Hurrah

[Guest guest]

Today, after having spent my holidays reading and rereading the emails of this group with excitement that i am not alone in my hatred of noises, I went to a work seminar today, with of course the usual stress levels of who would be sniffing, chewing etc. I sat next to a fellow teacher who opened a whole plastic container of gum and was about to put one in his mouth (and offer it to the whole table - nightmare!) and I said, "hey, it would be so great if you didn't eat that right now". He kind of looked startled then offered me a piece and I told him, that "I can't stand gum, I have something called "misophonia" which means that I have an emotional reaction to sound and if you put that in your mouth and chew it, I will spend the entire time thinking of ways to kill you." He could see from my serious

expression that I wasn't joking, but he laughed despite himself, and asked me many questions like whether it was related to autism, if he would prefer bad breath or chewing gum (obvious answer there), and he laughed more as he uncomfortably tried to understand it, and my face was hot as I was caught between excitement at having spoken up in a mature way before my emotions exploded, and embarrassment. Anyway, he put the gum back in his bag and I felt saved.Without having the chance to read about people's experiences and challenges, I would have dealt with that in another way which would have lead to me having a nervous breakdown, so I want to thank everyone for sharing their challenges, worries, anxieties and everything with me, I already feel lighter, less isolated, more informed, and better able to handle things and to answer questions. (even though I did spend my morning with music up as loud as possible to block

out the rooster next door, it's still a step!).