The story of Christina
Age: 19
I have Misophonia.
It wasn’t until around my early teen years when I first realized that certain noises, such as chewing and breathing, were bothering me a lot more than everyone around me. After doing some research I came across the name Misophonia. It was such a relief to find out that I wasn’t just going crazy. That there were others who were going throught the same thing I was.
My family and friends didn’t really understand how I was so bothered by noises. I’ve been called a hypocrite many times by my sister, and laughed at by friends. My mom didn’t understand why I had to have some kind of background noise or headphones whenever we were eating. The more I would react to the trigger sounds; the angrier she would get. saying things like, “I can’t make any noise around you”.
It wasn’t until yesterday at counseling that people finally started to get it. My mom had brought up my issues with noises to the counselor, and told her that she was about to the point of no longer buying any kind of crunchy foods. My counselor was a bit irritated at this. Telling me that anger isn’t an appropriate response, and that my family can’t just stop eating certain things to accomadate my irritation. After my mom left the room, she asked me what was causing my irritation. There had to be some reason behind it. I told her that there was no reason behind it other than the noises themselves. I told her that I have a friend with children that I have no problems with, but some of the noises her kids made would cause me to cover my ears and flee to the opposite end of the room. That was when she looked it up and found Misophonia. She called my mom in and explained that to her. Hopefully that will help things a bit.
I have so many more trigger sounds then just chewing and breathing. I even have a few visual triggers! Hopefully, sharing my story will help someone who is or knows someone suffering from this condition.