I have a hard time with touching things. I feel very uncomfortable and irritated. Some of the things that I can't touch are : chalk ,vacuum cleander cords that are ribbed, the holographic things, oil paints, mud dried on my hands or sand, microfiber cloth, and more.... I can't eat rice for the life of me. I do not like loud sounds like a chainsaw, table saw , or loud guns.I also do not like crowds of people or sitting in the center of a room with strangers. Some of my reactions are feeling like I'm suffocating. Mini heart attack feelings and just irritability and or anger and fear.

Does anyone else experience any of this

I have some similar issues, but probably not quite as strong a reaction with some.

Best things to do: distraction techniques - things that calm down your nervous system (soothing music, darkness, isolating yourself for a while, exercise - yoga is good for me), something like the brushing protocol (through an occupational therapist - it's helped me a lot!).

If shopping centres are a problem (they are for me), maybe do most of your shopping in the evening when there's not as many people (I'm having to rearrange my shopping as the last time I shopped for an hour during the day I nearly had a panic attack).

There's usually enough room in shopping places like a Walmart its like good wills and small restaurants... I have to scope the place out and find the perfect place to sit usually facing the door or where I can see the door and my back can't be facing people because it freaks me out so much....

For me, restaurants can be a problem if they're very crowded and noisy.

YES...

wow. yes.

Chalk, nail files, scratchy pencils, dried mud and microfiber cloth - and suede... all freak me out completely. literally skin-crawling.

Lots of people, or small groups but all strangers also send me into a panic. I once walked into a christmas party expecting maybe a couple hundred people (was an office, end of year thing), but ended up being a couple thousand as they combined head-office with a local branch. I very nearly fainted.

also always want to sit facing the door.

have to say I think my coping mechanism has been to shut everything out. If I've been in a new situation with a whole lot of new people I usually can't remember much of anything afterwards - names, faces, what happened. It feels like everything is on fast forward and I just have maybe a few-second imprint of the whole thing.

this really makes me wonder.

for me deep yoga breathing helps in public with lots of people. I try to shop really early as the crowds seem to hit the local stores mid-morning through into late afternoon.

I also usually end up humming something to myself or listening to music if I remembered headphones. That helps a lot. (while shopping).

Re restaurants I feel better in small, out of the way places that are usually quieter than those in the main hustle areas.

Having something that feels good to touch I find helps - if you touch something bad, immediately touch something good. It resets it to some degree. Or you can use your hands to rub off the bad feeling. Stimming helps me too, stereotypical stimming even. Sometimes even the texture of air hurts.

Thank you all who are replying with your stories / advice its really nice to know we are not alone!

I have to rub off the bad feeling. I often use the sleeve of my shirt to touch things I find icky. Metal door handles, things that feel cold and wet, wool, a lot of polyesters, anything sticky, etc. I know just how you feel. Sounds and smells are really bad, too.

@Turtleturtle: Wow! I never thought to have something like that to help reset myself! I'm going to do some thinking on that one for sure! Thanks!

@MernaMerna: I'm super new to this forum, but when I saw your post I related to it immediately. I can't deal with hot laundry out of the dryer (towels are the worst), anything sticky or overly slippery, wool, fleece, slinky/slippery fabric, keeping my fingernails too long, chalk, wet wooden cutting boards, sand (oh dear sand is awful), certain soaps, rough carpet and more... Argh. The hot towels out of the dryer are the absolute worst. I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and it feels like all of my fingernails are ripping off. Sometimes it makes me feel this uncontrollable urge to flex my fingers to the point of pain and I feel like I can't stop it. It's awful. It makes folding laundry so slow and unbearable that often times I'll just stuff it all in the basket and leave it in my room until it's cool. Sometimes that helps and sometimes it doesn't.