Hello there, I noticed your wrote this a couple of months ago hopefully your still there .

I show symptoms of SPD but haven't been officially diagnosed yet. When I asked my psychiatrist he said I'm just really sensitive to a lot of things but should work out with my Occupational Therapist what I'm really dealing with here.

These sensitivities cause me excessive amount of anxiety whenever I hear a loud noise, whenever I go out into the bright light. Or even when the sun comes down the change of lighting causes me great distress. I also cannot go out into public because that ambient chit chat coming out of everyone's mouth drives me insane.

That's now, Currently I'm on a couple of medications. But I'll get to those later.

Before I was a wreck, I couldn't leave the house no matter what. I couldn't even handle the kitchen because the fluorescent light was bugging me. My mind felt as if it was drifting away from my body and anxiety started to hit real hard so I mostly kept to myself in my room with a special light I bought in which I can change the brightness settings and colour temperature. I could barely handle a conversation with my relatives, the noise from the talking and the detail in their face drove me up the wall. That gives you a slight idea of what I'm experiencing.

You can watch my YouTube video for more information. I plan on making some more regarding SPD and about the other unrelated symptoms I've been experiencing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV3ftPkLrcU

Now as I explained before I'm taking two medications, three if you count my benzodiazepine (the addictive one).

The main one that deals with my anxiety is an anti-depressant. I take Lexapro. I take double the highest recommended dosage of 20mg which is 40mg and after 6 months of raising the dosage to that level it's finally starting to work for me. Noting it usually takes 4-6 weeks for an SSRI anti-depressant to start working.

Now I remember you are worried about side effects of this group of medication. May I ask what in particular you don't like. I know for me being the young man I am, I'm dealing with some Sexual Side effects and that can be quite annoying. But I have found I cannot function in society without this medication and now I'm on it and it helps I'm giving it my best shot. But I understand that whatever your side effects you may not want to deal with that for the rest of your life and I certainly don't want to deal with it either. So next time I visit my psychiatrist I'm going to ask what I can do to lower those side effects.

Do I supplement it with another medicine. Or...
Do I switch medicines with another Anti-Depressant that treats anxiety disorders.

I know it's hard but you have to try and work out which is best, these side effects from the Anti-Depressant or the Anxiety. If you are indeed dealing with SSRI Sexual Dysfunction. I've done some researched and have found there are some options to take. Some people add Buspirone to their medication regime and that can help. There are some other options but I won't worry about going there unless you can confirm this is a problem.

Some other side effects I'm experiencing is ringing ears (which with my SPD-like symptoms that can become quite overwhelming) and Dry Mouth. But side effects can be different for everybody. But note that there are many anti-depressants used to treat anxiety and you can always try another until you find one that doesn't have an as strong side effect profile.

Now I also take a benzodiazepine, I'm on an average strength one it's not quite as addictive. It's called Oxazepam. I take that 40-60 minutes prior to going into sensory stimulations areas and it lasts for 5 hours but you cannot take it too often. For example I limit myself to once a week so I don't get addicted or build up a tolerance. But I see you have a job and I must admit I would find that extremely difficult and I feel for you. I'd say the easiest route is the anti-depressant.

Otherwise you could book yourself in for some Psychology sessions around Anxiety and find an Occupational Therapist that deals with Sensory Modulation for adults. I've only just started seeing one now, I'm a little sceptical but all I can do is hope for the best.