was 11 yrs old. I can’t stand when someone finished their drink through a straw and it slurps. Makes me very angry. I’m ok in a large restaurant with a lot of background noise but I can’t eat in my own house with my family. One strange twist is that I’m not as angry/anxious when one of my son eats as much as I am about when my wife eats. I absolutely have to leave the room if anyone is eating uncooked carrots, granola, or anything it’s very crunchy. And I really can’t stand it when someone at the table chews their food out loud. I get very agitated and angry. Drives me nuts. I’m 56 yrs old now and have been dealing with it for over 45 years. I can’t eat breakfast with my wife because of the problem. People chewing and ice cubes also makes me crazy.
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Afwesff on July 11, 2015 at 9:18 am (Edit)
I’ve suffered in silence since I was 10. I’m only 16, I’ve learnt to control it since it started when I would hear these sounds and yell and punch and slap my brother for eating that crunchy buttery Italian toast (to this dat I can imaging in excruciating detail) or my mums drinking noise where the smell now triggers me.
What people don’t understand is that when you hear your trigger sounds or (for me) associated smells or words, you feel like there is an uncontrollable sudden brutal anger and you physically want to damage and destroy the source of that trigger. My family and friends always say ‘yeah I get shivers down my spine when I hear a masticating noise. I don’t know why you get so bitchy and overreact’. What they don’t understand is that every time it happens I suffer. I run into my room and punch myself, cut myself, yell into my bed, bite and tare whatever I can find. I will have tears stuck aching in my cheeks and I will start to get the sweats because I will be panicking because the sound is stuck in my head. They don’t understand the severity of the noise for me and go ahead and tease me about how I never leave my room now or how I don’t like to go to the movies or out to dinner. It’s just to hard to handle. It’s frustrating and I can’t control it, it just happens.
I thought I was the only one but now I don’t feel as alone like no one understands.
The thing about this I hate the most is that those who don’t have it will never understand not been in control of how you react to noises they find so normal.
My aunt held an intervention for me and my “inappropriate behaviour” last year and she created a new trigger. Whenever anyone uses the word tolerance I react. This had happened to smells and other physical dactors for me. Anyone else?
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Jaydell on August 3, 2015 at 10:54 pm (Edit)
I didn’t realize that this was a real problem. I do get upset when I think the TV is too loud but others say that they can’t hear it if they turn it down. I try to deal with it the best that I can. I realized that I had an issue when my husband wanted to take me to dinner at a casino. The moment that I walked in, the noise started driving me insane. It wasn’t so much that it was loud but it was the multiple sounds that drove me crazy. The music in the background plus the sounds of all the machines was more than I could handle. I left with a terrible headache. I don’t care much for gambling but I do want to enjoy the things that my husband does. If I wear ear plugs it will defeat the purpose of wanting to spend time with my husband. Has anyone else dealt with a similar problem?
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stan on August 17, 2015 at 1:49 am (Edit)
I suffer from the increasingly prevalent booming bass, repetitive beat, completely predictable, anti social car radios. I also suffer from barely audible, low quality music from small speaker sources in the workplace. I also suffer from hissing from coworkers’ ear buds when they obviously have them cranked. I also suffer from muffled conversations and television sound coming through the wall from the neighbor. I think I can complete the list of my triggers when I include last but not least, whistling.
I have read a good number of comments on various websites on several topics. I have read most of the comments on this site on this subject of misophonia. I noticed something that I consider unusual in the pattern of comments in this posting, as compared to comments read elsewhere. I have noticed a common set of attributes in all of the comments in this posting: clear speaking, clear writing, rational thought, good grammar (do not include me here), easy to read, follow, understand, and intelligent. Also, in visualizing and putting sound to the comments as I read them, I feel that all of the comments here are coming from positive, happy, well adjusted, well balanced individuals.
Maybe misopnonia is actually a positive “disorder”. I have allways felt that the trigger sounds interfere with what I call background thought. Background thought that I consider necessary for survival. Like a beating heart, or breathing. When a trigger sound interferes with and blocks background thought it becomes life threatening.
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MeToo on August 23, 2015 at 4:06 am (Edit)
I am so glad to read about others who have the same issue!!! At least I don’t have to feel alone now. People look at me sideways when I try to explain it, but my sister and I have found that we have this in common.
It is amazing how this manifests itself differently with different people. My main issue is mouth noises, including: Sniffing (and I used to be a sniffer as a kid), scratching, repeated throat clearing, that strange noise false teeth make when they don’t fit (clicking/smacking), even someone eating a salad when only that person is eating. I try to eat quietly, not because it bothers me to hear myself eat but because I think others may get bothered like I do.
At meetingsI have to sit in the back of the room so I can stand up and move if the person next to me decides to eat a cookie or chew gum, even with a closed mouth. Another sister has a couple of noisy tics and loves to look at things over my shoulder, but I haven’t had the heart to tell her how much it bothers me, so I try to make these close contacts as short as I can, feeling guilty all the while. A gentleman with dry skin once scratched his leg for at least 20 minutes and it drove me crazy! No matter where I went in the room or how quiet the scratching seemed I could not help but hear it. Trying to ignore things just means I can not focus on what I want or need to, such as meetings or plays. I have learned to leave myself a way to move somewhere else if I have to in order to focus better. Restless leg syndrome works as a good excuse if I don’t want to explain why I couldn’t sit still. It seems to carry less of a stigma.
Thank you everyone for sharing. What a relief. And thanks to my sister for showing me this website.
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Jen on August 23, 2015 at 5:26 am (Edit)
I knew for a few years that this is what I have (I cannot remember where I first heard it, but I was so glad when I did) it started with hearing people chew certain things, and dogs licking, and clocks ticking in very silent rooms. I never did well on tests because of the clock, the pencils on paper, and people chewing gum. Usually if I am eating also I am fine, unless someone is just a terrible eater (my niece is 2 and we are trying to teach her manners). Sometimes I feel an anger, sometimes I feel this intense need to move (almost like I am hyperactive_
Currently, I am dog sitting for my cousin (a bulldog) and he won’t stop licking! It is driving me insane. I tried watching tv and I can’t concentrate, then I tried watching netflix on my computer with my headphones and I can still hear it. I have only been here 3 hours and I have 7 days left and I don’t think I can stand it.
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Stacy on August 29, 2015 at 11:36 am (Edit)
I have had misophonia since I was about 6 yrs old. I had to sit at the kitchen counter for dinner with a small TV on loud while the family ate at the table and I was still bothered by my Dad scraping his teeth on his fork and other noises. My family thought I was crazy and so did I. I have felt very alone with this my whole life. When my daughter was 7, she started showing signs of it. She is a twin so I know it is not learned behavior, only she has it. I was determined to find out what it was so she wouldn’t have to live through what I have had to. I googled all sorts of things till I found 4S/Misophonia. I cried the most visceral cry for two hours. I felt so validated reading about it and other’s experiences. I finally knew I wasn’t crazy and I had a name to give it. I have Miso and live with a person with Miso. Not easy in our house:)
I’m mostly sharing this for parents who have school age children with Miso. In my state a student can get a Plan in school to accommodate special needs that can include misophonia for testing. I did have to present documentation from a hearing disorder doctor that I took her to. I also brought literature on Miso. Now each year we have a meeting with the Guidance Counselor and all of her teachers to explain it to them at the beginning of the year. She also gets to be in a smaller group when they take state required tests so there are less distractions/noises. She is in High School now and they tend to ease up on rules and some teachers allow food and gum in the classrooms so it is good that we are able to inform her teachers at the beginning of the year. If I get any resistance I explain to them that she could have a total meltdown in their classroom if no gum/food isn’t enforced. They usually realize they don’t want to deal with that.
I hope this is helpful as we all struggle with this debilitating burden.
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Roshann on September 1, 2015 at 4:52 pm (Edit)
The first time I noticed I got irritated and angry at noises I was around 8-9. My mothers boyfriend used to suck food out of his teeth constantly or maybe it was the tobacco from the cigarettes he used to roll with no filter, either way this noise drove me up the wall. I couldnt really understand what was happening to me because other triggers started slightly after this. My mothers dry mouth is the worst I can barely be in the same room with her eating or just talking. My grandmother sniffling (nervous tick) constantly was unbearable too. As I got older they got worse. Mostly any kind of chewing with your mouth open can get me every time especially gum. Also other big triggers for me are nail clippers, (especially at work) silverware scraping against plates or just knives and forks when people cut their food and kind of repetitive movements also get to me. My worst time is during work i have a cube mate that insists now to stand so i can not only hear him chewing like a cow i can see him now too BONUS!!! NOT! Just glad to know I am not alone only in the last year have I learned about miso, my whole life i thought i was not normal and would cry all the time because i didnt understand why i couldnt control this.
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YAZMIN ALMODOVAR on September 1, 2015 at 4:55 pm (Edit)
My English is not very good but I will try to explain. I think I suffer this psychological condition since I was a little girl. I’m 41 and I believed I was totally crazy. I try to contain myself but it its very difficult. The sounds I cannot hear are a lot!! but the most annoying thing for my is the whispering. I’m struggling with this and nobody understand me. This is the first time that I see a word and an explanation for what I suffer. Its a relief and I want to learn more about it.
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Leah on September 3, 2015 at 8:17 pm (Edit)
Hello,
It’s great to hear (haha) I’m not completely mad and alone with probably one of the strangest quicks ever!
I’ve always been enraged by the sound of sniffing and eating, but interestingly the sound of eating sometimes invokes waves of pleasure as apposed to rage… Odd I know. I have a mild case of a condition call synthesia which is an overlapping of sensory input… I can see sound. Now I can hear emotion. Blimey.
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eclectic on September 4, 2015 at 6:34 am (Edit)
Thank G*d I’m deathly afraid of prison or I would have killed someone by now. I wouldn’t really, but you know what I mean. I believe I have a lot more control that I get credit for.
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david on September 8, 2015 at 2:52 pm (Edit)
I’m so glad I found this website this past week!!
Does anyone get like, extreme tired and/or fatigued from the added anxiety?
BTW my big one is the grocery store beeping from the items ran over the barcode…
thanks
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Cari on September 11, 2015 at 9:35 am (Edit)
Thank god for this site. I’m in science class right now and the girl beside me was eating and I literally felt violent, like I wanted to break something. It happens when my mum and dad eat as well, and forever I thought I was just being a bad person. I’m so glad I remembered that miso is a thing, because now I know that I can’t help feeling so angry.
Whispering also triggers me. I watched an ASMR video from Dodie Clark, my favourite YouTuber, and I love her to bits, but it made me feel so angry.
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Rae on September 12, 2015 at 3:40 am (Edit)
i’m amazed that i’m not only not alone in this, it’s actually relatively common-that, in itself, is a relief. i’ve dealt with misophonia since about the time i reached puberty-it started with my dad and sister, their chewing and the way the breathed and made sloppy mouth noises in their sleep bothered me more and more and those are the two sounds that bother me now. all wet sloppy mouth sounds make my spine curl and my muscles tighten. i often cover my ears or dig my nails into my skin if ear-covering is too obvious. i’ll go to another room sometimes, or put on headphones and play music loud enough to drown it out. if it’s very loud-and my boyfriend is the worst offender here because he swears food tastes better if you breathe through your mouth while you eat-i get the irresistable urge to imitate the sounds, and that comes at the same time as the panic and anger and jaw-clenching nervousness. then i feel like i’m an absolute mess, a bitch, crazy, and i feel really depressed and hate myself for the way i am. sleeping sounds, it varies-only certain kinds of snoring trigger me, the kind that sounds like there’s a wad of something stuck in their throat, it makes me try to clear my own along with the same set of physical and emotional feelings as mouth stuff. regular, “dry” snoring is midly irritating at the worst, so it’s not a big deal. i’ve tried moving peoples’ heads around, moving their pillows, waking them up. my boyfriend does feel bad about the snoring thing, just because he’s self-conscious about that himself i think. i really love him a lot, we’ve been together for nearly seven years and i’m not about to let some bizarre misfiring in my brain destroy something so valuable (i have bipolar disorder as well and am not insured or undergoing any sort of treatment, so struggling with my own mind and its impulses is something i have daily experience with), but it’s very bothersome to deal with. his reactions vary from sympathetic to amused to angry, so i usually try to distract myself rather than confront. his occasional lack of sympathy may have something to do with the fact that i broached the issue in a pretty awful way-when he ate, rather than calmly explain how i feel and that i need him to work with me, i put my hand under his chin while he chewed and pushed his mouth shut. in retrospect, i could have handled it better. i feel like if i had a name to place on it earlier, i would have thought about it more rationally and made a bit better of a decision there. as i’ve said, i’ll do everything in my power to fight this, but i really really wish i could just make it go away forever. in my academically-lacking, intellectually-backwards rural area, i feel like it’s going to be a long shot to find a doctor who not only knows what misophonia is, but how to treat it. i guess anything is possible. thank you for providing this fantastically helpful resource and incredibly encouraging experience of discovering that i’m okay after all, and in plenty of good company.
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Holly on September 13, 2015 at 4:58 am (Edit)
I tell people that misophonia is when certain noises cause me to become stressed to the extent of me becoming violent. But they still don’t seem to understand when I react unnaturally towards a noise. They – along with my family – say that I’m being spoilt, ungrateful and self-centred. I never have any support from my family, often they use my triggers against me to try and get me to do something. I’m spending more and more time in my room with my headphones blasting because my family won’t listen, all they do is tell me I’m selfish. I don’t know what to do
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Janine on September 15, 2015 at 12:35 pm (Edit)
Right now, as I write this, a co-worker that sits a few desks away from me keeps clearing her throat excessively and sniffling. I just want to yell out “Blow your damn nose already!” LOL I recently learned of this condition, and looking back on my life, I realized this started at an early age of 5 or 6. I am now 51. It started with listening to my brother and sister eat/chew and progressed to snoring. I could hear my parents snoring from down the hallway and even with my bedroom door closed. I learned to sleep with a radio under my pillow. I picked up on other sounds made by my mother, like the way she breathes. She tends to hold her breath for a few seconds, then lets it out. I know this sounds stupid, but it drives me crazy and every time I noticed that she was holding her breath, I would say “breathe mom”. She thought I was just being intolerant. Thank god she loves me and I do love my mom more than anything,even though I can’t be around her much which make me very sad and angry at myself. Who in their right mind doesn’t want to spend more time with their mom, right?? My mom is now 85 and I’m not sure how much more time she has on this earth.
So, you already know that sniffling, excessive throat clearing and snoring drive me bonkers. I also can’t deal with yawning, a person scuffing their feet when they walk, and the sound of keyboard typing, especially if it’s someone that types FAST. Whenever my partner yawns, sniffles or chews gum, she knows that I’m getting irritated when I glare at her. I will actually tell her to stop yawning, to blow her nose or I will hold my hand out so she can give me her gum. Although I have not been professionally diagnosed, we both agree that I definitely suffer from miso (and I guess she does too indirectly).
One odd thing that I did not read from any other miso sufferers is that there are certain sounds that actually calm me down, like the sound of a fan, or certain appliances running, like a dishwasher. i actually like the sound of nail clipping. There are a few men at work that occasionally clip their nails and I find it soothing. I also know a few people that actually have very soothing voices that tends to calm me down.
Sorry for the rambling, and thank you for letting me vent. I wish there was a magic cure for this because I don’t like the way I get so irritated and almost enraged everyday, all day by noises that are out of my control and are “normal” to everyone else. I hate that it drives me away from certain situations and most of all people. I actually love people and like to be social.
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Katherine on February 13, 2016 at 12:34 pm (Edit)
I just turned 60 and and today is the first time I’ve ever heard about misophonia as a condition, not just a character flaw! I cannot believe how much emotional, intellectual and physical energy that coping with misophonia has sucked out of my life.
My mother must have suffered with it as well because I am imprinted with memories of her telling us not to chew with our mouths open, don’t shuffle or “stomp” when you walk through the house, don’t clink your silverware on the plate, don’t slam the door….the list goes on. These and other triggers like stirring iced drinks, throat clearing and CRINKLING packaging drive me up the wall. People seem to think its ok to eat anywhere, anytime…a dear friend always stabs her food/esp. salads…I get anxiety flutters just thinking about having a meal with her…also tic type behaviors like flipping hair, rubbing her nose, pointing at people with a utensil at a meal…omg, I feel like a nut job! I was on a 6 hour flight this week and the woman next to me was typing nonstop with long nails for the whole trip…I had to do some breathing and self talk to keep my cool.
If I’m in a small conference room at work for a meeting with loud or people that talk with an up-talk inflection…I get edgy.
So it is all of the energy that we use up everyday to cope with these sensitivities that is a true loss. I have found meditation, vigorous exercise and Gabapentin to be helpful. I also struggle with SAD and with it comes additional irritability that seems to heighten the sensitivities of misophonia. I never understood why I seemed to be the only one that wants to jump out the window in a Mexican restaurant surrounded by crunchy chip eaters!!!
Let’s try and keep a sense of humor about it…. Sometime I’ll imagine a comical scenario and try to levitate the angst when I’m triggered…it helps a lot just to share with you. Quick Deep breaths in through the nose, followed by a slow and controlled exhalation also gets me through!
Best wishes for peaceful days…kat
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o
Dayra on July 10, 2016 at 12:32 am (Edit)
Oh Katherine, in the middle of all these reading, you make me laugh for real. I used to live in southern California and Mexican restaurants are the norm, on a daily basis; and you want to jump out the window.??.. But anyways it seems like you have a very nice sense of humor and have already learned a few tricks how to cope with this condition. I just learned tonight that it has a name.. I was googling “noises that make you irritable” and I found this website. The noises that bother me the most are from my dear husband. He is so use to move his leg when watching TV or when he gets on the bed ready to sleep. The noise the sheets make when he moves his legs drive me insane!! All these time I am just thinking that I am a little supersensitive to small noises, but now I see that I am not alone!! Uff what a relieve!! He suffered from allergies, therefore, its a little hard for him to breath through his nose, so he breath through his mouth and it drives me crazy the sounds that he makes. Eating is another issue, forget sitting with him to eat cereal, no way Jose!! Or watching TV together; I always try my best not to see his leg moving, because if I do, I can’t concentrate on what we are watching. So to me the issue is seen and hearing his leg movements. I learned to use earplugs for his snoring and to get busy doing something else whenever any of these noises trigger my otherwise blessed life. To me is just a matter of learning to deal with the issue and if I ask him to stop, he complies. By the way Katherine, I turn 61 the day you wrote your comment.
Best wishes and blessings for all of us that are going through life with this condition…
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Kristin B on September 15, 2015 at 10:40 pm (Edit)
I’ve had this my whole life. The thing that makes it different from just not liking or being irritated by sounds is the intense negative emotions generated by exposure to the sound, and the feeling of panic engendered.
My triggers are very specific
– My mother chewing. I first remember this from when I was 4 or 5. It was a major negative factor in my childhood as I couldn’t hide it. My reactions were extremely hurtful to her.
-My husband eating. He cannot breathe through his nose so he is a very loud eater. I find it hard to be in the room when he is eating, except if I am eating also.
-My dog licking himself.
-Movie mealtime scenes where they use chewing and cutlery clinking to show tension.
-Any snoring
It’s funny what affects me and what doesn’t. I’m never bothered by my children eating and am not sensitive to sound in general, only my trigger sounds.
Nice to have a name for it!
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Tanya on September 18, 2015 at 8:33 pm (Edit)
We thought my dad hated us 5 kids when he would take his plate and go into the other room to eat. But them my older sister would torment us with smacky lips sounds and we would scream, getting us in trouble.
Dad would scream if we clicked the ash trays in the car (yes they were in back seats back then.)
Now as adults I hate going out to eat with friends who crunch, smack and GOD FORBID talk with their mouth full! Cooking shows or anything on TV where they smack their lips and lick their fingers. Can I smack them please. Cannot watch!And KISSY noises on TV. Have to mute!!!!!!!! Really who makes those smacky noises when kissing?
Someone eating pistachios and taking the shell off with their teeth,,,,I must leave the room.
I constantly yell at the dog for chewing his leg.
I reported a gum cracker in the Drs waiting room to the nurse and told her I could not be in there with her.
I love old folks but Loose clacking false teeth AGH!
My husbands snoring does bother me but what is worse is his nose makes a GLICKing sound as he sleeps.
My sisters and I had words that describe some of these sounds people make Glicking, Gop Gop, etc.
My two sisters and I realize we have this and I am sure one 6 yr old grand daughter does because while having tea parties she yells at anyone slurping and tells them they are never allowed at her tea parties again!
Now to explain it to her parents.
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lori on September 5, 2016 at 1:14 pm (Edit)
Oh my god, this is me. All of it. Every single word.
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Stacey on September 25, 2015 at 5:06 pm (Edit)
I’ve always known there was something off by the way certain sounds affected me. I just didn’t know what. I thought I was partially crazy; sounds don’t affect other people that way…..? This sound didn’t just bother me it sent me into a frenzy. The sound that is the main trigger is licking sounds they make me completely enraged! It is mostly by dogs. And it’s not the eating licking sound, or kissing licking sound, but the cleaning licking sound; either themselves or people. I’ve flipped my lid more than I’d like to admit to. It will wake me from a dead sleep and I’ll have to leave the room immediately or I know I’m going to lose it. It seems that when it happens in the middle of the night it is a worse reaction than in the day time. Maybe because I’m less “patient” about it. It’s been hard to not understand it my self, let alone that I then can’t explain it to others. I usually just say I’m sorry but that sound bothers me. They always ask why and all I can say is I don’t know. Very Frustrating.
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Lee on September 25, 2015 at 5:59 pm (Edit)
I am utterly amazed at what I am reading. So I am not the only “sensitive” one out there. I am so grateful to find out that this is a real disorder and I am not alone (sorry, but misery loves company). I am actually shocked that there are so many of us that suffer.
I am a 9 and it is so hard to be “that” person at work. I feel so bad when I have to ask my co-workers (who are awesome by the way) to stop popping their gum and chewing their ice (or other crunching sounds). While I have other triggers, those are the worst.
I have almost thrown a remote at the TV when that Kit Kat commercial comes on. Someone needs to send them these articles and testimonies so maybe they would change their advertisements. Who buys candy because it crunches anyways?
I can get so angry so quickly. I do imagine punching people in the face because they are chewing ice or popping gum during a meeting. I think, this person is an idiot, or they had no home training if they think this is acceptable professional behavior. Then when I say something to others (the non-offenders), they say something like, “Oh, I didn’t even notice it”. I want to punch them too.
I usually just have to walk away as I am unable to endure the noise for long. I have used the fingers in the ears too but I feel like a child and then I think, this is ridiculous and just walk away as fast as I can. I can’t go to theaters because of popcorn.
I think the strangest thing is that I love listening to my music (usually via headset or through speakers if I am by myself), but if I hear someone else blasting their music, like in their car with their windows down, I want to run them off the road. That just doesn’t make sense to me.
It is scary sometimes. I haven’t ever acted on my rage, but I sure can imagine it.
Since walking away isn’t always an option, what else can be done? No cure I suppose.
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Kim on September 26, 2015 at 12:21 pm (Edit)
Top triggers for me that make me want to strangle the offender(s):
1. high-pithched humming
2. most whistling
3. gum snapping
4.heavy breathing
5. The WORST- aggressive mouse clicking and typing; one guy i work with hits the keys so hard he’s broken the enter key on the keyboard. Jerk!
I, like many others, never heard of this condition. I am glad there’s actually a name for it but honestly, it doesn’t make it any easier to cope. Some of the people I work with are aggravating enough. Throw in hours worth of high-pitched humming of the Mary Tyler Moore show or Full House for hours on end and it’s all I can do to not stab someone in the eye with a pencil.
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Paula on October 3, 2015 at 11:49 am (Edit)
I never heard of this but I sure have it! Repetitive clicking or tapping wigs me out. A co-worker snifflles all day. I offered him tissue to blow his nose. He never did. I have to buy headphones.
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Ashleigh on October 4, 2015 at 6:05 pm (Edit)
I’m so happy to know I’m not alone in this. I’ve noticed for several years that some noises just drive me insane. For me its repetitive noises. For instance, I work in a nursing home and I have one resident that makes this repetitive sound with his tongue and dentures. It’s like a licking/sucking noise and another who grunts/moans over and over and I’ve had to (politely because I’m at work) ask them to please stop while I’m in the room because I cannot just leave them. But inside I feel rage and anxiety. And when my husband chews cereal especially…sounds like he’s chewing rocks and I have to leave the room
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leah on October 8, 2015 at 4:18 pm (Edit)
Hello, I have suffered this irritating condition since I was a little girl. I thought it was just sheer intolerance, and its very frustrating having people not understand. Not many people have heard of misophonia and I hadnt realised how distressing it is, I have to walk away form people and had a strong response to hit out, even though I know it isnt these people’s fault or mine either. It is good to find out its a real problem, and not just all in my head. I spoke to my mum who always said that I hated certain noises. In response to someone’s comment about triggers changing, that has happened to me. My triggers are screaming children, loud music, door slamming and loud eating. A few of things didnt bother me when I was younger
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Mom of misophonic on October 10, 2015 at 2:26 pm (Edit)
Finally, I understand the seriousness and extent of what my teenage son has been going through since he was young. Can you tell me what you wish your parents had done? My son has been balefully glaring across the table at his siblings for chewing (and sometimes talking with their mouths full). At times he has gotten up from the table, made some rude remark, and left. I have been sitting beside him thinking, they’re not really any worse than any other kids, why is he so upset? What am I doing wrong? His own table manners aren’t particularly refined.
Little did I know that I was already the object of his greatest rage and anger. He finally told me a few weeks that he really cannot stand when I swallow, especially when I take my first swallow of a drink at the table. When we drive somewhere, I can tell he cannot stand that I breathe. I’m grateful that he told me, but fear it is too late. I am already his trigger. Does that have to last forever? Is there anything I might be able to do differently? What do those of you who had parental triggers think could have happened for you? At least, I no longer think it is my cooking or my driving!
I would really appreciate any wisdom, including parenting advice, that you can give me.
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Becca on October 12, 2015 at 11:05 pm (Edit)
I wish that my father had listened to me and not decided that he was an expert in exposure therapy whenever I said that a sound bothered me! My mom has been great- she makes an effort not to chew gum when I’m with her or when we are talking on the phone. I would say that the hardest part, for me at least, was dealing with a parent who didn’t believe that Misophonia was real. My father still insists that I just want to start trouble and that I am being “spoiled” on purpose. My advice is to just be as supportive as you can- make sure that your son knows that you’ve read up on Misophonia, and that you’re willing to do everything you can to make him more comfortable.
As for his unrefined eating habits, I find that kind of funny, because I have that issue too! I know the way I eat would drive other people with Misophonia nuts! But I suppose it doesn’t bother me to hear my own chewing because I know where the noise is coming from. It’s like if you were in a dark room and heard someone else scream versus being in a dark room and screaming yourself. Your own scream wouldn’t scare you because you were the one making the sound.
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Joanne on October 12, 2015 at 7:02 pm (Edit)
This website is amazing! I am 60 years old and can finally put a name on my extreme aural sensitivity! I experience excruciating internal pain with pretty much every type of sound mentioned here. I have discovered many coping techniques on my own. I keep earplugs on hand at all times because I never know when a high-anxiety sound situation might inescapably come up. I have to wear earplugs in the grocery store and most other public places. The most difficult time I had with sounds in my life was when my two children made toddler sounds throughout the day. With misophonia, you can’t “block it out” as we are so often advised.
