hi hello allow me to explain something to you

misophonia is a specific sound sensitivity disorder. its comorbid with a bunch of other neurodivergences, but can also present on its own in severe cases

people with misophonia have a heightened awareness of sound around them (1/)

this can present or develop at any age, sometimes it gets less difficult with age, sometimes it gets worse, but generally its accepted that in people who suffer from this thing the only thing that can be offered as treatment is avoidance, cbt, and other coping stategies (2/)

there are NO medical treatments for misphonia. there is no cure for misophonia. there is no making it better. people like us who suffer from this thing will suffer with it forever. but ive not explained what it is.

misophonia is a panic disorder. (3/)

specifically, misophonia causes certain sounds to become trigger sounds, which cause immediate and involuntary discomfort, distress, often anger, and sometimes fear and panic. for us it represents in immediate heightened panic and anger. (4/)

this also causes a positive feedback loop, meaning that those trigger sounds, when heard, over time get worse and worse, especially from the eventual distress from the sufferer that these things cannot ever be avoided forever. this develops generally into anxiety/panic (5/)

due to the fact that misophonia is comorbid with OCD, it can also present in reference to visual stimuli (misokinesia), usually ones associated with certain sounds or sensations. they can often have no reason for presentation. they are not derived from trauma. they just are. (6/)

misophonia triggers can be all consuming for the person suffering with misophonia, activiting a profound fight or flight response, where the goal is either "get the sound to stop" or "get as far away as possible". this can be either a minor frustration, or, full on meltdown. (7/)

what does this mean in practise?

a person without misophonia might hear snoring and find it a little frustrating, or a minor inconvenience, but ultimately they can handle the sound and work through it. (8/)

a person with misophonia might end up screaming for the person to wake up, nudge them, slam a door so they wake up, try to go to the furthest possible from so they cant hear the sound, blast music dangerously loudly through headphones to drown out the sound, or meltdown. (9/)

and they have NO control over this thing. their coping mechanisms might have been developed over many many years of desperately trying to deal with this horrible, misunderstood and under researched disorder. they may have serious invasive thoughts about their triggers. (10/)

they might stay awake at night in a panicked haze, fearful that the sound will come back, staring at their spotify playlist, crying in fear at the next break between songs where there will be enough silence to hear a trigger sound, and have no way to escape it. (11/)

they might desperately want to lay in bed next to their loved one but ever night are awoken at 3am and their partner who has NO CONTROL over their breathing at night might be breathing in just the right heavy way to make the sufferer nudge or kick them to make them stop. (12/)

they might go to a gig and be near the front to avoid all these problems of being in the crowd and a security guard will be open-mouthed chewing gum in front of them and they have to fight every urge to lean forward and punch it out their mouth. and they live in fear of-- (13/)

--those impulses, and the swirling thoughts they cant escape fill them with so much fear of not just being a "normal" person that they spend the rest of the gig hiding their face so they can't see, but also cant see the band they came to see. (14/)

all of these are real life experiences we have suffered through without anyone knowing until very recently, and with no knowledge of what this disorder was. there is very little support for people like us and the medical community still routinely misdiagnoses us. (15/)

if any of this sounds like you, please understand that you are not alone, that we are just like you, that weve suffered with this thing our entire life, that you're normal, you're suffering, and we completely and totally understand. (16/)

if you have ever found yourself in a room and someone has asked you to chew with your mouth closed, or to stop picking at your fingernails, or to please stop chewing gum, or youve been woken by someone telling you to stop snoring and not known why, this is probably why. (17/)

please understand that when we suffer from these, we are victims of our own neurodivergence, and though we may be agitated we are not angry with you or want to be upset with you. we are doing everything we can to handle these feelings and emotions. (18/)

living with misophonia is a horrifyinhg minefield of avoiding sound while also having a heightened sensitivity to it. understand that sounds you may be able to ignore are ones that we simply CAN'T and that we have done literally everything possible to do so. (19/)

a minor inconvenience for the non-sufferer can mean a world of difference and an avoidance of meltdown from the sufferer. please understand that every time we have to try and explain this thing to non-sufferers it makes us feel more and more foolish and panicked. (20/)

a misophonic meltdown can last anywhere up to a whole entire 24 hour period, and once those triggers have been activated they are so easily reactived, and usually with a heightened response. (21/)

please also understand that while we may not be able to handle sounds other people make, we may be able to handle those same sounds coming from ourselves, because we have subconsciously tuned them our, or altered our behaviour to avoid making these sounds. (22/)

if you see someone with misophonia put on a set of headphones, please do not interact with them, they want to just tune the sounds out and removing headphones becomes a way for trigger sounds to reactivate. let us handle things in our own way unless we specifically ask you. (23/)

misophonia deserves to be respected as the mental health disorder it is, it was officially recognised in 2001 and while there has been some research there still are not effective ways of treating this disorder. it sucks. and every day is a struggle. (24/)

for more information on misophonia, please check out:

misophonia uk: http://www.misophonia-uk.org/ 
or: http://misophonia.com 
or the international ocd foundation: https://iocdf.org/expert-opinions/misophonia/

and please, if someone asks you to stop breathing so heavily, please please be kind. (25/end)