My daughter (13) cannot tolerate anyone chewing around her or drinking beverages around her. I wondering if anyone can offer any suggestions on how to deal with this. Is this common? She resorts to mimicking everyone in the house, and we all feel self-conscious about eating now. Any help would be appreciated.

My daughter (13) cannot tolerate anyone chewing around her or drinking beverages around her. I wondering if anyone can offer any suggestions on how to deal with this. Is this common? She resorts to mimicking everyone in the house, and we all feel self-conscious about eating now. Any help would be appreciated.

My 16 yo is like this and it drives me nuts... :eek:

I have a jaw that clicks when I chew some foods. She yells at me not to chew. She will not be able to eat if she hears someone chewing or swallow she says it makes her feel sick.

I can't offer any advice, sorry

I hate the sound of slobby loud eaters and slurpers ugh right now I am at a library PC and there's this girl at the PC slobbering gum like a cow chewing cud and she's slamming on that keyboard so bad I can't even keep my train of thought and waiting for medicine to take effect...

I cannot stand the noises of eating and drinking, it sends chills down my spine, and sets me off. I have been this way as long as I can rememeber. I used to yell at me family and friends like your daughter. Now I do my best and leave the table or room when it is so bad for me. I know it is just me because the rest of familyis not bothered by it. I am over thirty years old and I am still working on this!

I'm the same way about having people chew or even yawn around me...drives me nuts. I started to pray that I would be nicer to my family and I think it helped. Also, when something like chewing bothers me I try to wait a second before I react to make sure I want to react and much of the time I don't.

most sounds an tast sight makes me feel sike cos the over wellmoeing stitioans yawning i can shrg that one off THE TV an other things drive me mad though dorm

Yeah, I think my ADD causes me to pay 'hyer-attention' to certain things. I just got home from the movies. There was a kid three rows back eating popcorn with his mouth open. Things like this drive me crazy. I hate the sound of people breathing through their mouth and eating with their mouth open.

I am trying to take a deep breath and count to ten and let these things slide off my back, but, it's so hard for me.

It is nice to hear that I am not alone.

I have the same problem! I'm 21 and this has been one of my greatest struggles for quite a while. Chewing, swallowing and, throats, and sniffling drive me CRAZY! I know what you all mean...I feel like I'm going to explode, it's painful to my earts! It makes it very hard to eat at the dinner table with my family or eat with my boyfriend. This problem really upsets my family and they don't understand at all. Playing music while we're eating helps me a lot, but still requires effort on my part.

Yeah, I forgot to mention sniffing. I agree that background music helps. Also, I found lighting some candles helps, even though I can still hear the sounds, the melodic flow of candle-light seems to ease my hyper-focusing.

I can't express to you enough just how much of a relief it is to see that other people are sensitive to these sounds. I always thought I was crazy or something. :D

Whoa! I thought I was the only one! I cannot stand to hear people chew ice, chips, mouth open, breath while eating.....the list goes on. I doesn't make me sick but I irratates me almost to rage! I can't even stand to hear myself eat chips sometimes.

The only thing I can do is walk away or put headphones on. I try so hard not to say anything but my husband can tell just by the look on my face. But yu know it does not happend every single meal...hmmmmm.... I wonder if it only bothers me when I am tired or already irratated. :rolleyes:

Music can help soothe the ADD beast. I have some similar sensitivities, but I find that if we play music that I really enjoy listening to, I hear the music more than the other noises.

heh... my wife has bad allergies... in the warmer months she has constant sniffles... While I know she can't help it, it still really gets on my nerves. When it gets to be too much, I'll get up and get her an allergy pill... which sometimes makes her mad... because she can tell I'm annoyed... but hey.. it's her or me... ;)

That's ok... She can't stand when I crunch ice... and I do it all the time... until she starts unconsciously grinding her teeth... then I know I have to stop or face the consequences of a lonely nite.:eek:

My daughter (13) cannot tolerate anyone chewing around her or drinking beverages around her. I wondering if anyone can offer any suggestions on how to deal with this. Is this common? She resorts to mimicking everyone in the house, and we all feel self-conscious about eating now. Any help would be appreciated.
Reply: I am an adult and I cannot stand the sound of chewing. I put ear plugs in = I can still hear most conversations but it cuts out the chewing sounds. At the movies when someone is chewing behind me I stick my fingers in my ears until they are done (if I forget my ear plugs). It's just a sensitivity to sounds. I am musical and I work at a job where I am on the phones and I tend to pick up more conversational nuances than most customer service agents.