It was a godsend when in my 40s I discovered the book, Highly Sensitive People by Dr. Elaine Aron. See website: http://www.hsperson.com. Many “HSP” individuals experience misophonia, along with a host of other hyper-sensitivities.
I have long believed that many musically gifted people also bear the burden of super sensitivity to sound. It is said that when Beethoven was an infant he cried every time the church bells rang. I am a pianist and have performed as a vocal soloist throughout my life. Is anyone aware of any research that confirms a correlation between musical giftedness and misophonia? My career is as a visual artist. So I am hyper sensitive to my visible surroundings as well as to sounds. I had two art professors who would literally freak out during class if a student was crumpling a candy wrapper or scooting their chair on the floor. That was when I started putting the pieces of the puzzle together and realized that there were other artistic people like myself who had hyper acute sensibilities.
Somewhere in this website I read that this high irritability can also be experienced when seeing repetitive movements, like someone’s leg bobbing up and down. I laughed out loud because when I was a child it drove me crazy when my brother wiggled his toes as he watched TV. It was the family joke – no one could understand how or why it bothered me so much.
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Tracy Chabala on February 23, 2016 at 7:05 pm (Edit)
Agh! Those SCOOTING chairs! They hugely get on my nerves, as does the crinkling!!! OMG, those are two of my biggest triggers. I do visual arts, but am professional a writer. I am very sensitive to sunlight, and I feel like it’s going to burn my eyeballs off when everyone else is enjoying the lovely rays. I’m also very sensitive to fabrics…which makes for expensive sheets. Also super sensitive to smell. My boyfriend is the utter opposite of me. He can sleep on sand paper and rocks and with a jackhammer in the background, and he can’t smell squat! He says I’m a vampire because of the sun. Blowing noses, ugh. Another trigger. I love travel, and that means on planes with all this stuff. I keep a white noise app streaming in my ears often.
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Hannah on October 20, 2015 at 12:00 am (Edit)
As a 14 year old struggling with highschool, homework and other social events, along with having misophonia thrown right in middle of it all, makes my life quite hectic, and tedious. Sounds have always been a big issue to me, most of my trigger noises are chewing and body noises, a few of my main ones are Burping, gluping and chewing. I rated myself a level 7 on the misophonia self-test, and it seems to be getting worse as I get older. My parents and family aren’t supportive of me at all. They simply tell me “get over it” that phrase has grown to be my least favorite phrase in the entire English langauge.
Trigger noises have also caused me physical pain before. One day my friend and I were walking home from school together and my friend was hiccuping, I politely asked her if she could try and hiccup without a sound, she promptly responded with “I can’t help it, your going to have to just ignore it, I can’t help it that my body makes noises” I felt guilty and upset that I had even asked. So I endured it by cletching my fists tightly so that my nails cut into my palms. The pain helped distract me from the sounds.
Now a days instead of hurting my self, I mess with my hair, necklace or jewelry to distract myself. I really don’t have emotional break downs from it, I just get really angry and frustrated. I use loud blaring music to help calm me. Also… I guess screaming at and punching my pillow helps a little xD
along the lines of relationships, I was lucky enough to find out that my boyfriend also has Misophonia so I don’t have to worry about not being supported by my lover.
If anyone has any more advice about getting through highschool with misophonia, please let me know! It would be much appreciated!
-with tons of silent love
Hannah <3 Reply • Mark on November 2, 2015 at 3:42 am (Edit) I have just found this website and the word, misophonia, what a relief to know I’m not alone, I have suffered form the age of 10 (now 42) with the sound of crunchy food like crisps and carrots, and slurping of tea, mainly targeted towards my Dad, it’s put strain on my relationship with him, whenever I’m around him I always am conscious that he could create one of my trigger sounds at any time, I find at family gatherings I always sit on the other side of the room or dinner table. This has always made me feel terrible but it’s just so so good to know that I’m not alone and that this is a recognisable condition. Reply • Lachlan on November 5, 2015 at 8:20 pm (Edit) This is what Misophonia means to me – Avoiding certain people who make loud sniffing, chewing gum sounds. The inability to talk to others about how I am feeling because I have been told “everybody sniffs”. Leaving the room if possible to avoid the person sniffing or chewing gum. Imitating the same noise from the trigger person to vent the emotional tension that I feel. My muscles just clench up and my heart starts racing. In lectures, I try my very best to stay focused which I do pretty well, however the thought of finishing the lecture excites me to escape the sounds if they are present. Using headphones whilst studying to negate peer sounds around me. Over the past 2 years, I have really noticed that I have these intense emotional feelings to these sounds. I am now 20. My mum is the only person who knows how I feel and has encouraged me to see a doctor. Reply • Olivia on November 8, 2015 at 4:31 am (Edit) Since I was a baby I’ve always hated sounds. I used to cry and scream when I hears sounds I didn’t like. Now when I’m older I get so annoyed and angry everytime I hear annoying sounds or a movement that’s repeating itself that I can start to cry. I have certain friends and people in my family who I can’t eat with. I have a littlesister who’s 5 years old and I get irritated at her all the time. I don’t want to, but I do. I can’t stand any annoying sounds and I just want things to be quiet. People always get angry or annoyed at me when I tell them to stop doing something but I reallt can’t help it. Very often these sounds ruin my days. I get so angry. I’ve stopped hanging out with people because they can’t close their mouths while chewing. I really want people to understand, but no one does. I’m always thinking that I put up with peoples sounds every single day, so the least they can do is to at least TRY to be quieter. But people don’t understand and they don’t even try to. Reply • Cheryl on December 3, 2015 at 12:09 pm (Edit) Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for letting me know this is a condition and I am not crazy. My husband shared this website with me and apologized for being aggravated with me for having this problem. I started experiencing the problem in huge proportions following a 22-hour brain surgery for a tumor. The noises sound sooooo loud to me and make me want to scream. The chewing, the tapping, the repetitive sounds are like megaphones and I feel like someone is trying to torture me. I wish there was something you could do to get this info out to the general public (like the commercial they have now about people who cry or laugh uncontrollably). This is a serious condition that truly affects our every day lives. Reply • Julie Hardy on December 10, 2015 at 4:02 am (Edit) When I am trapped at work with my colleagues I feel that if they don’t stop making that noise I’ll do something extreme or go mad. Reply • Kiki on February 25, 2016 at 7:52 pm (Edit) WOW! I can completely relate to that one- you have to bottle the feelings up inside and it makes it all worse. Have you told your employer or co workers about your condition? Reply • Patricia on December 18, 2015 at 4:18 pm (Edit) My mother and I, my sister, and my daughter all have this condition, which must mean it’s inherited. Great! My trigger sounds have abated over the years. Now that I’m in my 50’s I’m down to only 1 sound & 1 visual that bothers me and the reaction to them is nowhere near as intense as it would’ve been when I was younger. But my youngest daughter is only 12 and she has the rage & fight or flight reactions to the 10th level! How can we have a relationship when the very sight & sound of ME revolts her??? She used to be the cuddliest one out of all my kids & now she can’t stand me. She looks at my hand movements with disgust, she stiffens when I kiss her goodnight, she has to sit behind me in the car so she can’t see me or hear me, she has to put my husband and her 2 siblings between me & her so she can’t see me out of the corner of her eye. Why is this damn problem with only one person???? Are you guys sure it’s not a subconscious hatred for that one person??? I’m heartbroken that my formerly affectionate, loving child has turned into someone who loathes me! What can she & I do??? Reply • Bev on December 29, 2015 at 12:22 pm (Edit) I feel so bad for you. I have suffered with this all my life and it started with my relationship with my mother; I behaved just as your daughter does. I knew something was wrong and asked her to take me to the doctor, which she eventually did after lots of rows. However, in those days mental problems were not acknowledged so readily and I was told by the doctor to stop upsetting my mother and sent home. I shortly after suffered a breakdown and again received no help (I was 12 years old). Eventually I overcame this but have always suffered from what I now know as misophonia. At least you recognise what your daughter is going through and maybe talking it through with a counsellor may help. My mother died with none of our difficulties resolved but thank goodness you have understanding and a chance to perhaps alleviate her symptoms. I have learnt to hide my symptoms from people as I feel they will think I’m mad – maybe with help she could manage hers. Good luck – it is the most miserable and lonely thing to suffer from! Reply • Alyra on December 20, 2015 at 5:58 pm (Edit) Hi, I have learned that what I experience for years is a disorder couple of hours ago. The only two people I know who lives with this burden is I myself and a friend. When we found out that we were over sensitive to sounds it was like a miracle. We told anectodes from our lives and laughed. We were so relieved to find one another. I was so relieved that I was not alone. So was she. Today I am much more relieved to read your comments. And weirdly happy as if I have found my family members. I am a level 9. Thanks God that I have very strong self control. As I was trying to control my rage, my family thought that I was capricious and arrogant. I cried one dinner time when my mother said that she hope my future spouse will make more sounds. I don’t have specific persons who trigger my sensitivity. And i am not highly sensitive in times of stress or depression. Sounds can trigger me any time. Clocks ticking, next door neighbours watching tv, Brad Pitt eating sandwiches in Ocean’s Eleven, crying babies, complaining ladies, swallowing beverage, every sound related related with the saliva, gum chewing, etc. In movie theatres it is worst. It’s like you are trapped among people who make all those sounds. And I can always tell where the sound maker locates and whether it is a he or a she. And i have to turn and find that person if I have to find some peace of mind. I always cary gum with me for times of emergency. Or try to focus on lyrics of songs in the bus to not hear the sounds. When I finish my meal I try to leave the table not to hear others or keep on eating as everybody finishes eating. The inner sound of my own mouth calms me down. I realized that after I gave birth, during the very first months the triggers didn’t bother me as they usually do. I was so tired and so sleepless that though I noticed the trigger sounds it was some how very difficult to react. The sensitivity was less annoying though it was still there. It is like a curse. But there is another aspect of it. I can concentrate to listen to the voice of single person in a chorus of hundred singers. I tried it many times during my adolesence. Never failed. I can select and listen to the specific instrument in a band if I want to. I can hear whispering people next room and understand what they talk about. I can watch tv with very low soumd level when my baby sleeps. Yet I can wake up to any little soft sound. I need ultimate silence to fall asleep. I can’t sleep during the day no matter how much I want because of light and sounds. And yes I have severe headaches and migrane. Now that I know we are not alone, I have the hope that we can overcome it. I want to thank the site owners for their efforts!!! Good luck to us all… Reply • Alyra on December 20, 2015 at 8:15 pm (Edit) For parents of miso kids: Noe your kids do not hate you. They just don’t know how to cope with what they are thru… Reply • Brian Surian on December 26, 2015 at 7:53 pm (Edit) My discovery of the existence of a disorder named misophonia was enlightening for me as a person. I was not just the meancandangry son and sibling. I called my mother and explained emotionally that this was my everyday existence since third grade! I called my older brother, the common target of my anger, and told him. I had proof that I did love him. The people in my life could read in detail what I had experienced on a constant basis. I invented ways to alleviate as many triggers that I could but mostly suffered and seethed in solitude. Self loathing, anger and anxiety became my normal. This has been an epiphany for me as a himan being and has at the very least freed me from some of the guilt and resentments I have carried for many years. Reply • Laura on January 3, 2016 at 7:29 pm (Edit) Its good to know am not crazy, or am not extraterrestrial. It’s really hard to go on a daily lifestyle when people don’t understand, and they will even say they can’t hear anything, that’s my imagination, and so on. All I can say is that I wish this didn’t existed, cause half the time can’t even enjoy a lot of moments from my life cause everything bothers me and I just can’t stand it Reply • Rachel on January 5, 2016 at 12:04 am (Edit) I’m unsure where I fall on the 10 point scale. This is been something I’ve stuffed with since childhood. I use react with, let’s say, less tact. Remembering times where I actually went add far to make my sister leave the table in tears. Is hard to find a physical description… it hurts! My ears my brain then my whole face starts to throb. Like taking a wire coat hanger shoving it in my ear to scrape at my brain! As I’ve grown a bit I’ve learned to politely ask, but that is very temporary. My ex husband came home from iraq with a nerve injury to his arm. After surgery his skin on that hand became very dry. He would constantly, do it seemed to me, pick at it. I would ask him stop, he would but only to stay again minutes later. Guilt ran through my heart being the man I love to stop doing something that spared he had no control over. There dreams to be many different aspects that one dieing from this must endure. Reply • megan on January 6, 2016 at 4:36 am (Edit) Im overwhelmed by accidently comming across this website!! Thank the heavans!! For the last 17 years I assumed I was insane or strange, and in that so did anyone else I told about this so called problem. For me I can’t bleeping handle it when people crease paper with their fingers. I hear it and its like I can actually feel the sensation deep inside my body.I feel the vibrations as to me you are literally running your fingers across a paper, but i intake the sensory as that I believe you’re also removing your skin as well. Test it out (privately). Run your fingers across a folded piece of paper and you will notice that your sensory on the fingers implicates a hot sensation. I don’t think that you’re going to remove your skin but the sound freaking feels that emotional to me. I plug me ears and go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm so not to hear it. I block out conversations when it’s about to happen. Once I ripped a piece of paper out of the hands of the most powerful woman in my company. When she was speaking to me she repeatedly creased this piece of paper over and over… I tried so hard to let it go but 45 seconds later she wouldn’t fuc@ing stop and it HAD to stop. People often do that motion as a nervous habit and few realize that. I have to fold my paper then use an object like a pen to finish the crease and by the way it s way more effective and efficient. I usually take the paper and do it for someone. I lose it when they do a additional fold then a another additional fold. I shriek at them and fluster anger to why the heck is that necessary!! I often do not tell people about it because they use it against me likes its a joke. The more it upsets me the more they have a power over me. Or they do it to get a reaction. It’s cruel. I Am the angry type over this sound. Many do it without thinking. WELL I DIDN’T MISS OR FORGET ABOUT IT!! I WILL REMIND YOU EVERY TIME!!! I could engage and yes unintentionally become violent to deter the noise. Since then its also induced another sound because of it and thats marker on card board. WOW SO GROSS!! SOUL WRENCHING TOO! Reply • Zoe on January 9, 2016 at 5:26 pm (Edit) I never thought this would affect me. However, its only in the past year or so that I have started to notice how annoyed I can get at hearing certain noises….the most annoying noise?? My dog licking and cleaning himself!! ARRGHHH makes me so angry and wanna throw up. Also, hearing people chew with their mouths open. No one wants to hear the food rolling round in someone else’s mouth. Is it just me, or was everyone else taught to eat with their mouths closed!!!?? Anyway, not much i can do about the dog, i just have to close my ears until he has stopped. As for chewing food loudly…well.. I find i cant exactly tell strangers to shut up can I? Right now I can hear my dog licking….its so damn annoying!!! I wish there was a cure Reply • Christine on February 14, 2017 at 12:16 pm (Edit) My boyfriend has 2 dogs and he lets them lick his face. All over his face, yuck ! The wet, moist sound and knowing that they eat cat poop and their own from the yard and clean them selves! Drives me crazier???? I will tell him to stop them because its gross and I can’t handle it. When the dogs do clean themselves I do tell them to stop or I send them to another room. Reply • Kaelyn on January 14, 2016 at 5:19 pm (Edit) This describes the pain and anger I have felt for years!! Whenever someone has a snack in class, all I can focus on is the crinkling of the wrapper. It literally pains my ears before I snap. Also whenever someone chews with their mouth open, I CANNOT look at them without freaking out on them. People call me crazy and weird for it, someone needs to find a cure soon!!???????? Reply • Jenna on January 15, 2016 at 12:32 am (Edit) After my whole childhood thinking there was something wrong with me, and years later, I finally think that this is what it is. I just get horrible anger and a strange sensation in my head when people scrape plates with silverware, certain peoples’ voices really bother me, and even if people shuffle their feet on the floor. Does anyone have advice about how to explain it to a significant other? Or even family? My mother was the only one who tried to understand – since she’s so sympathetic and understanding – but my dad and sister never seemed to care, and would get mad at me if I asked them to stop, but then became short with me for asking. Thanks Reply • Shlamazel on January 16, 2016 at 3:57 pm (Edit) In Japan people slurp soup and suck noodles loudly. I visited there. A noodle shop with 20 people sitting shoulder to shoulder sucking noodles and slurping was a sight from hell. I’d rather starve. Try a won ton noodle house sometime for a flight or flight reaction. In restaurants I have to have a table with no one near by. People sitting in my space, eating, will drive me nuts. The smell of someone’s food in auditory range on a plane is torture. As a teen I used to take dinner to my room. Popcorn in movies is insane. Why?. I now realize why I prefer to eat my meals alone. Very antisocial behaviour. Other triggers are refrigerators in hotel rooms, I shut them off. Buzzing or humming noises in hotels, or quiet places. Noise thru walls, barking, motors like fans, heaters, saws, lawnmowers. My girlfriends reality tv shows argghhh…….. “Boom boom” electronica background “music”. Gum chewers inspire homicide. I’m in the 5-8 group range. But if I am very happy, or excited about something, my irritation levels can diminish. I conclude, that my irritation is not a disease but a symptom of my own unhappiness and sense of powerlessness to change. Reply • G on January 19, 2016 at 5:13 pm (Edit) Sloshy chewing seriously ticks me off. This is the first time I found out that my issue has a name. I’m sixteen and have been dealing with this for the past three years. At the dinner table I would plug my ears and hope that my irrational anger would subside but it didn’t. Sometimes I would yell at my parents for chewing so loudly Nd tell them to stop and then they would tell me to handle it which would just make everything worse because I couldn’t get it into their heads that I can’t help it when I hear these noises. I just get super angry and want to destroy everything. But now that I know this has a name, hopefully I can work on finding a coping mechanism. Reply • Mackenzie on January 22, 2016 at 10:14 pm (Edit) I’m so glad other people have this problem. My family just doesn’t understand like people who have it, I’m sure. My mom just says “It’s completely under your control.” But it’s not!! Whenever people chew, swallow, swish spit around in their mouth, snore, shake their feet up and down on the ground, excessively tap, or keep sniffing, or breath really loud for no reason (like they didn’t exercise or something), I get so angry, and I feel like it’s for no reason and I’m just being over sensitive, but I also feel like it’s totally out of my control. I just found out what it is, and it’s so good to know other people are struggling with the same thing. But, so far, I haven’t found any way to deal with it yet, so that would be good to know too. Reply • nico on January 23, 2016 at 1:37 pm (Edit) Misophonia broke my whole family apart.I have been suffering with it for 45 years.we are Greek origen and i cant tell you how many times i wanted to commit suicide.I cant be nearly people when they are clenching their teeth and making that sound that wants me to kill them ,like they are cleaning their teeth.It drives me crazy.My family did it all the time not knowing they push me to the edge.I am so happy that i found this website and i am not alone for years i have suffered i cant be near people because they do it on purpose and it drives me nuts i just want to go nuts and strangle them.I thank God that i found this website and i know that their people suffering.My family is broken aprt because of this.I am forced to live alone in fear of this i cannot find a cure i even went to spritual healers and they said thats the way i have to live with it.Thank you for being there for me i finally found help.My brother and mother and i live apart i cant be in a place where people do this in hospital if i tell them to stop they will think i am some kind of lunatic. Reply • Debbie on January 29, 2016 at 11:48 am (Edit) Hi, I’m in my 40’s and just discovered that I have this condition, and yes it’s so true that those closest to me are the most annoying!! I often times think that the noises my husband makes is done purposely just to piss me off! I discovered I had this condition because I had genetic testing done and I do carry the gene it’s rs2937573 and there are actually different severities. GG is high, AG is Med. and AA is low. I have AG but I also have it from both of my parents which means I have 2 copies and that’s worse. I’m so glad to know that I’m not just sensitive or mean and that the rage I feel is out of my control. I don’t know if the coping skills will help much – I’ve lived with this for over 30 years but at least now when my husband makes noises that infuriate me I can ask him to please stop and not feel guilty that I’m being rude to him! Reply • Chris on January 31, 2016 at 9:49 am (Edit) I feel a sense of confusion and frustration when noise levels get above a certain decimal. My husband likes to listen to the tv and music very loud. While watching tv I’m constantly asking him to turn it down and he gets angry with me saying he don’t want to sit there turning the sound up and down. He does not understand. He thinks I’m just being bitchy for no reason. This is effecting my marriage as it causes arguments. I don’t know what to do or say so that he will understand. I work in a call center and get the same feeling of confusion and frustration when taking or making calls but can control the volume on my phone. I however can’t control my husband. I’m at a loss. Any suggestions? Reply • R Bravo on March 2, 2017 at 2:30 pm (Edit) I think I have this. Whenever my husband turns on his music…he suffers from PTSD and blasts it, I feel this incredible rage and want to run out screaming. It’s funny, if we’re at a party or concert, it doesn’t bother me. Only at home. Wander if I actually have misophonia. Reply • Pete on February 3, 2016 at 7:59 am (Edit) I knew I wasn’t alone. Now 58, this has destroyed me since about 15 and is gradually getting worse. Don’t go to the cinema because of the fear of people eating around me. Don’t go to my partners dad’s home because they have ticking clocks. Find I stare at people when they are chewing gum even though it bothers me to see it. If it turns out to be conventional food and they are not making a noise its OK. Other problem areas:-People with walking sticks clicking the medal ending on the ground; People putting their fingers to their mouths, I stare to see if they are biting their nails. Drinking when out helps! Reply • J on February 5, 2016 at 12:54 am (Edit) I used to get sent away from the table during dinner. It happened so often that it just made meals a misery in my mind. We had so many arguments, and I blew up so often during dinner. My parents and brother didn’t take kindly to me exaggeratedly mimicking their chewing, yelling, groaning, plugging my ears, screaming, or just fuming at the table silently. It made everyone uncomfortable, and they generally just thought I was oversensitive, or just being a jerk. How could I explain what I was feeling? I was a kid. So, they would send me to my room. It made me sad that they couldn’t just eat peacefully, that they didn’t understand how loud they sounded to me, and how much their noises disturbed me. It was lonely. It made me feel like I wasn’t really part of the family. What was I feeling? Severe and immediate panic and a need to escape or have the sound stop, rage, extreme annoyance (a word that doesn’t seem strong enough), a shutdown of cognitive reason. It was like the sound was burrowing into my head until it was the only thing I could sense, like I was utterly transfixed, and in pain. I screamed sometimes. It made me cry sometimes. I can see myself in my head now, just having a horrifying reaction. It starts again with my parents, still, if I spend more than a day or so around them. It keeps happening now, really, almost every day. If I hear someone eating crunchy food, I plug my ears, literally (I keep very isolating headphones on me at ALL times so that I can block the sounds of people eating out). I can barely go to the movies. I often have to change seats unexpectedly (something my partner has come to understand, although I think it must be annoying). Restaurants can be a challenge, of course. Looking at the chart on this site, I would say I’m pretty solidly in group 6, with some group 7 tendencies (but not all). I often become uncomfortable and annoyed at my partner, who has never experienced this kind of thing in someone before, and who took it pretty hard for a long time, at mealtime. I often insist that some sound be playing while we eat now to try to mask other sounds (since this term started being used and someone pointed it out to me, I’ve read about a few techniques like this one that help, but don’t solve the issue), but sometimes it doesn’t help. I cringe when I hear chip bags crinkling because I know what is coming: full on claustrophobia-level panic. When I’m already feeling raw, tired, and uneven, it gets especially bad. The other night, I saw the word “slurp” on a food container, and I had to stop looking at it. I actually had to throw it away. Just the word was bringing a really serious sense of panic. Even typing it now is, too, actually. Still, even though I understand what is happening way better now than I used to, in the moment, sometimes I still wonder if I’m losing my mind, or if I already have. There was a web commercial for chewing gum which featured people smacking and chewing gum incredibly loudly. I almost knocked my computer over the first time it came up, and it kept coming up on a web series I was watching. I had to mute the audio every time. I actually wrote a letter to the company and directed them to this site. The worst thing is trying to get people to understand that they are the source of the sound, but it isn’t them that’s causing it. It’s hard to rationally slow down and explain what is happening when the thing grips you. It requires understanding people, and learning techniques to avoid losing control, and a prepared few things you can do to explain. Still, we live in a world where some people think medically proven and studied concepts like depression are made up, so explaining misophonia has a pretty low chance of helping them understand that you’re not just a rude, overly sensitive person. That’s why it is so important to try to understand misophonia. We need to be able to explain it clearly so that people will not just have a better grip on our reactions, but will understand that this is an issue with a growing body of research. I feel very compelled to help people know and understand misophonia. Thank goodness for this site. Reply • Mary on February 5, 2016 at 4:37 pm (Edit) Two days ago by accident I discovered that the torment I’ve had with sounds is actually a neurological disorder and I’m not alone! What an eye opener! Since age 9 as far as I can recall the sound of loud (piggish in my opinion) chewing, slurping, gum chewing, crinkling and repetitive sounds have disturbed me beyond belief. Not sure if this was a trigger at age 9 but that’s when my mother remarried a man who was abusive to my brother and me. He sounded worse than any pig could when he ate. It was so bad that I wound up eating all my meals alone unless I was with my grandparents where I spent all my summers. I was an undernourished skinny kid to make it worse. I actually got sent to boarding school through high school because life at “home” was so bad. Oh not a fancy prep school, but an I don’t know what to do with this kid school. Regardless of that my ultra sensitivity to those sounds continued. I always thought basically I’m a calm, strong person but those sounds make me postal. Every nerve in my body becomes irritated, I feel nauseous and want to either run or throw something at the source of the sound. Repetitive commercials on tv or songs repeated over and over also drive me insane. At this point in my life I’m married to a wonderful caring man. However….I have for the past 25 years tolerated his constant plate tapping, scraping food together. When I’ve brought it up in the past he became angry. Finally, I have let him realize how painfully disturbing this is and I have no control over that. He is trying very hard now to break that habit. I can’t control other situations but I will continue to suppress my pain as I have all my life. Makes me squirm but I do. Thank you all so very much for sharing! I’m not crazy! Reply • Keith on February 10, 2016 at 8:35 am (Edit) I have been dealing with this since I was a teen and just thought I was simply overly sensitive and as a Physical Therapist, explained it to myself as being a Sensory Integration issue, however, I have never been able to gain control over it. I shared the information from this website with my wife, but she still just shrugs it off and thinks I need to deal with it. Even though she knows my triggers, she doesn’t avoid them and gets upset when I get angry and ask her to stop… I am now having more issues at work, sharing an office with people who eat quite loudly (what ever happened to manners?). I don’t know if there are any psychologists who specialize in treating this, but I will begin my search now that I know it is an actual condition. If anyone knows of someone in the Massachusetts area (South of Boston), I would greatly appreciate any leads. Happy to have a place to get things off my chest… Reply • Jesse on March 18, 2016 at 12:16 am (Edit) Keith, I feel your pain when you talk about your wife just dismissing it as something that just doesn’t seem to matter. My wife also will not avoid my triggers. I spend alot of time trying to make up for times my triggers get the best of me… It’s a daily occurrence. I am a veteran