Wow! Its not only me!

[Guest guest]

I just found there is a name for my little quirks last night and then found this group. I can remember having these noise issues ever since I was small -- I want to say I was about 9 or 10 and I used to have to eat by myself either outside on the deck or at this little desk we had in the kitchen because my parents would have us 3 kids sit at the bar to eat. My one brother would SLURPPPP his cereal and basically just make these unbearable eating noises. Always with his mouth open. I remember getting really upset. The cereal slurping always bothered me and over the years I found different sounds that I would just hone in on and get really agitated over. When I would say things to people I usually would get the response "Oh I never even noticed until you said something". How can you NOT notice someone who is POUNDING on their keyboard every time they are typing, or scrape scrape scraping the yogurt container to get the last bit every day like clockwork or the person who constantly makes the sucking the bottom of the cup sounds with the straw or the person that EVERY afternoon would start rifling around in some plastic bags to find whatever it is they would rifle around for for about 2 minutes, or the person that would clip his fingernails once a week always while I was trying to eat my breakfast ? Or wait, I just remembered the guy in the next cubicle that would sound like he was coughing things up, then he would always tear a piece of paper off of his notepad and you could hear him spit into it, wad it up and toss it in the trash (I guess that last one would/should bother anyone). This was a daily occurrance. LOL.

Luckily, I am able to work from home now so those office annoyances are no longer with me. I don't know what I would do if I had to go back to an office environment. However, when my daughter comes to visit and she likes to play the games on my computer, I hear the click, click, click, click of the mouse that drives me BONKERS. The more I try to tune it out, the more I focus on it. Or she will chew on ice cubes and I swear I could hear it from the street. My poor husband can do nothing right. The way he eats his corn (3 bites in succession), the way he eats his spaghetti, the way he twirls his fork while he is chewing, the way he clinks his spoon against the bowl after every bite of ice cream, the way I can just HEAR him eating. I cannot sit right across from him if the table is real small. I feel awful but it is so hard to deal with. The full extent of how I feel he does not know and cannot possibly understand.. I know its silly and unreasonable, but if only I could change. If I can leave the room I do. I will shut the door, but I will still hear the clink clink clink of the silverware against the dish and then I will turn on the radio or TV until it drowns out. When we go on car rides, I SWEAR he chews on Juicy Fruit just to annoy me. Juicy Fruit gum has a extra special "juicy sound" and I almost come out of my skin. I am always telling him i can "hear him chewing" and I feel like such a nag. Or the tap tap tap of his hands on the steering wheel when there is some song he likes. So many things!

Forget about movies and having people behind me with popcorn.

It does seem like more things are bothering me the older I get. I also notice when I am stressed or trying to concentrate on doing something, the sounds will bother me alot more. I am also an "anxious" person by nature. I worry about many things. I am so glad to know I am not alone! I could not believe when I read about some of the more "common irritating sounds" that it was describing all of the same ones that bug me except I probably have a few more. I wish I could shut it off.

Thanks for listening to my "woe is me" story

Vickie