Grateful to find this group!

[Guest guest]

I just wanted to introduce myself before I jumped in and responded to too many

messages.

I saw the Today show piece last week and immediately called my Mom to tell her

that we aren't so weird and alone after all! She said she was going to let her

sister know because we all have this issue! And so did my grandfather.

I positively cannot stand chewing, smacking, crunching noises when people eat.

Depending on my mood, it can make me anything from anxious and feel like crying,

to irritated to downright angry. I'm usually able to cope as long as there is

background noise. Our family eats dinner watching TV, rather than around the

table(unless we have company or it is a special occasion like holidays) because

this provides the necessary distraction and background noise for me to be with

everyone and covers up the eating noise that they can't help but make. For

dinners around the table, as long as I am eating and there is active

conversation, I can cope. My kids take it in stride when I nag them incessantly

about chewing quietly. I try to use humor as much as I can to cover my stress

when I am with them, and when I tell them to step FAR away from me when they are

eating things that are bugging me.

I am also highly irritated by sneezing, coughing, throat clearing,loud yawning

etc.(basically any noises that most men make on a regular basis, sorry guys)

One single reasonably quiet sneeze, and I'm okay. But the repeat sneezing make

me want to scream, which means my husband is high on my irritation list. He

sneezes 4 or 5 times in a row, with that last one being an explosively loud one.

When he starts to sneeze, I have to plug my ears (I did as a child when my dad

sneezed too). And my husband is a loud yawner too. I also get irrationally

angry when I hear screaming kids, which makes being around some of my friends

kids very difficult. My instant reaction is wanting to yell at them, or get up

and run out of the house which isn't fair to them, they are just being kids, but

Oh.My.God.

When I get too stressed, I just have to remove myself from the room and go be

alone for awhile, so I guess you could say I give in to the " flight " urge pretty

regularly. I just don't want to cry in front of people or have to explain why I

am angry at " nothing " .

I also react by doing everything I can NOT to make the noises that irritate me

when I am around others. I figure that if I get so irritated at others, I don't

have a right to make the noises I don't want them making. I am told I sneeze

like a mouse, I yawn silently, and I rarely eat crunchy food around anyone.

Sorry for the length of this post, just glad to find others that might be able

to relate to these feelings and looking forward to having a place to talk to

others about this.