with PTSD and my doctor just recently started me on a stimulant trial. It has helped with my overall mood, and with that I believe has helped me with my problem (slightly).. Good luck Reply • Maria on February 17, 2016 at 8:30 pm (Edit) When this site stated to go to the bottom to make a comment, I didn’t realize there were so many comments by so many people with the same affliction. I’ve suffered from super sensitivity to many sounds after my accident 31 yrs. ago. It was at the time I was have neurological testing done that i becamw aware certain sounds annoyed me. Now 31 yrs later I go crazy with my husbands foot shuffling nose noises, eating noises, mumbling, chewing, dogs barking, cats meowing, neighbors revving engines , vehicles idling especially diesel engines,and the list goes on. When my husband shuffles his feet I picture myself stomping on his feet and I leave the room in a state of panic. I’m not happy that I’m not alone since I feel for all of you that have it as well, but I never realized there were so many of us. It does settle me a little knowing I’m not alone and that I’m not crazy. Reply • Lola on February 19, 2016 at 6:36 pm (Edit) Thank GOD I found this because I’ve thought I was crazy since I was eight years old and I refused to have dinner with my sister because the way she chewed aggravated me to the point where my toes curled and i wanted to strangle her with a spoon. Now here I am seven years later and ANYONE who bites their nails or breathes too loudly goes on my hit list almost immediately. Chewing is only bad when it’s from people who I spend a lot of time with. Also has anyone noticed that the person who triggers you is someone who you have either gone through a bad event with or has done something mentally effective to you? For example/ my dads chewing only started angering me when I knew he was having an affair and then because I felt so bad for keeping it from my mum and being around her was so difficult I got most angry when she breathed loudly. I really hope they find something to fix this, whatever it is. My friends are so unsupportive because they either laugh and do it more or they say yeah well the way you eat grosses me out. All I want to do is yell at them and say YEAH BUT DOES THE WAY I EAT MAKE YOU WANT TO KILL YOURSELF? They just don’t understand Reply • Kari Ann on February 23, 2016 at 9:08 pm (Edit) I’ve read through almost every comment here, and could darn near copy and paste them for myself. The chewing, animals cleaning themselves, bass from a radio. I can’t go to concerts anymore. I had a full blown panic attack at the last one and only had my 13 year old son with me. But here’s something I haven’t seen yet and wondering if there is anyone else out there who even has trouble with their own chewing? I have to chew as softly and quietly as possible so I don’t make myself sick. Eating without radio or television isn’t an option really. Restaurants aren’t too bad, depending on how much ambient noise there is. I googled this all just yesterday, thinking there had to be other people who get teeth clenching mad like I do. When I told my mom about today I started uncontollably crying, so glad to finally have a name to put to this condition. I do believe mine is aggravated by stress and will be looking to reduce the stress in my life. Or finding some outlets for it. Reply • Kiki on February 25, 2016 at 7:44 pm (Edit) I have suffered with this condition for as long as I remember. I was so relieved to find out that it is real and that I am not crazy. My whole life I have tried to tune out the triggers, not realizing that not only did it not work, but my list of triggers has grown like a cancer. I have some triggers that are instantaneous- others that kick in the 2nd or 3rd time hearing them. I get so angered I literally feel my blood boil. At home, I lash out and get very snappish in my conversation. (not that this has provided me any relief, it hasn’t) But at work or in social situations I have to hold those feelings in – the result- it feeds my anxiety and I feel almost panicky. I want to choke the person annoying me- but I know if I lash out at work,I will be in big trouble. I do not want to lash out at all. This has become such a daily thing that I do not even know what life would be like without misophonia. I finally had to tell my employer and she looked at me like I was insane, as if I made this up. I try my best to remove myself from a situation before a trigger hits. For example when my husband grabs a bag of doritos- I announce that I am going upstairs. The crunching is not bad enough, he crinkles the bag and he makes the most annoying salivating noise you can imagine. I often eat in the living room (which is connected to the dining room) so I can distance myself from the noise, sometimes also needing to blast the tv set to override the sounds. But how do you avoid them in the workplace? Not completely- I do my best to avoid the eating part, but I share an office with someone who loves to crunch on cereal AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, tap her fingernails, shuffle papers, and has to dictate out loud to herself what she is typing. OMG I literally want to jump off of a bridge. Then you add the loudness of everyone talking- and the multiple conversations- I just cannot take it. I know I have given people that completely annoyed and disgusted look- of course you get the reputation for being ‘a bitch”or ‘mean’ No one understands- the general consensus I get is “Oh just ignore it” or “seriously? THAT bothers you” IF ONLY it could be that simple I am glad I found a place where people UNDERSTAND and knowing that I am not alone Reply • Melissa on February 28, 2016 at 6:20 pm (Edit) Omg, I think that our husband’s are kindred spirits! Mine eats incredibly crunchy snacks out of really noisy bags, and then chases it with huge, noisy gulps of soda/iced tea, that I can hear all the way down his esophagus . Even covering my ears doesn’t hide the sound . I have to fight incredibly hard to not lash out at him, because I’m the one with the problem . I love him, but misophonia has strained what is an otherwise great marriage . I feel so terrible about it , but can’t help it either . Can’t win either way…. Reply • Sarah Robinson on February 25, 2016 at 11:50 pm (Edit) Eating doesn’t really bother me. But everything else on this list makes me so crazy I lash out in a fight ready to destroy.I cuss out the neighbors for thumping bass. I cringe and get angry at annoying whistlers at work and every where igo. I hide from society and people alot of the time. I am a prisoner living or am I? I hear everything cars driving by ambulances power tools shadows fuck w me too.I yell at my dog for licking her feet.I drink almost every night to drown out the sounds.sometimes they r worse due to stress n environment. Have u ever wished u were deaf? I do.what a terrible selfish wish to someone who is.I’ve thought about injuring myself so I couldn’t or didn’t have to hear anymore.I am miserable can’t sleep and wear head phones most of the time to hear my own music. Reply • Tamm on February 26, 2016 at 9:45 am (Edit) This is so weird. I always thought that my hatred of the sound stemmed from the source. For example; I absolutely can not go to the movie theater. All that breathing sounds like the people in the theater are possessed ! I can hear them breathing down my neck in the dark … I just want to scream until it stops! I tried five years ago … no good. No good at all. I can’t stand being around other people in elevators, theaters, back of the bus. The noises they make drive me up a wall. A wet cough makes me gag, heavy breathing makes me want to smother them to death. if the breather is between me and the exit…Its so, so much worse. I feel like its a “me or them” situation. Biut I’m okay with my family. My mom chews with her mouth open. She eats like a pig at a trough actually. Absolutely no self awareness or manners that woman! It doesn’t bother me as much as a strange person and the noise they make. Confined public spaces are the worst things ever! Reply • Tracy Chabala on February 27, 2016 at 7:20 pm (Edit) I definitely have this, and would never have known if I hadn’t asked a friend–who I didn’t realize had miso–if she would mind if I ate tortilla chips. That’s how I found out it exists, and we’ve been able to vent. Mouth sounds are not, however, my worst triggers. Not by a longshot. They were worse when I was a kid and my sister smacked when she ate, that did lead to fights. Today, sounds like high-heeled shoes, crinkling wrappers, crinkling paper bags, spoons banging on bowls, or any kind of clashing dish sound, scooting chairs, UGH, BIRDS, thumping and bumping and noise from the neighbors, any kind of noise, it all makes me unhinged. When all is silent, then it gets super bad because I can really HEAR the noises. In this case, the mouth sounds will definitely be more of a problem. My boyfriend’s chewing, ugh. I am in Spain for work and rented out an airbnb for a month. The noise got SO bad I actually booked a hotel to get rid of it. Of course, the second I got to the hotel a pack of some 100 screaming children showed up, leading me to believe I’m cursed. I hear these children, as I heard the foot stomping and door slamming at the apartment, and it’s like NO ONE ELSE CARES! they were making so much noise, yet I was the first to complain. (Let’s face it, a swanked out hotel is not a playground) Thankfully, the guy at the desk understood and shushed them. Until then, I was ready to go to the pharmacy and get Ativan or something for the insane anxiety and anger. Once they were quiet? Sanity returned. It really isn’t easy to live this way. I recommend learning how to say “You’re too loud” or “Please keep it down” or whatever in several languages. Reply • Melissa on February 28, 2016 at 6:07 pm (Edit) The God d@#%ed Kit Kat commercial makes me insane!!! I actually have to keep the remote in my hand during commercials just in case that commercial comes on. It makes me crazy. I constantly wrestle with guilt for making my husband feel awful for chewing and swallowing loudly (huge gulps of a drink drive me bonkers, as do huge, noisy, wet-sounding yawns/breaths), as it’s not ever his fault. I choose to “go to the bathroom”, or “let the dogs out” a lot, because I feel horrible for saying anything, and when I cover my ear(s), he seems self-conscious. It’s my problem, but it affects everyone that I live with. I feel like a horrible person when my family eats extra quietly, or alters their behavior because of me. Trying to balance my needs for quiet body sounds with how badly that I make others feel is a daily emotional battle, and I just wish that I could fix it….yesterday. Reply • Emily on March 6, 2016 at 4:29 am (Edit) Oh wow, like so many other commentators, I just discovered this was a legitimate thing! I’m 21 years old and have been dealing with this for practically as long as I can remember, and I think may have been inherited from my mom, who physically can’t stand crunching ice (which doesn’t bother me at all weirdly). My triggers have changed over time to different sounds, people, and degrees of disgust or anger. I consistently can not stand wet chewing sounds, my reactions have varied from internal rage, snapping, avoidance, sheer panic, and on one memorable occasion running away from the dinner table and dry heaving outside on the lawn. Others come and go or are specific to specific people who are close to me, like when my best friend talks to herself while doing homework I have to physically leave the room and turn up my music because I get so intensely angry. As I’ve gotten older and realized that most people don’t realize how they sound to me and probably can’t help it, I mostly just internally rage and feel disgust and try to distract myself with thoughts/turn my head/tap something/humm or start talking. It makes me feel (and probably look) insane, and I just can’t stand it. I think my boyfriend is starting to become a trigger when he eats (it always seems stronger with people I’m closer with) and I don’t know if I should talk to him about it or if I would sound crazy. But just knowing so many more people experience this too feels like a relief! Reply • Sue on March 6, 2016 at 8:58 pm (Edit) I just read about this tonight and realize I too have a problem with certain folks clearing their throat and rooms full of people talking over each other. I feel better knowing I am not alone. Reply • Donna on March 8, 2016 at 11:31 am (Edit) I think I have suffered to a minor extent for years, I remember starting my first office job and wanting to physically escape the area when a woman I worked with (who had long nails) was typing as the clicking/clacking noise made me furious. Over the last few years I haven’t noticed it very much, I think mostly because I sat on a desk to myself, I lived alone etc so there were very few triggers. I started a new job last August and am now sat in a row of 5 desks with 3 other people. Every lunchtime I get so angry that I have to walk away. I have tried to keep myself calm so that no one notices but it is getting harder to do this. I physically cringe when the guy sitting next to me eats his sandwiches or pasta, I actually can’t concentrate on anything when he is eating an apple or crisps. I am slightly better with the man on the other side of me except for the fact he eats two pots of nuts a day which grates on my nerves so much, he is also slightly stubbly and occasionally rubs his face. The sound of it is so very irritating. I am really unsure of what to do for the best, I can’t move further away as we are a team, I couldn’t even sit on the end of the row as both seats are taken. I worry that one day I am going to snap at one of them and not be able to explain myself. Overall, it isn’t as bad as it could be, I take myself away and make my own lunch when they start eating, I don’t tend to get too annoyed most other times in the day. They are definitely my major triggers. I just hate being so angry all the time! Reply • Teresa on March 16, 2016 at 3:22 pm (Edit) I knew I suffered from ‘something’ back in the late 70s/early 80s but there was nothing like the internet to find out anything about my symptoms. My family just thought I was more of an annoyance than usual. Really, truly, honestly…this has affected me in all aspects of my life, personal and professional. I can’t stand it that people chomp gum or food in many workplaces including those when I am a patron and not a work associate. It’s not professional nor is it mannerly. Drives me to insanity. I am in my mid 50s now and think hypnosis is the only cure but then, I’m not one that is hypnotizable. What can I do? Any ideas other than those listed…I’ve tried them all without going in to full psychosis. LOL. Reply • Sharon on March 17, 2016 at 8:21 am (Edit) I’m embarrassed that I didn’t share this earlier. I had misophonia really bad, my audiologist said it was the worst she has ever seen. I went through hell for over 3 years. I had to wear headphones listening to music every where I went. So we quit going to do fun things. It’s kind of hard talking to anybody when your out to eat with headphones on. I wear headphones to work because people talking when I’m not in the conversation, drives me nuts. Church was the worst place to go for me. I absolutely love Jesus and I love praising him. I had to wear headphones during all of the quiet times, so I didn’t hear half of what I was supposed to. Singing without my headphones on was ok unless somebody was clapping out of beat and then I had to put them back on. I also had the visual triggers also. Feet kicking, mothers swaying with their babies, people playing with there hair and people chewing drove me nuts. I made special glasses that would block my peripheral vision, sometimes I wore the little tanning glasses under the other glasses. People must have thought that I was nuts. I am happy to say that I am much better and I owe it all to God. I ran out of one of my prescriptions for something else and I noticed that the misophonia wasn’t as bad. God made me run out of the prescription. I had a ton of people praying for me, so have your friends and loved ones pray for your healing. I still wear headphones a work because of all of the talking but most other places I do not. I still carry the headphones but haven’t used them for a while. I pray for whoever is reading this, God is the only treatment. Reply • Jesse on March 17, 2016 at 11:59 pm (Edit) This has been a condition I have been suffering from since around the age of 5 or six. It started with me becoming infuriated with my older sister when she would sing, and the main sound that would drive me insane is the “s” “ch”, “k”, “g”… My irritation with the sounds my Mother and sister have made has been a huge problem for me my entire life. Sadly, it has bled into my marriage, and now I have similar problems with my wifes voice, and now my oldest daughter… At times I have felt like a terrible human being even though I have very close relationships with each of these people. Last, but not least is my Father.. He tends to have a deeper voice that will carry through walls (and pillows, and ear plugs, and headphones) I would literally toss and turn and become extremely angry just by listening to my fathers voice.. I have sometimes felt like I am just a terrible person and something is just completely out of wack with my ears or brain. So many times I have gotten into arguments, felt resentful, and avoided family functions, close quarters with them, conversations (in person or telephone). At 33 years old, I have yet to experience any relief from this monster of a problem that has followed me since I was a toddler. I have sometimes knowingly and unknowingly repeated the sound that triggers me while the person is right in front of me. The strangest part is that I really haven’t had any problems with any other sounds, or with anyone that isn’t related to me. That’s why I’m somewhat convinced it is mostly a mental problem, otherwise I would think that people outside of my family would have the same effect. I did have tubes put in my ear as an infant, but I doubt that would have anything to do with the way my brain processes the sounds of my families voices that have drove me insane for so many years.. I carry a ton of guilt for not having conversations and sometimes rudely leaving the room when I feel the rage start to build. I am open to trying anything to try to improve my condition. Also, I was absolutely shocked and amazed that their are other people besides me dealing with similar problems. However, I dont see too many folks at all with my triggers, if any. Hope we can all find a cure (relief) and I’m extremely happy that awareness is building of this terrible syndrome that is as real as real can be. Reply • Ashley on March 18, 2016 at 9:20 am (Edit) Mom: You’re lying Dad: (Chews even louder) Sister #1: You’re overexaggerating Sister #2: She has to make everything about her. Brother: Huh? Counselor: (Gives me the crazy eye) Yup…i have so much supporters Reply • Thomas DeVries on March 21, 2016 at 11:37 am (Edit) misophonia, i think, can ruin good relationships, but can also stem from bad ones. people can be evil and manipulative and when you have a weakness like this…for me it’s coughing…then these people will use it to their advantage they will cough to hammer their nail into your head…in the way you press a clicker to train a dog. they will cough so you will leave the room… they will cough, smack, crinkle a bottle, whatever sound they know triggers you just so they can feel on top earlier in life i have been diagnosed with paranoid schizoaffectiveness…. so I think that plays a great part in my analysis of the cough, the implication of particular intent behind it i think it’s important to note….misophonia is a real disorder of your perception of reality…but reality can still bear malice and ill intent. work on yourself but mind who you include in your day-to-day life Reply • Emily on March 23, 2016 at 6:57 pm (Edit) I’m 30 years old, and I’m pretty sure this has been an issue for me most of my life, though I’ve only recently tried to figure out exactly what’s going on. The weird thing is that I’m a musician, with a bachelor’s in music composition and a master’s in music theory, yet music seems to be one of my triggers. It’s paradoxically something that I need in my life (I feel incomplete without at least being a part of one choir and am currently a part of two), but I also have to limit the presence of music on a day-to-day basis. For example, I don’t have any music on right now, and never listen to music at all when I’m on the computer or working on something. Music is never “background” for me. It’s like I’m compelled to pay attention to it. Certain kinds of music (atonal or tonally complex music included) are more wearing for me to listen to, but the sustained presence of any type of music, even music I like, grates on me after a while. I think the worst is music from multiple sound sources. Like sometimes in the mall, you’ll have two different things playing in the different stores and in the halls, and sometimes two different things playing IN THE SAME STORE. Idk how many people even notice that, but I do. And some times I end up on the threshold where you can hear both simultaneously and it’s a special kind of torture. As a grad student, it has sometimes interfered with my studies. I started grad school as a composition major, and we were required to do a lot of listening as part of our grade for composition lessons. I had a terrible time with this and could not figure out why. Of course complicating matters was the fact that I was in a terrible roommate situation in which my roommate consistently had the TV on in her room well into the night loud enough that I could hear it in my own room (on the other side of the apartment). I would fall asleep listening to calming music (my go-to was Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians bc it was calming and also stayed at a consistent volume level throughout so there weren’t pauses and soft parts where the TV noises bled through), but that itself became added to my sound-weariness and I just had no energy left for the listening I had to do for school. I’m sad to say I haven’t listened to Music for 18 for years now because of the associations I’ve developed with it. Anyway, I switched to music theory, moved to a studio apartment by myself, and managed to finish my degree. I’m still learning to navigate my complicated relationship with music, and knowing there’s a name for this really helps a lot. Music isn’t the only trigger. I found I related a lot reading other people’s issues with chewing/mouth noises. Another one for me is angry or manic sounding speech, or people talking over each other. I often find the need to remove myself from situations where conversation gets too heated. I thought it was just normal conflict aversion, but I think it’s also specifically sound-related. Anyway, always good to know I’m not alone. Reply • Gab on March 24, 2016 at 12:14 am (Edit) High School is the frigging worst. I’m stuck in a building where the majority of everyone chews gum. In most of my classes I blast my music when we have individual working periods but not all classes allow it. So I have to deal with incessant chewing for 75 minutes straight and it drives me up the fucking wall. Sometimes spend most of my time with my hands over my ears just in an attempt to drown out the sound as much as possible. I’m waaayyyy too shy to say anything about it so all I end up doing is repeatedly stare at them and wonder how they can’t get a fucking clue. Reply • dave eddy on March 24, 2016 at 1:34 pm (Edit) mine is so bad i dont even like to listen to myself eating, I always make sure i have background noise, i definitely notice it is worse when it is family members doing the things that trigger my reaction, constant repetitive unneccessary noise drives me insane to the point where i think i could physicaaly harm the person responsible i.e tapping fingers or legs for no reason chewing nails, heavy breathing, lip smacking while eating is the one i hate the most i am currently living next door to a family thats kid constantly bangs its cot against or adjoining wall and it annoys me so much i feel like putting a sledgehammer through the wall, anyway thats my rant good to hear im not the only one suffering in silence(i wish) glad to get that off my chest to people who understand my predicament Reply • Maia on March 30, 2016 at 1:13 am (Edit) Oh my gosh. After 54 years of thinking I was a nutcase I’m finally vindicated! I’m so sorry there are other sufferers but I’m so glad to not be alone. Gum snapping, pen clicking are two…but there are many others. I sleep with earplugs so my cat bathing herself on my bed doesn’t send me into a midnight rage. It’s so hard to deal with this in the workplace…from gum smackers to pen clickers to whistlers, explaining politely and professionally that their seemingly innocent behavior is making me think homicidal thoughts is difficult! I hope that now this syndrome/disease is getting the light of day, real studies will be conducted (sign me up!) and science will pay attention. Until then, earplugs go with me everywhere. Reply • Nina on April 5, 2016 at 4:35 pm (Edit) When I found this website, I felt like I’d fallen into an imaginary land where everyone is…like me. And THERE’S A WORD FOR US. I’ve always thought my extreme recoiling disgust at the sound of someone eating was a personal quirk, and my sensitivity to sound was just part of being an eccentric pain in the ass. In grad school, I had an entire locked room to myself in the library in which to work, and I wore earplugs every single day to eliminate the sound of someone moving a piece of paper at a carrel outside the locked door. Hearing my own husband eat an orange is so distressing the entire inside of my skull just flames out. I agree with the poster above that I sometimes feel violent when I hear someone opening the wrapping on a protein bar and then eating it. I forget every day that for most people, eating a snack in public is normal behavior: to me, it’s as disgusting as spitting on the floor in front of me. Worse than spitting. If our neighbors make noise, I instantly tailspin into a panic, “This will go on for the rest of my life! I’ll never know a quiet moment again!” And OTHER PEOPLE ARE THE SAME WAY. My mother tells me that although I was generally a very placid and well-behaved child, the only times I ever fretted or cried in public or at someone’s home was in the presence of noise like a running vacuum or a blender or outdoor construction. If you’re not aware of your own history of recoiling at noises, maybe asking your parents about your response to running the vacuum, etc, could be interesting. I second Dave Eddy’s conclusion above: it does feel good to get this off my chest to people who know how truly tormenting and horrible it is to listen to another person eat a salad. Reply • Michelle on April 6, 2016 at 9:55 am (Edit) oh my gosh I totally understand where all of you are coming from, I had a brain tumor surgery and radiation 11 yrs ago and ever since then sounds annoy me to the point that I get so angry and I want to cry, or just slap someone. there are so many triggers for me, like someone licking an ice cream cone, or guzzling water, burping, farting, eating their food like a pig, and I will have to say the worst is nasal breathing. Its so frustrating I get so mad and I do tell people to stop or recognize what they are doing and I try to explain to them that I have a noise disorder and they just look at me like I have lost my mind. Reply • Samuel on April 6, 2016 at 3:37 pm (Edit) I am 53 and mine has gotten worse and often I swear people just make more noise that irritates me simply to irritate me. I live in an apartment building and this guy on the second floor has two dogs that constantly bark and the front door is constantly slammed closed. There is a barking law in my town and also in the lease it says rules about not making loud noises to bother your neighbors. So I make two complaints in writing and nothing was done about it. I called the dog officer and the people who work in the rental office told him it must be a racial thing because no one else has complained. I am white and the guy is Puerto Rican which by the way so are some of my friends and I am anything but a racist person. The bottom line is that they do not enforce the rules upon their friends. I am obviously not one of their friends. So the dog officer says call the cops and they do not come when it is something like dogs barking. It seems when you have this condition the only who cares about it is the one going through it. No one I have ever talked to about it has ever heard of it. I heard of it on tv. At least now I know I am not going crazy like I thought I was. So it is usually noise that is repetitive such as dogs barking, car horns, car alarms, certain tones of peoples voices, people who eat like pigs and make way too much noise. I cannot stand the sound of people snapping their gum. Base cannons that people have in their cars drive me nuts. The sound of doors or cabinets slamming shut are over powering. High pitched sounds actually hurt my ears and I swear I can hear them better than dogs can. I get so frustrated when any of these things occur and it seems the more people you tell about it the more noise they tend to make. I often wish I could live in a cave. I often say I don’t like people. It isn’t that really it is I do not like loud people. I call it unnecessary noise. I wish there was a cure for this or that every loud person would move to the city. Reply • Hannah on April 7, 2016 at 10:10 pm (Edit) Hello! My name is Hannah, and have been suffering from misophonia since I’ve been young girl. It all started when my older sister and her friend found out that a certain noise could drive me me to close tears (That was their tactic to keep me away from them, I was about 8 or 9 at the time) I eventually moved on with my life not worried about anything. It wasn’t until Middle school, that I began to grow even more irritable. It would constantly snap at people to stop chewing their gum so loud or even sniffling. I really hated asking people to stop doing something since it wasn’t their fault I was so irritated, sometimes I would go as far as hurting myself (Such as digging my nails into palms, or snapping myself on the wrist with a hairband) to avoid asking them to stop. Then I found out about misophonia and everything clicked. I knew why I was constantly angry about these noises. I had a moment of clarity, and since then I have been working out ways to get through life with misophonia. At the moment I am a 15 years old and it simply keeps getting worse as I get older. The things that I have noticed when I hear a trigger: -It happens most often when I am tired or in a bad mood -Friends and Family have the most triggers -The only way for me to calm down after having a fit is to isolate myself and just sit in pure silence -Strangely enough it seems to also get worse when I start my period My parents and family aren’t very supportive of me. My mom constantly yells at me to stop plugging my ears (I do it unintentionally, much like a little kid when they hear something they don’t like) I dread the times when I have to eat dinner with my family at the table. They simply tell me to “Get over it” or “You’ll be fine” On some occasions I have emotional break downs where I just cry all my frustrations out. It’s incredibly hard to cope with something so tremendous alone. I’ve struggled all my life because of it, and the people in my life who don’t experience this just don’t understand how much of a burden it truly is. But, I’m not giving up hope, and if you’re reading this, you shouldn’t either. Yes, it may be hard, and yes sometimes I just want to run away from all my troubles. But hopefully someday, there will be some way to cure it (Or at least prevent it), and us misophoniacs will get to live happily with all those noisy eaters out there Reply • Noshik on April 10, 2016 at 1:14 am (Edit) I wish it was easier or I could wear earplugs but I get irritated with people at restaurants some people eating and slurping it’s like screaming in my ear or like someone just ran their fingernails on a chalk board or something. It’s so difficult even when I’m at home and family friends come over I try eating as fast as possible just to get out of the room so I don’t have to hear the sounds of their chewing it’s like I get angry and wanna go hide and cry by myself. It’s so difficult sometimes. I really wish there was something I could do but unfortunately I can’t. Reply • Leah on April 10, 2016 at 7:42 pm (Edit) I have this to the extreme concentrated solely on my mother. Every time she sighs, swallows water or saliva, drinks water with ice in it, or just plain breathes, I am driven crazy and I need to leave the room otherwise I’m extremely rude to her. The absolute worst is when she gets a glass of crushed ice and water and drinks it, which is a habit of hers. Even if I hear it from a different room I experience intense anger. It makes me so crazy that whenever I hear ice in ANY glass I get these angry emotions. It is TERRIBLE. Reply • Ciera on April 18, 2016 at 9:09 am (Edit) My family think I’m overreacting and making it up when I stick my fingers in my ears to avoid that HORRIBLE cutlery-scraping-on-plate noise. Sometimes it feels like they’re doing it on purpose; sometimes they actually do it on purpose then sit there laughing at my physical repulsion to this racket! I’ve even gotten up with my dinner and left the table to eat away from the noise. I’m not immune to it coming from me either- I had a copper-bottomed pan that scraped on the hob cover when I put it down and the noise honestly went right through me. Scientists are seriously considering growing things on the moon- how come they haven’t invented scrape-proof plates yet? Reply • Andrew on May 2, 2016 at 9:08 pm (Edit) MY dad chews like a horse. He clamps his teeth down on the fork and then slides the fork out and there is this teeth-on-fork sounds that makes me want to rip out my eyes, and then jump out the window. Anyone close to me (both personally, and/or physically) who eat while I am not eating, or is doing something with their mouth makes me crazy. The scraping of knives on plates is the worst. I can’t stand it. Thanks for setting up a place for people to vent. Reply • Ashley on May 19, 2016 at 7:33 pm (Edit) What a relief to know that I’m not the only one!!! this is awful especially having two kids. Their voices and eating can sent me over the edge. It’s horrible because I love my kids to death but the sounds they make, make me literally go crazy. My breathing is uneven, I feel my blood pressure rising, I start sweating. I can’t take it and I lose it. Their feelings are hurt and dinner time is ruined. Definitely makes you feel like a wacko. I like to think I’m pretty patient but when it comes to noise, it’s all kinds of bad. Sometimes the idea of being deaf isn’t too bad…. Reply • Sam on May 23, 2016 at 11:20 am (Edit) It has only been a few months (like 5?) since I discovered I have misophonia, just knowing the name felt like a weight off my shoulders. Being able to explain to my parents, ‘hey these sounds do this to me’ made me feel like everything was going to get better from there. I had my psychiatrist explain it in detail to them and explain what it feels like on my side and for a while, maybe like a month and a half, they listened. Every time I mentioned something was bothering me they stopped. At first it was just an ‘oh sorry’ and stop, then as I asked again and again, normally about sounds I had told them about before, they got mad. Angry even. To the point where they told me to deal with the sounds because there is no cure for misophonia and I can’t just go around telling people to stop all the time. It came like a punch in the gut, for years I had suffered in silence, not really knowing what was wrong with me and all of a sudden I was forced to suffer again. Now if just normal sounds are annoying, not to the point of triggering, I can’t even say without being yelled at. School is already hard enough, most teachers don’t allow headphones in class but encourage people to bring snacks. The gum chewing, food chewing, water slurping, pen clicking sets me on edge and I don’t even get to go home to a safe place anymore. I don’t know how to explain to them how it feels to me that I cannot even have a safe place at home without enraging them more. I’m forced to be in enclosed places with my family more often then not and I’m just so frustrated Reply • Amy on May 25, 2016 at 7:54 am (Edit) This disorder makes me feel like I am going insane. Especially when people around me are not affected by what I hear. It is quite an isolating feeling really. Looking back, I have had this for quite some time- i remember at primary school I hated the way my best friend’s jaw would click when she ate lunch, and I also couldn’t stand the way she rifled through her pencil case looking for a particular pen and they would knock together. I didn’t think much of it at the time. It has definitely got worse as I have got older (I am now 33). My tolerance levels are so low. I had to leave my office today for 5 minutes as I do most days when a guy from a different department comes into my area for a meeting and he stands there clicking his pen the entire time. I just cannot handle it. People laugh and joke about my ‘problem’, but it really isn’t funny at all. I won’t list my triggers, as I know it causes people anxiety- but it is primarily clicking, tapping and mouth sounds that leave me in a murderous rage. I hate this feeling- you end up being treated like a diva and seen as high maintenance/ hysterical/ dramatic/ neurotic etc. It makes me feel very self conscious, and I really feel for all people going through it. P.S- I don’t trigger myself, it is only others. Also, I feel disgust at people’s noises and want to destroy whatever it is offending me. Any thoughts on co-morbid conditions? I have suffered with depression for 12 years and wondered if it may be linked. Any thoughts on the psychology of this condition?