Drepet123
- Date posted
- 5y
lulu23lulu23
- Date posted
- 5y
Your question is the answer. Just let it be. Stop looking up how to get rid of it. Just know it’s anxiety and accept it. So hard at first, but once you realize it’s your body trying to defend you by making you aware and you accept that it gets better. I had this to the point that I thought I was seeing things because I was so aware of my pheripheral vision. I started hearing noise as one sound when I got over stimulated. I became obsessed with every sound too.
Drepet123Drepet123
- Date posted
- 5y
You’re so right. And what you described is exactly what I am experiencing. I got a sound “stuck” and became obsessed with it to the point that I felt I heard it in all background noise etc. I also became aware of all movement in my pheripheal vision as well. Both of these because of my extreme fear of becoming “crazy”. My psychiatrist told me that these are normal parts of anxiety, but it’s just so hard to believe and not feel on edge. This sound as one that you describe hit it right on the head. I’ll try to let it be.
Drepet123Drepet123
- Date posted
- 5y
Can I ask what you meant that you began hearing noise as one sound?
lulu23lulu23
- Date posted
- 5y
@Drepet123 Really difficult to explain but when I was like really anxious and things got loud in a room, usually a restaurant, I started thinking about it and for a quick few seconds every sound just mixed together and sounded like background chatter you hear in the movies. It was weird. My therapist just says I was hyperaware and over stimulated.
Drepet123Drepet123
- Date posted
- 5y
@lulu23 That’s exactly what I was having! It like sounds like almost like inaudible like crowd chatter/cheers. My therapist said the same. I was convinced I was hearing things or something but they pointed out since it only happens when there is stimuli, it’s just hyperaware and putting thoughts to sounds and hearing what you come to expect to hear. It sounds like our experenice are quite similar and I’m glad that it passes. The awareness of sound/perphrial vision is annoying
lulu23lulu23
- Date posted
- 5y
@Drepet123 Yea we are similar I actually have the exact same theme of ocd. Fear of going crazy. This time around with my ocd it got so bad due to health anxiety so I got on medication and my doctor told me to quit cold turkey after a month and I became dissociated. Thought I was actually going crazy. That’s when my hyperawareness really began. If it was 10/10 I’d say it’s 2/10 now and when my anxiety is bad probably a 6/10 for moments.
Drepet123Drepet123
- Date posted
- 5y
@lulu23 That’s my theme as well. A fear of further mental illness in particular so I read up and naturally my mind created its version of the symptoms. I also had the awareness start after quiting Luvox cold turkey per doctors orders and then the same with Clonazepam. Crazy stuff.
lulu23lulu23
- Date posted
- 5y
@Drepet123 Good luck @drepet123 I’m gonna bookmark this post maybe we can compare progress a month from now. Remember to let it be. All of our experiences with this type of anxiety aren’t meant to hurt us.
evkreyevkrey
- Date posted
- 5y
I got this after smoking weed and had paranoia. It returns when I’m in a state of high anxiety
??????
- Date posted
- 5y
I have hyperawaeness of others chewing loud things eg chips or ice. Don’t look in direction of sound. Distract yourself. Deep breaths. It sucks bc I have good hearing.
pammyypammyy
- Date posted
- 4y
I know this is a very old post, but hopefully you have some sugggestjons on what worked for you I’m currently going through this. What type of exposures worked for hyper awareness related to sound? I joke that my hearing is so good, it’s my super power! I notice every white noise known to man, fans, heaters, engines etc. I even now notice background chatter in movies and shows. Sounds that I NEVER recognized before. I’m working with an OCD therapist on exposures for my fear of psychosis - reading articles on schizophrenia, watching videos etc. But, my hyper awareness of sound is still something I’m trying to overcome. I know the obsession with sound is part of my health ocd (fear of hearing voices/hallucinations), but I’d like to attack the sound obsession with erp like I am with my health ocd. TIA!
Lilly2442!Lilly2442!
- Date posted
- 1y
@pammyy Yes I am experiencing the same thing. Hyper aware of noise even when I’m not trying to be. Especially with the white noise in the fan or outside. It sends me into a panic. I have the same thing right now and I am terrified. I was told by my therapist that I’m just really anxious and hyper aware of everything now because this theme. But It’s so hard to believe. Any advice? How are you now
Related posts
Anonymous
- Date posted
- 24w
Convinced someone is in my house
This might just be me, but I heard one noise and cannot get this out of my head. It’s been an hour and a half. I’m convinced this noise must be someone here. I’ve checked my window multiple times and I’ve planned every attack route to defend myself. HOW can I quiet down these thoughts to sleep? Do sound machines work? I feel like I’m arguing with myself and I can’t get a word of reason in. The more I try to not think about, the more the thoughts come in.
viluamorim
- Date posted
- 24w
Can you guys meditate or/and sit in silence?
My ocd gets so loud in the silence and right before bed when there’s no distractions. I always struggled with anxiety since my teens and guided meditation used to help… until OCD. First time trying guided meditation with OCD I had an intrusive thought of “what if you actually lose control and can’t follow these instructions?” And got even more anxious 🫠🫠🫠 had to stop, and haven’t tried to meditate ever since. Just curious to know. Sometimes I feel like I have the worst type of OCD. It will latch onto anything to make me anxious!
Patrick McGrath
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 21w
Learning to sit with uncertainty and intrusive thoughts
Here is what I say to people: I wish I could make it stop. I really do. I also wish I could stop tinnitus. What is tinnitus, you may ask? Well, have you ever gone to a loud concert and after it had a ringing in your ears. Or, in movies when a loud explosion hears, first it is often muffled, and then there is a very loud ringing sound. Well, I have hear that sound for over 30 years. Turns out the medications I took as a kid for allergies and all the antibiotics I was on for Strep had a side effect for some people - tinnitus - that sound that I have heard every decade, year, month, day, hour, and second, for the past 30 years. I have learned to live with it. As I type this, it is REALLY loud, because I am paying attention to it. But, in a few minutes it will fade into the background, and, while I will hear it, I will not pay much attention to it, and therefore I will go on with my night. I will listen to music, practice my story for the MOTH radio hour, and work out. I will clean up the kitchen and load the dishwasher, and I will eventually get ready for bed. I will go to bed hearing that sound, and fall asleep for a few hours until tomorrow morning when I start the day all over again. I cannot make the sound stop. There is nothing to do for it - no surgery or medication. Just learning to live with it, and that is what I have done. It is the thing that I hate the most in my life, and, if granted three wishes, it would be the first thing to change. For now, as I have for 30 years, I will live with it, and I will ask you to live with your noises in your head - the thoughts, the images, and the urges, and we will practice together accepting that things are not always as we want them, but we can handle that. We got this.
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