Sensory Overload Part I

One of the things I deal with on a day-to-day basis is sensory overload. I have an especially difficult time with sound and smells. Getting too much of either triggers anxiety for me. In mere minutes I will shut-down, easily break into tears, and be headed for the nearest "safe" zone I can find.

A rose by any other name...
Aisles that I avoid while shopping are ones with coffee, perfume, candles, or any other area of heavily scented products. My partner loves, loves, loves coffee, I on the other hand get headaches just from the smell. For us, there has had to be compromise in this area, but it took years to reach. Coffee was off-limits in our home so there was no coffee maker. She would get her favorite beverage from the nearest barista. It wasn't until we tried a Keurig, which didn't give off much smell, that I allowed it in our home. When shopping I avoided the coffee aisle like the plague. Jen will walk right into the middle of the aisle and I wander into another area waiting for her to catch up.

Neither of us wear perfume, so that isn't as big deal. We do have friends who wear it and that is where I have problems. Two of the most intense scents for me is patchouli and musk. Both bring about headaches and I get a feeling much like being claustrophobic. It is almost as if I am enveloped in it and cannot get away from it. This of course brings on a feeling of anxiousness, terror, and the urge to flee. It also makes me unreasonably angry. I think this is because I feel trapped and want to get away, but can't.

Where we get into real trouble is in the candle and plug-in scents. Jen really enjoys lighting candles and changing the scents in our house throughout the seasons. For me it is a sure-fire way to set me on edge. As we are shopping she'll bring up different scents and tell me to just smell it. I've learned to keep it far away and take a light whiff because we don't always see eye to eye or nose to nose. Those nice flowery scents that she enjoys so much tend to start me sneezing, bring on a headache, and have me headed for fresh air. I made the mistake of bringing a new plug-in scent into our home. In the store I thought it was one that I could handle. Boy was I wrong. Jen had plugged it in, unbeknownst to me. When I started to realize that I was getting antsy and that there was a new smell in the house, I finally asked. Within the next 15 minutes I must have asked Jen about it 20-30 times. We finally had to unplug it and spray citrus NuetraAir to clear out the smell.