- could it be to do with not being able to control the sounds people/things make? just a thought. Reply • Gwen on May 27, 2016 at 12:44 am (Edit) I am at a 6 and 7 but sometimes I am at a literal nine. In class people won’t stop sniffling, coughing, chewing their gum with their mouth wide open. At a small friend group party is the worst. one time they had a chip bowl and one of my friends brought it to the game room and I advised her not to. crunch. Crunch. Flipping stupid crunch. I ended up pouring the bowl, stomping on the pile of chips, running upstairs, and crying in the bathroom. One of my other ones that makes me talk under my breath is when someone is driving and they put their hand up to rest their chin on, scratch their face, or do anything that I can see like that, but my main one is chewing. Mouth closed. Mouth open. Silent. Noisy. I can not stand it!! Who else has it like me? Every day is a challenge. I used to go to a therapist for it and we had these things called “tools” and now I can’t stand the word tools because people who don’t have misophonia tell me to use them. They don’t know how hard it is to keep a scream to a grunt. You tell me to use my tools? I already used my crane and bulldozer. I put up a fortress with my bare hands. Yah, sure, I’ll use my tools. Reply • A on May 29, 2016 at 6:33 pm (Edit) I can’t pinpoint when it started or why but it came along with a lot of other problems like obsessive compulsions, intrusive thoughts and my hair falling out. It’s usually triggered by a few main noises; the sound of someone eating, someone talking whilst eating, the rustle of food packets and then after those basically any sound that is somewhat repetitive is repulsive to me from the tapping sound phones make when you use the keypad to breathing or the drip of a tap. I feel a complete surge of anger and pain and it makes me quite breathless and frustrated, most of the time I just cry and I’ve told my parents but they don’t quite seem to grasp the problem. I’m quite a conscious person in general and so even telling my parents was difficult because I didn’t want the attention or the hassle of the problem. My mum would realise she was chewing too loud and would spit her food out in front of me and it would make it much worse. I felt bad for no reason because of the sound and then it was combined with being annoyed by myself for being such a problem. It’s so difficult when people don’t understand. I usually have to blast music through earphones causing headaches but they’re much easier to deal with than the unbearable emotions misophonia brings. I developed twitches at a really bad point and any time the problems flared up I would begin to twitch, badly. It really impairs my life especially when I am at home studying and it’s so hard to focus when any sound bothers you or distracts you. I just wish someone would tell me how to cope. Reply • Elizabeth on May 31, 2016 at 7:43 pm (Edit) According to the self test I am at a solid 10 for the vast majority of my triggers. And I do not use the term ‘vast’ ‘lightly. I would say that I cant even list all my triggers but I can. Every single flipping one. And in a google doc sheet font 11 Arial, it comes to three pages with no repeats. By far the worst noises that I have ever been subjected to originate from my mother and my brother. I cant so much as be within 30 feet of either of them if they are eating or have eaten in the last hour or so. Even so I can hear my mother chewing when I am clear across the house. I never learned how to deal with the triggers and I regularly draw blood on accident when one or more of the sounds comes up. I figured out there was something severely wrong with me when I was about 6 and I HATED the sound and sight of my mother rubbing her feet together. It took me years to find this site and it’s incredibly relieving to realize that I am not the only one who suffers from such horrors. Reply • Annette on June 3, 2016 at 7:47 pm (Edit) I’ve dealt with Misophonia (being “crazy”) since I was about 9, and am now 57. My noise triggers have ruined all of my relationships and forced me to live a pretty secluded life. When I saw the Misophonia story on Good Morning America a few years ago I can’t explain the emotions and sense of relief I had learning I wasn’t alone and not “crazy” because I couldn’t just ignore the noises. At first all I could do was cry, then I called my kids and my mother, who’ve had to deal with my constant nagging about their chewing, smacking their lips, texting, typing, having the TV too loud in another room as well as other triggers. My mother has been the hardest for me, I absolutely cannot stand to not only hear but see her eat, l immediately want to punch her in the throat. I am not a violent person so having that reaction has been excruciating and debilitating. I’ve spent many meals in the bathroom or busy doing something waiting for her or others to finish earing. Reading other stories with the family member piece of Misophonia was such a huge relief that it wasn’t really about how I feel about her, I love my mother and hate that I can’t stand to eat with her. A few years ago I transferred to a new office (8 transfers in 18 years) to get away from an annoying noise. My new office had no sound proofing between offices and I just happened to end up between a major “gum popper” (the worst for me) and a “hummer” so I used earplugs, a fan and my I-Pod but could still hear it. One particularly bad day I just couldn’t take it anymore and quit after 18 years as a Social Worker and have not been able to find work since, and it’s all because of the ?+#!:+$ noises and people’s inability to understand Misoponia. Reply • Annie on June 7, 2016 at 4:48 am (Edit) Iv just googled ‘y i cant stand ppl making quite noise’ and this sight came up. I didnt know it was a condition let alone a name for the condition. After reading most comments on how it normally happens with ppl who around us ALOT. well thats probably cos they r the ppl that r around u alot. It doesnt matter who they r parents, lovers,colleagues,children ect. U will notice it more as these ppl r constantly around u. I cant stand the noise my mum makes with her damn lips. Icant stand the noise my partner makes wen he eats. I cant stand the way my friend burps after every meal. 5 or 6 times. At least 5 times a day iv yelled at one these ppl for the annoying noises they make. I work with my mum so i wear earplugs wen we r in the car. I bought an 8 seater dining table and sit on the otherside of my partner. I no longer go out for dinner with my friend. This condition has affected me in so many ways. I get worried of this condion cos it makes me hate these ppl yl i love them so much. I was thinking of buying hearing aid and turn it right down wen im around my love ones. This is the only solution i can think of. Reply • Lisa on June 7, 2016 at 3:11 pm (Edit) I’ve just googled this now after my daughter got a croissant and sat right next to whilst eating it. Sometimes I think people do it to irritate you. She could have sat anywhere else in the house. I laughed until I cried after reading the comment from someone who said they could have punched their mum in the throat. I hate hearing people eating but also for me its the fast, violent eating & when people put loads in their mouth. It irritates me if I think they’re being greedy. I wonder if things happened when I was very young which I can’t remember. I also think its the lack of control maybe from childhood when we are forced to all sit together and listen to each other eating (which person, who I could slap, invented the phrase “families who eat together stay together”? Maybe they knew its not natural for us all to sit together eating. I have an early memory of a grandparent sleeping over in my room (as it was the biggest). We were in separate beds and she snored but I was powerless to stop it. I remember sitting outside the room crying with frustration. I felt so out of control and tired. I get really irritated with my hubbies texting and he fiddles with the press studs on his overalls. I literally have to leave the room. The feeling just overwhelms me of rage. I’m also an introvert and I’m sure its linked to personality type. Has anyone had any counselling for this, cause I’m doing a counselling course and I’m sure its linked to lack of control/food issues in early life. Reply • Meagan on June 11, 2016 at 8:24 pm (Edit) I’m so glad I could that this is a real thing. I always thought I was crazy because of this. I’m 14 and it is so frustrating to have to explain to my friends why I can’t do sleepovers because of the snoring and breathing. My family and friends think I’m just nit picky and controlling. Thank god for this article. Reply • Madeline on June 11, 2016 at 11:18 pm (Edit) Okay I’m turning 14 soon and I’ve been experiencing this(or at least I think this is it)for as long as I can remember. My triggers are extremely varied though, which leads me to question if this is what I’m experiencing. If I hear an unknown song that repeats a lot, I start imagining it repeating forever. It sends me into this state of uncontrollable panic and fear of living with this stuck it my head forever. Lately it’s been happening a lot, and recently when I was having one of these episodes I thought “if this goes on for much more, I’m going to kill myself.” It’s really scary to think of my future when I keep having these panic attacks. It can happen with the slightest of things, like the tapping of a foot or, like I said, a repetitive song. This is the first time I’ve encountered people who have the same problem, and if you guys have any suggestions or know where to find help for this, please let me know. Reply • Camilla on June 17, 2016 at 4:40 pm (Edit) I am SO encouraged to find out that it’s not just I who struggle with this! I’ve had it since I was a teenager – my main trigger is finger-tapping (though strangely I also find one or two things like people using toothpicks elicits the same response – could that be misophonia?). I find my whole body tenses up; I feel almost ill and block my ears if I can do it without the person seeing! I love my family – we’re very close – but I dread this about being at family events! Reply • Neenee on June 18, 2016 at 11:54 pm (Edit) Finally there’s a word for this! I can’t stand hearing people chew. It’s to the point where I cannot eat until they are done eating. And I tend to catch myself watching them eat until they are done. I even piss myself off by chewing. Now that’s ridiculous… Reply • Cindy on June 22, 2016 at 8:44 am (Edit) Thanks to a friend named Tony I now have a name to go with what I thought was just me being crazy… Reading all these replies have me laughing because I’m not alone…wow!!! I too have a co-worker who sniffs and me makes me crazy, I’ve been tempted to give her a box of Kleenex. I have one who cracks gum all day and by days end I’m ready to scream. Teeth sucking, pens clicking, nails being trimmed….click, click, click, constant clearing of the throat, dog licking, whistling, humming and softly singing at the desk are just some of what drives me nuts. I am so glad Tony shared his story and I find this page. Reply • Eva on June 22, 2016 at 7:57 pm (Edit) I have had this my whole life. It’s worst with hearing my mom chew and my sister gulp down drinks. I hate a loud swallowing sound EVEN when I do it. I fly into a rage that a have to work hard at to quiet. Why people say a “ahhhh” after drinking coffee repetitively in public is beyond be. Some people seem to gear up and attack each gulp like its a very physical act. I can’t stand a motorcycle racing down the street, cuz is sounds like it’s going to fly up in volume with no clear pattern. Extremely unnerving. I can’t stand little toddlers coughing (it’s a distinct noise), southern accents, the new hip hop “snare/rattle” noise seems to be in every single song since 2013, the sound of a phone on speaker in a car ringing from the callers end (I can hear that a block away with my windows shut omg). The ONLY thing that helps stop the instant rage is thinkin of a cute little muppet doing the perceived aggressions. Why would I beat the crap out of a cute goofy muppet? Only thing that works. Reply • Xen on June 23, 2016 at 8:08 pm (Edit) As it’s been stated 202 times before, I’m glad I’m not the only person who has this. My triggers are mostly the same as everyone else’s; eating, repeated tapping sounds, whistling, sniffling, and especially breathing. I don’t want to be anywhere near my mom because not only does she sniffle consistently (dry sniffling, which is somehow worse) but her breathing is always audible, and even though she knows I have an actual reason for twitching and covering my ears, she still does nothing and both my parents tell me to just get over it, which pisses me off almost more than the sounds they make. But when I hear breathing… My head twitches violently. I stiffen up, and suddenly I can’t focus my attention away from the stupid fucking noise that’s assaulting me, taunting me with the fact that I can do nothing about it in most cases. So yes, I wish that misophonia were more well known, because I feel enraged and insulted when my parents say I need to deal with it, despite the fact that my reaction has gotten worse over time. They find it rude when I cover my ears, and an overreaction when my head spasms violently enough to where I know I’d get a bruise if I hit something. They find it childish when I get sullen because someone doesn’t know how to walk and they drag their shoes with every step they take. They only make me worse. I get mad at their annoyance, and furious at their underestimating just how bad this really is. I get insulted when they think I’m being rude, and I get hopeless knowing that nothing I can do will truly make them understand. Reply • Ryan smith on June 25, 2016 at 11:21 am (Edit) I am 20 and Ever since a young age I have had issues with the sound of people eating. I believe it started when my dad used to get angry at me and my sister for eating loudly as a small child. There are times where I can relate to a level 1 and other times I relate to a level 10 and all of the inbetween, sometimes I can just block out the sound and I know it’s there, other times it is unbearable, I have punched my dad for purposely eating loudly a couple of times. I have punched myself in the face, I have pulled hair out and slapped myself in serious situations. I often have violent thoughts towards people that are eating and I mutter to myself swearing and threatening them. My sister reminded me of a time when I was younger on a car journey some other people in the car were chewing gum and I was screaming and crying because I couldn’t bare the noise. Also at infant/primary school age I was at a friends house and he was eating his breakfast incredibly loud, I started to build up and felt like I was going to explode and in the end I screamed at him to shut up and kept shouting at him. I said that the sound of him eating was making me feel sick and I started crying. My close friends know about my ‘issue’ around eating and are quite considerate, they know the signs that I’m getting angry. If I’m being snappy and agitated they know I’m upset. I recently lost my mum in November 2015 and it seems to have gotten worse, I was seeing a councillor that was going to help me but our sessions never got around to it. I’m not sure if this is me being petty but as well as noises, very very minute details really bother me and I seem to fixate on them. I have a bit of anxiety also revolved around worry I have frequent panic attacks and get overwhelmed very easily. Everyday is a test and a battle with something that sounds absolutely ridiculous but affects me so much. It affects my social life, it affects my working life and it affects my relationships. I don’t really have a way with words and I really struggle to explain to people why I’m upset and I feel ridiculous telling people. I’m happy to read that I’m not alone in this thing and I feel a tiny bit more normal now there are other people with this. Thank you Reply • Marian on June 26, 2016 at 10:42 pm (Edit) I am 56 and until now didn’t know this condition even had a name. I always thought that I was just wound tighter than most. I love dogs like crazy but never get used to their barking no matter how hard I try. I now have a cat and all she does is meow and the sound drives me insane. I have no patience to hear it incessantly so Instead of yelling at her I spray her with water. This makes me feel very guilty. I also have no patience for people smacking while eating, chewing gum while talking, eating while talking to me on the phone, sucking on hard candy, loud tv, Loud music, clicking pens, tapping pencils, children crying and screaming, people talking in the background while I’m trying to talk or listen because I can’t concentrate and loud beeps on a PA system. I also am very ticklish (but not in a good way) and cry easily. I have actually thought about seeing a psychiatrist. It’s so refreshing to know I’m not alone. Thanks everyone for sharing! Reply • Colleen Murphy on June 27, 2016 at 12:16 pm (Edit) Oh My Gosh! No, not just me. I’ve had this problem my entire life. The listening to the snuffy nose is the absolute worst! My daughter has the same problem but mostly the chewing and tapping thing. Now I work right next to a woman who snuffs her nose constantly and never blows it. I think I am close to saying something. Help! Reply • Susan Winebrenner on June 27, 2016 at 12:21 pm (Edit) OMG !- today I discovered I’m not actually CRAZY! I was getting a haircut the other day and a very old song was played from their music source. I said, very loudly, I simply cannot stand the sound of that song! Which is weird because I love many forms of music. The store’s owner IMMEDIATELY turned the sound off and told me about Misophonia, which she has!! What are the odd of someone knowing what this is as plugged my ears with my fingers. The other sounds are rattling paper, which echoes loudly in my head until it stops, loud chewing, people snorting to clear sinuses – actually makes me nauseous, shoes crunching on snow, etc etc etc. I am so very happy and relieved to have found your resource. Now when I explain that my bizarre behavior has a fancy name and is definitely not an insanity issue, our conversation can be diverted to the meaning of that deliciously complex word for which I am mightily grateful! Reply • Renee on June 28, 2016 at 9:51 pm (Edit) I had no idea this was an actual disorder, I figured it was just part of a larger psychological disorder. I am glad to know I am not alone! I know a lot of people don’t “like” chewing noises and other repetitive noises but some of these sounds send me into an absolute rage!! And I generally feel bad all of the time for being angry all of the time about something I can’t control. It’s like a very vicious cycle! I also suffer from what I call “princess and the pea” if I have a tag in my clothes or a seam that does not sit right I go absolutely bonkers! Lately both are getting worse and I find myself between raging and tears several times a day, it is just awful! Is there medication or something that can help with this?? I am just so very tired of being angry and sad all of the time! Reply • TIna on June 29, 2016 at 2:15 pm (Edit) I feel instantly angry. My personal space is invaded and I feel like raging. My chest feels tight. I feel like fleeing the situation. I just want people to SHUT UP. My inner voice is screaming between clenched teeth. Shutup, shutup, shutup, shutup, SHUTUP! SHUT UP! I hate it. HATE. Reply • Anna on June 29, 2016 at 2:33 pm (Edit) Most of the time I can calm myself especially for ones I’ve had issues with for a while such as loud eating. I can’t usually eat in the same room as my brother but I can distract myself, which has taken years to perfect, however this is only with my brother (with others I do have to leave the room and even then the sound stays with me.) My new trigger now is muffled TV’s etc. It’s strange because I could fall asleep on a train etc, with louder noises but muffled noises in the background make me very very angry and anxious. It annoyed me as a child but has got worse and worse since I started valuing sleep a lot more, now I get anxious that I won’t get enough sleep. i can however sleep with earphones but even then I can still hear the muffled sound because I’m latched on. The other one is loud sudden noises. A sudden shout that pierces through me, a loud whistle or music that has gone up a little too high for the sound system, they are usually the same pitch but they get me on edge still and I can really lash out from those especially if I am tired, or I have very little patience (worn thin). Many people do not understand, it is such a pain to live with. Reply • Casey on June 30, 2016 at 9:19 pm (Edit) Wow. I haven’t learned of this before today when I listened to an episode of “Stuff you should know podcast” (at end of vocal fry episode). I am so sorry that you all are going through this. I am also sorry that there are so many assholes who don’t take it seriously. It is apparent from your posts how horrible it is, and if someone confided in me about this, I would do everything possibly to eliminate the trigger sounds that I could produce. My thoughts and prayers are with all of you. Also wondering if there isn’t a PTSD component? Could some of these sounds be triggering very early traumatic events? I am sure it isn’t that simple. No matter what, I am thinking of all of you. Your condition is real, and if jerks deny it, they are jerks. Reply • Casey Beavers on June 30, 2016 at 9:30 pm (Edit) error to my comment…it was at the end of the “misery index” podcast…the comment was geared at the vocal fry episode Reply • Kane on July 1, 2016 at 6:30 am (Edit) Jesus I thought I was alone and had no idea it was a brain disorder. When my brother pushes his drawer in and out it pisses me off so much and if he doesn’t stop I hit him, and at school in period 4 yesterday my teacher didnt shut her door and the window kept on banging on the side and I just left the classroom!!! Reply • dani on July 2, 2016 at 5:34 am (Edit) Have this problem since childhood, the worst part is that you can’t tell people why you are so annoyed because they would think you’re insane Reply • Pattie on July 2, 2016 at 9:48 am (Edit) I didn’t know there was a name for my emotional response to some noises. For me it’s any repetitive sound. It could be music in a video game that plays over and over. Or tapping or someone saying the same thing over and over. Even my children saying “mom, mom, mom, mom….” I thought all people should find this annoying. A person speaking or dining in a mono tone is also a trigger for me. So as long as video game volumes are off and no one sings with head phones on I’m good. Lol Reply • Pattie on July 2, 2016 at 9:50 am (Edit) I meant “singing in mono tone” Reply • Paul on July 3, 2016 at 5:18 pm (Edit) I just recently went online to find out about what has been happening to me for nearly 50 years The sound of people crunching food sends me into a nearly blind rage. People that like to crunch on make me want to smash everything in sight. But there are other noises too. There are other noises I am sensitive to. People chewing with their mouths open (gum for instance). I also have visual triggers, like someone wiggling their foot for instance. I also notice that the rage can increase as the level of closeness to someone increases. (Don’t they know that bothers me for crying out loud?) but it seems almost impossible to tell someone about it. They often take it personally no matter how it is said. Even if they don’t, it puts so much responsibility onto them for not making noises or motions that bother you. It is really interesting to find there are other sufferers. I recently shared my findings with my son and daughter, and found that they suffer from it as well, although not to the same degree. And yes, I am divorced from their mom. It has ruined every relationship I have had. I wonder if it would have been different had I known that I could put a name to this condition and that I’m not the only one. I read somewhere that this condition can worsen with age, and that I have found to be true as well. I have considered exploring hypnosis to see if that could be beneficial. Has anyone tried this? Reply • Dawn on July 11, 2016 at 5:32 pm (Edit) Paul I have wiggling toe vision too. Specially when they don’t have socks on.. feel like exploding Reply • Audrey on July 6, 2016 at 3:08 pm (Edit) Just thought I’d share a couple ways I have effectively gained some level of understanding from people who can’t (really) understand what happens when I hear triggers. 1. I explain that although I don’t hear the sound any louder than they do, the effect on me is like when a sudden very loud sound blasts in their ear, except it lasts as long as I hear the sound and it doesn’t matter if the sound is actually pretty quiet or distant. 