I have no hallucinations. But have very high sound sensitivity which makes me difficult to concentrate. I find it difficult to study or sleep in the presence of vehicle noise (motor noise and honking) and television noise. I use earplugs and have double paned windows in my room.
My stay in a hostel campus was very troublesome. I changed room three times as I was unable to tolerate kitchen noise nearby. I could not concentrate on studies when my roommate was making noise with his friends. I find it difficult to study even in the library when others even whisper a little. I also get distracted easily if someone walks by me when I’m studying seriously, though not sound related. In a silent zone, I am very comfortable and can concentrate well on studies.
I am diagnosed as having schizophrenia (hebephrenic type). But the meds are absolutely not helping me. I am currently on Olanzapine, and my doc is talking about taking me on Clozapine.
Am I treatment resistant or do I not have schizophrenia?
I don’t think the meds can help with sound sensitivity… they are only for psychotic symptoms.
Plus I didn’t know hebephrenics were able to study seriously.
I’m sorry you’re having sensory issues. To the best of my knowledge, medications aren’t really designed to help with that. Some things hat might help you are
Noise canceling headphones and/or ear plugs
A weighted blanket or vest
A compression vest
A bin full of rice or dried beans to run your hands through
Unfortunately, those things can get expensive. If you’re skilled at sewing, you can make a weighted blanket or vest yourself by sewing pockets into an ordinary blanket/vest and inserting bags of rice or beans.
I don’t know for sure if these will help. But I know other people with sensory challenges who find these things soothing. Activating your other senses can help drown out the input you’re trying to block (in this case, sound). If you live near a park or playground, going on a swing for ten minutes or so might also help.
I’m not sure how it all began. I have been sensitive to sound since I was maybe 16 years old. I’m 26 now. Things got exacerbated when I moved away from my home(double paned room)
Also the sz of my mother started with high sound sensitivity, she started to hate even singing birds and well… eventually she started to think that they were not birds but micro receivers that played noisy sounds to harass her.
@Zeno I can somehow manage to study in a completely silent room. Even a minor sound, I am easily distracted. I had to drop out of my PhD (in engineering) due to this problem.
@zeno Yes he diagnosed me with hebephrenia. Though I am not very disorganized. He has almost branded me as treatment resistant and about to put me on clozapine. I am thinking about taking a second opinion, as other than sound sensitivity, I dont have much symptoms. What do you think?
Even if you take a second opinion and a change of diagnosis there is not much they can do besides giving you another AP (which will not help with this sound sensitivity)…
How many APs did you try?
