AD/HD and Hypersensitivities

oh yes I'm hypersensitvie to MANY of the things you listed

I can't stand the smell of cigarettes or car fumes, I get easily car and boat sick, I'll even get dizzy if I keep my head down for to long or if spin around a couple of times.. I'm deffently hypersensitive to sounds especially to ticking clocks. I'm often too hot or too cold.  I crave beeing barefoot, so from may to september, I wear flipflops only and walk as much barefoot as possible. I'm claustrophobic and I just can't stand wearing pantyhose;) I do sometimes feel that hugging and kissing is uncomfortable but mostly I'm extremely cuddly, but only with my boyfriend, it seems to me I have to be close to the person to be ok with hugging or kissing he/she

I'd known that people with ADHD occasionally have hypersensitivities, but hadn't thought of being a texture-eater as being part of that. I get odd looks when I tell people that it isn't the taste of onions that gets me, it's the texture. I seem to have the ability to find a finely minced piece of onion in food, even coleslaw. My step-mom used to think that she was pulling one over on me when she'd put the onion through a blender to puree them. It was years later when she told me that she'd been doing it all my childhood. The look I got when I said that it was never the taste, but is texture, and that she was doing me a favor so I could have them without gagging. It's not just onions either, it's also mushrooms tomatoes and peppers. (there goes the majority of Mexican foods. sigh...)

I am also hyper sensitive to clothing tags, jewelry and it seems to get worse as I get older. I can't wear any of my jewelry any longer, unless it's for only an hour or two at the most. I can't wear a watch, and I can feel when a single hair falls onto my shoulder or arm. (I keep my hair very short because I can't stand it in my face.

I can usually smell...

- A head that hasn't been washed in 24 hours;

- An unwashed face;

- Rotten eggs on a clean drinking glass that others think smells fine (my parents have the same 'skill' / problem);

- Phosphate in cheap wine (funny story about this: I won a free bottle of wine in a wine bar from a waitress who thought I was being overly-fussy; proved her wrong by distinguishing between wine that came straight from the bottle and wine that was pumped from a container using a chemical mechanism for preservation; it was eerie, however, that there were perhaps 150 people in that massive wine bar, each seemingly enjoying their chemically-pumped wine immensely; hypersensitives may just make great wine tasters.);

I can hear...

- People chewing with their mouths closed. It irritates me. At the age of 2, my niece would tell as though she were being tortured if her father made a particular sound with his lips, barely audible, but audible to her, from another room. That's when I knew we were wired this way. I often wish she had only inherited out positive traits. But alas. Now someone else in my life shares this strange idiosyncracy with me;

- Low, baritone-like vibrations from things happening far away. If they don't have a constant rhythm, they are impossible to ignore.

It may be that our senses are more sensitive to stimuli, but it may also be that the raw data we take in are in the normal range--perhaps others can selectively ignore what we cannot. However, this wouldn't quite explain, on its own, the smell of rotten eggs in the glass.

Screaming is unbearable, but I can handle loud music, provided that it's kept at a constant volume.

Maybe we're plagued. Maybe we're exceptionally gifted, not with a sixth sense, but with 5 ultra-powerful ones.

I had no idea, i just thought it was me. wow!!!!

I am not alone, yea me!

i am extremely sensitive to sound and movement. sometimes i think it's distractibility, other times i think it's just being aware of my surrounds. I am ADHD. I pick up on the slightest movment or sound. it interfers with my work because EVERYNOISE catches my attention..

Thanks for the mention of beach sand. My friends think I'm so strange, because I love the beach (in theory) but absolutley hate the texture of sand on my feet, and take great pains to avoid it by wearing platform flip-flops, walking carefully and slowly, and washing my feet in the ocean when any sand gets on them. I also can't sleep without socks or ever go barefoot. (When I was a child, sock seams gave me a lot of trouble, too. If they weren't lined up just perfectly, I would say that they "hurt" me, because I didn't know the word for "uncomfortable" or "irritating"). The feel of smooth concrete on my feet is the WORST, although as an adult, I don't encounter that sensation so much.

I've focused mostly on sensory issues dealing with my feet, but others also apply. With my hands, I cannot bare to touch burlap or certain types of cotton fabric, such as stiff low-thread-count sheets. Peaches, apricots, and dry potatoes also cause me issues (although I can touch wet potatoes without cringing). Cloth in my mouth is the worst thing I can think of (I hate it when I'm watching a movie and a kidnapper shoves a sock in his victim's mouth. I think that would be more traumatic for me that the kidnapping itself).

All of the textures I've mentioned above inspire in me the same sort of uncomfortable, tingly, cringe-worthy, hair-standing-on-end sensation as the fingernails on a chalkboard response that is so familiar to "normal" people, and that example is usually the only one I can conjure to help said "normal" people understand my tactile quirks. Thanks for posting this entry and helping me feel a little less strange and alone in my sensory issues.