2. I relate the internal feelings to how it feels when you stub your toe. –Despair, the sense of wishing you could just leave your body, and especially RAGE, even though there’s no one to be angry at; it’s nobody’s fault but you can’t help it when you feel it. Reply • Audrey on July 6, 2016 at 3:27 pm (Edit) Like many here, I didn’t know my thing was a real ‘thing’ (with a name) until recently. And I have it pretty bad; the majority of sounds on that list are triggers for me (plus others I don’t see on there). But UNLIKE many commenters here, I cannot say my Misophonia goes back many years. Matter of fact, I would say it started only a few years ago, and I have a strong suspicion as to why. Brief background: I was suspected of having ADD as a child but was not officially diagnosed until age 39 (3 years ago). I then went on ADD meds, which really help, in fact I’d say they’ve revolutionized my life. Unfortunately, the exception to that is Misophonia. Now, you would think that trigger sounds would have harmed me more back when my ADD was going untreated, and that the meds would help eliminate sounds as distracting triggers, along with distracting thoughts. But no, it’s the opposite for me. Before the meds (yes, amphetamine type), sounds didn’t distract, alarm or enrage me; only SINCE taking them has this occurred. For the sake of avoiding too much bias, I should point out, the timeframe might only be a coincidence, and/or it’s possible that I did have trigger sounds before the meds but didn’t realize it. Maybe their strength was muffled by the overwhelming distracting power of my own disorganized thought processes. Still I think it’s worth asking: Does anyone else here take stimulants (as medicine or otherwise)? Even high caffeine consumption may be worth considering. Reply • Audrey on July 6, 2016 at 5:08 pm (Edit) Does anyone else here find that some sounds produce effects opposite of Misophonia? For me, some sounds are inexplicably soothing and energizing at the same time. Rain, trains and Wanda Sykes, lol! (The fact that she’s genuinely hilarious to me is part of it, of course, but her voice itself just jazzes my brain in ways I will never be able to explain. Reply • Sandra on July 7, 2016 at 9:30 pm (Edit) In my experience this is hereditary.My 4 sisters and I and Mother have it.It is usually worse for me when the person making the sound has been an annoyance to me or I have bad feelings for.The sound of people talking with a whistle while forming their words drive me crazy..Like our current President!Someone clipping their nails.etc.. Reply • Brad on July 10, 2016 at 10:35 am (Edit) I thought I was just an angry person every time my blood would boil because my wife was crunching chips, eatting nuts, let’s out a sigh ect or my son chews with his mouth open but maybe there’s a explanation?? It’s much more severe with my wife’s noises, most of them make me have to leave the room or eat supper on the other side of the room Reply • Christine on July 17, 2016 at 11:14 am (Edit) Omg I had no idea there was a word for it. People who I can hear chew and the ripping of clothes are my two biggest things. My brother chews insanely loud and kicks his fingers loudly. I have to leave the room when I’m around him and he eats cause all I can think about is ripping his fingers and head off. It gets so bad sometimes I will have to go outside cause the lingering sound of him chewing will still be in my ears. It’s gotten to the point that now when I look at him I can hear him chewing and I instantly want to rip his face off. The ripping of clothes or cloth material does the same thing. I feel like I’m going insane when I hear it. If I can hear myself chewing I’ll stop eating. I won’t even eat if I can hear myself chewing. My sons will chew loudly or rip a cleaning tag on purpose cause they know I don’t like it and they are just trying to play around. What they don’t understand is when I hear those sounds I feel like I literally want to kill someone… Reply • Charley on July 25, 2016 at 9:34 pm (Edit) Okay, look. I get triggered by singing, and whistling, and other random noises like tongue clicking, snapping, and my sisters will do it on purpose, except they claim to “not know what annoys me and what doesn’t” and it literally makes me want to slit one their throats, cut open their stomachs, and watch the blood pour into the other sister’s mouth until she drowns in the blood. I know it’s extreme but it drives me 10/10 legit crazy. Can someone help me with this? I’ve already tried: 1. Asking them nicely 2. Threatening them 3. Screaming at them 4. Harming them 5. Telling a random website how I feel about them 6. Making a list of things I’ve tried Yeah… Ignore the last two. Those just happened. But on a serious note, PLEASE help me… I can’t partake in family activities anymore because of it. If I’m on the same FLOOR as them I get upset. Today it literally drove me to tears. The worst part is, my parents blame it on TV and videogames. I have literally gone a day off screens and felt just as angry!!!!! Reply • Emma Johnson on September 24, 2016 at 4:16 pm (Edit) Hi Charley, My sister suffers from misophonia so this response is coming from an ‘outsiders’ experience. My sister showed my parents and I some videos and printed out information about Misophonia for us to read. It really opened our eyes about this and made us see the severity of the illness and yes actually recognise it as a medical condition! She went to see a psychologist and it really helped her cope better. I think been able to talk to someone about it and also get some advice was a huge comfort to her. She always puts louder music or the television if she is with us in the house and we try and use wooden knives and forks if we eat together as they don’t make as much noise. I hope this helps! Reply • Tina on July 26, 2016 at 2:15 am (Edit) That soft little noise he makes while eating. A cooing strange sound mixed with breathing. Like he is too damn lazy to stop eating and breath. Mixed often with that piggish sound as if he is starving to death. The grunts and groans of breathing, the pleasured sounds of the food tasting good…..drives me nuts….I want to hurt him. He only does it at home, not in public, which makes me think he does it on purpose. I have accused him of it, yet he denies it is to annoy me. YES, I eat in a different room…I hear his noise and want to hurt him and I get so angry. I thought I was normal till now, after reading the article. Reply • Natalie on July 31, 2016 at 11:06 am (Edit) Both my sister and I have this but, until now, I thought it was just some weird personality quirk. For both of us, the problem is mainly mastication. And it started with our dad (who happens to have perfect manners, in every way) at the dinner table. He didn’t smack or breath heavily – it was just the sounds of his chewing that irritated me beyond sensibility (and I knew, even as a child, that this was completely illogical and it felt unfair to him yet I couldn’t help it). After reading this article, I remembered an incident in college that I hadn’t thought about in 25 years: I was taking a final exam in a course taught by a prof whom I liked and my grade was an A. I was prepared for the exam which was an essay format. After the prof gave directions, she began to eat – an apple! I couldn’t concentrate on my work but everyone else in the room seemed totally unaffected by her slurping and chewing. I remember getting so angry and resentful that I left to use the restroom and figured she would be finished eating by the time I got back. She wasn’t. She had begun – I swear – on her large baggie full of raw carrot sticks. What I remember most vividly was the realization that I was the only one in the room who was agitated; I guess that because my sister also has this same condition, I assumed that it was more common than it is. I also remember the rage building into hatred toward this professor and feeling crazy and helpless. Reply • Donna on August 3, 2016 at 2:28 pm (Edit) This is also a trigger for me mouth sounds , popcorn at movies talking with food in mouth…rhythmic breathing, sucking noises. All triggers from childhood sexual abuse. Had no clue for years and years till my memories started to come thru. Rage. Reply • cmc346 on August 7, 2016 at 8:09 pm (Edit) I didn’t know this was an official disorder until today. Read about it on 23 and me, where I had my DNA profile done. Apparently it affects 25% of women, 19% of men surveyed. My family has always called me the Grinch because of my annoyance at “noise, noise, noise!” Reply • Nick on August 10, 2016 at 11:46 am (Edit) Finally I am not alone!!! Reply • Jackson on August 10, 2016 at 8:02 pm (Edit) I wish during evolution we developed ear lids, like eye lids to protect us from loud and/or unwanted sounds. I’m at the point I’m miserable living with people and having neighbors. This is truly problematic being that I have two small children and live in a neighborhood full of dogs and people who blast off fireworks all year long. My biggest triggers are sounds made by living things: loud talkers, throat clearing, CRYING, DOGS BARKING, eating sounds, BIRDS etc are my worst triggers. Followed by phones. I get easily startled by phone calls and messages, therefore my phone is on silent most of the time. Loud motorcycles drive me nuts. Not much I can do. I wear earplugs and hide in my room with a fan to drown out the sounds from my family and neighbors. I love my kids and their mother but I can’t stand being around them it anyone really. I’m also an introvert and feel smothered easily. I’m wondering if abuse from my parents, physical from my father and mental abuse fry my mother which continues to this day is part of the cause. I’m tired of feeling this way and I hate that I can’t stand being around the people I love. Reply • Maria DeLorenzo on August 11, 2016 at 8:36 am (Edit) I did not know this was an official name to this madness I deal with daily. I truly have been praying having people pray for me because I thought I was losing my mind. It mostly happens at work with ruffling paper fro the people around me. Its not when I do it only when people around me make noises with paper and key boards mostly. I cannot control the rage I feel and I hate it because I am not a violent person in any way. I get this anxiety inside me that I feel I have no control over. It makes me mad and I huff and puff and I want to go through the roof or throw something at the other person. I totally cannot blame them or ask them to stop working because I have issues but I don’t know how to deal with this issue. I know its me and I have been dealing with it for some time now. I will be 45 in about a month and it been an issue with sounds in general since I can remember. I normally cant stand the repeated sounds of tapping and stuff like that but at work the lady in front of me I sware knows it bothers me and does it even louder then usual. she will straighten out folded papers and rub her hands across them for the longest and I hear every sound of it next to me desk. Can someone please help me get past this….. please. Reply • Anna on August 16, 2016 at 11:38 am (Edit) OMG I am not alone! I can’t stand slurpy eating noises or people who suck there food or bite there forks or finger nails. Also the people who jiggle and fidget I just sometimes want to scream in their face or kill them. I actually cannot sit and eat at the dinner table with my dad without music on and still when I finish eating I will have to leave as I cant listen to him. The noise literally makes me feel sick and angry and ancious. … INTERESTINGLY I was prescribed Antidepressants (Sertraline) and I found that these things were not as noticable and I was able to manage a lot better so if anyone has serious problems then I could advise trying to get them prescribed… obviously there is no research. Anna Reply • Dem on August 17, 2016 at 2:46 am (Edit) Oh my gosh I’m so happy I found this! I’ve literally thought I was crazy since this started, it started when I was about 12 or 13. Mine is mostly only triggered with a couple people, people I am very close to & love very much so it makes me feel like a peice of shit for getting so upset over a noise, but I can’t help it, it’s like a switch, I hear it & just wanna scream & runaway! The thing that bothers me most is a nasty cough, I don’t know why but when I hear it from this one certain person it makes me cringe & I want to yell at them so bad but that’s mean so I usually just walk away so I can go be crazy alone ???? Or when people like suck their teeth after they eat, use floss & I can hear the noise, sniffling, chewing, ugh it makes me crazy! I try soo hard to ignore it & sometimes I can, but other times it seems nearly impossible. I used to think I’d outgrow it but I’m almost 20 so I don’t see it happening soon, plus seeing the other comments about people of other ages who also have to deal with this, it sucks! & people who don’t have it don’t get it! I would never wish for myself to be deaf but damn, sometimes it’d be nice to be able to turn my ears off around certain people! Nice to see I’m not the only crazy one ???? Reply • Ollie on August 17, 2016 at 2:13 pm (Edit) Good to hear about others triggers etc. Mine worst by any means is chamming and heavy breathing, I literally feel like punching them in the face! I currently live with my girlfriends parents so unfortunately can’t really tell them to shut up, I’ve explained to them how it makes me feel but a lot of the time they don’t know they’re doing it. I feel like I’m gunna blow, every evening for dinner, watching movies when the crisps/snacks come out, I have to leave the room…..I’ve been to the doctors and was told they couldn’t do anything, when I was younger my brothers would wind me up to the point we would fight, once I smashed a plate round my brothers head and sent him to a&e… I’ve obviously grown up since then and have learnt to keep my mouth shut. But if I’m in a bad mood everything seems a lot more aggravating. What makes it worse is that once I’ve seen someone Cham I cannot take my eyes off them which in turn makes it worse!!!!! Anybody know any tips to make the pain not as bad!!!??!? Reply • Jan Cole on August 18, 2016 at 9:47 am (Edit) I just heard about this disorder. I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. How many times have I heard, “Just get over it!” or “You’ve got problems.” because I can’t stand mouth noises!!!!! Chewing, especially popping of gum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I start raging inside when I hear these thing. My dogs licking drives me crazy too. Poor thing knows when I stay “stop licking” to stop licking. I knew I had a problem but I am glad it’s called something and I’m not the only one who suffers. Now I can tell my family I really do have a condition that I can’t help. Reply • Christy on August 18, 2016 at 9:34 pm (Edit) I read about misaphonia before, I was relieved at that point to know this was a real problem. I’m currently 16 years old and I have been suffering from this for years, I’m not too sure exactly how long but it’s only gotten worse and I came to a realization that I had a real problem. I get it with the people I am closest to and in a way it makes me hate them, I have it the worst with my grandma and my dad since I live with them. They don’t know I have this problem and I tried to tell them it was real problem but even talking to them now makes me want to die. I always get triggered by my dads voice because it carries and it makes me cry right away or want to run away. It sometimes makes me think negative thoughts and there is no way of stopping it unless I put my earphones in and blast music. Today I got triggered so bad I was feeling hopeless so I decided to look up my problem again and read more about it and I found this website and it seriously made me feel so much better because there was so much more information I could relate to. Reading all the people’s own experiences took away the feeling of being alone with this since so many people suffer from it and I hope the best for you all, this is such a horrible problem and I would not wish it on any soul. Everywhere I go I get triggered, luckily in restaurants since there is so much going on it takes my mind off of the chewing and stuff. But school is complete hell. I am so anxious to go back and start my junior year, I’ve been so stressed out and lacking a positive mindset all because 90% of the reason why is because of this noise problem. It effects my whole life and people I am surrounded by and also people I love and it’s so hard to deal with it everyday because I truly cannot help it and so much bad is coming with it and I truly hope not only I do, but everyone can defeat this problem. I’m sending love out to all of you, good luck. Reply • Sheri T on August 22, 2016 at 1:50 pm (Edit) I am so glad I found this site. I was reading a Dear Annie column where she mentioned this. Like everyone else on here it drives me crazy. My triggers are people eating and any sound with higher pitched noises. Reply • Jake on August 25, 2016 at 10:13 am (Edit) Does anyone HATE the sound of a spoon stirring in a cup? I HATE the entire ritual of people drinking coffee…the smell …the the way they hold their cup….the stirring….tearing packages open for cream and sugar….the slurping…..am I alone? It literally angers me Reply • No Thanks on September 15, 2016 at 5:44 am (Edit) Jake, no you’re not alone. I was just telling a coworker this today– I hate hearing people “pour and customize” their coffee. Like angry that they’re enjoying their little life pleasure over there in their otherwise empty lives. Same thing with sneezing, it makes me livid as if that they are sneezing for attention. Thank you for sharing the coffee thing. Reply • Linda Turner on August 27, 2016 at 5:14 pm (Edit) This is so me!!!! my main trigger is when people have false teeth and they do that horrible crunching sound when they have got something under then and moving them around their mouths errrrrr and crunching on hard sweets errrrrr my hubby is doing that right now and I could kill errrr Reply • M. Carter on August 29, 2016 at 2:53 pm (Edit) Right now it means that I want to throttle a coworker who eats with every possible mouth noise imaginable. In general I wonder how people got to be adults with no concept of table manners. Scraping utensils across the teeth is enough to make me leave a table. I’d really rather eat in a barn at feeding time – one doesn’t expect any better from barn animals. So maybe this is a disorder linked to expectations. I don’t know. I just know that I wear headphones at work every day to mask the sounds coming from my coworkers who seem to eat constantly. Reply • Natalie on August 31, 2016 at 9:27 pm (Edit) My dad crunches everything, even bananas. Try living with that and having misophonia. Reply • Bri on September 1, 2016 at 5:18 pm (Edit) Misophonia is like torture. I hate when folks close to me who know the noises bother me continue to make chewing, slurping, and smacking noises. I feel like they’re being inconsiderate. Sometimes they do it on purpose or get mad when I call them out on it. It’s hard to navigate with people I don’t know because I don’t know how to ask folks to stop without coming off rude or just feeling embarrassed about it. I really hate that people don’t take me seriously when I tell them how much this bothers me because it really is very difficult to cope with and experience. Reply • Linda on September 3, 2016 at 6:26 pm (Edit) Even the sight of a bag of crisps in someone elses hand irritates me. The noisy bag each time the hand goes in and then the irritating crunching. Apples, chewing gum, soup slurping, ice lolly sucking, burping and anything else my husband does!!! Reply • Teresa on September 4, 2016 at 3:10 am (Edit) I’m so glad I found this site! I thought I was crazy because I had this horrible thing wrong with me. It’s comforting to know I’m not alone. My worst trigger is loud voices and loud laughter. I carry earplugs with me at all times. A few of the people I work with know that I use them when I just can’t take the noise any longer. They know that sometimes they have to tap me on the shoulder to get my attention because I can’t hear them approach or call my name. I love the silence! I’ve often thought to myself that I could live with deafness but then I would miss some music. Not much music though. Most of it annoys me and I turn off the car radio and drive around in silence. When I’m home, I leave the TV off unless I’m watching a show I like. I never play music at home. I stay home most of the time so I don’t have to be around noise. Guess I really have a bad case of misophonia. Reply • Ella on September 4, 2016 at 7:36 pm (Edit) Hey my name is Ella. I’ve recently learnt about this, for a while now I’ve become extremely agitated whenever my sister makes loud sloppy mouth noises. I get extremely angry my heart races and I immediately lash out and express my hatred for the noise. She constantly dose it, it must be because she dosent swallow excess saliva so whenever she moves her tongue it makes a horrible sloppy discussing noise. Reply • Lori on September 5, 2016 at 1:12 pm (Edit) Had this since I was 13, now 52. I become ENRAGED at the sound of people kissing and eating loudly. Crunching makes me irate. I can be in a room and head people kissing two doors down. For the record, I don’t understand lip kissing in public. It’s very exclusive. I have an idea of taping myself on my phone eating loudly to see if that helps. No one understands how hard it is to listen to these sounds. Sometimes I am angry for hours. Reply • Ell on September 6, 2016 at 9:44 am (Edit) It’s so nice to have found other people with this disorder. My husband is the biggest trigger for me. I can’t even sleep in the same bed as he does most of the time. I can’t stand to hear him breathe, sing, yawn, eat, whistle, etc. He tells people about it and laughs and makes it sound like I’m an awful person. Our adult son has tourettes and sometimes ticks. I adked my husband if he would ever make fun of our son for having tourettes. Neither one of us can help it. I wish people were more understanding???? I’m thinking about seeking help for this problem. I’m just not really sure if there are many doctors who know much about this syndrome. Guess I’ll have to find out. Reply • Rosie on September 6, 2016 at 9:15 pm (Edit) When that person in th meeting is click click clicking that pen, I give them one almighty disgusted stare. But what I REALLY want to do is slap them!!! Reply • Stephanie McCoy on September 7, 2016 at 4:50 pm (Edit) Ugh almost everything on this list bothers me I can’t be in the same room with my family when they eat well when anyone eats.it’s so frustrating I try to ignore it but it never works.water dripping clocks ticking ppl eating chips the bag making noise any wrappers really a friend tagged me in this almost everyone who knows me knows that some things bother me and think it’s funny that it bothers me but they have no idea how much it upsets me and that I don’t think it’s funny at all.I would give anything to just enjoy a meal with my family and not get furious. My husband is the one who irritates me the most and he gets upset as well asking can’t I just enjoy my food without u getting mad I hate that everything bothers me reading this makes me feel a lil bit better knowing im not the only person like this a lot of family members are like this maybe not to my extent but actually a lot of the women in my family are a lil bit now that i know i can talk to my doctor about it bc it does affect my life so greatly that I stay home in my room if it’s possible ugh I just hope that there is something that will help me. Reply • Vivian on September 8, 2016 at 10:19 am (Edit) Sniffing the nose annoys me but only if it happens more than 5-6 times in the row. Slurping annoys me. Chewing annoys me most of all. I get angry, uneasy, wanting to stick a pencil in my ears and slap everyone. I have headphones listening to music almost all day. I use them in the bus just in case someone who chews loudly comes and seats next to me. I think it’s getting worse. Many years ago, when I first asked my family and friends not to chew loudly they made fun of me and did the exact opposite out of spite. After a lot of fighting and crying from my part, since I did not know what was happening and why I felt this way back then, they understood I was not kidding and started to chew with their mouths shut when I was around (or at least they are trying). I recently changed working place. Unfortunately, at my new job everyone chews gum ALL day as loudly as they can. I am new here so I have not told anyone it annoys me yet. I listen to music as loudly as I can but then I get a headache. The worst is when someone comes to show me something or we need to have a meeting. Apart from the misophonia, I am often wondering, how can they chew with their mouths open? Don’t they understand it’s rude and disgusting? They are 30-40 year old human beings. How is it possible? Reply • Barry on September 9, 2016 at 5:56 pm (Edit) My partner of 20years constantly bites/chews her nails. It drives me insane whilst watching TV all I can hear is this constant clicking and or smacking of her lips! If I ask her to stop she rebukes me by saying its something she’s always done and I didn’t notice it when I first met her.I guess in the euphoria if early this could be over looked, but now its the ascertian that its somehow my problem for asking her to stop that bugs me as much as the noise. It can make nights in, in the same room as her unbearable. Reply • Linda on September 12, 2016 at 9:05 am (Edit) I’ve known I’ve had this problem since I was a child. When I could not handle the sound of bacon frying or the way my grandmother ironed the clothes, people chewing gum, etc.. Now I’m 55 and feeling suicidal–again. We actually moved this summer to a different neighborhood with hopes that things would improve noise wise. I just can’t handle loud bass music coming from cars and houses. Also, certain construction sounds set me off! I feel like I just want to kill someone and then I just want to hide! I feel like I have no control over this and I just can’t handle the situation anymore. Have been through therapy several times and tried many anti depressants and anti anxiety meds. Nothing seems to help the physical and emotional pain I’m feeling. Reply • rachel on September 13, 2016 at 4:43 am (Edit) Misophonia i’m assuming is what i have, whenever i hear my sister eating most things i get extremely angry and feel like i should be violent or like to rip my own ears off, instead of doing that i just put my music in and it usually helps. is there any actual way to get rid of it or am i like stuck with it? Reply • Olivia on September 13, 2016 at 4:39 pm (Edit) I suffered with misophonia for quite a while before I realised what it was. My triggers are snoring heavy breathing and constant background noises and I think the person that triggered all of this was my mum as she would breathe loudly when eating and she snores really loudly and constantly when she sleeps. I get so nervous and get big anxiety then I start to cry because that’s all I can focus on. Reply • Lara Croft on September 14, 2016 at 4:50 am (Edit) Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you! I now know the name for what i have. I want to scream with rage when someone chews beside me. i have left the room years from shear anger because i simply cannot bare the sound of popcorn or crisps being chewed like a pony beside me. i always have music playing when i am eating dinner with my family so i dont have to hear them chew. God i love my husband and children, i would die for them. but i cant listen to them chew. So is there a treatment for this? Reply • MRC on September 17, 2016 at 10:29 am (Edit) Hearing people chew makes me feel like I’m going fall into a psychotic rage. I have to either find a way to turn up noise of some other kind to block it out or just leave. At least in restaurants, the other ambient background noise covers up the chewing sounds, but at home with my family the TV has to be on or else I feel like my skin is going to crawl off my body. Being at meetings at work is misery with people slurping coffee and eating doughnuts with no escape or coping mechanism available of any kind. Another sound I can’t stand is the rattling of food packages. I wish people in movie theaters could understand – I want to shout, “Open your package wide enough and stop shoving your hand in and out of the bag!” In college, I had the misfortune of someone in my calculus class in college who liked to eat Peanut M&Ms during exams. The chewing sounds AND that little rustle of her bag as she pulled one M&M out at a time made me feel like overturning desks and pummeling her. Making matters worse, she didn’t understand when I asked her to stop. I would wish this experience on anyone who gives me grief about this problem, for just one day, so they could experience on a deep and personal level how uncontrollable and miserable the response is, and how small changes in their behavior could make it more tolerable for those afflicted with it. Reply • Matt on September 20, 2016 at 1:24 am (Edit) I honestly started to think that I was becoming bi polar or that I have some kind of anger issue. My fiance just started coughing so loud and instantly I felt the urge to cry because it was pissing me of so bad. I just wanted to scream at him. It’s nice to know that there really is a name for this condition and that I’m not going crazy. Reply • Brig on September 21, 2016 at 8:47 pm (Edit) It takes all my strength in not hitting a person when I am on public transport or at work and they are sniffling instead of blowing their nose. I get so worked up inside but I am such a placid person normally. The other thing that really works me up is chewing. The anger gets pent up inside that I feel like I want to explode. I eat my lunch at my desk now so I do not have to sit with people who are chewing. I used to think I had anger management issues, but I do not get angry easily, so this explains it all to me. Reply • Lindsay J on September 22, 2016 at 12:09 pm (Edit) Lol, well it’s good to know, that there are clearly many other people who can relate. Misophonia for me is an intense uncontrollable intolerance and eventual internal quiet rage that builds up inside of me the longer I’m exposed to any of these specific sounds. The sounds are typically certain mouth noises, such as: smacking food, slurping, when people eat bananas or cereal, sucking their teeth, loud breathing or whistling nose breathing, most mouth noises, high pitched voices especially if they’re loud. It makes my ears feel like that feeling you get when you hear nails on a chalk board. My blood feels sharp running through my body almost, like I’m going to literally jump out of my own skin. The longer I’m exposed to it the more a rage builds up inside of me. I’ve tried hypnotherapy, meditation, mind over matter, plugging my ears. The only thing that works is removing myself from the noise. If I don’t then I get this feeling that’s almost uncontrollable where I just want to hit the source of the noise with all my might. Reply • Lindsay J on September 22, 2016 at 12:10 pm (Edit) Lol, well it’s good to know, that there are clearly many other people who can relate. Misophonia for me is an intense uncontrollable intolerance and eventual internal quiet rage that builds up inside of me the longer I’m exposed to any of these specific sounds. The sounds are typically certain mouth noises, such as: smacking food, slurping, when people eat bananas or cereal, sucking their teeth, loud breathing or whistling nose breathing, most mouth noises, high pitched voices especially if they’re loud. It makes my ears feel like that feeling you get when you hear nails on a chalk board. My blood feels sharp running through my body almost, like I’m going to literally jump out of my own skin. The longer I’m exposed to it the more a rage builds up inside of me. I’ve tried hypnotherapy, meditation, mind over matter, plugging my ears. The only thing that works is removing myself from the noise. If I don’t then I get this feeling that’s almost uncontrollable where I just want to hit the source of the noise with all my might Reply • Emma Johnson on September 24, 2016 at 4:06 pm (Edit) I do not suffer from Misophonia but my older sister does. She is 26 and I am 23, from what i can remember she started to show symptoms when she was 12 or so but she may have been younger. One thing is definite though, our house has never been the same since. It was only when she started university that she realised it was an actual condition and then made my parents and I aware of it too. She is very fortunate as seeking help has made her cope a lot better. I can’t really write about the condition but more about what it is like LIVING WITH SOMEONE that has Misophonia. Dinner times are the worse- from holding a knife or fork wrongly, swallowing too loudly or cutting something in an irritating way. Anything like this would immediately aggravate my sister and she would then either shout one of us down, tell us to stop or just leave the room. These reactions would then cause HUGE ARGUMENTS between my mum and dad as my dad would always get angry and my mum would take my sisters defence. I would just have to sit an listen and found it all very upsetting. Driving in the car- moving your hands, chewing your nails ( chewing gum is even worse) and any sneeze irritates her which triggers an aggressive reaction of shouting. The car drives are therefor always very quiet! Watching television-We all have to sit in a way so we don’t make any irritating noises, we don’t have hot drinks as they make us slurp and my dad has be given a towel to cover his hands as he sometimes picks his nail so needs to cover them up ( he doesn’t ever use the towel that my sister gave him so they argue about the nail picking) Her reactions are the same now as they were when she was younger, she just doesn’t have meals with us anymore which is incredibly sad and isolating for her. My mum and I try are hardest to help her cope with the condition but this is SO SO DIFFICULT. My dad, in all honesty, doesn’t make any efforts. This has ruined their relationship completely and makes it even harder for me and my mum to cope because she gets even more aggravated by his noises because of their bad relationship. I hope people find the time to read this and that is is ok for someone who doesn’t directly suffer from Misophonia to post. I would just like to know how your families cope with this and for some advice on explaining this to my father. Thank you for reading this xx Reply • Amario on November 3, 2016 at 2:19 pm (Edit) Hey! I feel like I have misophonia, what you described is kinda what I have. You sure are right about how to explain it XD!! Don’t worry, from what Ive read and heard, that seems pretty normal. Chips, spoons hitting glass when eating breakfast or soup, rubbing against other objects, even getting mad at myself from eating loudly (gum is the worst, about everyone I know hates gum chewing) makes me feels so angry, I almost ORDER my parents to stop eating loudly or I will just leave, pissed, or frustrated. I’m not sure how to help, just let your sister do her thing with telling people about the sounds, because I understand and it causes pain for me and the person if they fight back… and/or tell her to seek misophonia therapy…I hope that this helped from a point of view from someone who has misophonia… have a good day!:D Reply • Bec on September 26, 2016 at 4:25 am (Edit) For me its not too bad, mostly ticking clocks and consistently timed repetitive bangs or drips which can cause me anxiety attacks. Things like hearing two sets of music at once, someone singing over a song, loud repetitive chewing cause me crazyness and sometimes absolute rage but I manage to hold it in (my mum and sister do get the wrath sometimes). Reply • Al on September 27, 2016 at 12:16 am (Edit) the sound of dogs barking fills me with rage. Next door neighbors cop an earful every time their dog goes on a barking rant. Poor dog. Also cannot cope with the sound of someone eating to the point where I have grabbed my partner’s mouth during dinner and told him to stop making so much noise. Poor partner. I’d say the barking dog has the greatest impact on my life – spending time in the garden is sometimes near impossible, summer is the worst. Reply • Madison on September 27, 2016 at 11:34 pm (Edit) I’m so glad this is an actual thing before I found out about it I just thought I was crazy when I was younger it used to be so bad that I’d violently lash out at my siblings my mom thought I had OCD and didn’t think too much