WinterSown

I have the same symptoms. Perhaps schedule with a local GI to quickly get a handle on what's going on--if there is a hernia, or any damage to her esophagus from excessive vomiting. Dietary changes can help but some OTCs can make the motility worse, you need testing and trial and error to find the right combo of meds and diet to get control of this.

I can also search google for a store's address. In the right column of the search results, if you scroll down a bit, under Popular Times, there is a blue bar graph showing when the store is more or less busy. Today is Sunday and I'm not going anywhere near there until after dinner.

I have a set of Uproar Wireless by Skullcandy. Shop around, I've often seen them for 20-40% less than what they sell on their site. They have padding under the headband too so my scalp doesn't hurt wearing them. I really like them, I have a red set. And as headphones for music, they happen to be good for that too. https://www.skullcandy.com/shop/headphones/bluetooth-headphones/uproar-wireless

That's what happens with earplugs; they are not going to be enough to muffle out or dull down any of the sound from the store. I can't wear them as they are made for people with ears bigger than mine, if they do fit it feels like my ears are corked with pressure backing up behind them. YMMV but I think they add to the overload. I use headphones with sound reduction pads. Sound and vibrations are two of my strongest triggers. I feel exhausted from sensory overload, emotionally and physically; I come home from the market and I can't even put away my groceries. Every time I remember to wear the headphones I get through well that after I get home from shopping I don't have to go lay down right away.

How nice to see my cake come to the top. I could use a slice right now, just got up from a nap after shoveling the front walk at 4AM--another big accomplishment. A year ago I couldn't even think about picking up a shovel to help clear out the snowfall. I can dig out my own car. Cut a slice. Celebrate with me.

That is a fast and super easy fix! Turn commenting off. You don't have to have people make comments, you control that aspect. You can project yourself to the public and not be afflicted by other people's call for attention. Trolls are never about you--they are ALWAYS about themselves--so without the capacity for them to ire you they go get their jollies stomping around on some other person's page. Turn off comments in the settings and don't give them a venue to misbehave on your pages. Remember the old saying 'Don't let the ********* get you down?' Well, it's the internet age. Don't let the trolls stop you from singing your song as loudly and proudly as you want. Give 'em ****.

Welcome everyone, we're glad you're here.

Maybe that's the drug I need to get past the singing cows and dancing avocados (why are they dancing, don't they know about guac?)

Major suburbia here, I'm on Long Island. There used to be a Home Depot two blocks north, I went to sleep each night with the beep beep beep of their forklifts as my lullaby. And idiots with firecrackers surround us, it drives the dogs nuts and they start to bark like thunder from the heavens which makes Hubs start to holler at them to shut up and they're all going off at the same time and I can't escape or hide from any of it. Aaaaarrrrgghhh. Or something like that. This is a good article with excellent descriptions on what it feels like. First one I thought nailed it but then I read the list and they all nailed it perfectly. https://themighty.com/2016/02/people-explain-what-sensory-overload-feels-like/

Thank you. I was just at Stew Leonard's, my overload nemesis. They put one in right around corner, it's four houses and then across the street to the mall. The young man at the register asked me about my headphones, if they were noise cancelling. Ahhh...a teachable moment so I explained to him about sensory overload. "What? Is that like an LSD overdose?" Sigh. No, not that intense. I just want to scream and run out of here. "Most people do." I know what you are talking about. I lived 13 years in the upper catskills on a mountain. LOVED it but sometimes the birds would not shut up. Agree about the brilliant sun and then driving down a road as it flickers among the trees. OUCH

Tell other people. Don't let this stop you. If the people you know won't listen then tell other folks. Turn your skill set into advocacy for others. Make a blog, a forum, a diary online, a youtube channel with a vlog, anything that is an expression of you that tells your story. People will find your work and link to you and say--"Here is someone just like me, I'm not alone." Everyone's voice matters. Personal relationships can be very complex and because of it people will be more or less responsive to your message. Yet others are willing to listen. Take your voice to them and in your own words, by your own way, and let them know you matter, your words matter and you are very real in what you feel and that you don't need anyone's validation on what you do towards healing. You are proceeding at a pace that is set forth by your doctors and they will change it when they feel you are ready but not before that point.

Sometimes it's bright lights, or loud noise, or a busy view, or even late at night when a heavy truck rolls down the turnpike two blocks over I still cant hide from its vibrations or the put-put-put sound of the big engine when they wait at the red lights. If I'm stuck between my son and Hubs having a discussion I'm fried by their deep bass voices bouncing through my ears from either side. I can put on my padded headphones, put on my tunes, add some shades as wide as an astronaut's visor, take half a benzo or two, and still feel like crawling into a hole and pulling the hole in after me. Lately I've taken to my tub, with water as warm as I can tolerate, a few cups of epsom salts and a squirt of scented body oil in the water. When i come out I feel better. Less fried. And softer. Rather than letting sensory overload defeat me I'm turning it into an excuse for a self-indulgent spa break. I need to learn more things that help tone it down and break away from wanting to jump out of my own I skin when I am feeling overwhelmed by the activity in the world around me. I have to participate in life and I know it can fry me, but if I know there's fast relief from it then it isn't so bad. Today, I feel like coloring in my blanket tent.

