Hi everyone.
I recently heard about SPD within the past year, and it really intrigued me because I seem to have a lot of the characteristics. I've never been diagnosed, though, and my SPD-like "quirks" don't affect my daily living in a negative way. But anyway, here are my main SPD characteristics:
-I'm sensitive to clothes- right now I'm wearing a wool sweater and it's so itchy on my arms and shoulders (I'm wearing a tank top underneath) I can't wait to go home and take it off. But I love really soft clothes that I can snuggle up in.
-I remember when I was a kid, I used to have this sweatshirt I hated wearing because the seams in the sleeves were really scratchy. My mom said there was nothing wrong with the seams and would make me wear it. But I hated it.
-I love sleeping with lots of blankets. Right now it's almost winter and I have 4 blankets on my bed. Part of it is because I get cold easily, but part of it is that I like feeling the weight of the blankets on me. Otherwise I have trouble sleeping.
-Certain sounds bother me. I feel like my parents listen to the TV too loudly and it stresses me out. Same as the volume that my brother listens to music in his car. It makes me feel so uneasy.
I don't like light touch- my skin feels very sensitive, and I remember thinking there was something wrong with me when I was seeing a guy and we were holding hands and he was running his thumb lightly over the palm of my hand, and after the 3rd or 4th time, I wanted to ask him to stop because it started to hurt my skin- it almost felt like I had rug burn there or something!
-But I love cuddling. Tight hugs or just curling up with someone. So comfy. :o)
-FOOD- OMG, food textures are a big problem. Wet bread- awful. If I'm eating a hamburger and the grease makes the bread soggy, *gag*. It even grosses me out to touch it with my finger. Or a pre-made sandwich where the lettuce and/or mayo made the bread soggy- ew, can't do it. Shepherd's Pie- groosssssss!! The combination of the three textures of corn, hamburger meat, and mashed potatoes is the worst. It's mainly the corn and the mashed potatoes together. I have to pick out all the corn and eat it separately. It's kind of tedious. lol. Some vegetables I can't eat mainly because of the texture- peas and beans mostly. Also cooked carrots. They don't taste great either, but the mealy texture is what really turns me off. I love noodles (especially Asian ones) mostly for their texture.
-I get really overstimulated in crowds or just big groups of people. The noise and the inevitable brushing up against other people stresses me out.
-This is a weird one- the sound of pulling fuzz off of fabric makes my teeth hurt. It's a sound you can barely hear, but it makes my insides shiver and my bottom teeth tingle unpleasantly. I have the same reaction if I'm just thinking about it!
-I also love touching things (as long as it doesn't look wet and/or slimy...although I do like touching sea creatures like star fish and I felt a stingray once- it's really smooth and soft!). I always want to know the texture of things I come across. My family has always laughed at me for it because they said even as a little girl, I always had to be touching and feeling things.
-I have really bad balance, and bad spacial perception- I'm always walking into doorways and stuff.

Anyway, that's me. It's been really interesting researching about this, and also reading what others have to say about their own experiences. I don't know if I actually have the disorder because it doesn't affect the way I live my life too extremely, but I joined here because I want to read and possibly respond to what others have to say about it.

Hi, After my son's diagnosis, I realized I have some of the same things he does. I think if the SPD isn't severe, we learn to adapt and handle what our senses are taking in. Though I still don't make it all the way around corners and always seem to bump my hips and shoulders.

Welcome! We look forward to getting to know you!

(12-16-2011, 01:16 PM)LynnNBoys Wrote: Hi, After my son's diagnosis, I realized I have some of the same things he does. I think if the SPD isn't severe, we learn to adapt and handle what our senses are taking in. Though I still don't make it all the way around corners and always seem to bump my hips and shoulders.

Welcome! We look forward to getting to know you!

Thanks for the welcome, Lynn!

LOL yeah, bumping into corners. I did mention that I'm pretty bad at that. But I just remembered this time where I felt really off, spatially, and I walked straight into my brother in the middle of the room, and he got so annoyed. And then about an hour later, I broke my toe by walking into a chair. lol

hi, i'm new too.
i'm learning to think of SPD as being on a gradient and i think it's good that you have learnt to live with it as much as possible.
i have problems with noise and food textures too. i hate foods that mix and cannot understand why people would want to have more than one food item on an item of cutlery at any one time. i like to eat one thing, then another otherwise it's oral anarchy!
x