about it Once I tried telling her and she just rolled her eyes but tonight I actually broke down crying in front of her because of a trigger sound now I’m sure she actually believes me But my brother on the other hand just thinks I’m trying to be controlling and when I say it’s Misophonia he says I’m only using it as an excuse Reply • Vanessa on September 29, 2016 at 11:53 am (Edit) Omg I sooo have this. Crisp packets are my worst trigger. I actually make my kids leave the room if they are eating them, eating apples is another. I actually get like butterflies in my stomach, and feel like I want to hit the person ! So far I’ve managed not to lol Reply • Clayvaa on October 22, 2016 at 1:50 pm (Edit) Apples send me right out the door. I don’t get mad, I feel like I have to flee as I run from rooms so I’m not accosted by the sound! My family knows when I go outside or to another part of the house, I’ve been triggered and will come back when they stop eating whatever did it. Reply o Crazy on November 29, 2016 at 2:50 pm (Edit) I’ve had to leave the room several times when my husband is eating an apple. I’ve also purchased him an apple slicer because it seems like the crunch isn’t as bad when he bites the smaller pieces rather than biting into a whole apple. I sound like a crazy person and I feel like it when I’m so angry from the sounds but it’s so awful! Reply • Tish on October 10, 2016 at 5:38 pm (Edit) I have suffered this since very young. Main trigger is the tv on in a different room than i’m in. Other triggers are chewing, smacking lips, talking in one tone, dogs whining, cats meowing, anything vocal to be honest. I’ve learned to not let it anger me but sometimes i just want to find a quiet corner and breath or i’m miserable and snappy. Reply • ROSIE VLEUGELS on October 14, 2016 at 9:16 am (Edit) I have suffered with this since I was young! My mum n dad used to be so shocked when I screamed at them when they were eating, I used to fly into a rage when my friends came over for tea as well if I could hear them chew. My dad would say ‘You’ve got a brain disorder or something’ Well how right he was. Chewing, stirring tea too noisily , drinking to noisily, crisps, some voices, some words said in a certain way, whistling…..all make me suffer. Iv moved back to my parents and I cant sit and eat with them, i can barely sit with my mum when she drinks tea. I literally have to run out the room. My dad has just come into the room whistling and that has triggered me to try and twist the computer mouse until it snapped and then smash it on the table and also grab a big bunch of my own hair and pull it extremely hard – the back of my head is still hurting. Other reactions I have experienced; screaming or wanting to scream, a compulsion to smash things, a sudden desire to tear my own skin off my face (how insane is that), jaw clenching is a big one. I wish this didn’t happen but it just a feeling I cant control, I do try to control the reactions by just leaving the room, sometimes with my fingers in my ears or focusing intently on something else so it doesn’t enter my head. Reply • Clayvaa on October 22, 2016 at 1:46 pm (Edit) I work all day in a cozy environment with three other very nice people and I love my job. However, they all eat at their desks all day and it makes me crazy. I wear headphones, but we have to talk about work and there’s friendly chat and I end up in a crazy mood after putting headphones in… taking them out – repeatedly all day. When they are out, I hear crunch crunch, smack smack! All day I hear apple crunching, chip chomping, mouth noises while candies and crackers are consumed and then at lunch while they eat at their desks!!!, I run to the lunch room and eat alone for some quiet time. I also have to leave rooms at home when my family members are eating cereal – spoons tapping bowls are the worst. I really need to figure out how to get over this at my work because it’s causing issues with my always having headphones on. I don’t want them to know about my issue because I am the latest hired and they’ve been eating at their desks way before I got there. I leave quickly alot as well when someone pulls out a burger or especially potato chips! AAAAAhhhhhh! Make the chewing stop! I also sleep with earplugs as the faintest noise wakes me up. Melatonin helps. Reply • Janie on October 25, 2016 at 5:34 pm (Edit) I simply need to live by myself and work in a sealed room!!!! I almost stabbed my husband tonight whilst he opened a packet of jelly babies and proceded to eat them noisily! I suffer really bad at work….people being REALLY loud on the phones for no reason, sniffing, coughing, typing loudly etc. I’ve had to move desks so many times because I literally can’t stand it and I feel like I’m going to punch them. Luckily I work in an environment where we hot desk so I can sit in a quiet corner by myself. If looks could kill I’d be a serial killer….. Reply • Malcolm on October 28, 2016 at 12:23 am (Edit) Dogs drinking water, people smacking their lips, ridiculous kissing sounds on tv… Once, at a family restaurant the chewing and lip smacking at the booth behind me was so bad I lost it. I stood up and turned to their table and suggested in a raised voice that perhaps they should try a portable powered PA so not just me, but the people in the booths at other restaurants down the road could enjoy their lip smacking open-mouthed inbred style of food consumption. I received a thank from a nearby table. Seriously, I hear this stuff and it is almost like it’s intentionally being done to anger me when I know it’s not. I think part of the anger is that other people around me are complacent or accepting. I am relieved to know there is a name to this. It has bothered me for so many years. Tonight was so bad I had to type out “I hate the sound of my dog drinking water” just to find a way to calm down. Reply • Jason on October 28, 2016 at 6:34 pm (Edit) Once there was a time when people had good manners in public and were thoughtful not to behave in a selfish way by making disgusting noises or eating with their mouth open. I travel every day almost, on the trains and are sickened by some peoples foul manners. They think they can behave as if they are in their own private toilet or bathroom on a train. They blow their noses on their clothes or on the seats or they sniff the same gob of snot incessantly. Seems most people have no morals or concerns about how others around them might be affected by their selfishness. Reply • Sarah on November 1, 2016 at 10:50 am (Edit) My husband and I both have Misophonia – my triggers are eating noises and those moist sounds people just make with their mouths as part of opening and closing them, and digital sounds, oh how I detest digital sounds and they are everywhere, they make me want to grab people’s phones and smash them. Husband’s main trigger is people slurping hot drinks, he’s not bothered by eating sounds, but really hates the muffle bass sound of music being played in another room. Both of us remember feeling this way as young children – I can vividly remember sitting at the dinner table seething inside because of my mother’s eating noises, so I think it’s lifelong for both of us. We are both generally noise sensitive, me much more so than my husband in part because I have ME/CFS and sensory sensitivities are one of the less common symptoms, so all of my original issues are exaggerated. Perhaps relevant too is that both of us have several traits of Aspergers Syndrome which can also cause sensory processing issues. The upside of this is that we are sensitive to each other’s needs so eating at home it isn’t an issue, and D turns off any digital noises when I’m in the room. Likewise I do not slurp my tea! D did broach the topic at work and although there was some initial extra loud slurping, in fact the people he shares an office with have made an effort not to slurp, so some people can be understanding. I find when I’m out the Misophonia is kind of smothered by my general noise intolerance – crowded places have me wearing ear defenders or ear plugs and cafes and restaurants generally have enough noise that eating sounds are covered up. I don’t go to many family things so I rarely have to deal with the issues that brings up, and we never go to dinner parties anyway. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I had to work with other people though – I was self employed for a while which was fine, and prior to that I worked in environments where I was moving around and/or there was background noise. For those of you who work in an office I have a lot of sympathy – being trapped in a room with people making noises must be hell. Reply • George on November 3, 2016 at 5:02 am (Edit) Even as a child I can remember being irritated listening to people crunching popcorn or chips…I thought I just had hyper hearing. But then sniffing, teeth sucking, throat clearing was/is so irritating to me. So glad I am not the only one. I’ve always been treated like I thought I was better then everyone else because I hate noises when people eat…so glad I am not the only one. Reply • Ugh. on November 29, 2016 at 2:47 pm (Edit) Teeth sucking after a meal, that one is awful. Get a toothpick or brush your teeth! It’s bothered me my entire life as well. Reply • Amario on November 3, 2016 at 2:04 pm (Edit) You know, I never really knew what Misophonia was until my dad did a little research into what I explained to him. Ever since I was about 11, I never really cared about how people eat their food until one day at lunch. I started getting kind of angry at the sound of people ripping meat from their chicken nuggets and gulping from drinking their milk. I still do get annoyed!!! GOODNESS! So about 5 months ago, I started getting so annoyed about my family eating their food that I started making excuses to not go for dinner. Even on days were my oma would take us out, If I didn’t get to choose, I wouldn’t suck it up hearing them eat on their choice of where to go. I finally told my mom, and she excused it. I told my Oma, who took interest, but did nothing. I told my friends, who didn’t couldn’t comprehend, but tried not to eat as loud as I said they were eating. After all of this, I go down south with my dad(my parents are divorced and I’m heading south to spend time with him) and you know what he did? He got snacks for everybody(him, my 2 sisters, and me plus drinks!!) 3 times. *lets think, SNACKS are usually crunchy or smell very bad, and this is for 4 people, 3 times, in a car, no escape* Let’s just say I wanted to blast the music of the choice, which I took the liberty to do. When he popped a piece of gum in his mouth toward the end of our journey, I asked him to close his mouth when he chewed. He asked why. I explained to him what I felt, I got frustrated when I heard people eating food, chewing gum, gulping, crunching, etc. He said he knew what I was talking about… Here I was, thinking I was going to have to hide myself on dates, not because I’m scared, but because of the way they eat their food. I was dying to know what this was called. Eventually he came out of the shower one morning and plain out said, misophonia. I was so confused, I thought he meant misophobia, which would be a fear, so I asked him to say what he meant, even though I had no clue what he was saying. Misophonia, he repeated. I said what’s that? He said that misophonia, which was when people got mad or frustrated when others eat. I said, hmm. skip forward 2 months. My misophonia got worse. I told my parents that I will NOT eat with them because of their eating, and I eat when they are done(like 9:00pm) and that’s not the full of it. When they get home, at least 1 parent is eating!!! I always hide in my room. My mom wanted to see me more(I don’t because of the eating) so she said if I wanted to play my games, I am not allowed to go in my room. SO… I have music playing, wasting electricity on a second device and headphones to NOT listen to them!!! So here I am, in school, 3-4 period, skipping a class to write this, to seek help! As a matter of fact, even at 13, a kid is sucking on a PLASTIC SPOON and I had to move seats to not listen to it. Even when kids sneaks food during class, I tell them stop because I have a condition. They don’t stop, I have a metal breakdown during class, even though I’m 13, because of some chips. It’s gotten to the point where I will literally break something(which I have in the past) because people are eating. I’m tired of hiding and playing music to avoid people when they eat. I honestly DON’T know how to explain it, but I really want help…;-; please email me if you have anything to tell me how to counter this, and I will try it, at amariosummerjanie@gmail,com, thanks. Reply • Angela on November 4, 2016 at 2:20 pm (Edit) I have always hated the gagging noises accompanied by vomiting. I live in fear of my hubby getting the flu or my nieces and nephew getting sick while they are here. That is the worst trigger for me. My husbands chewing drives me insane to the point I need to go for a drive. He can make a damn carrot crunch SO LOUD not to mention chips, popcorn, etc. The moist sound of food in his mouth sends me over the edge. Holidays, which I host, end up with me eating alone somewhere. I haven’t been to a movie theater in about 12 years due to the volume and popcorn chompers. I am relieved to hear that there are so many more people who have this and that I am not just crazy!!! Reply • Kat on November 5, 2016 at 10:02 pm (Edit) I am the ONLY one in my family who has this. Whenever we eat at home, they will PURPOSELY chew loudly because they ENJOY watching me get angry because I want to turn my hearing off but i cant. instead, i have to bite my tongue and not SCREAM at them for making noises. When people breathe i can HEAR them. I want to put something over my ears so i cant hear them.I hear all sorts of noises when i walk the halls at my school, i end up having to put headphones in, but even then i somehow manage to focus in on any annoying noises. Reply • Adrian on November 6, 2016 at 8:09 pm (Edit) I can’t stand people eating with their mouth open, it makes me insane! While I hear the sound my mind goes blank and all I think about is inflicting pain on myself or breaking stuff around me. My father eats like this and I can’t stand it, I can’t eat with my family anymore without wanting to rip my ears. Everybody thinks I’m some kind of freak or mentally ill. The worst part is that he knows how I fell about his chewing and latelly he started eating in his room, wich is next to mine, with his door open as a way to provoke me or something. Lately I can deal with this stuff by blasting music into my headphones and when life started to look a little better he started snoring really loudly at night. I found out that my rage isn’t triggered by chewing, but also snoring. I’m starting to sleep less and less because of this, when he is snoring I just simply start slapping myself. Now I’m trying to sleep while listening to music and hope that I will survive the next 4 years untill I turn 18 so I can live alone in peace… Reply • Jen on November 11, 2016 at 8:43 am (Edit) I was at a doctor’s office yesterday and a lady in the waiting room with me and many others was using her phone on speaker in like a walkie-talkie mode. I zoned into this lady with instant rage this noise almost instantly set me off. I looked to others waiting to see if anyone else was having an issue with this and NO no one seemed to even notice. I wanted to harm this person it enraged me so badly that I had to leave the building. Being away from the situation I know it’s ridiculous but it’s very real to me….how can I make this go away?!? Reply • I need help on November 13, 2016 at 12:09 am (Edit) The issue I have is the very first bite of food. My wife bites down with the mouth open on the first bite and then chews with her mouth closed. The rest of the chews are fine but that first bite is either a crunch or teeth against silverware if the food is mushy. I can deal with teeth against silverware, so I can eat with her if it is soup or mushy food. But any snacks or anything crunchy, and I have to bolt. I know she is going to think I’m picking on her, or I’m crazy, if I try to change the initial crunch thing. However, I can’t stand being around it. She thinks I don’t want to be around her. It’s causing an issue with the relationship. I never had a problem with this before I got married. Anybody seen this initial bite mouth open thing? Any suggestions? Reply • I feel your pain. on November 29, 2016 at 2:46 pm (Edit) I know exactly what you mean, my grandma used to do this and it drove me insane. It was always the very first bite, and it was an awful sound. All of the bites after were fine, but that first crunchy bite (I can’t even try to write what the sound would look like) just drove me insane! Just close your mouth before you start chewing! My husband doesn’t do this but it does help to turn some music on before you begin eating rather than after so that they don’t think they’re the reason. Reply • Lee on November 13, 2016 at 9:31 am (Edit) I am so glad someone posted this on my Facebook page, I thought it was just me being fussy, My triggers are majorly small, Crunching crisps,gulping, scraping of cutlery and Certain pitches of female relatives voices, Some of my colleagues who I work closely with are considerate, but there are a number that don’t care or I don’t tell, I just remove myself from the trigger, I feel nauseated by it and feel anger and apprehension, and have to stick my fingers or headphones in if it isn’t convenient to move, I feel like hitting my head against a wall when I can’t remove myself from it, I just feel glad I have an office to myself, so I am able to concentrate on my work, I never thought there was a noted condition, now I know, I can act, I can now tell my wife I am not crazy or the only 1 out there with it, Thank you, Reply • Jean Van de Mark on November 17, 2016 at 1:13 pm (Edit) Misophonia has taken away my ability to participate in this world. The negative impact on my life is immeasurable. My only wish is for silence among sounds. Reply • Teena on November 19, 2016 at 8:05 am (Edit) I just found a vide i my news feed and thought oh thank god I’m not alone! So I googled misphonia and it brought me here. Hi guys! Sounds: For me its noisy eaters, certain voices, overused and repetitive words, the ‘s’ sound if its a certain pitch, clicking from texting (99% of the time I have to turn off the clicking), clicking pens, ticking clocks, bouncing basketballs, dripping taps, dogs barking, licking & scratching dogs, repetitive songs, any or words said more than 3 times in a row I change the song! Movements: For me its people who bounce their leg on a nerve & OMG people who walk noisily in thongs! That is one of the big triggers, I once stood in an Aldi shop with my fingers in my ears to try and drown out the sound, it felt like everyone was doing it. Luckily I managed to calm myself down before I yelled at them to PICK THEIR BLOODY FEET UP! Ok so now everyone knows for sure I’m a weirdo lol, but I’m me and I ain’t gunna change now lol Reply • MDC on November 21, 2016 at 1:07 pm (Edit) I get occasional debilitating waves of fear that because of my misophonia I won’t be able to take the best care possible of my parents in their old age. Reply • Jenna on November 25, 2016 at 11:23 pm (Edit) For the longest time I have been suffering with this unknown feeling of rage and violent behavior towards sexual behavior. I hate sex and to be honest I want to kill anyone who does it or talks about it when I am in the same room as them. And I want this to go away, I have tried to talk to my parents about it but my father tease me about it and say that I just have trust issues, and my mother tries to help anyway she can but I feel bad that she has to be careful with her intimacy with her own husband ( My step-dad) Now that I know what I have I realized that I am a stage 5 of this, or at least it sounds about right to me. I want to fix this but I don’t know how because of my depression and extreme anxiety. Reply • Feeling Helpless on November 25, 2016 at 11:52 pm (Edit) I have a teenage daughter with autism and she began having issues with certain sounds when she was going through puberty. The sounds of someone coughing or clearing their throat send her into a rage. We rarely go out as a family anymore. She has to wear her headphones and listen to her music when we do. We’ve gone to a few musicals at the local Children’s Theatre and she kept her fingers near her ears the entire time, so that she could close her ears up if she heard someone start to make a sound. I could also see her entire body tense up when she heard the unwanted sounds. The worst thing is that coughs and throat clearing are hard to control. Just the most quiet attempt to clear my throat makes her very angry. I now just tell her I have to go, and I find a place to cough or clear my throat where she can’t hear me. Of course, out in public or at family gatherings, there’s no way to control the noise. I wish I could find a solution to the problem. This has been going on over five years with no signs of it getting better. Reply • Jim on November 26, 2016 at 9:04 am (Edit) This affliction has been a tremendous source of frustration, and at times rage, for me for the past 30 years. My main triggers, while there are many more, include, mouth noises, the crinkling of plastic bags (chip bags especially), whistling, the sound of someone typing on a keyboard, the sound of cutlery on the bottom of a bowl (ie.a spoon hitting the bottom of a bowl of soup or cereal) and the visual of watching anyone drink out of a plastic bottle or sip a hot drink. It has become difficult to temper my reactions to these triggers as a sense of rage takes over – I literally get goose bumps on the back of my neck when a trigger occurs. Quite often, whether I know the person or not, I will engage in ‘staring them down’ or giving a disgusting, dirty look. At this point my sole means of dealing is to either plug my ears or exit the situation. Reply • Jo on November 26, 2016 at 6:41 pm (Edit) For me, misophonia has ruined school. I could easily say that I yell at people atleast 5 times a day because they are making a certain noise. It is difficult to take tests if someone is sniffing, coughing, clicking, tapping, or even breathing loudly. All of my focus is on the noise and wanting to exterminate whatever it is making it. I hate how people think I’m just over reacting when it comes to this but its an everyday struggle to hold back from punching several people in the face. Reply • Mohini on November 26, 2016 at 7:18 pm (Edit) Misophonia has changed my life, quite literally, and sadly forever. I’m 18, and I’m just starting out my first year in college. Just now actually I got back from a training session and I swear, this condition is going to drive me into insanity. All the kids there is probably the most annoying peices of shits I’ve ever seen. I can’t handle I anymore! Everywhere I turn and look there is someone bouncing their leg, or biting their nails. There is this one girl who constantly just shakes her damned legs non stop and I swear she shoves her fist into her mouth. It’s literally preventing me from throughly enjoying and experiencing something properly without tensing or fearing that someone is chewing with their mouth open or bouncing their leg. Mesophonia first came along in high school, and the amount of meltdowns I’ve had from the constant sound of nail biting, gum chewing, repeate tapping, clicking, coughing, throat clearing, ect ect. It has made me become so depressedan that some days I wouldn’t want to even attend class. It was worst with my parents. My mom would constantly clear her throat every 10 secs and make me leave the room immediately. I remember almost having a meltdown in my temple because of how many times my mom was clearing her throat. Now everytime I go to eat around my parents, I have to either wear headphones or eat somewhere else. Eating is so much worse with my dad. The way he…. Chews! Slurps his drinks like of it was boiling hot (even when it’s not) you can hear him chew from a mile away. It gets so much worse when I’m riding in the car with him aND he’s eating beside me. It’s a total nightmare. And after that HE SUCKS HIS TEETH. That’s what always triggered my Mesophonia other than the chewing. He would suck his teeth from 5-10 mins then stop, and he claims he is just getting the debris out of his teeth. He has no idea how annoying and disgusting it is. Same with my mom, but this time when he eats, I have to either eat my food really quickly, move somewhere else or just run to my room and plug into my headphones until it stops. Leg bouncing came along during my first days in college. They.are.everywhere. no matter where you look or where you turn, there will ALWAYS be someone bouncing their leg. It has also lead me to hate people chewing next to me or near me. The movements of their mouths just annoy the someone hit out of me. Now I’m stuck with another ‘curse’ the hate or repeated movements.I can’t look out the window, pass a classroom, or even walk down the halls to see someone bouncing their leg. It has caused me to reroute my way to class (even if it’s the long way around campus) or to look down or away when I’m walking. It’s plaguing my life… I don’t want to be annoyed around to walk in peace without any annoyances, but i can’t help it. It’s almost impossible to ignore when it’s in your sight or foresight. Once you see it, it’s there forever until you look away or walk away. It gets hard to even concentrate in class because someone would be chewing gum or bouncing their leg. It has also made me plan out seating arrangements, as in where can I sit too hero avoid the leg bouncer or the gum chewer. On the bus is worse, it takes an hour to get home and I have to take 2 buses. Like in school, there will ALWAYS be a leg bouncer or a chewer. It’s hard to look away sometimes because of your position on the bus, or if you are standing. Luckily, I’ve found a perfect seat to avoid all leg bouncing contact so I can finally enjoy my ride home, but then…. you know… if a leg bouncer decides to sit beside me, thats another story. This ‘curse’ of mine is making my life much worse…. with the stress if school and work, it’s preventing me from socializing or even going out in public without fearing the trigger if my Mesophonia. So if you really want to know how it feels like? Don’t. Just be glad you are not ‘cursed’ with this. I’m also really happy to see so much support and relatable experiences on this page. It has made my life so much better and become much positive. I know I’m not alone now. I know I’m not crazy with a disorder that makes me want to tear my skin off when I see leg bouncing or annoying sounds. Thank you guys for sharing your stories, I’m so happy that I’m not the only one suffering and struggling with this. Reply • Marissa on November 29, 2016 at 2:43 pm (Edit) When people scrape their plate with their fork to get every last little bit of food, bite the food off of their fork, and then smack their mouth and chew the food with their mouth wide open. Worst nightmare. Leave the table. Reply • Dan on December 3, 2016 at 8:51 am (Edit) My son is 9 1/2 has picked up this “problem” about 3 years ago but only towards his twin sister. No one else bothers him ONLY his sister. When she eats, chews gum, sings, hums. Any sound she makes it seems to set him off. It has gotten worse in the last year. He can only eat at the table alone. He has to hide in the porch until his sister finishes eating. He used to be able to control it at a restaurant or outside event. Now that is an issue. He will not eat with us anymore and even hearing she will eat sets him off. His anger starts the minute she asks for food or a piece of gum or sings a song. It is a uncontrolled anger that he can not control. If I try to restrain and comfort him he cries as if in agony until his sister stops eating, singing, humming etc. He at times seems zoned out as if I was not there yelling at him or physically holding him to stop. The only thing that keeps him under control is giving him my phone to play a game on it. It keeps him somewhat restrained. He zones in on the phone and it allows my daughter to eat in peace. It is making my daughter very resentful of him to be bullied in her own home. Anyone else can eat, chew or sing around him with no problem. I thought it was an OCD issue connected to his ADHD that he was diagnosed with last year. I see this is a different condition and will look into treatments related to Misophonia. Thanks for sharing all the comments and info. I will take this info and share with my wife and family. Reply • Holly on December 5, 2016 at 5:05 am (Edit) I’m Holly, and i’ve struggled many years with misophonia and over the years it has gotten worse and worse, it started being a problem at home then it gradually grew and now it seems to affect all aspects of my life: school, family, friends and just life in general. My family don’t get it they say its a choice, that i choose how i react to my triggers, it has massively affected my home life and not for the good, and my friends just dont get it they think in just a selfish, angry……. Over the years i have been diagnosed with: Depression, ADHD, OCD tendencies, Anxiety, Dyspraxia, PTSD, Aspergers tendencies and Misophonia. I don’t have many ways of dealing with my problems only to put my earphones in and try to ignore it but it doesn’t work all the time. Reply • Jefferson on December 13, 2016 at 7:16 pm (Edit) I have never heard of this disorder until today. I have been researching how to politely tell the person I share a works space with that they are driving me insane. It first started when he would talk on the phone. 