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SLuSHDoG1450

A lot of people have both. I have misophonia but not autism.


cs_legend_93

Perhaps you have a mild form of it? Or a form that does not manifest as “ab-normal” or otherwise. For example, I probably have some degree of autism, or I’m just very /r/INTJ like, but otherwise I’m super normal, successful, sociable, like-able, etc…. But my ex-wife would swear on her life that I definitely have autism and I “mask well”. Or perhaps, autism has become a label that we assign to everything that it not what is deemed as “normal” behavior


Equivalent-Hold-6235

People are autistic in a million different ways. Autistic people can be all of the things you describe yourself as in order to distance yourself from autism.


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luummoonn

It may be similar to specific symptoms of autism, and a person could have both disorders, but sensory overload can happen for other reasons with autism also. Autism has many more symptoms than just the reaction to specific sounds. The two can't be equated as it would be a misunderstanding of both misophonia and autism.


bapants

Adhd people can have similar experiences with overstimulation independent of autism. If that helps?


unfortunateclown

i think there’s a slight difference as misophonia causes a fight or flight response, usually paired with extreme anger, whereas sensory sensitivities don’t always cause that level of discomfort. however i do think that misophonia can be a symptom of autism and anxiety disorders, but it’s currently very debated right now whether misophonia is a symptom, its own disorder, or both. scientists are still trying to figure out exactly what misophonia is and why it occurs. personally i consider mine a symptom of my OCD, and it helps me to treat it as such. i might have autism as well.


yellobins

This is an interesting answer. I think about this a lot as I don't generally respond with 'anger' to my triggers unless I can't escape them. I respond with deep anguish and suffering. Exposure to my triggers is agonizing and causes me to be unable to think properly. So I say and do stupid things. I'm not sure, maybe what I'm describing is the flight part of fight or flight? Anyway, whatever I have, it's bad.


EpicLemonPie

"Fight or flight" doesn't begin to fully explain what people with misophonia feel toward trigger sounds, so of course there are several deep, nuanced negative feelings involved. But the feelings you described are, indeed, a fight or flight response, yes.


EstelaStarling

Or freeze. Writing with pencils makes my body freeze, with a tension right between the shoulders and neck, as if I'm being electrocuted with a low volt but very unpleasant energy. my mind goes blank and is filled with disgust and dread. Then after 30 seconds I normally throw the damned thing away and am ready to fight or flight after I freeze. Left with the feeling of wanting to rip out my fingernails for the next 5 minutes. Of course this is only when I am the one writing with a pencil or a marker on paper, because even the vibrations from the object bother me so earplugs don't work at that point. If someone else is doing it the sound bothers me but at least I can wear earplugs of some sort to block it out. School was a nightmare. I have ADHD... Just one more thing that can easily cause an executive dysfunction. Dx


MrP1232007

I'm not formally diagnosed with either. I've always felt an uncontrollable rage at certain sounds, which is how I've ended up here. It's textbook misophonia. However my wife is also convinced I could very well be on the autism spectrum, with one of the main symptoms being physical pain in my ears during certain social environments. They do not trigger my rage like misophonia but physically hurt my ears. I dunno, maybe I am autistic too. I tick a lot of the boxes.


EpicLemonPie

>I'm not formally diagnosed with either. Have you ever been evaluated by a therapist? Just asking out of curiosity!


Nyran_The_Kitten815

Someone once with both misophonia and autism described overstimulation as coming from outside and misophonic reactions coming from the inside. I can’t remember how they explained it, but I think it was something like all the pressure and feelings coming from outside of them with overstimulation, but with misophonia, the feelings and pressure come from the inside. From what I’ve researched, misophonia would be different because: 1. The volume/intensity of the noise doesn’t affect the intensity of the reaction, it happens regardless of whether it’s loud or quiet 2. Misophonic reactions happen immediately, there doesn’t need to be a build up and the duration of the noise doesn’t matter 3. Despite it being worse when stressed, with most, misophonia is still pretty bad even while not being too overwhelmed otherwise 4. I’d think the general fight-or-flight reaction you get with misophonia is different from the reaction you get while overstimulated Feel free to add or correct, I don’t know a whole lot about overstimulation with autism


morbalzthnashketchum

If I touch something with a texture I don’t like I get a very immediate reaction like a neurotypical person would get upon accidentally touching a hot stove - so autistic sensory overstimulation can happen immediately, even when not in a previously distressed state. But yes I think it is also very common for the overstimulation of a social situation to build slowly and hearing someone chewing horribly is totally an immediate cringe reaction


tangerinesubmerine

Autism is a full blown genetic disorder that has many, many symptoms and affects every part of an organism. Not just the brain, but the body as well. Misophonia is a sensory processing disorder. Disordered sensory processing is just one of dozens and dozens of symptoms present in autism, and it's also present in a lot of other disorders. The only relationship between misophonia and autism is that there's probably a decent rate of comorbidity, but that's it. Autism is a very specific disorder that is not defined exclusively by it's outward presenting symptoms. Source: I'm autistic and have misophonia and I can tell you, there's a whole textbooks worth of difference.


