Can't stand listening to people eat! (Page 8)

I have exactly the same thing too! My sister is right next to me and just ate some toast, slurped her tea and licked her fingers....it's driving me mad! I dont know if i over exaggerate the sounds or no one else hears just HOW bad they are! It is so irritating. It makes me want to scream and get violent, but i am not a violent person in the slightest! I have tried to ignore it, tried to think that this is normal and it's natural that we make sounds when we eat but i cant deal with it. Instead of going away i test myself and just sit through it. Even if i am doing something i will stop and just focus on the sounds and how angry they make me. ..The cat is eating now, that doesnt bother me but if i am close to someone it makes me want to scream and tear my face off! I even get annoyed at myself! Does anyone else?! I get so conscious of the sounds in my own mouth that i chew really slowly or quietly on purpose. I ate an apple on the train the other day and it took my ten minutes, i was so aware that maybe other people are annoyed by my chewing. I can only feel 100% comfortable eating if i am alone or it everyone else is eating around me, however if i finish before them i am aware of their annoying chewing noises or if i finish after i am aware of my own! It's driving me nuts! Surely hypnosis would help but i cant afford that at the moment.

Yay I am not weird. have had such problems and it is hindering my life. I rate the sound my son makes when he starts to speak. anybody that makes any sound is hated and want to punch them. problem I have is that I am an alcoholic and must keep attending meetings. there are some noisey people thier. I am embarrassed to tell them and came afford not to go. I think. the headphones thing will be a kinda good idea. I will miss what they are saying. they may think I am being rude. I think I may just say I have a mental prob and need to shut off and meditate. as with all your comments I am the same. my mother was the same. I have enough crap to deal with. I may read up on the MISSAPHONIA. thingy. thanks for listening. Emma

Yay I am not weird. have had such problems and it is hindering my life. I rate the sound my son makes when he starts to speak. anybody that makes any sound is hated and want to punch them. problem I have is that I am an alcoholic and must keep attending meetings. there are some noisey people thier. I am embarrassed to tell them and came afford not to go. I think. the headphones thing will be a kinda good idea. I will miss what they are saying. they may think I am being rude. I think I may just say I have a mental prob and need to shut off and meditate. as with all your comments I am the same. my mother was the same. I have enough crap to deal with. I may read up on the MISSAPHONIA. thingy. thanks for listening. Emma

I'm 25 and for the longest time I thought the same as all of you. I can't stand the sound of eating; I get incredibly distressed and cannot concentrate on anything but that noise. I can barely eat meals with family without leaving the room (though sometimes I do, or make a false excuse to leave the room just to go somewhere quiet). I've been especially worried by it lately, I've even considered never getting married; I don't want my future husband walking on egg shells around me. A lot of people really can't understand the pain we go through. I tell my family all the time that this problem is not at all fun and I'm not trying to be a jerk. Then I found out a few years ago that it seems to run on my dad's side of the family, I have an aunt and two cousins with the same problem. So perhaps it's a heredity thing.

Good news:
Just a few weeks ago, my sister, who is a Speech Therapist, works with someone called an Occupational Therapist (OT) and she just told me that that is the person that could help people like us I was so excited and relieved when she told me this! Apparently our problem is not rare, the co-worker said, and it also has a pretty easy solution (by solution I don't mean we will cure it per say, but that we can learn effective ways to deal and cope with it, yay!)

So now I'm just shopping around to see which clinic I'll go to and I'm considering going back to school to become an OT, so I can help more people like us

It is a form of sensory processing disorder, sensory deffensiveness, and it can be treated with certain therapies. I suffer from not just sensitivity to sounds, but also light, smells, touch and some taste but you can have any one symptom and it is still spd.

I also suffer from sensitivity to a bunch of things - mostly eating & crunching sounds and wrappers crinkling, people picking at their fingernails; but also smells, esp meat cooking or grilling smells, perfumes (I used to wear perfume but cannot stand it anymore, gives me headaches), loud noises (but selective because I am a musician and frequently have to hear loud music). My father had this as well, as he used to yell at me because apparently I bite my fork as I eat, and always yelled at us kids for chewing with our mouth open or smacking our lips. It doesn't bother me to eat with other people, it's only when I'm not eating with them and it's a quiet place like my home or work. Animal noises don't bother me. Sneezes do, coughing or sniffling do not. So strange. I just Googled this today and am amazed I haven't done it earlier! Lately there is a guy at my work who eats across from me and his crunching veggies are making me climb the walls. I have to get up and leave the room and come back when he's finished. I also suffer from depression and may be bi-polar II - as many things irritate me to rage, medication and therapy have worked, but it's been a life long struggle to find the right combination of meds and therapies!