1. He is a very loud talker 2. He repeats everything a few times. Example = “sure sure sure sure. yeah yeah… ok ok ok ok ok ok ok cool cool cool”.. That bothered me but it was a little easier to shrug off. Now I sit a lot closer to him and he is constantly humming / burping. The burping happens every 5 mins and they are always very deep extra gross sounding. I have actually confronted him about the humming 4 times now and he claims that he doesn’t even realize he is doing it. At this point I have alerted HR and they have opened a case. I created a “Rage comic” It is in the website section. Reply • Bobby on December 13, 2016 at 10:46 pm (Edit) I’m glad there’s a name for this disorder & I’m not the only one who has it – I thought there was something wrong with me – I was too touchy or not very tolerant. My Top 10: – People chewing with their mouths open; smacking their fingers clean; talking with their mouth full – Eating at a Mexican restaurant and the person at the next table crunching a huge chip in their open mouth and continue to crunch it with their mouth open – My mother-in-law eating radishes – Someone clanging a spoon continuously inside their coffee cup, stirring in their sugar – The clang of silverware as it’s put away in a drawer – Shrieking music in a store you can do nothing about, except leave (This happened to me the other day – I couldn’t concentrate and was getting disoriented) – Throat clearing – That sound people make (fffftttt?) after a meal, to clean their teeth – Eating ice cubes – Silverware being dragged across teeth I’ve put on classical background music so I could be around these people while eating, but invariably one will say “Why don’t you turn that off so we can hear each other?” I want to scream “NO – that’s the point!!!” Reply • dean murie on December 15, 2016 at 4:59 am (Edit) I cant take the radio..its like somebody talking and you cant even tell them to shut it..my sister sings in the car..she thinks its lovely,i hate her singing and the radio..it makes me feel like i should rather just die..the radio to me is just someone talking endless crap as thats all radio presenters talk about is crap the lyrics from artists are usually pointless or about love and loss etc..i think the world would be better off without radio..all things considered..its only the radio that has this effect on me..its like the radio presenters are making everyone as dumb as they are and after listening to the radio i fell i have lost brain cells and must go read a book or something. Reply • Samantha on December 16, 2016 at 11:19 am (Edit) I’m glad I’ve found the name for this thing. I get horrible panic attacks when I hear snoring. When I was little it was a comforting sound because both of my parents snore but then it gradually became a bigger issue. I went to a sleepover once and when my friend finally fell asleep, all of a sudden, the worst panic attack of my life hit me. It lasted five hours before I jumped up, packed all my stuff, and walked back home in the dark at 4am. I felt HORRIBLE! I just abandoned my friend and left their front door unlocked because I was panicing and didn’t know what to do. It didn’t even occur to me to wake her up and have them drive me home because I had no idea what a panic attack was at the time. I just knew I had to leave. Now I get extreme panic attacks if I’m near someone who’s snoring and even people snoring on the TV will start to get me jittery and anxious. Reply • ava on December 31, 2016 at 1:56 am (Edit) YES! finally oh my god someone understands. that makes me have panic attacks, i start crying and i feel like i need to physically hurt something or myself its horrible Reply • Jeff on December 16, 2016 at 5:38 pm (Edit) Mesophonia has only been recognized since about 2002 with medical peer reviewed articles. The fear of certain sounds has governed my life as early as 8 years old, probably a lot earlier. I am 58 now and can no longer work because of it. Reply • a2003 on December 18, 2016 at 8:28 am (Edit) I have had this for ages now… I’m only 13 and can’t remember when I didn’t have it.. I resorted to listening to music really loud on the bus to school and dinner time and any time I could this only made me have a headache and be more stressed So I am very glad they are doing research on it… praying something is discovered soon Reply • Kay on December 18, 2016 at 7:21 pm (Edit) Certain noises have always had a negative effect on me. I mean they would drive me crazy. I would feel agitated, uncomfortable, grossed out and if they didn’t stop or I couldn’t get away from the sounds I would get angry. It still happens. The noises that drive me crazy are chewing sounds, lip smacking sounds, certain foods like pasta, stew, chilli, etc being stirred in a pot or being eaten. Slurping, gum chewing, sounds from walking through mud or muck. Screeching sounds, squishing sounds, sudden loud sounds, high pitched sounds and other things like that. I thought I was just a jumpy, neurotic person. A few years ago I was diagnosed with PTSD and found out that I wasn’t crazy and that misophonia is a real thing. Now that I know what it is, it helps, but the noises still drive me crazy. Ear buds, music, etc, help when I’m out in public otherwise I just ‘white knuckle’ it. Thanks for reading. Reply • Karen gardner on December 22, 2016 at 2:54 pm (Edit) Hi my trigger is music, if i hear music especially base gets me in a panic especially if im at home and i hear it through the walls. I have had this for years n tried t control it with no success. My partner being so supportive has just gone out and bought himself a massive stereo aaaaargh. I get so angry with myself for feeling panicked as i no the noise wont hurt me Reply • Dane on December 26, 2016 at 10:29 pm (Edit) I don’t even know where I should begin. This is the first time I’ve ever posted on a support forum like this, but I’m hoping to share my experience with others and hopefully learn from people who may be able to relate to what it’s like living with this curse. To start, I will inform any readers that I have a Ph.D. in psychology, and I have not, for the life of me, ever met another individual who suffers from this terrible curse. I am relieved to know that I am not alone, and really do hope to learn from this community, ways of coping with this serious hindrance to my life. I am 32 years old and have been trying to deal with my misophonia since fifth grade (at least that’s as far back as I can remember it). My primary trigger sounds are sniffling and coughing, and to a lesser extent, clearing one’s throat and chewing sounds. The most acrimonious triggers for me are sniffling and coughing. When I was in elementary school I remember feeing enraged by constant sniffling of my fellow classmates, to the point where I’d actually confront them and point-blank ask them why they couldn’t stop it. It was very alienating and awkward for me. I was convinced that their sniffling was some kind of nervous habit or mental weakness (which is ironic, since it was me who was handicapped by this). I tried bargaining with people to get them to stop. Really, I’d try anything, because when I heard these trigger sounds I would experience not only extreme anger, but also physiological arousal (sweating, rapid heartbeat, etc). My teachers would call my parents and express their concern and confusion by what they were observing from my behavior. My parents tried to get me help, but alas, the therapist was just as dumbfounded as the next person. The initial diagnosis was OCD, but the pattern of my behavior and thinking did not reflect the true symptomatology of OCD, it was distinctive and unique. As a grown adult, I am still trying to deal with these triggers. At some level I have an illusion (delusion?) that other people can actually control these sounds and make them unnecessarily. It’s very strange; I try to rationalize my preconceptions to myself but deep down I know the problem is with me, not with others. As a teacher I am often regularly exposed to these sounds from students and try very hard to tune them out. I have a $300 pair of noise cancelling headphones that have been very helpful; unfortunately I can’t always wear them when I’d like to! My family and close friends are well aware of this flaw of mine, but they can’t understand it (neither can I). I wish I could. I wish there was something that could make the anger stop; the stress and vitriolic feeling of disgust when I hear the sounds. I take antidepressants but that doesn’t really do much for my misophonia. There’s a technique for treating phobias and other OCD behaviors called “systematic de-sensitization”, which essentially exposes the individual to the aversive stimulus repeatedly until the person eventually “gets used” to the stimulus and no longer responds to it. For example, if a person has a fear of snakes a therapist might have the patient sit in a room with a snake in it for 45 minutes; the idea is that the person will eventually “calm themselves” down and become acclimated to the sight of the snake. It’s kind of analogous to getting used to swimming in cold water. In any case, I have not tried this. I am skeptical because these triggers are everywhere, I hear them all the time. If I was going to get used to them I think I would have already. Ugh. Anyway. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I look forward to learning more from this community so we can hopefully move beyond this terrible, awful curse. Reply • Sarah on January 19, 2017 at 1:43 pm (Edit) I have my own theories about misophonia, partially because of the range of triggers and the way I react. Let me start by giving a snapshot of my triggers: If you read my comment below I mentioned that nails scratching across the grain of jeans makes my teeth itch. Chewing, crunching, swallowing send me into full-on rages. Sniffling, throat clearing, yawning also make me angry, but to a lesser extent. Country music hurts my ears (like physical pain), though I can tolerate ANY other kind of music. Now here’s where it gets interesting (to me) — I have an open floor plan house. If I’m sitting in my living room with my left ear toward the kitchen, the sound of the fridge door opening and closing makes me want to punch someone. But if I am turned away from the kitchen, or sitting with my right ear in that direction, it’s annoying but not rage-inducing. I have tried to “sit with” sounds I can’t tolerate and it doesn’t work — it actually makes the trigger worse for days/weeks afterward. So exposure therapy, in my opinion, is probably ineffective for folks who have more than a couple triggers. I use white noise or music to help mask some sounds, but if I’m tried or stressed, that coping mechanism doesn’t work. If misophonia has roots in past trauma, as has been theorized by some, I wonder if EMDR therapy might be effective in mitigating symptoms. But I have a theory that misophonia is related, at least loosely, to certain types of ADHD. My younger son has ADHD and has already started exhibiting misophonia-like symptoms (teeth on cutlery is his trigger). My godmother’s daughter also had ADHD and has full-blown misophonia that rivals mine in reaction and trigger set. In observing my son, when he’s not medicated, he has a much more challenging time managing his reactions and emotions — similarly to how someone with misophonia reacts to his or triggers. At the very least, it’s an interesting correlation. Reply • Ava on December 31, 2016 at 1:55 am (Edit) everything literally everything drives me insane to the point where i want to cry. i’m only 16 and its everything from the dog drinking water to the cat cleaning himself to my girlfriend breathing or eating. anything that clicks or taps or any kind of watery noise it’s driving me insane and ruining my life i don’t know what to do. i’m scared that later on in life my future children will be teething on something and it’ll kill me. i’m at a loss, i don’t know what to do. i need help but where? Reply • Steve on January 10, 2017 at 10:08 am (Edit) I have written this letter to help people who may be experiencing over sensitive hearing problems, similar to the ones I had. This might only apply to a small percentage of people on here… When I was at my worst I couldn’t go near a hoover, cutlery or anything that beeped, now I can listen to all of these… The echo of my own voice, anxiety, depression can also come with it, yes I had these issues to deal with as well. I’m not suggesting my health issue is the same as yours, I always thought my ears were over sensitive, but I found out over the last 18 months it was the brain not the ears that was fussing about various sounds, so I decided to retrain it to accept sounds one by one. These self help skills have helped make a real difference to me… I was so bad I couldn’t stand listening to helicopters flying above – diesel engines, dishes clattering, hoovers, kettles, fans, opening of crisp or freezer bags etc. At its worst and being ridiculously stressed with it, I couldn’t recognise some sounds, I had to ask my wife what was that – oh just the rushing in the water pipes etc etc, for example. If you suffer with Tinnitus as well, then listening to more acceptable sounds will help ease/mask it. I don’t know if this will be helpful to others, but this is what I did – and I can now listen to sounds and tolerate them once again. At my lowest point, my 38 year old daughter text me 4 times in ten mins one evening, because I had stopped taking mental health tablets that were giving me horrid side effects, because there was nothing wrong with my mental state apart from extreme stress due to the hearing problems and tinnitus. At this low point…. I went and turned the radio up, and I remember saying ‘brain/ears take a listen to this’!!! Head facing towards both small speakers so each ear was getting a dose of electric guitars etc, for about 12/15 mins I expect it was. Something has reset within that short time I said to my wife! But really I think the louder noise taught the brain its ‘just sound’ so just get used to it. Over the last 18 months I see continued improvement, walking past industrial lawn mowers in the park for example, helicopters and planes flying overhead, clattering spoons into a draw, no problem now – and most evenings I give my brain 5 mins of loudish music to keep in tune to normal day to day sounds. I also have Tinnitus advise to share… Negative thoughts bring tinnitus up, positive can help bring it down… But there is a third thing that makes a big difference with me. Depending on age, rest for 10 – 15 mins then I say to myself ok get up, get on with it and I find myself 3 or 4 jobs to do and open eyes slightly and ‘open your mind’ focus! Move around sharply, enjoy and don’t stress… Keeping to just small satisfying jobs, when completed tinnitus is down – I only found this out recently, but it really works for me and T stays lower for many hours. helps you get control again! Hope this improves lifestyle for someone else as well… Regards, Steve Macclesfield UK. Reply • Rita on January 4, 2017 at 8:55 pm (Edit) I have no idea how to start but since 4 years ago that I get triggered when I hear some kinds of sounds. It all started with snoring. When i was a kid i remember my grandma staying at my house to sleep and she snored loudly. I’d get really nervous and hyperactive when i heard it. I couldnt control myself and I’d cry in silence. I thought it was normal because everyone said that no one likes to hear another person snoring. After some years chewing turned into a trigger. At first I thought it was a normal reaction but then what I felt started to get stronger and stronger. When I hear someone chewing I feel a giant rage inside of me and it feels like my brain is going to explode or something. Sometimes I have to eat alone because I can’t stand hearing it and I also don’t want to start yelling at my family for eating. Now it got worse. I get triggered with many more sounds. I can’t stand the sound of kissing, chewing gum with open mouth, heavy breathing, yawning, my dog chewing and licking its fur, repetitive sounds such as “um” or “ah” used throughout a sentece. I have no idea how to explain what I feel, it’s like my entire nervous system decided to get paranoid and I can’t control it. I have a cousin that is a neurologist but I’m afraid of exposing my problem since we’re not close… Reply • Sarah on January 5, 2017 at 5:47 am (Edit) I am so grateful to the many people who have posted here. On a constant basis I live with this torment and it’s increasingly frustrating to me that there is nothing to be done. Unfortunately I live in a house that has been converted into three apartments. The owners apparently didn’t care about sound traveling through walls when they converted the house because I can hear every annoying, maddening, murderous rage causing noise that the neighbors make. Doors slamming, loud tv or music (with or without heavy bass), singing, talking, laughing, drawers slamming, heavy footfalls; the list goes on ad infinitum. But the madness doesn’t stop there. I absolutely want to knock someone out when I hear lip smacking while eating or sucking like on candy or popsicles. I’m the world’s most quiet eater when I’m around others because I know how irritated it makes me, I don’t want to annoy someone else with it. Sometimes I get so angry and full of rage when I hear the neighbors come home and start stomping around and turning on their tv and music. I do wear earplugs or headphones but I also have the added bonus of tinnitus in both of my ears and the use of headphones is making things much worse. I no longer know how to cope with this issue. The last thing I need with my growing home pharmacy (because of medical problems) is to add yet another synthetic drug to the pile. I only have the meager hope that someday there will be a cure for this misery. Thank you all for sharing here. You’ve saved me a great deal of sanity. Reply • JGer on January 5, 2017 at 12:19 pm (Edit) I felt crazy about the way i get so annoyed at my mother and brother make slurping sounds while drinking. Spoons hitting the plate, the way some people pronounce s in certain words with sort of a whistling touch to it and that’s mostly in church for some reason. Had a friend who pronounces s in the similar manner while at church but during normal conversations i find the pronunciations normal, but that sound is just annoying anyhow. Once someone just yelled into my ear and i wasnt just annoyed, i wanted to punch her in the face or break something to let my anger out and also there was this sort of ringing sound for a while. But while its certain yelling or shrieking that noone else seems to be so annoyed about, my ears do genuinely hurt and it gets me all irritated. Reply • Karen on January 6, 2017 at 9:19 pm (Edit) I have dealt with this for 43 yrs. I have not been diagnosed, but I know that I have it. People chewing, scraping plates, popping gum, sucking on candy, whistling and as I get older more things bother me. I do pray that Drs find a cure before I pass on. Reply • Sara on January 11, 2017 at 8:21 pm (Edit) Ever since I was around 3 years old I have experienced multiple symptoms of Misophonia. It has impacted my life in such a tremendous way. My list of trigger sounds is enourmous, some being napkin rubbing,pencil on paper, towels,shuffling feet on rugs,wearing robes,knuckle cracking etc. Unfortunately I am the only one in my family with this condition and my family is not very supportive. Whenever I hear a trigger noise I flip out and I go from being happy to this overwhelming anger and pain filling me. I want to punch that person who made the trigger noise and especially when someone calls me “crazy” or my least favorite “you’re just overreacting.” I am extremely greatful to have found this and I pray to God that someone will find a cure for this. Reply • Jason on March 31, 2017 at 9:09 pm (Edit) Pencil on paper and chalk on a chalkboard are so bad for me. It was crippling in elementary school and undoubtedly detrimental to my early formal education. There are of course other sounds/textures within this spectrum that I try to avoid. Reply • Emma Connor on January 12, 2017 at 8:54 am (Edit) Hi I’m having awful trouble sleeping next to my partner at night. Its his breathing…its really annoying me and the more i try to focus on other things the louder it seems to get in my head. I just cant sleep and then i get up and feel full of anger and rage and feel like i want to throw things. I have always had trouble sleeping with any noise in my room e.g. ticking clocks etc….. this is all driving me insane and I need help anyone experience similar? Thanks x Reply • Sarah on January 19, 2017 at 1:23 pm (Edit) Have you tried using white noise? I sleep with a fan on all year-round. I’ve found it quite helpful in taking the edge off. Reply • KMD on January 18, 2017 at 4:44 pm (Edit) I suffer from Misophonia. My trigger is primarily “mouth sounds”. There are some contradictions to this that I have noticed. For example, I worked with a woman, who would eat (very juicy) peaches or oranges for lunch in the cubicle across from me. While this would have typically sent me dashing out to the breakroom, I would have Autonomous sensory meridian response type reactions to her eating. It was not a case of “hot female gets a pass” thing either, because I have/do react negatively to attractive women in other similar instances. I have no idea why this one person caused an opposite reaction for me. Reply • Sarah on January 19, 2017 at 1:22 pm (Edit) I had no idea that it was unusual to hate chewing noises. For as long as I can remember, chewing and swallowing noises have driven me absolutely nuts. I remember being a small child at the table, watching and listening to my uncle eat, wondering why someone wasn’t making him stop. I thought that, perhaps, my nana was just being polite (she was always gracious and her manners were impeccable). As I got older I learned that it’s actually odd to go into full on rages when you can hear people chewing. Eventually I was told there was a name for what my brain was doing — misophonia. That was a relief! There was finally a word — an explanation — for what was going on. Now I knew why my teeth itched (literally) when people scratched their jeans across the grain and why I reacted so strongly to sounds. As time has gone on, my trigger set has gotten bigger and my ability to cope with those sounds (when I can’t avoid them) has decreased. I do what I can to simply avoid the sounds and educate folks. Sadly, many people find it hilarious to mock the issue, but I’ve learned to use that as an opportunity to educate them. Reply • Nat on January 21, 2017 at 7:25 pm (Edit) I always just thought that my hatred of people eating loudly or eating with their mouth open was a family thing. I have now realised most of my family must have misophonia like me. The thought of someone eating like a pig actually fills me with disgust and hatred. The feeling properly burns up my body until it’s the only thing I’m thinking about and I find myself staring at people with hatred in my eyes. The slurping and smacking of lips really winds me up, even typing it now I can feel the anger. I also hate cutlery hitting plates. I don’t like unnecessary noises in any way and I have begun to get visual triggers. My visual triggers include the way people walk and seeing repetitive movements out of the corner of my eyes. Certain people trigger disgust in me more than others. Reply • Mark on January 22, 2017 at 7:02 pm (Edit) I never knew there was other people suffering from this neither did I know it was a common problem, like for years any sound I heard to do with food would piss me off to the extent I would scream at my uncle or dad for the way they eat or shout at my mums for just thinking about drinking or tell my brother off for even breathing in the same room as me, even around a family table I try to focus my hearing on to the sound of the electricity in the light bulb as a distraction so I don’t lash out at anyone as it has caused many many arguments. It’s hard to study or do any work related training as I would try my hardest to listen but it only takes one noise to distract me whether it be someone talking in the corridor or someone out side or again the lighting any background noise I basically focus all my hearing on but it’s not intentional, my family could be in the next room speaking and I can hear them or I have over heard them bitching about me after an argument from up stirs, I have even heard my mum speaking to her boss over all the kids in her afterschool club from across the hall the size of 3 classrooms and they both are amazed by it but for me it’s life of hell as now I can’t even go to social things like the cinema or for meals as paper now gets on my nerves it’s all starting to stack up the older I get the more noises that annoy me and I really don’t want it anymore !! Reply • Al on January 25, 2017 at 9:39 am (Edit) I looked it up, and I presume I also have misokinesia with the rubbing of hands, as I do with misophonia. I have no idea why it makes me so uncomfortable and angry, but it just does. Things like nails on a chalkboard and silverware squeaking against a plate is annoying, but someone rubbing their hands just /infuriates/ me. Whatever. Reply • Haley on January 26, 2017 at 8:46 am (Edit) I don’t know if I do have misophonia, but it feels like the answer. I haven’t been able to stand the sound of pencil tapping, lip smacking, or very loud, cutting laughter and I haven’t known why for the longest time. But I decided to do some research and I found misophonia. I saw it, and I felt it deep down, ‘I have this.’ When I hear any sounds that get to me it can go from discomfort to uncontrollable spasms and, at one point, frustrated screaming. The only reason it gets that bad is because I refuse to removing myself from the situation, as it happens a lot at home and I can’t escape from it. Our house is small, so when my sister laughs without restraint (all the time) I can hear it from across the house, laying on the couch. I can remember biting down on my hand, leaving bad indents, but luckily not bleeding. With all of this and what I’ve been told I’ve become self destructive and violent towards myself, and it scares me. I’m planning on telling my mom, so I’m hoping things will get better! Reply • Sarah K on January 30, 2017 at 12:49 am (Edit) Omg so glad I found this site. All this time I was thinking I was thinking I was just being analytically bitchy about dumb shit. The way a box feels and the sound it makes when being scooted across the floor, the feeling on my skin when I’m writing on paper, the sound of a pencil writing on paper, the buzzing/ringing of fluorescent bulbs, somebody scrapping their plate or the inside of a yogurt cup, the sloshing sound of people eating, the sound and repetitive movement of animals licking themselves, and the ABSOLUTE WORST for me…that smacking sound people and dogs make with their mouths when their mouth is dry. That sound goes beyond just making my skin crawl. Its sends me to the ground zero of annoyances. Whenever my dogs and cats do this, I can tolerate about 10 to 15 seconds of that before I flip out yelling for them to get a damm drink while profanity in excess comes flying out out my mouth. I’m a HUGE animal lover put that noise, no way, I can’t. I just stand their thinking how I want to kick their asses into next week. I would NEVER to that but I do have to go into a separate room (with a closed door of course. and switch on meditation music just to calm down. I feel bad for screaming at them because I’m sure they have no clue what they did wrong. If I could eliminate one sound, that one would be it. Reply • Fifi on February 1, 2017 at 10:03 am (Edit) My behaviour is I think learnt from my mother, who was driven demented by the sound of her mother crinkling brown paper bags and stirring her cocoa for *10 minutes* in the small hours, when she couldn’t sleep. I can’t tolerate food wrappers, someone eating out of a yoghurt pot, bracelets clattering on the desk, a spoon stirring in a cup/mug, plastic nails on a keyboard, someone blowing their nose . these are all office noises, pertinent as I’m typing this in the office whilst wearing my noise cancelling headphones. Don’t get me started on food. Apples and crisps are the worst offenders, but really anything that makes a noise. Other noises are people on the radio that have a dry mouth. I have to switch off. Why don’t they take water on with them?! The one noise that fascinated me was when there was a workman in the office putting up shelves, and was using a drill. It drove my colleagues nuts, and I mean nuts. But it just didn’t bother me at all. So I seem to have categorised my issue into necessary (the drill) and unnecessary (everything else) noises. I’ve had the “oh you just need to get over it”, the manager who when he found out, leaned over his desk while eating his lunch, then looked at me and chewed with his mouth open. He wound his neck in when I told him that was bullying in the workplace. I was treated at Hillingdon Hospital Hearing therapy until a few years back, and they gave me great coping mechanisms. I got to a point where I could tell my limbic system that the noises weren’t a threat and not to be scared by them. It worked for a while, but it’s regressed back to square one as other stresses at work make me less able to cope with more or less anything. My brain is treating these noises as threats, and my body is reacting accordingly. It makes me hate the people in the office. Hate them. Reply • ML on February 3, 2017 at 4:08 am (Edit) Firstly, I am relieved to find that I am not the only person out there that has this affliction and am glad to be able to give a name to it. I have endured Misophonia since I was approximately 8 years of age which I now believe started with a noisy sleeping relative (she would smack her lips together) and I cannot stand people snoring. I also cannot stand people eating with their mouths open, noisily, crunching, smacking their lips etc. I hate going to the cinema because of the rustling of bags, popcorn boxes etc. It stresses me out. I get extremely angry and imagine physically hurting the person making the noise, I know it is totally irrational and I try to ignore it, sometimes I am successful, other times not. My family think that I’m a bitch and being awkward when I comment on noise or start to get annoyed, it sometimes makes situations difficult. I don’t enjoy being the way I am, I wish I could control it better. Unless you experience this yourself, people will never fully understand what the problem is and how it affects your everyday life. Reply • Mel on February 3, 2017 at 4:51 am (Edit) I literally can’t believe this!! I have been labelled as intolerant by my family, and have struggled with trigger sounds all my life. I am generally a very calm and tolerant person so it has felt very much a hidden part of me. I have never spoken of the sounds that annoy me, but can’t wait to share this with my husband!! I remember being so relieved to find that my children’s sounds didn’t seem to trigger my annoyance, but my eldest son is starting to annoy me. This has been a real struggle for me and made me depressed about being so intolerant. Reading the part on mimicking was so me, I often do it, sometimes under my breath through gritted teeth. Ear plugs are definitely my friend. I wouldn’t have managed public travel or exams without them. I panic if I haven’t got any with me. Reply • Andrew Nutbeen on February 3, 2017 at 5:38 am (Edit) If my colleagues are having lunch at their desks, I have to leave the room. I think my case must only be fairly mild, as I’m able to tune it out a little bit, like at restaurants or when eating at home with my other half, but there are times when it feels like my blood is boiling around some eaters! Reply • esra on February 3, 2017 at 5:42 am (Edit) I heard this word when I was watching “this morning” tv programme today. During my life, I ve been irritated by others eating noise.I m so sensitive to any chewing noise. For example, people eating popcorn in cinema make me crazy.Hopefully I am not going mad because my husband has to have an operation about his nose and he eat very noise nowadays.:( Reply • Kate on February 3, 2017 at 9:32 pm (Edit) It’s relief to see this written up. My psych told me I am hypervigilant. My father constantly yelled at me when I was a child and I’m always backing off people who seem annoyed or in a bad mood. I connected my allergy to ticking clocks, loud bass music, peanut chomping, sloshy kissing in movies, or snorting back snot to either being hypervigilant or just being downright moody and intolerant. This is a revelation, especially the part that says it can make you feel violent. Last week on holiday, there were people on the beach playing music, laughing and drinking beer and I nearly went over and gave them a big lecture. My husband said, No don’t, they’re having a good time. What!!! I’ve been in movie theatres where I’ve visualized punching popcorn eaters and paper rustlers in the face. Whistling can make me want to pull workmen off their ladders. People who chew their food like “nyop, nyop, nyop”, spoil my meal. So thank you all and now I know what it is I might feel better. Reply • Delphine on February 3, 2017 at 11:02 pm (Edit) I am suffering because I was moved at work into an old building. At first everything was fine, but I remember the exact moment when the heating system started to gurgle and rattle. It has been making these noises off and on for two weeks now. My supervisor handed in my work request to fix these noises, but she told me sternly to get over it as she doubts they will care to fix it. Since these noises have happened I’ve had a more difficult time getting along with co-workers, have left work the first chance I get, and have cried at the workplace so hard I had to leave. The panic attacks are as intense as when you find out someone important died. I have to work so I’m trying to “get used to it” and I run a fan to make more noise over the noise. If there are a few people who read my post and really understand what I am going through – thank you. I feel alone in my head with this issue because I don’t know of anyone personally who suffers like this over mechanical noises. Reply • Dawn Dickerson on February 11, 2017 at 4:09 am (Edit) I understand, I have to escape sometimes just do I’m not deemed “psycho”. Especially if I can’t make out stop Reply • Rev Pamela A F Crane on February 5, 2017 at 1:38 pm (Edit) Though at 74 I am losing a fair bit of my hearing, the sounds that always distressed me still do. My triggers are crying children, motorbikes, chewing, my own breathing at night if I forget to keep my nose clear of the bedding, and many pure tones such as the cooker beeps or certain tones on a recorder or a clarinet. These can really, really hurt. In addition, my whole body has recently become an ear that picks up low-frequency vibrations from the roads around our home and prevents me sleeping. This has been causing me desperate distress, because it is inescapable. All I can do is grit my teeth and hang on until the vibrations eventually stop. I asked to see a neurologist at a top-notch treatment centre in the UK but as it took four agonising months to hear from them I told them I was in no fit state to visit. Reply • W.G. on February 5, 2017 at 7:12 pm (Edit) I’m glad I started reading this article about this rare condition, I can identify with some of the cases but thanks God mine is not that bad, and I hope I can just stay like I’m now and don’t get any worst and please keep publishing information about this and let’s all pray to get better or get a cure….. As a suggestion try to meditate and get in touch with your inner side and prepare yourselves before getting in contact with a situation where you know you going to face this kind of things… Good luck to all and as me now you know you are not alone.. Reply • jenny anderson on February 7, 2017 at 12:54 am (Edit) I could almost cry. I always just thought i had “sensitive ears.”