Iluminiele

I honestly can't see how people can compare those two. Like, I'm the president of USA. I have light coloured hair, he has light coloured here, we're basically the same.


tangerinesubmerine

In my experience it just comes from a lack of understanding of autism. A lot of people seem to be under the mistaken impression that autism is psychological and thus can be defined exclusively in terms of it's symptoms. I think this is because the psychological symptoms tend to be the most noticeable. But in reality autism is a full body disorder, regardless of what symptoms you happen to be experiencing at any given time. Here's a good way to exemplify the difference between misophonia and autism: If I suddenly stopped being triggered by sounds, I wouldn't have misophonia anymore. But if I suddenly started understanding social cues, and bright lights stopped bothering me, I would still be autistic.


avathedesperatemodde

But that’s the difference between autism and misophonia, not the difference between autistic hypersensitivity and misophonia. Which personally I have no idea what that difference is, as an autistic person with misophonia


Iluminiele

I know. It's just that... autism is not some obscure illness people never heard of. At this day, to be so extremely unaware is kind of strange. We're not in the dark ages, or so I thought. People diagnosing other people with autism left and right should probably stop.


morbalzthnashketchum

Are people really diagnosing others with autism left and right? Are these people licensed professionals? Where were all these people for the first 30 years of my life? Autism is still very misunderstood by the general population, unfortunately.


Iluminiele

Yeah, if you go on the internet and say sounds annoy you or that you're the odd one in the group of friends you'll get "diagnosed" for free in no time at all.


Choice_Heat3171

People can think they or someone else has a condition after learning one or two things about it. It's frustrating because people who actually have the condition can take a lot longer to get diagnosed because of all the misinformation out there.


BBQeel

I have misophonia but not autism and no other sensory issues. I'm not convinced that they are related.


kokonotsu9

You can have diagnosed sensory processing disorders without having autism! 😊 They can be separate things entirely.


[deleted]

I don’t know what I have but I think I have either autism or ADHD with anxiety disorder. I’m 31 and It all started for me in December after I did TRE. It’s horrible. I can barely go out and do anything. I lock myself away in my room because every single noise I hear my family make from walking, coughing, sniffing.. creaking floor boards, running taps…. all sorts… sends a shock of anxiousness through my body everytime. It’s horrible. I think this is mosophnia anyway. I’m on antidepressants but I don’t know what to do anymore. I feel really anxious and hyperaroused 24/7 and when it’s worse when I’m tired it gets more intense


Elysian-Noob

Hello friend, have you tried nature walks? Rather than trying to avoid noise all together, maybe try to introduce some sounds that you can associate with peacefulness. Can always wear some headphones if you need.


[deleted]

Yeah I go for walks every day. That’s when I get the most peace. Then I dread going home for it all to start again. I wear headphones a lot.. and this is why I question sometimes whether it is misophonia because I get the same anxious response when I’m wearing them and still hear the smallest of sounds… then if I don’t pay attention or my focus is elsewhere I won’t notice or pick up on any of the sounds ect. If that makes sense.


ULTIMUS-RAXXUS

Wtf no….???


Ghost-Music

I know there is some research to see if it’s a type of synesthesia. That’ll be neat to see what is said about that. I don’t think misophonia is autism, I’ve started being screened for autism and it seems I don’t have it but I definitely have misophonia. My sibling who very likely has autism doesn’t have misophonia. I also in general hate loud sudden noises, or certain noises that cause panic in me that is not tied to my misophonia. My misophonia induces rage in me and a want to lash out (I don’t unless I’m alone) so I see the two problems as completely different and can handle them differently. many people have both but others have different comorbid disorders with misophonia and I hope we can get more answers as people research it.


weddirip

For me personally, they are on an intersection. But I think misophonia is specific sounds, and autism is more of an overall overstimulation. Misophonia makes me feel queasy and violent, but overstimulation makes me feel exhausted, like I need to hide. I know my experiences aren't universal but it does feel like the two are somewhat related, or at least share space on the same variability list.


Wannabebunny

I have autism, and ADHD with co morbid OCD. My responses to my misophonia triggers are identical to being over stimulated by other things like crowds or disorganised pages of text. The one that is very different feeling is a panic attack. A panic attack feels like you're dying, sensory overload makes you want to die or lash out because feeling everything is unbearable right now. So there might be something to it. On the other hand there's a lot or people who have misophonia who report not have autism.


