Hi all,

I have a pretty amazing Mom and she has been reading up on SPD ever since I started seeking a diagnosis. When I was little I was diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder and she told me the other day that she really thinks that many of my issues from childhood were sensory related.

Anyways, my Mom is a social worker and she asked me the other day if there was any relation between SPD and panic disorders. I think that there would be, but I didn't have a satisfactory answer for her. I told her I would post her question on here and let her know what the responses were.

Thanks!

Jaimie

I do get some panic attacks from sensory issues. Usually if I am in a crowded location and people are light touching me all over my body. I will freak out and try to flee.

I love to dance, but will only do so on a mostly empty dance floor. I will leave the dance floor the second one person "hits" me so that I don't have a break down.

Certain sounds will cause me to be hysterical. Off-key singers is one of them. I start saying all sorts of aweful things about the singer and how I will kill them. I can't stop myself. I have never hurt anyone, it isn't in my nature. But I have an active imagination and since I verbalize my "pain" in the form of verbal threats it upsets the people around me.

Interesting
I am diagnosed with OCD, and you may know that panic goes with OCD. There are times when I collapse to the floor and curl up in a ball. I cover my ears, put pressure on my head, push myself against walls, and become silent. My vestibular and proprioceptive senses get so bad that it becomes hard to walk. I had these episodes last semester after psychology class. My psychology teacher suggested that they may be really severe panic attacks. So, yeah, I think there is a relationship between SPD and panic disorders.

I have seen the fast positive effect on adults who are throwing tantrums if you just turn off the lights in the room they are in. Everyone just kind of stops and some of them come out of their tantrums.

I have seen certain smells make a person with Bi-Polar go Manic. She only came out of it when the offending food was taken far away and disposed of. Her daughters are diagnosed with SPD, but I am fairly certain she has it as well.

The only things I have heard are anecdotal, as far as this is concerned, but I think it would make sense if SPD and panic disorder are related because making the senses go overboard (or underboard, as it were) would cause the body to assume danger, ergo, panic. I have panic disorder, and since I've been working with my SPD symptoms, I've noticed almost all my panic episodes are sensory related.

I have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety (pretty sure SPD, but not officially). I've had a few panic attacks over the years. My son was diagnosed with SPD and also has anxiety. I'm not sure if he's had a panic attack, or if he would have the language to tell me if he had.

I would think that there would be a correlation between SPD and panic attacks/disorder. Seems to make sense that they are related or that sensory input could trigger the panic.

I have SPD and used to have panic attacks more often, but those were related to an event when I was younger.

Although I feel like the anxiousness I feel when in a bad SPD situation is completely different from when I have an anxiety attack.

My anxiety attacks were triggered by medically invasive things (i.e. donating blood, watching a medical video in class) and I knew I had to overcome them in order to take Anatomy and Physiology and other courses I needed before an OT program. I did about 4 months of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and it was great. It gave me the tools I needed to prevent them and make them shorter if I do have one.

Although I also come from a mother who is generally very anxious, and her mother was very anxious, and I've been giving my genes more credit lately. But then again there are so many factors that can play into others, so I don't know. Plus, for those who are defensive, I believe we've kind of built up such a big adaptive response to avoiding what we can't stand, that when even the smallest warning sign comes of that stimuli, we go on red alert right away. Like I can't my dad's chewing (he has mouth pain, so he chews with his mouth open, and it seems VERY loud), so when he opens the fridge, I generally walk into the other room or grab my earplugs. It's not like I wait for him to start eating, because then I would just be sitting there, tense.

My anxiety with SPD, unlike the anxiety attacks, is, well, you guys know!, but I don't ever feel like I would hyperventilate or anything. I just get really tense, irritable, and short. It's mostly my muscles tightening up.

The first time I ever panicked I was in an Israeli Dance Club. It happened soon after I entered and I was beeing hit on all sides by the other dancers. I freaked out and ran out of there screaming. I thought I was going to die I was so scared.

The same thing happened at other dance clubs when people got too close to me and their bodies hit me unexpectedly. I eventually figured out that if I wanted to dance few if any other people could be on the dance for with me and the second the cigarette smoke became significant I had to leave immediately.

So I am that freak that will start dancing when I like the song but no one else is on the dance floor. It isn't embarrassing for me at all.

(07-02-2011, 01:11 AM)meredith Wrote: ... Plus, for those who are defensive, I believe we've kind of built up such a big adaptive response to avoiding what we can't stand, that when even the smallest warning sign comes of that stimuli, we go on red alert right away. ..., but I don't ever feel like I would hyperventilate or anything. I just get really tense, irritable, and short. It's mostly my muscles tightening up.

That's exactly what it's like for me. I am not even aware of all the things I avoid. I have just worked avoiding them into my life...and the muscle tightening is exactly what happens with me. If I am way overexposed I end up with a terrible headache.

My son has an anxiety disorder (OCD and general) and SPD. We are getting some testing to see if he has ADD or any learning disabilities. It is very stressfull and definitely takes a toll on parents emotionally. But yes, I think there has to be some correlation.