Hi! My name is Indigo, I'm 18, and was diagnosed with SPD a few months ago.
So here's my story :] my family always considered me a picky eater as a child but as I got older it got worse and worse. I only eat cereal for breakfast, a quesadilla/pb&j/or grilled cheese for lunch/dinner. If I don't eat these things it practically ruins my day. I will feel sick and distraught.
I realized I have a criteria, if you will, for food. I can't handle foods that smell or taste strongly. I can't handle foods that mix textures and temperatures too much, such as a hamburger. If I did eat something that violated these rules I would feel physically sick. Until I got better about deciphering menus and knowing exactly what to expect, I would order off the kids menu to play it safe. You don't know how humiliating that is, especially on a date.
Now, I've never consciously lived my life by these "rules." I followed them but I never actually thought about them until recently. It wasn't until friends in high school started making fun of me for how I ate that I started wondering if something was different about me.
I went through a few different physicians who never brought up SPD, (I didn't know it existed prior to my diagnosis) who simply wanted to prescribe me anxiety medication on the spot. I finally met with a wonderful woman at Children's Hospital who brought up SPD. I checked off everything in the checklist for gustatory/oral sensory defensiveness and even some on the tactile defensiveness checklist, about fabrics. (but that story is for another day.)
It was such an incredible relief to know that I'm not just crazy - it is a real thing and real people like me have it.
Much love, Indigo