I don't think this is actually an ADD thing, just a personality thing. I'm the non-ADD spouse in our household and it drives me nuts to listen to my husband eat or drink. It sends me into about the same silent rage as someone cutting you off in traffic.

I am a parent of two, and didn't start feeling this way until about 2 or 3 years ago. If you don't mind bending the household rules a bit, here's what I do: Try watching a sitcom together during dinner so her mind can be on something else. Or try letting her eat in a different room. You can make up the family time together after dinner, helping her do homework or at bedtime.

Just remember that to her it's very real, very aggravating, and may be making her sick to her stomach. It also may be very temporary,...something she can outgrow or learn in time to accomodate by herself (she's gonna have to if she ever wants to date ;0) )

any nose thats unwellcome makes me itralable an seeing red so i know what you mean dorm

I can't tell you how relieved I was to read this. Myself and my brothers and my sister have always been a nightmare with over sensitivity to the sound of crunching or any 'eating noises'. It has caused so many problems with family meals and I always thought that we had somehow 'learned' this behaviour from my Dad, who is awful too. My poor Mum could never understand what was going on with us all........I have 4 children and 2 of them have the same problem and both are ADHD. The 2 that aren't don't understand it either. Makes me think it must be an ADHD thing?

OH MY GOSH!!!! This is so cool - learning that I'm not alone on some of this stuff!!

I usually get up from the table.

If my husband comes in chewing ice, I just glare @ him - he knows I can't STAND that sound.

I hate the sound of chewing as well. I suggest getting her some noise cancelling headphones. I use them, and I can still hear conversation, just not the chewing.

Ha!, I thought I was crazy!

I especially hate the sound of croutons crunching!

Another one is when people slurp their soup. Drives me nuts. :rolleyes:

Ah yes slupring! My DH slups his coffee when it is hot... Also eating salad is a double whammy crunches croutons and slups the itailian salad dressing off the fork when he eats it...aghhhhh:mad:


Just last night I was laying on my bed watching TV and he comes in with his drink plops down next to me and starts chewing ice. Like WTH???? He can't remember not to do that around me... it makes me sooooooo irratated and I make such a big deal about it all the time.

I would rather hear nails on a chalkboard than someones eating noises!

It drives me MAD!!! I can't eat around other people at all, I just want to smack anybody I hear chewing. Been that way my whole life.

My daughter (13) cannot tolerate anyone chewing around her or drinking beverages around her. I wondering if anyone can offer any suggestions on how to deal with this. Is this common? She resorts to mimicking everyone in the house, and we all feel self-conscious about eating now. Any help would be appreciated.

Hmmm this is sensory issues I guess it fits. I can’t stand to hear or SEE people eating with their mouths open. Others have given such excellent advice I can’t think of a thing to add.

Except I have problems with certain other sounds that I find more irritating than chewing. I have a hard time with slurping, Gary thankfully does his coffee slurping in another room.

I can’t stand to hear my animals licking, or chewing on them selves. Every one of them knows to stop and remove them selves from my presence when I yell “stop it”. . . . .ya know cats even understand after a while. (slipper chunck)

I what make me feel ill is “harking” like trying to hack up phlem. . . . .oh jeez!

I don’t know if it ADD or not but I have very sensitive hearing. I can hear people talking on Gary’s cell phone from across the room. . . . . .I can’t do casinos the buzzing, and dinging bouncing off all the walls. . . . . .the first week or so of American Idol can be rather painful also. I am with Dorm on this one the TV sound can bother me if it is up loud. Although the newer ones are better they still have a whine which prevents me from being able to sleep with them on in the same room

Does having an annoyance of people eating, or chewing... or rustling in their popcorn bags and shoving popcorn into their mouths constitute ADD?

WW

I wouldn't say that it constitutes ADD. My son is inattentive and does not have "sound" issues. I am sure there are non-add people out there that have an adversion to certin sounds.

ADD people are just lucky enough to be able to pay attention to serveral things at the same time. The chewing rustling slurping just may be in the range of sound that irrataes certain ADDers.

DD

Whenever possible I find excuses to eat in solitude, especially when I'm in the company of someone that can't shut his or her damn mouth. When I was younger I would imitate the offenders chewing to exaggerated effect but that would just offend.

