Light and sound sensitivity ?

Wow last few days feel like they're getting worse ! Light sensitivity this morning is at it's all time high... Was wondering could this be the Lyme getting worse or the doxy doing this or both. ? I'm stuck and becoming very confused !

I have not had light sensivity but the sound sensivity is really bad. I get it off and on. When my symptoms first started it was really bad. My husband took me to a concert and I had to leave.

Later that week he was chewing gum and popping it while we were watching tv. I looked at him and asked him to please stop. He says "oh, I'm sorry", walks into the kitchen throws his gum out and comes back in chomping on a big carrot!!! I'm not sure which was worse....the gum or the carrot! ha ha

I haven't had any sensitivity to light particularly......but SOUND, oh yes!

Any sudden noise--- or even something as non-noisy as turning the pages of a book-- used to knock me for a loop.

That symptom is considerably better now, but it took quite a while. At one point I wanted to get a pair of those ear-muff headphones that jackhammer operators wear!

all im sayin is... whoever invented fluorescent light bulbs did NOT have Lyme Disease.

Oh those fluorescent lights! I can't even go to department stores anymore because of the lights (and the sounds and the smells....)

My light sensitivity has stayed about the same (I never go anywhere without my sunglasses and on a particularly sunny day if I look outside I tend to shriek a little bit) but my sound sensivity has like quadrupled since starting doxy, tindamax and ceftin. I live with a baby who cries lot. No picnic. I can hardly pay attention to conversations anymore because all I can hear is the loud noise people make.

Ha! I haven't ever thought that the nausea that is caused from the sunlight strobing through the trees was caused from TBI's!!! LOL! I just thought that was just 'one of those things' that I did.

Wow! I wonder if that was what set of the only seizures I had??? I was driving on very a winding road when it happened! I had panic attacks right after each one - I had three that day. I had an appt with my LLMD at the time so I was alone and had to make it the rest of the way home! Very scary!!!

Hi nepa - welcome to the forum!

I can totally relate - granted it was only a few years that I was living on my own (I'm only in my 20s) - being back is definitely not ideal! My parents blast their TVs and radios, turn on all the lights to full power, my mom's always on the phone so loudly that I can make out every word with a pillow over my head...I never even go into my living room because there's too much stimulation! I also spend a ton of time with my nephew who has just learned the art of screaming at the top of his lungs just for fun!

If you have any kind of technology to do this - you could probably use a computer but I use a program on my phone, programs with brainwaves or white noise can be really soothing when you're trying to get away from noise. Alpha waves are relaxing, delta helps you sleep, beta helps concentrate, then there are binaural beats which can be good for headaches and things like that. Might be worth looking into. Could you find a spot outside to just sit, read, or do whatever? Or is there a spot close to home you can go? I can't drive much sometimes either, but there's a park just down the block.

I know it's rough - living in someone else's house, they sort of get to decide how much they're willing to alter their lifestyle for you. Ideally, I'd say the best thing you can do is try to strike up a bit of compromise - maybe try to plan to be out when the kids are around sometimes, but also ask as kindly as you can for a little extra support. I know how much my mom loves her grandson and there's no way she'd ever say he can't come over because I have a migraine, but something simple like asking her to please turn down the TV usually works. Hope things get easier for you soon! Moving back in with your parents is NOT easy! I think it's hard for them to get out of their old role of being "in charge" of you even though you've grown up. Just ask for consideration, and try to accept that despite the best of intentions it's hard for people to understand that we're not just whining that we don't like their noise, but that it's making us ill. Hang in there!

I'm sorry you have to deal with being called selfish - that one stings a lot! I won't say much about my family because that's a whole can of worms in itself, especially right now, but even those who I feel really care about me have the same tendency to write off all of my limitations as character flaws. At best because the suffering of others makes people really uncomfortable, at worst because putting you down in their mind makes them feel better about themselves. It's frustrating that most people don't get that when I actually speak up, it's out of desperation, that I've tried to withstand the discomfort for a while already. Personally I kind of think it freaks people out - sometimes I can't help but marvel at the things I've learned to tolerate, but it's annoying that when I say, "THIS is my limit" and people roll their eyes.

Luckily the upside of really unpleasant experiences is that when they're over, your perception of normal changes. When things get really bad and I feel totally swept up in not having any control over my environment, I just imagine a future point when I'm finally living on my own, and I try to use it as motivation to get better/make healthy choices. Every bit of stress you can just shrug off can contribute to your health/recovery. (Of course, I'm saying that after having given into some serious dwelling in stress today! Woops!)

this is my first post to this healingwell site and i just want to say thank god for the internet bc the 20 minute interaction with doctors through western medicine can only do so much (i am all about holistic healing witch looks at all aspects of everything, however that means there is infinite things to learn). Before i read this thread i had a hunch but didnt fully connect my light and sound sensitivity to my limes i picked up 9 months ago. i noticed it the sensitivity is bad on my left side than my right so maybe something else is causing it idk, i have just started to read about how to detox to help this problem and am only 5-10 minutes in, however i wanted to make this post to share what i found a couple months ago to make living bearable with my sound sensitivity.

Ok so i was reading all over that you cant do anything for it, and i was not thinking about it within the limes context. However what i am suggesting you try will help with the actual physicality of your ear drumb, and may help you moderately, as it helped me (i work at a job with loud air hoses and a paint booth with a huge loud vacuum). I luckily i found this on a forum talking about children being sound sensitive.

To sum it up, first dont be afraid of sound or you will tense up and so will your ear drum. second is if you use sound deadening things like ear buds it cuts off all vibratoins to your ear drumb, so it will strain to hear things and when take it off your ears will be even more hyper sensitive to sound. Thirdly i developed a hyposis that i tested on myself to reverse this using these facts, what you do is lay in you bed at night, instead of falling asleep to no sound, get an ipod with a playlist of (sleeping) binural beats that you know will be at the same sound level for the 8hr you will be sleeping, as you fall asleep at a low setting your ear will tell your brian its too loud, so keep turning it down little by little. I think i started at 13% (stay under your comfort level at all times to prevent hearing damage(apparently 120 decibels is the max for the standard ear, ours will be much much lower than that)) and ended at 3% i could barley hear it(i must have turned it down 10 times within the first 30 minutes b4 sleeping). You will wake up with a headache bc your brain is unhappy with your ears, however once it goes away you will notice the next day you are less sensitive/afraid of sounds. you will listen to the 3% and think to your self how did i ever think this was loud. it got this idea form a post saying you cant leave your child in silence you need to have constant low noise, witch makes sense when your are thinking of the physical ear drum getting used to'and loosened up by the noise slowly with the constantly minuscule vibrations, i've only done this once over night and it really helped, and at work if i ever have to where ear protection i where my ipod under then or i only use them when loud noises are occurring. i feel like the other half of the sound sensitivity will be fixed once i research and apply the detox methods.

My daughter has light and sound sensitivity, but the sound part has lessened quite a bit after a homeopathic remedy.

Sharing, what part of Oregon is your niece in?