. I heard abt misophonia from a friend. She was simply talking abt rearranging her office layout because her coworker had it. What? Its actually a THING? I looked it up and ding ding ding winner winner chicken dinner. Ppl eating fried chicken? torques me off. Rib r even worse! ppl licking food stuffs off their hands. i cant hardly stand it. I get so pissed abt the fork/spoon scraping across the teeth. I yell at my kids saying u cant eat that that close to me…or quit crunching so loudly etc. I felt like a crabby mom all the time, but it drove me crazy. My mom clicks her nails on things. tap tap tap taptaptaptaptap. Always in the same rythem. I want to slap her hand. My husband has all manner of noises that drive me up a wall. when he sleeps he makes this teeny pop sound with his lips when he exhales. grrrrrrr. i was in a lobby area watching my kids at a sports activity. Some stranger was cracking her gum. I wanted to slap her face. Instead i went as far away as i could..but cld still hear her. i was overjoyed to learn that this is an actual thing. it has a name. im not crazy. what did i do? i bought regular old earplugs. i wear them all the time. i can hear most regular conversation fine. i can hear the dialog on the tv and whats going in the house. What i CANNOT hear is my kid eating chips on the couch next to me or my moms nail clicking or the random lady’s gum cracking. Funny. A casual conversation w a friend and a pair of ear plugs has made my life infinately better. invest in ear plugs! I was sooo happy when Reply • Dawn on February 11, 2017 at 4:06 am (Edit) I was a little surprised to know that this has a name. I was convinced that I had some sort of anger issue by my family, especially my children when they would giggle and said moms psycho. Chewing with mouth open was my worst for the longest time. I could hear it so far away I hated it. But the last few years I’ve noticed one worse and that it’s the dinging nose the car creates when you open the door and the keys are in the ignition. You know you go to put a few groceries in there and end up ripping the keys out of the ignition and Chuck them so you won’t ever have to hear it again. I know it is a burst of anger if I can’t get it to stop nicely. I would say please close your mouth while your eating, if they kept doing it, got real ugly, food thrown, cleared the table. Instant rage. The key thing I was so mad and threw them it took us 45 min to find them. He wouldn’t pull them out just a little to make it stop or shut the door. I just hate the anger. I sent the clipping I read to all my family and they completely understood and said yup that’s you. Reply • Peggy on February 11, 2017 at 10:36 pm (Edit) It feels good to know this is an actual disorder! Dogs barking, gum chewing and cracking. Silverwear scraping on glass dishes, nail biting, snorting, dogs biting themselves make me feel nuts!! I actually feel enraged..wth?? The only good thing is I get over the rage as soon as the noise stops. I’ve wondered if hypnosis would help. I do notice I get stressed that my neighbors dog will start up with his barking! It’s almost as if I have “bionic hearing” once I hear a trigger noise I can’t hear anything else.. Reply • Madi on February 13, 2017 at 6:19 pm (Edit) I can’t stand the sound of people chewing, especially if they are making those annoying sounds with their mouth EVERY TIME THEY CHEW. It drives me crazy!!!! Thank goodness I’m not the only one Reply • Christine on February 14, 2017 at 12:26 pm (Edit) My fiancé snores just like my ex husband. I always wanted to tape my ex’s lips shut. He does this thing where he flutters his lips. Kina like one of the 3 Stooges when they slept. I hate it, I hate snoring. I hate it so much. I never knew this was a disorder. I just thought I was being a b!t@h. I have ptsd from the verbal and emotional abuse my ex put me and my 2 kids through. All that crap I can’t shake and now yes even breathing irritates the crap out of me. So much more. I saw a cartoon on facebook and looked the dx up. I have never heard of it….now I know ! Reply • Dawn on March 15, 2017 at 8:36 pm (Edit) Snoring is a big one for me too. Like you, I am just learning about this disorder now and I have always thought that when it comes to certain “noises” I am just a major biatch. Flip flops should be banned, in my opionion LOL. Worked with a girl who wore them in the office, all year round and the sound made me insane! Reply • Paige on February 16, 2017 at 11:05 pm (Edit) My neighbor had wind chimes ,it sounded like the Gong Show! made me nutso! I ended up putting rubber bands around them. Excessive yawning. (My husband) I actually have him eat his salad in a plastic bowl because I can’t stand the clanging and scraping sound on glass. Strangely enough I can chew gum, eat with glass bowls, clip my nails etc..I wonder why it doesn’t bother me when I do it..anyone else notice that?? Reply • Laur on March 2, 2017 at 2:17 pm (Edit) I am the same, my own sounds don’t even register, I hope I’m not too annoying to anyone else! Reply • NW on February 18, 2017 at 5:18 pm (Edit) Although I’m a calm rational adult who rarely loses his temper, the noise of someone chewing drives me into an almost instant rage. All chewing noises trigger the reaction, but particularly ‘wet’ slurping type chewing, typically the noise someone will make whilst eating fruit. The only cure is to leave the room or drown out the noise with some other sound such as loud music. Until recently I thought that I was just being intolerant, but now that I know others have the same problem it makes me feel better, although it doesn’t ease the symptoms in the slightest. It’s bad enough listening to kids eating because they haven’t learned the necessary good manners of keeping your mouth closed, but when I have to listen to my wife noisily chewing things that I don’t consider needing chewing (such as grapes) it drives me absolutely mad to the point that it has resulted in heated arguments! Reply • Jasmine on February 19, 2017 at 5:03 am (Edit) I finally found a name for it! If someone makes loud noises with their mouths such as eating, chewing, sucking, breathing. Pretty much anything, it makes infuriates me instantly and I’m extremely tempted to punch them in the face. I cannot hide my anger, I will just get increasingly angry. I actually get so frustrated and angry that I have to leave the room or I will actually do something I’ll regret. Any background noise when I’m trying to get to sleep will make me extremely angry, especially the muffled sound of people’s voices from another room or the sound of a chiller (which is just outside me room). But when I ask people to chew softer they just laugh it off or get offended. They don’t understand how much it triggers me and makes me want to break or punch something. I usually have to remove myself from any sounds that trigger my anger and spend pretty much the rest of the day angry. Reply • Catherine on February 19, 2017 at 2:37 pm (Edit) I cannot bear the sound of the unconscious hand slapping (on thighs, on furniture) that people make when they are speaking. I cannot concentrate at all when they are speaking and I find myself becoming absolutely furious. Reply • Cynde on February 19, 2017 at 11:09 pm (Edit) This illness is so real and difficult to live with. Is there any research that can help us deal with misophonia ? Reply • Murene on March 5, 2017 at 2:54 pm (Edit) Cynde I heard that there was a type of filter that can be placed in the ear to filter out noises. Please go to your ENT to see if they can help you. I suggested that to my son to do, he suffers from this. Reply • Nutbag on March 2, 2017 at 11:09 am (Edit) Misophonia means I thought I was either an a-hole or nuts. Hearing someone stomp by me with heavy feet on the floor and then me getting angry shortly after. I don’t think I knew why I was angry and rude, but maybe now I am seeing a trigger I didn’t know existed. It’s the rattling of something in a vehicle while i’m driving. Sounds of anyone chewing with their mouth open. Scrunching of a water bottle. Finger tapping. Heavy feet walking on floor. These are very specific, and many, many things don’t bother me one bit, nothing at all. So…….this has a name. Reply • Lauren on March 2, 2017 at 2:14 pm (Edit) Up until this point I assumed that this was just a quirk and that everybody had at least one sight or sound that made them uncomfortable. For me the worst offence is whistling, even if the individual is a skilled whistler i find it makes me so angry – I often have to leave the room to avoid a confrontation because I know it’s my problem – not theirs. I also struggle with cracking jaws and joints, biting fingernails, repetitive tones or words said in the same way repeatedly, crumpling paper etc. I feel very stressed and anxious when I notice these things and am not able to shake that feeling for the rest of the day, sometimes I catch myself replaying these sounds even when I’m not near people which is frustrating. It would be nice to be without it, I wish I could be more tolerant. Reply • Astra on March 3, 2017 at 8:21 am (Edit) I am 45 and have been plagued by this since I was about 11 years old. It got worse in my teens and my mom took me to an ‘ear’ doctor who said there was nothing wrong with my hearing and it was a phase I had to grow out of. I have been shamed by my family in front of others who did not know about or understand my problem, because I jerk my head away from the painful sound of sharp “s” sounds and block my ears with my hands, over the years the triggers have become more. I struggle at work when I can hear co-workers in their offices talking and also in malls when the sharp sounds like “s” sounds are the only sounds to penetrate the drumming noise of a mall. It’s been torture and being publically shamed for it taught me from a young age to hide it and to leave the room fast as I can so that it doesn’t escalate into an embarrassing moment. People do NOT understand and I feel as though I have been punished to live with this in silence (no pun intended) and this solitary torture is the worst as there is NO ONE else that I know of who shares this affliction and even if they did say they have it I would be careful to admit same because I fear being shamed for it again. Reply • Laurie on March 3, 2017 at 6:48 pm (Edit) Wow this is actually a disorder! I have had this my entire life .60+ years ..sound of chewing…ugh I have never been on any medications ….it scares me to read so many of you use those drugs… Probably for 10 -12 years now I have used HeartMath techniques to control my reaction and for the most part the irritation only lasts seconds ….going nuetral has saved my relationships Reply • Del on March 16, 2017 at 2:58 am (Edit) Hi Laurie. What do you mean by “going neutral”? I am having relationship issues due to my psychological response to sounds my girlfriend makes. I keep trying to work around it and come up with a means to deal with it, however it is not working. Reply • susan on March 3, 2017 at 9:36 pm (Edit) clacking silverware on dishes….. scraping every last freaking morsel of food from any dish whether it be plate or serving dish……… Crushed ice maker….. leaves the whistling teapot on burner forever, takes off for a second then puts back again and again… he likes to makes noises over and over for many minutes on end…. NUTS SICKO!!! blowing up or deflating an air mattress…. pretty much anything my adult brother does when he visits…..I count the seconds until he leaves….. squeaking his sneakers on the tile floor deliberately, it is all deliberate…. just to drive me out of the house…. Reply • Carolyn on March 7, 2017 at 2:37 pm (Edit) I’ve been living with misophonia for most of my life. I am a 47 year old woman and have found that as I’ve gotten older my symptoms have gotten worse and I now have more triggers. What I have found is that stress and anxiety make the noises much more elevated to the point that my ears are actually hurting. How has this affected me? I don’t go out much; not to the cinema, not to restaurants, not to concerts and generally have my ‘safe’ environments. Work is an incredible challenge for me and, when I do get the courage to let people know about misophonia, I am mocked as it’s a relatively unknown condition, well in NZ anyway, so it’s seen as a myth and I need to just get over it. Animals washing, people eating, clicking sounds, clocks ticking, too many people all talking loudly, are my worst triggers to the point that I simply want it all to stop and scream at the top of my lungs. Reply • Marianly on March 9, 2017 at 12:27 am (Edit) I cannot stand the sound of scratching, rubbing of skin, or flicking of nails. I also don’t like touching anyone or anything without having lotion. Don’t like touching other people’s hands or being touched on my bare skin (unless they are moisturized). How crazy am I? Reply • Gary on March 13, 2017 at 1:22 pm (Edit) My issue is when people rustle paper.. such as a chewing gum wrapper or any paper rustling! Also the humming noise from fridges / freezers / cooker hoods / extractor fans… Reply • Del on March 16, 2017 at 2:50 am (Edit) Determining this is the what is wrong or happening to me and it had a name was a relief. I have been dealing with the disorder since childhood and I feel it is getting worse. Chewing, smacking, slurping, turn signals, burping… just some of the sounds that mess me up. My soon to be ex girlfriend burps extremely loud, it repulses me so, I lost any desire to be with her. I have tried to work thru this but to date have not and it is leading to the end of our relationship. t points the sound of her voice is like a razor in my head. This is the 2nd relationship in which the person’s voice starts to hurt. Has any one else had issues like this? I feel like this disorder is taking control sometimes and it is frustrating. Reply • Catherine on March 16, 2017 at 9:51 am (Edit) I now realise I am not ‘odd’ or alone! I have always known I have an obsession about people making noises – breathing, gulping hot drinks, clearing their throats or sniffing. I am now 55 and my family have made fun of me from being a child because of me asking they quieten down. I am so lucky to have a job that allows me to work in different offices, otherwise I don’t think I could hold a job down. When I have to work with someone who sniffs (I can hear a sniff from 100 paces!) I take comfort in that I only have to put up with it for the day and then I can move on and get some release. Cough & cold season is a nightmare for me. I use a 5 bar gate recording system as one of my coping mechanisms – every time the person sniffs, I record it. When the torment comes to an end, I count up how many times they have sniffed. A recent record is someone at work who sniffed an average of 480 times per hour for the duration of 3 hours. I was in agony. My second line of defence is just sticking a finger in my ear as subtly as possible! I have been known to go up to complete strangers on public transport and tell them how many times they have sniffed, which has invoked a range of responses. Reply • MIRANDA LOVE on March 19, 2017 at 8:36 pm (Edit) The sound of sTyRofOaM!! To touch it is like running nails on a chalkboard, the sound makes me nothing short of hostile!.. I’m a stylist so when product shipments come in on they pack it in ….STYROFOAM peanuts. Another odd trigger sound for whatever reason is someone other than myself doing dishes.I say aother than myself because when I do dishes it doesn’t seem to affect me which leads me to believe that its trigger Association due to guilt of some sort. My son who is grown now also has some sound sensory issues, he had a really hard time when he was small. The sound of the vacuume or a blender made him rock back and forth and act out more so he was extremely hyper active as he got older this exacerbated the hyperactivity. At this point as an adult, he can’t open a bag of chips. He hates the sound and feel. He’s 21, he’ll still hand me the new bag to open and leave the room… Reply • Una on March 21, 2017 at 12:28 pm (Edit) I really hate the sound that people make when they are trying to remove the food that stuck between their teeth after eating with their tounges. It annoys me so much. I can’t help myself from getting mad. I tried million times to ignore this but I just can’t. My family can’t understand this. They said I’m the only weirdest person in the world that can’t hear this sound. I experienced this from primary school. I always questioned myself, why I became like this, why can’t I ignore this. Until I found ‘misophonia’ on the internet. If they knew how I tried so hard to find solutions to this problem. Most of the times, I will run away but when I’m stuck in the car with that sound, I feel like crying. Reply • Ender Esposito on March 22, 2017 at 9:42 am (Edit) I absolutely cannot STAND dogs licking themselves. I go into a fit of rage, and I can’t control it. It’s just so completely and utterly obnoxious! Especially when they really get into it and make that disgusting gutteral sound in their throat while they lick. I hate dogs so much simply for this reason. Why do they even need to lick themselves so much? I’ve witnessed a dog lick the same spot for about five minutes straight, without straying from the same spot. It’s ridiculous. Reply • Wonder Woman on April 3, 2017 at 6:56 pm (Edit) I have mild/moderate misophonia. I am triggered by exaggerated mouth noises in auditory media, like sibilant S’s, popping p’s, sticky mouths, especially various announcers on NPR; by soft humming, whistling, whispery voices especially if the consonants are exaggerated, whispery high voices with exaggerated consonants by children (there’s a Fuji Water ad with a child announcer that makes me CRAZY), soft clicking sounds in breathing. Interestingly, I DON’T have hyperacusia; loud machinery only bothers me because it’s loud, but not NEARLY the same response as soft repetitive sounds. All of this is worse if I’m stressed, tired, or trying to concentrate. Reply • Mary Penttinen-King on April 12, 2017 at 3:19 am (Edit) Does anyone else react to whistling, or piccolos, especially when it’s random? Random humming? I identify with a lot of the other triggers, too. Sometimes hard to avoid–I have on occasion asked people to stop, but one continued to whistle because he thought it was funny. Reply • Misophonic on April 15, 2017 at 12:20 pm (Edit) Main triggers: 1- Breathing sounds of any kind, could be heavy breathing, can even be my own 2- Chewing or crunching sounds, especially crisps (chips) 3- The whining of dogs These sounds can cause me to become distracted from work and even filled with rage. Along with my anxiety, misophonia can cause me to have panic attacks, forcing me to leave a wide range of social situations. Reply • EB on April 18, 2017 at 9:29 pm (Edit) For me, I deal with all the common triggers like chewing, breathing, and that sort. But what really gets to me sometimes is repeated words. I have a professor who constantly says “Uh, uhm, uhhh” and it makes me so twitchy. I also have a friend who, when we talk, ends a lot of her sentences with “You know what I mean?” It doesn’t always bug me but when the conversation has gone on for a long time with a bunch of repeated times that she does this, I start getting twitchy and want to lash out. Reply • Lily on April 19, 2017 at 12:29 am (Edit) I don’t know about you guys but really issues me off when I build up the courage to tell a friend I have musophonia then they try to chew their food loadly. It’s like they are testing me or seeing what happens. I guess people don’t think of it as a legitimate disorder like autism and stuff. Reply • Molly on April 21, 2017 at 11:17 am (Edit) I’m actually so glad that this is an actual disorder and I’m not insane. This would effect me greatly during my childhood to the point where I would have meltdowns all the time. My parents would spend mass amounts of money on finding a legitimate diagnosis. All of them thought I had autism because of the constant melt downs over such little things. I think it’s ironic how all them couldn’t diagnose me with something even though they have a college degree and I’m still in high school and I can diagnose myself. This disorder is literally hell. And all people see me as obsessive and compulsive, intolerant, and controlling, when really it’s more than that. The sound sensitivity puts me in constant misery and agony. I’m sensitive so many things. But the two that effect me the most is when people are sick and constantly sniffleing. The sound of their flem and snot being slurped back into their nose and throat is worst than nails on a chalkboard. Another sensitivity I have is for clicking, especially pen clicking. I’m ok once or twice but when people constantly click their pens wether it be in class, church, work, a doctors office, LITERALLY ANYWARE, it drives me insane. I really hope I outgrow this because it’s just aweful. Reply • Marie on April 24, 2017 at 5:46 pm (Edit) I thought I was the only one! I’m 21, and I’ve had this for as long as I can remember. The sound of dishes clattering (when people eat, do the dishes, etc) can fill me with rage. And it’s interesting to see that it can be stronger with people you’re close with, because it’s especially bad with my mom (who I live with), but I can usually handle going out to eat (it can be very annoying, but I can deal with that). I also get it when people chew gum, but mostly just when they chew it in this very specific way that I hate, so I can mostly deal with that if they chew it very quietly. But the sound of dishes is the worst! I always watch TV during dinner and turn the volume up as high as possible (without it getting too loud) to distract myself and try to drown out the sound of the clattering. This sounds so weird, and it doesn’t logically make sense, but I can’t help it. Reply • Lori on April 28, 2017 at 4:06 pm (Edit) Chewing (the worst is food that is both crunchy and chewy). Slurping (soup, drinks). Clinking of silverware on plates and on teeth. Typing on a keyboard (the ones that claim to be “quiet” are most definitely not). Even my husband clicking the buttons on the TV remote control. Dragging of feet while walking, and the sliding of flip-flops or clogs along the ground. Heavy thudding while walking. Eating with my family can be hard, I sometimes feel I’m at Defcon 2 the whole time. And I can’t tell them, because it’s not their fault. They don’t know, and they probably couldn’t or wouldn’t change if they did know. Had this since at least the age of 8 or so, possibly earlier, and now I’m in my 40s. It doesn’t get better, it only gets worse. Background noise works – eating at restaurants is great because it’s usually drowned out, but even then the visual cues make it hard for me to watch. It seems worse in people I know best. Maybe because I experience their company enough for the noises to wear down my defenses. People I don’t eat with often don’t bother me at all. Maybe I just need time to fixate on it? Or maybe I give strangers more leeway? I’m not sure. It’s also always a sound made by a person – not a simple noise like a dripping faucet or squeaky fan. So I think that makes this a cognitive thing, not some weird crossed wiring in the lizard part of my brain. Well, who knows. Now I’m going to go look at what others have written. I think my case is bad, but not as bad as some. It’s nice to know I’m not alone and crazy, but it’s disheartening that so many struggle with this problem and that there doesn’t seem to be a good, easy way to make it stop. Reply • collegestudent_101 on May 2, 2017 at 8:06 pm (Edit) Im in college. There’s this squeaky chair at the back of the class. Although I have told my social studies teachers multiple times to get rid of that, he doesn’t. It’s torturous and no one understands why I tell him all the time. I’m glad I don’t have it too bad, but I wish I didn’t have it and have to get irritated.It’s not only torturous to me but to everyone else as they get angry of me always asking them to be quiet or for someone else to. It’s mostly chewing, creaking and clicking. I’m so glad to not be the only one. But it’s sorta sad to know that others have to go through these struggles too. Thanks for understanding Reply • collegestudent_101 on May 2, 2017 at 8:09 pm (Edit) I have found ways around it such as ignoring it or thinking of something else but also go interact or do something to take your mind off things. I do too wish there is an easier way out of this. Reply • Billy Sparks on May 3, 2017 at 1:29 pm (Edit) I’m 56 years old and this just started for me a few months ago. I’m glad it has a name. The Dr. gave me new Anxiaty meds. today and said it might help by bringing my Anxiaty level down. I sure hope so. Time will tell. Misophonia is absolute brutal torture.I can work around power tools, hammers, saw’s, aircompressors and all kinds of noise but when I get home at night I get so stessed out and cranky my family does’nt under stand why and neither did I untill today. When my wifes dog drinks water in the other room it’s like my head is in a bell, when the dog licks himself or my daughter smokes her electronic cigarette it’s like fingernails on a chalkboard.The dog wakes me up almost every morning licking himself whitch is the most discusting thing to me but does’nt bother anyone else.Maybe now my family will understand a little better and we can work on eliminating some of these trigger’s. Reply • annonymous on May 4, 2017 at 4:48 pm (Edit) When i was very very little i was always extremely annoyed by the sounds of chewing, nose sounds in general, whispering and fiddling with plastic bags. I was just a child so i had no idea that was a disorder. Now, even though when those sounds annoy me and i’m among my family and i get so easily angry, some of my relatives just won’t take misophonia as a real thing. Some of them mock me and when i speak they say “shut up stop doing that stupid sound, i have YOURVOICEPHONIA, i get SOSISOSOSISOSOSOSO irritated that although i love them at these moments i just wanna punch them so hard in their faces when they do thoso little fucking annoying noises AHHHHHHH Reply • Tahlia on May 6, 2017 at 10:15 am (Edit) It’s absolutely ruining my life at the moment, my family hardly understand and sometimes my brothers even do trigger sounds just to upset me. There’s nothing that makes me feel mentally/emotionally or physically worse than the reaction caused by a trigger it makes me want to hurt myself or someone else and makes me want to scream and cry. It’s gotten bad again recently and I’ve been distancing myself from people a lot because I can’t stand things they do. I can’t even hold a conversation much anymore because so many things irritate me and mix that with the depression and suicidal thoughts I’m suffering at the moment I’m avoiding triggers at all costs but there’s more things that trigger me than don’t at the moment. It’s causing me so much distress ???? Reply • Tony on May 11, 2017 at 3:22 am (Edit) I am now in my late fifties, but as a child I started to notice that the sound of family members eating with their mouths open disgusted me, this became gradually worse as I reached my teens and I was caught glaring wildly at people several times by my father and punished and humiliated for what was seen as ‘my nastiness’ and aggressive behaviour. It has made relationships difficult over the years. In my early courtship days the first meal together was the acid test. The question, “Did she or didn’t she?” Was all about how she ate and nothing else. Whilst I can control my aggression these days and drive it down inside, this action is damaging, I can feel it every time. It was bitter sweet to discover that I wasn’t alone in this and that it wasn’t me just being a bad, intolerant person. But the fact that there are others who suffer does not fill me with joy. I know exactly how they feel and how non-sufferers treat us as liars, deluded or just angry or sick. There are always so called ‘niche’ disorders surfacing on news magazine programmes where sufferers tell of their distress and suffering and societies’failure to acknowledge that there is actually a problem. Raising awareness can only help. There may be many people who have never heard of Misophonia and, like I and others who have commented, believe that it was their own personal neurosis and stayed quiet, suffering in silence. Reply • Jeanette on May 12, 2017 at 8:21 pm (Edit) Gosh! I’m so glad I heard about this on the radio and decided to look it up. There are so many triggers that are me and now I know why I get so annoyed when I hear them. Triggers have caused arguments after I have made rude comments previously so now I just get annoyed and hope the situation vanishes quickly, but this isn’t good for me. I can deal with most of the triggers but am glad i know what the condition, triggers and reasons are. My real questions is this. Could it be that people who suffer from this condition have extremely sensitive hearing? Perhaps better than most others? I was often called “Radar” by my sister because I could hear things others were saying when I wasn’t supposed to be able to hear. Reply • bap on May 18, 2017 at 4:46 am (Edit) My triggers are noisy eating but I’m compelled to look, people snorting [to clear their nose / throat], screaming children, doors slamming, crockery being put down loudly and /or ‘rocking’ back and forth before it settles. One weird fact: I love it when my dog eats crunchy food even though he makes exactly the same noise as a human. Reply • Jares on May 21, 2017 at 6:07 am (Edit) The stuff that gets to me is the way my mother eats chocolate and the way my father and sister eat in general. My mother chews chocolate for what seems like forever untill there asbolutely can not be anything left to an atomic level, and she does it smacking violently and loudly. My sister for some reason has to breathe through her mouth as she eats, imagine that sound. And my father just slurps, smacks and slops, bringing up images of a slaughterhouse in my head. My reaction to these noises range from discomfort with whispers of frustratsion to genuine anger often resulting in me snapping at one of them and them wondering whats wrong with me. Other than that I get some physical reaction from the sound of metal cutlery against porcelain. I get a strong chill coursing through my entire body. Depending on the intensity I may even jolt, tensing up all my muscles and get gag reflexes. Not like I am about to throw up, just my abdomen tensing up violently. What is worst about this for me, is that my mother, when eating pasta, drills her fork into the plate with ridiculous force, sending me into uncontrolled twitching. Everytime i bring this up she gets annoyed with me. Reply • Nan on May 26, 2017 at 4:09 pm (Edit) My horrific experience with misophonia began in first grade when the teacher was explaining how to pronounce letters. I was fine until she came to the letter “S”. Ever since then I can’t stand to listen to anyone who excessively pronounces “esses”. The two other noises that drive me crazy are bass music and gum snapping. My sensitivity to these noises have ruined my life (am now 66). I am tired of wearing ear plugs but have to. My significant other over-pronounces esses and luckily he is kind enough to avoid the sounds but he doesn’t understand the physical affect it has on me. His dentist believes his tongue is tied and he can easily laser it to alleve the noise but I truly believe that people who have small teeth that have an even bite (like him) can’t help accenting that letter. Does anyone have any suggestions? Reply • Martin on June 8, 2017 at 3:20 am (Edit) Just that people understand that sounds hurt me as a punch in my head. It is not personal but please do not be angry when i go away to avoid the noise. In my imagination i punch , kick and throw people that makes the noises just to be able to cope with it if i can’t go away from it. Reply • Sandy on June 11, 2017 at 11:13 am (Edit) Whistling during every car ride is gonna kill me one of these day. My chest is gonna just bust wide open….then what are you gonna do???? Really What? Reply • Angela on June 13, 2017 at 10:57 am (Edit) I could go on about my dear husband who is a great guy and who I love dearly–except when he eats. Pediatrician asked if we had meals in front of the TV, and I said that we did. He went on about how important family time was, blah blah blah, that mealtime was good family talking time, yadda yadda yadda. Poor doctor just didn’t realize that we HAD to have meals in front of the TV–the LOUD TV–for my husband’s safety. Reply • Jocelyn on June 28, 2017 at 9:08 pm (Edit) I have something like this and I am only a child. My mother always says to ignore it and I get grounded if I don’t. I feel like I can’t control it and it just happens. Sometimes I get so frustrated I start crying and can’t stop. When I hear someone breath loudly or chew loudly, It kills me. Maybe I can tell her this so that she knows more about why it happens. Reply • Karen on July 3, 2017 at 5:45 pm (Edit) Burst into tears when I came across Misophonia this evening. For years (since I was a child, and I am now 50) I have struggled with this ‘syndrome’, and to finally realize that it’s not just be being neurotic is just overwhelming. Really overwhelming. Reply • Karen on July 3, 2017 at 7:10 pm (Edit) SO glad to read all these comments and know I am not the only one. There are a lot of sounds that annoy me but the absolute worst have to be People who smack/pop gum, clicking pens and people who jangle their keys or rattle change in their pockets. Or people that open and close something like a wristwatch clasp a purse clasp or a snap on clothing. GROUNDS FOR MURDER!!! b[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_4" _builder_version="4.10.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_image src="http://misophonia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/comment-archive.jpg" alt="Paul Dion, misophonia advocate" title_text="comment archive" admin_label="Chalk Sign: About" _builder_version="4.12.1" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]