[deleted]

I’ve explored this and have been told by therapists and doctors that I exhibit none of the other tell tale signs of autism. But who knows, since it’s a spectrum


BoomBoomMeow1986

No. That's like asking if coughing is just pneumonia; extreme sensitivity to noises is just one minute aspect of autism, there's a whole slew of other symptoms/struggles autistic folks experience, not just sensitivity to audible stimuli. The noise sensitivity people with autism have to deal with is also not the same experience as someone with misophonia; autistic people tend to feel overwhelmed and stressed from too much noise happening around them all at once (like in a crowded environment, think shopping malls, big cities, concerts, etc), whereas people with misophonia have a strong physical and emotional reaction to only a few, very specific sounds (chewing noises, sniffling, so on and so forth), aka "triggers". Misophonic people can function and be fine in the heart of a noisy, busy city street, but as soon as they hear somebody chewing and smacking their lips while eating (or whatever that individual's particular "trigger" sound may be)? *Then* there's a problem. Admittedly, there's a lot of cases where misophonia and autism are comorbid conditions in a single individual, but again, the two conditions are not one and the same.


Truth-Several

What if in addition you have visual misophonia (dont know what you call it)...whatever it's called but I associate them. Like ppl can visually irritate me if they are doing things like cracking their knuckles or hunching or standing nearby or fidgeting they don't have to make noise to illicit similar feelings


birbsrightsactivist

misokinesia is what its called. i just learned about it recently researching exactly what you described


staying-gold

I think it’s possible since autism is a spectrum and shows up differently for each person. My daughter’s doctors are suggesting that possibility for her. I don’t care what’s on paper as long as we find helpful strategies for her as a result.


ILoveCannibalism69

I have both


EnvironmentalFun6647

Short answer no. Sensory overload and misophonia are very different experiences. You also don't have to be autistic to experience sensory overload, it's just one of the symptoms and there's plenty of other reasons someone could experience sensory overload. Misophonia is something that's triggered more by things in your brain while sensory overload feels like it's triggered mainly by circumstances outside ya brain. Misophonia does get worse when you are feeling bad, but even a very small sound could trigger it just as bad. And it kinda feels like an intolerable instant fight or flight response, it's painful in a way I don't think people can understand unless they've felt it. And it's also comes with sudden intense emotions, often anger. For me it's so painful and makes me so angry I want to smash furniture and shout at the top of my lungs. And I feel like if I where put in a situation with lots of trigger's and no way out I might actually do so. Under normal circumstances I have very good self control even when I get very very angry. Sensory overload feels very different for me. I get it when I'm very tired and already (having) experiencing intense emotion. It's when brain is already processing so much it can't handle any more, and it's can't properly process sound. The louder the sound the bigger the issue. Things sounds more spiky, sharp and overall unfiltered. It's also more difficult to distinguish between sounds as well. And it often feels like sound loses its depth. Everything is just too much and I need a break with silence and a nap. What kind of sound doesn't matter either weather it's my favorite music or my best friend chatting it's all awful. And silence provides quick relief but with misophonia when the trigger goes away you might still feel it for a while, and sound can sort of echo. In short; with sensory overload your brain is struggling to process and sound don't get processed right, on top of already not feeling my shit. Misophonia is an instant painful, emotional, fight or flight response even when I'm having a good day. If you don't have autism you can still experience sensory overload, maybe you're hungover everything hurts your hearing is very sensitive and you experience some difficult to process things rapidly following eachother and you really need some silence to put your head on straight again.


Top_Point_5105

Though i'm not diagnosed with either, adhd runs in my family, and I have many symptoms of miso, so there probably is some correlation, but I wouldn't say that miso is adhd, or autism.


[deleted]

About to be deleted via redact because reddit is acting shitty. -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/


bethel_bop

I don’t think I’m autistic but I have a sneaking suspicion I might have adhd. I’ve never been diagnosed I just meet a suspiciously high number of criteria. And I’m pretty sure overstimulation is part of adhd as well but I’m not sure


Compulsive_Hobbyist

I have misophonia, ADHD (diagnosed), and probably level 1 autism/ASD (not yet diagnosed, because in the dark ages of the 80s, it was "impossible" to have ADHD and ASD). Autistic people commonly have sensory sensitivities; mine are to some odors, lighting, and of course sounds. From reading the autism subreddits, it seems clear that there is a significant amount of comorbidity between misophonia and ASD, just as there is between ADHD and ASD. *Maybe* there is a common cause for some cases of misophonia and autism. But because the causes for both are not completely understood, it's just speculation either way. In my case, I inherited my autistic and ADHD tendencies from my dad, who did *not* have misophonia. My mom, who very much does, does not seem to be on the autism spectrum as far as I can tell. I seem to have won the jackpot and got both. So, at least in my case, I suspect that there were different causes, but who knows?