I was diagnosed by my local hospital's cardiac group, never got a clinic so I guess I'm lucky--so few of us have had your wonderful experience with going to clinics. Everyone is so unique. So much on your list would make me a lot worse. I can't digest brown carbs, an abdominal binder will strangle my hernia and the deliberate, high-level intensity and exertion at PT raises my BP to oxygenate me and eliminates my pain--my DPT doesn't let me mamby-pamby it and it's all out war on the big D, he's very proactive with my PT. I'm crushing it at PT. I can't imagine eliminating anesthesia, especially when you need it for surgery or procedures--the pain would cause huge flares. I've been doped out a few times in the last three years and not a problem at all. Thank you for the list, so full of suggestions.

Sounds like my vertigo symptoms. One of the first symptoms I told my primary was feeling like I had a half a glass of wine too much. He made me stare in his eyes as he dropped me onto my back. He did a vertigo test on me on the spot and I tested positive on the spot.Horrors. My husband was there and could not believe how much I was screaming and begging for the doctor to let me back up. As you rule out causes of your symptoms ask your doctor to do a Dix Hallpike maneuver to determine if you have vertigo. Have you seen an ENT yet? Your balance can be off and you can be loopy from vertigo. I control the symptoms with diazepam and have a script for vestibular PT which helps a lot. Heart rate can vary greatly while we sleep. Imagine dreaming about eating ice cream as opposed to a nightmare about being chased by a hungry lion. Our breath rate can change while we sleep too. This is a nice paper on heart rate variability in sleep.

I take carvedilol 12.5 twice a day, I used to take 25 twice a day; my EP has been weaning me off of a lot of the drugs I take for high blood pressure. I lost weight and I go to PT twice a week, and I walk everyday--I didn't used to be able to but I worked up to it. Perhaps talk to your doctor about what can be done by both of you to get you to where you can begin cutting down on your meds. You mentioned fasting. When I am running on empty all my symptoms are way amplified. I get relief sipping down a glass of milk which is a quickly utilized source of both electrolytes and real food. I'm not even to half a glass when I start to feel much better. I feel more steady, less shakes and have better clarity. I can digest milk so that works for me, if you are dairy-intolerant many soy milks have equal amounts of electrolytes--check the labels. Last fall I began eating more foods that are rich in electrolytes. I feel it has lessened the severity when my symptoms are doing mega flares; it's taking the edge off the worst of it. Feel better soon.

Many patients forget that there is a fiduciary relationship between patient and doctor. You may be paying a copay that is a small fraction to what your insurance company is coughing up to your specialists and so you don't consider how much per hour these people are getting. If you sense that the doctor is being unprofessional for what they are being paid then speak up immediately, tell them you expect better care. My own primary told me that most doctors are sphincters (not the word he used) and that I should dump the bad ones and never go back. It was a very enlightening moment for me because though it did take the wind out of the sails with giving respect to all doctors, it certainly made me step back and consider who was worthy of a big payout from my insurer and who wasn't because everyone of us is a co-morbidity billing, financial jackpot to our doctors. They make a LOT OF MONEY off of us. I dumped my bad doctors. I'm not going back to mediocrity, sneering faces, mocking laughs, dead-ending, unimaginative thinking, and lack luster performance or advice in maintaining and improving my health and life. I have now a handful of doctors that mean the world to me because they know what's wrong and they take care of me with a high level of professionalism and compassion. Fire your garbage doctors. Don't go back.

Last summer my cardiologist had me drinking kefir with every meal and in between as well. It was to recharge my gut bacteria and help with some of my digestive problems. I packed on a few pounds, it's not low calorie, but after a few weeks I was overall feeling better. He now has me off all supplements and I have to get my nutrients only from the foods I eat and drink. I hope you can feel better soon. This is a really good article about Folate, quite content rich. http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/vitamins/folate

I am low in D and Calcium. There's good information in this link: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/#h3

There was a recent FDA warning about Kratom, it's not considered safe. https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm584970.htm There was an article out in RS a couple of days ago about the supplement being classed as an opiate. https://www.rollingstone.com/kratom-why-fda-declare-herbal-supplement-opiate-w517359 My primary takes all drugs and supplements in the news with a grain of salt and says "Wait a couple of years, if it hasn't injured someone then try it." It's prudent advice, he's somewhat conservative in his care for me especially when it comes to taking risks with new drugs or treatments but he's helped me get better.

Welcome to DINET!

My symptoms swing too, I have to be very flexible in my management.

I make a fresh large jug of agua fresca every day using strained juice from fruits and veggies high in electrolytes. I've got a jug in the fridge made with the juice from a bag of clementines, they were half off at the store this weekend so I grabbed a bag. I put the juice in the jug and added water to the top. I make two quarts of electrolyte water for whatever the cost of the fruits and/or veggies. This is appeasing to my cardiologist who detests ades and improved waters--he wants me off all supplements. Yesterday, it was a jug of black grape and blackberry agua fresca (sooooo good). I sometimes cook the fruits and veggies to make it easier to extract their juice. Worth the effort (so little spoons!) because it's hydrating, healthy and yummy. My son is getting hooked on it too so that's nice. I also drink water and coffee with milk.

It is very sad to lose a friend, I am sorry for your loss. Her kindness will continue in all that she has inspired

Is there no end to how this affects us? I have always thought licorice jelly beans to be detestable yet now they are quite addictive. Ugh.

Welcome everyone!