Coping Tip for Misophonia #1

Misophonia is a tricky disorder. Depending on the severity level, it might only rear its ugly head in certain situations or constantly throughout the day. While there is no cure and no medication (fingers crossed that it WILL happen one day), there are a few things we can do to help ourselves, especially if we are on the more severe spectrum.

Here is a coping tip for misophonia sufferers that has helped me.

If we think of misophonia triggers and how they affect us on a sliding scale, we might say that those that drive us bonkers and are absolutely unbearable, might be a 9 or a 10 on this scale. For me personally, those can be construction noises or loud gum chewing and chip eating. Triggers are individual though, so yours might be different. A whole other set of triggers are in the 6-8 range, for which I must leave the environment or somehow block the triggers with good earplugs or headphones. Check out  MisoTech for suggestions and reviews of tech solutions by other misophones.

The misophonia triggers that are on the lower scale, say the ones in the 1-5 range are the tricky ones. For me, these can be the washer and dryer and their beeping sounds, the microwave, just randomly occurring sounds in the house. If I am in my most zen state, I can actually function with those noises around me for a little while. They might be bothering me, my anxiety rises a few notches, but I can handle it. However, if I am stressed or have already been triggered by other things, the same trigger that was a 3, can suddenly jump to an 8 or 9 and I feel like I’m imploding.

So what I have done is a “misophonia sweep” and tried to remove as many of the low scale triggers as possible from my immediate environment, at least the ones that I have some control over. It wasn’t easy and I put it off for 6 months after moving into our new place. One day, I just decided this is it and spent about half an hour looking up each appliance. I learned how to mute the alerts and how to remove the beeping sounds when tapping keys, as none of them had it in their manuals. It was possible though and now it’s done.

I’ve also tried to plan some things that make low level triggering noises when I am not home. Am I leaving the house for an hour or more? That’s when I put in a load of laundry, start the Roomba or the dishwasher. My brain and soul thank me for this coping tip for misophonia every single day 😊

What have you done in your house or office to make it more misophonia friendly? Leave a comment below so we can add your coping tip for misophonia to our collection!