High Startle Reflex Anyone?

[Effie]

Hello everyone, newbie here. While reading the article AD/HD and Hypersensitivities: The Princess and the Pea Syndrome, the author says that before she was diagnosed with ADD she thought she was the only one who had an exaggerated startle response to the slightest noise, her example "a sneeze from the back of a restaurant could cause me to jump a foot straight up from my chair." I read that and thought "that is me!" I was wondering if anyone else has this problem, I tried to find more information on the internet but was unsuccessful. It is soo embarrassing and I would love to know if anyone else has this problem and what they do to control it, if they do anything at all.

[SB_UK]

Hi -this may help --- ADDers and sensitivity to sound --- Andrew points at the existence of other threads ... answer - 'yes' ... by the way ... one of the first things I wanted to know too ... relating to ADD ... when I first found out about the condition ... myself, personally ... I have been hypersensitized, hyoersensitive to any form of loud bang --- firework, balloon bursting ... been like this since three years old ... terrible apprehension when it comes to sudden loud noises ... and the noise itself makes my head explode --- true pain ... feels like the mind cramping ... !

SB.

[lovemytiel]

I have the same problem...it is kind of embarassing actually.

[Boots]

yeah me too.

[happycat]

Same here--not just to sound, but also to someone innocently coming from behind a tapping my shoulder--I've "attacked" more people than I care to count. I have no idea how to curb this responce, because frankly, it looks bizarre, or even like I'm trying to seek attention (becaue the best way to get people to notice you is to look like an idiot, right?)

I've just learned to have a sense of humor about it, let those you work with know that you can be a bit more reflexive, and appologize for any attacks in advance.

[FrazzleDazzle]

This reflex is also known as the Moro reflex, and is usually developed in the infancy. Occasionally, it can be retained or left immature into adulthood. It is one of the cluster of baby reflexes. In the reading and research I've done on the STNR reflex, which is also a baby reflex, I have not found much on how to correct this. I would bet there is some kind of neurological therapy that can be done to help this, with getting in the right direction with searching for information. It's mighty uncomfortable!

[Scattered]

I definately have a very heightened startle response. I'll literally leave the ground if there is a sudden loud noise. I don't know how much is my ADHD and how much is my anxiety disorder -- since I have both they're a bit hard to tease apart.

I haven't found anything that helps me control it -- terribly helpful response, I know!

Scattered

[HighFunctioning]

Noise sensitive here as well. I nearly jump every time I am interrupted at work. It's quite annoying. I'm really sensitive to everything in the environment though, including movement (shadows, light changes in general).

[tinkerbelle]

Strangely, when a loud noise startles me I jump and stomp my right foot. Can't control it, so its kinda embarassing! I had a friend who used to sneak up on me and say "boo" just to watch me jump and stomp my foot. Silly girl!

[boardtabitz]

Originally Posted by tinkerbelle

Strangely, when a loud noise startles me I jump and stomp my right foot. Can't control it, so its kinda embarassing! I had a friend who used to sneak up on me and say "boo" just to watch me jump and stomp my foot. Silly girl!

better than peeing your pants

[Crazy~Feet]

Originally Posted by HighFunctioning

Noise sensitive here as well. I nearly jump every time I am interrupted at work. It's quite annoying. I'm really sensitive to everything in the environment though, including movement (shadows, light changes in general).

Ditto, but add odd smells to the list too. Sometimes nobody smells these things but me and my DD, but trust me...they reek and distract us to no end! Curse you, Mystery Stench!

[fasttalkingmom]

Originally Posted by Effie

"a sneeze from the back of a restaurant could cause me to jump a foot straight up from my chair." I read that and thought "that is me!" I was wondering if anyone else has this problem

I'm just like this, I also scream when startled.

A few weeks back my daughter and I were in a store ( my husband was outside in the car) my husband decides to sneak up behind me. I was startled and let out a scream. That'll teach him..... Everyone stopped to look.

[SB_UK]

Regardless of ADD - most will jump out of their skin when played 'extreme noise terror' too loud ... unexpectedly ... from right behind ... ... ... but the ADDer often has a much lower threshold ... for 'stomping'

Almost as if the perceptual stream has a higher bandwidth in ADDer ... the ADDer is more sensitive ... is taking in more of the spectrum of information which is flowing from without {through our senses} to within ...
A larger volume of data streaming in through our senses would have to be handled.

Cramp occurs when the muscle loses its capacity to operate physiologically. Hyperfunctioning - non-regulated - useless - incapable of standard aerobic functionality.
To function under aerobic conditions.
The nerve has a lag phase - following firing - during which it may not fire.

Cramp for the nerve would be kinda' like a shutdown in normal physiological functioning (think your leg falling asleep) ... loss of neural functioning --- the ability to hear - by overloading the system [think a power surge which blows out circuitry} - is bad --- prevents the nerve from doing what the nerve does --- transduce outside RRReality into a perceptual stream, which'll be filtered by the sensorium and used to form our internal models of rrreality.

The ADDer would be expected to react to loud noises in this way - if the ADDer is pulling in more information from the environment and structuring this information into a form - the mind ... which is of more complex nature than the basic nonADDer model of mind. A form capable of storing a richer map of rrreality. The ADDer would also have the experiential perspective of an individual who is hyperaware - to the environment ... yes ... but perhaps --- to the environment which soaks around the afferent signals leading to mind ... from outside --- if it 's cold (external environment) ... but from the inside too ... if you're hungry (internal environment) - internal homeostatic mechanisms which reach conscious awareness ...

Darn --- all ...IMHO... :-)

SB.

[Effie]

Thank you soo much everyone. You dont know how much better I feel about this, now I know that I am not crazy.

[Lunacie]

I'm pretty sure I get the AD/HD from my dad, but I get the startle-reflex from my mom. Dad loved to sneak up behind Mom and touch her or speak to her and make her jump. He thought it was hilarious. I don't know why she put up with it.

Yesterday I was in the grocery store and some impatient guy behind me reached past me to get a bag of frozen veggies out of the cooler. I was aware he was there and didn't flinch when he reached past me, but when he began tossing the crackly noisy bag of veggies from one hand to the other... EEEP ! I almost sat down on the floor and cried.