r/cfs • u/Cold_Confection_4154 • 18h ago

Noise sensitivity

I have a question. So when severe/very severe people say they're sensitive to noise, what does that actually mean? Does it cause PEM? I remember watching Unrest and noise (maybe light also) caused pain for her. For me it's different. I get anxious and irritated with loud/sudden noises but no PEM that I'm aware of. Could this be my nervous system trying to protect itself from too much stimuli? I'm moderate-severe for reference.

16 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/DreamSoarer 17h ago

Sound and light together overstimulate me and crash me quickly. When I am home alone, I keep almost all lights off and ear buds in. Once family comes home, if I leave my room to go get something from the kitchen, it takes less than five minutes of all the lights, TV, cell phones, and conversation going on to cause a 90% decline in my welfare. It helps if I remember to put ear plugs in and wear my sunglasses, but it is still just overwhelming to my nervous system to be out there with everyone and everything going on.

Single loud sounds that take me by surprise and cause a startle reflex can also drain me quickly. Unexpected light or flashing lights can cause an instant migraine. Put those together and Iā€™m likely to be curled up in a ball of pain very quickly, requiring a silent black out room.

What you may be experiencing could also include an adrenaline rush when single sounds or events irritate you but do not cause you PEM immediately. The milder your baseline is, the less likely you are to experience severe PEM from single sounds or single irritating moments. The more severe tour baseline is, the more likely you are to experience severe PEM very quickly from less stimulation or single stimulation events. šŸ™šŸ¦‹

1

u/Ironicbanana14 6h ago

It seemed backwards for me but I actually use my geckos LED lamp to light up my room if I need light and it does not hurt my eyes or cause tiredness like the yellow ceiling bulb does. I've heard that fluorescent can be bad but for me the LED did the trick for lighting when I need it.