Found out my 'sensory overload' meltdowns weren't just me being dramatic

I spent 30 years thinking I was just a moody person who couldn't handle crowds, but last month my therapist suggested I look into autism after I described my reaction to the fluorescent lights at my hardware store. Turns out those flickering tubes were triggering actual panic attacks that took me hours to recover from, and I just thought everyone felt that way. Has anyone else had a late diagnosis where random stuff like store lights or loud fans turned out to be a huge clue?

2 comments

2 Comments

aaron89611d ago

Man the fluorescent light thing hits different. I spent years thinking I was just a weirdo who hated the grocery store for no reason. My diagnosis came at 38 and suddenly all those times I'd walk into a Walmart and feel like my skin was crawling made sense. Its wild how your brain just accepts that's normal until someone points out it isn't. My family still jokes about me wearing sunglasses indoors but they don't get how the buzzing and flickering was killing me.

henry_moore5511d agoMost Upvoted

Had the exact same thing happen with movie theaters. First time I walked out of a theater and felt normal I almost cried. Turned out the flickering from the projector was giving me migraines for years. Docs kept saying it was anxiety. My friends thought I was being dramatic skipping every movie night. Finally figured it out at 41 after my niece asked why I kept rubbing my eyes during cartoons. Sometimes you just don't know what normal is supposed to feel like until you find it.