I also suffer from sensitivity to a bunch of things - mostly eating & crunching sounds and wrappers crinkling, people picking at their fingernails; but also smells, esp meat cooking or grilling smells, perfumes (I used to wear perfume but cannot stand it anymore, gives me headaches), loud noises (but selective because I am a musician and frequently have to hear loud music). My father had this as well, as he used to yell at me because apparently I bite my fork as I eat, and always yelled at us kids for chewing with our mouth open or smacking our lips. It doesn't bother me to eat with other people, it's only when I'm not eating with them and it's a quiet place like my home or work. Animal noises don't bother me. Sneezes do, coughing or sniffling do not. So strange. I just Googled this today and am amazed I haven't done it earlier! Lately there is a guy at my work who eats across from me and his crunching veggies are making me climb the walls. I have to get up and leave the room and come back when he's finished. I also suffer from depression and may be bi-polar II - as many things irritate me to rage, medication and therapy have worked, but it's been a life long struggle to find the right combination of meds and therapies!

Inner peace is the problem, meditation may help, but seriously.....the more you practice hating the sounds the more they become worse, you have to practice, literally practice that stuff away from yourself....example.....when you see someone sniff and usually you would make your face or a horrible feeling would arise inside you as it would because you have practiced that reaction for probably years so now it has become a habit...try this on one thing at a time...notice the sniff...take a deep breath and as you breath out look at the sniffer and smile and say to yourself in your mind "it's natural, people sniff, it doesn't bother me anymore...." and then hope they sniff again so you can face it more often.....asking for more "bring it on!" will tell your subconscious that it doesn't bother you and given practice you will have practiced yourself out of the habit....then you can move on to the next annoying natural noise that people make....you can't runaway from it so face it......have you ever been slightly afraid of someone and then all of a sudden you have stood your ground and said something like come on then! Or bring it on! And faced them then they became someone not to be afraid of anymore....you can use the same kind of principle on yourself seriously....it's you who the battle is with my friends....hope this helps......chris

I've heard therapeutic listening is one method used by occupational therapists to help people with sensory processing disorders.

There is nothing wrong, people, it is and should be a natural reaction to be absolutely annoyed and repulsed by watching and or listening to a bunch of #!x*##! slobs smack and gum their way through a meal. I've always believed you can tell more about a person by watching them eat than almost anything else. You had better believe that their utter disregard for manners will carry over to all other aspects of their personalities and that is to say they are insensetive, rude, self-centered pigs.

I have the same problem i cant stand people chewing near me and i have like this fit inside and i cant stand people breathing on my food. when i hear someone chewing near me it seems to frustrate me really bad and don t know what to do about it thankyou

I'm the same way! I actually feel intense anger when someone is eating!! I also can't stand when people are reaching in a potato chip bag! Just the sound of their fingers in the bag crinkling drives me insane maybe because I know what's coming next!! The crunching of the chip!! I also hate the sound of some scraping the bottom of a yogurt cup!! I feel like saying to them "it's gone already!!" Don't even start with someone talking while their yawning!! If only they knew what they sounded like!! When their done I just stand there with a grossed out look on my face and say "What did you just say?" Or how about when you tell someone that their chewing is gross so they do it louder and on purpose!! I feel like smacking their face and hoping that they choke on the food!! What the hell is wrong with me????

On the tv program 20/20 Kelly Ripa talked about having this disorder. I have it to a mild degree and my grown son has it to a greater degree. Tinnitus, ringing of ears, goes along with this disorder. I read that it has to do with processing center in brain communicating with the limbic or emotion center. That made sense to me.

I too am a long-time sufferer since about 8 or 9 years old. It seems sciece is calling it Misophonia. There is a website all about it. I read the symptoms and ALL of the annoying sounds are described there. There doesn't seem to be a cure except earplugs or your Ipod. My Ipod is my best buddy at work. Check out the website and know we are not the only ones who cannot abide the sound of chop smacking, gum chewing and slurping ect...
http://www.misophonia.info/

Hi
I am egsactly the same but my mum doesn't care i don't even think she notices me enough to realise that i curl up when my brother eats.But the thing is at school and at home i get physically bullied for it. People come up to my and just chew their food right infront of me. It physically hurts. Can someone help me and tell me what to do? Please ... Emma

Sometimes it's best not to mention it to others as I have found they will deliberately make the noises they know you cannot tolerate. Best bet, when they start up with the bothersome noises, walk away if you can. I usually put my Ipod on or leave the room. Otherwise you will explode with rage and end up looking like you have lost your mind. Since there is no cure, we all have to do what we must to cope. If at all possible I don't tell people I suffer from this condition. Close friends yes, everyone else I just AVOID when I can no longer stand the noises. In the meantime talk to a trusted teacher or guidance counsellor about the bullying. Bullying is WRONG no matter what.