For the interested, the concept that we are alluding to is related to latent inhibition.

From wikipedia:

Latent inhibition is a process by which exposure to a stimulus, of little or no consequence, prevents conditioned associations with that stimulus being formed. The ability to disregard or even inhibit formation of memory, by preventing associative learning of observed stimuli, is an automatic response and is thought to prevent information overload. Latent inhibition is observed in many species, and is believed to be an integral part of the observartion/learning process, to allow the 'self' to interact successfully in a social environment.
...
Most people are able to shut out the constant stream of incoming stimuli, but those with low latent inhibition cannot.

:soapbox::soapbox::soapbox::soapbox::soapbox:

Alright my ADHD friends, so why is this important?

Abnormal latent inhibition and impulsivity in coloboma mice, a model of ADHD - Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity. The coloboma mouse model of ADHD exhibits profound hyperactivity. To determine whether coloboma mice exhibit other signs of ADHD, we assessed latent inhibition as a test of attention, and impulsivity in a delayed reinforcement paradigm. Latent inhibition was present in control mice but was disrupted in coloboma mice. Coloboma mice also exhibited impaired performance on the delayed reinforcement task and were not able to wait as long as control mice to obtain the greater reinforcer. Because norepinephrine mediates hyperactivity in coloboma mice, we examined the role of norepinephrine in disrupted latent inhibition and impulsivity.
...
In summary, coloboma mice exhibit hyperactivity, inattention as determined by latent inhibition, and impulsivity, and norepinephrine mediates hyperactivity and inattention but not impulsivity in these mice.




Go over to the Strattera sub-forum and you'll notice that people celebrate the ability of the drug to enhance their selective attention. What does Strattera do? It re-uptakes norepinephrine. It regulates latent inhibition.

Latent inhibition is also correlated with creativity, btw:

http://www.nidsci.org/pdf/carson-peterson-higgins.pdf

I have been struggling with this as long as I can remember. I have lost relationships over this and feel like I am struggling through a horrible curse for my entire juvenile and adult life.

I have friends who, to me, seems like they are eating like pigs. I have one friend who chugs his drinks with such extreme volume that you
could hear his awful gulping sounds two rooms away. Another friend eats so incredibly loudly (even with his mouth closed) that I just want to club him with a baseball bat!

Even today, the reason I am on this board is that my g/f has decided (once again) to eat loud, crunchy, distracting food right before bedtime. The worst part is, despite the innumerable times I have BEGGED her not to eat loud crunchy food near bedtime, she continues to do so.

I think the problem is that she has no idea what is going on, as this doesn't affect her whatsoever, so she forgets. The sad part is that it sends me off so much, that I end up going to a different part of the house, sequestering myself sometimes for hours until I grudgingly go to bed.

Sometimes the reaction is severe: I get a headache, feel nauseated
and get very very angry.

I tell everyone the same thing: While it might be a hassle for them (my immediate mood swings and repeated requests for them to "eat quieter"), it is FAR worse for me. I'm stuck with it every single day of my life - they'll never know what it is like.

Well, knowing that this is a condition that others have struggled with makes life marginally better as now I can pursue some course of mitigation.

Although, sitting here and typing this, I am tortured by the sound of her crunching running over and over in my head - I just can't seem to kill it once it's in there. I hate that it alters me for minutes to hours afterward.

A.

It could be "misophonia", related to "hyperacusis".


(a) Individuals whose hearing sensitivity is focused on eating/chewing sounds: Some individuals are not sensitive to loud sounds (in other words they have normal loudness discomfort levels - LDL's) but they are unable to tolerate the sound of people eating or chewing. Oddly enough they have no problem tolerating the sound of their own eating.

These individuals have a difficult time eating with their family and friends and some insist on eating all by themselves. They become enraged at meals and sometimes even start to shake or convulse. This is not hyperacusis.

The patients primary goal would be to neutralize the dislike they have on eating sounds. Most of these individuals live very normal lives with the only exception of being unable to tolerate all the dynamics of other people eating. Often these individuals have been unsuccessful finding any information about this condition.
The Hyperacusis Network:
http://www.hyperacusis.net/hyperacusis/3+types+of+sound+sensitivity/default.asp

Message Board post on Misophonia:
http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/danmalcore/vpost?id=690883

Post on eating noises:
http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/danmalcore/vpost?id=1380172