Re: Hormonal connection to Misophonia?

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Hi,I haven't found a significant difference re hormonal or not; although, my husband tends to feel that I have become more sensitive to sounds since am pre-menopausal. I will; however, start to observe my cycles more closely and note whether I am in fact more affected. If it is hormonal, I'm wondering what the proportion of males vs females are afflicted by this. Anyone have any explanation as to why males also have this condition if it is hormonal?Margaret To: Soundsensitivity Sent: Thursday, June 7, 2012 1:24:33 PM Subject: Re: Re: Hormonal connection to Misophonia?

Thanks for the positivity. I do fear an increase as the age for peri-menopause encroaches. Oh the joy of being a woman! Thankfully I am not on the extreme end of sensitivity for misophonia but at certain times, i.e. phases of my cycle, I am very close to it. I am thankful for this group and the knowledge that I am not crazy.

Thanks for these very significant observations.

It has long been known that otosclerosis (stapedial fixation) is often triggered by childbirth. See Darwin Letter 7731, which also refers to a dog which was disturbed by B Flat on a flute. Wilde (1853) says "Many females have become deaf immediately after parturition. In such cases I have generally observed a speckled opacity of the [tympanic] membrane". So clearly there is something odd going on in the inner and/or middle ears.

I have also looked in detail at the literature on post-partum depression, concluding that formulating this as due to stress or hormone disturbance has not helped understand its mechanism. Likewise, with the common problem of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (morning sickness), which is clearly allied to motion sickness.

There is in fact a simple common mechanism for these disorders, a sudden loss of body weight, leading to disturbance of water balance and a drop of inner ear pressure. This in turn leads to Meniere Spectrum Disorder, with many psychologically distressing symptoms, including audiosensitivity. For evidence that MSD occurs in early pregnancy, see J Lar Otol 2001;115:617.

There has been enormous hostility on this site to the idea that ear disorders can lead to misophonia, so it would be helpful if you could elaborate on how you think something that can start out as a purely peripheral auditory/vestibular problem can end up involving other senses and emotional circuits in the brain.

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> > > A colleague of mine has remarked on the coincidental timing of misophonic onset with hormonal changes and imbalances. We are interested in exploring this link, and value your feedback.

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> > > From what we have read, hormones modulate sensitivity to the outside world, control aspects of the brain and make certain tendencies more or less capable of eliciting behaviour. What is the interplay between the brain and hormones as related to misophonia? Is this where we should be looking for answers? And if so would hormonal therapy produce results?

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> > > Puberty is quite obviously in the equation, but we wonder whether anyone with later onset misophonia can recall hormonal changes/imbalances around that time? Or perhaps another "trauma" of sorts that may have kicked off a hormonal change? Hormones play a major role in the fight/flight response, and apparently can produce rage as well ( just consider the effects of P.M.T ).

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> > > Anyone out there have a better knowledge of all this, and can comment and help with this avenue of investigation?

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> > > Many thanks,

> > > Tara

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> > > We look forward to your replies.

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