Had this for a long time (21) and even strangers can set me off when I'm at their house and they're eating funions or something.
I've come to a conclusion that it's something you learn when you're a child.
Did your parents ever tell you to "chew with your mouth closed"? Mine used to almost yell it at me and when I went to elementary school the other children ate like animals with their mouths wide open. They'd even tease me over it.
In the end, ever time I see or hear someone chewing food like an idiot I just get flashbacks to a kid from school and lose my mind.

wow - I thought it was just me (oh, and my younger brother)!! I *know* why I have this condition - I'm sure it's because my father was the NOISIEST eater you could imagine. I'm not talking just normal eating noises here - this was WAY over the top. I loved my dad, but even as a very young child, I couldn't stand sitting down to a meal with him. It was not until I left home that I found I couldn't stand the sound of *anyone* eating. My pet annoyances are people who bite their cutlery while eating, people who munch on crisps (chips) before closing their mouth (sort of snapping them out of the air), and people eating crunchy food like apples and carrots. It has not turned me off food, thank heavens, and I am not revolted by the process of eating. I found I could manage eating with others, as long as there was some music, or the TV going in the background. My kids understand this, and always pop some music on if I am eating with them.

I can't stand to see anyone chewing gum, and I HATE it when I see an actor in a movie or TV show chewing gum, and making that smacking sound. I also hate scenes where people are eating at table, and you can hear their cutlery click-clacking on the plates. AAARRRGGGH!
Even the sound of someone swallowing water, makes me want to scream. Some directors leave this sound in, and I always yell something like "What, did you put a microphone inside their throat, for pete's sake!" yes, I know. I'm NUTS!

I don't mind the sound of dogs or cats eating, and I've had a lot of pets. I can handle the sound of someone coughing, (in fact I always feel very sympathetic to them) but anyone with the sniffles is quickly presented with a box of tissues, from me!

I'm actually very relieved to read all these posts on here, and realise this "condition" exists and is actually not that uncommon. I wish I had known this years ago (I'm 60 now) as I feel I might have been able to manage my anxiety/depression better. Who knows, it may have all stemmed from this one condition, misophonia.

It may not be the eating that bothers you but the attitude you perceive that person as having.

Hi,
I am exactly the same, chewing, slurping hot drinks, nail biting, crisp packets. Someone talking with a frog in their throat, JUST CLEAR YOUR THROAT!!! Tapping, leg twitching etc. Not bothered by animals and usually it is worse with people im close to. My mood goes from happy to RAGE in seconds. I also find it annoying when im watching tv and my partner comes and stands next to me or sits too close. i wear ear plugs in bed. thinking of some kind of therapy xx

Oh my gosh! Are you kidding me? Here I thought I was alone in this world.. then I goggle "can't stand hearing and watching people eat" and I stumble upon this page! My family is also very upset with me over this. I believe that this has developed over time (its not just in situations with food). When I was 7, I was sitting in a van with my family (during 5 'o' clock traffic) and my two older brothers started sniffing.. it never bothered me until that day.. and from then on I have become more and more aggravated with sounds and more recently sights like watching people eat. Seeing this page is basically a blessing to me.. even if it is really old. Thank you Stevie

I have the same thing, it's called MISOPHONIA. Exrteme sensitivity to certain sounds, especially chewing. Googl it..

Omg i find so much relief in reading all this. I'm 21 now,
and i've been living with these symptoms for years,
I thought I was the only one, I can't stand it
whenever i hear someone eat something crunchy,
it makes me want to throw up and murder the
person, I can't explain how much I hate it.
I'm not an agressive type, but these things just
drive me INSANE. Especially with my mom,
when she eats nuts or whatever I'm just mean to her
and say horrible things. I don't know what to do
with myself, I often leave or practically for her to
leave by sighing or just acting really annoyed.
I wish there was some kind of treatment for this.
Thank you guys so much, biiiiig relief.
I don't really enjoy eating anymore, I just get it
over and done with cause it's essential and all.
Ughh, what to do?