12 ms·

I have ADHD and I straight-up don't do silence. Between restless brain and tinnitus, actual silence, or anything with a noise floor below ~15dB, just doesn't si

by kortex 4y ago

I have ADHD and I straight-up don't do silence. Between restless brain and tinnitus, actual silence, or anything with a noise floor below ~15dB, just doesn't sit right with me. 20-30dB is about ideal. Especially when trying to sleep. I have some sort of fan/filter in just about every room. When I'm working, I'm almost always listening to music (unless I'm way over stimulated). It probably started when I was much younger with much worse asthma and always had a HEPA filter running in the background. Eventually this turned into basically always having some kind of fan in my primary locations. Right now I dig the Coway air filters on low or medium. Even beyond the alleged "noise floor dopamine boost", I find some kind of background whoosh really nice for masking otherwise variable sounds, such as cars, airplanes, and the wind, which are far more distracting. 10/10 would recommend running some sort of air filter all the time. Plus, cleaner air (air pollution has all kinds of bad effects).

treeman79 4y ago
Silence is horrible for me. Best is paid programming. Someone that keeps me on task. At home best I’ve found is ear plugs with music in background. Or I can take my medicine and the horrific pain of boredom goes away. I just get a few days of severe nerve pain throughout body.
- steve_adams_86 4y ago
  Do you mean in ear headphones with music or actual ear plugs with music on a stereo? I don’t know why but I feel a million times better with ear plugs in. I had these etymotic ear plugs that were more like sound filters for years before I lost them, and I loved them so much. I’d wear them with headphones over top while working for this oddly silent and muffled sound experience. I didn’t replace the etymotics because my wife was too embarrassed to be around me having these things in. But at a restaurant or other loud places they were an absolute saviour. I use AirPods in a similar way, but it’s not as nice. Sometimes I actually just want plain old ear plugs. Even so, the AirPods are a lot better than nothing at all. I use them with no sound perhaps more often than I do with sound.
  - alvarezbjm-hn 4y ago
    Once I lived in the worst place noise wise. The street was transited at night, there were many dogs barking in the neighborhood, and people came in and out of the nearby rooms. After one month, I managed to sleep by wearing something like these: http://static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/2FLL3_AS01?$mdmain$ http://static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/2FLL3_AS01... and over that, thick headphones playing a recording of popcorn in a microwave. I managed to stay 4 months there.
    - steve_adams_86 4y ago
      Haha, that sounds awful. I hope you’re somewhere peaceful now. I do find those work (and I keep a pair in my toiletry bag which I take just about everywhere), but if I leave them in for prolonged periods I find my ears start to hurt. Almost like I could be developing some kind of inner ear skin irritation.
  - shaunkoh 4y ago
    I too love having AirPods in! Do you clean your earplugs daily? I discovered I had to after a minor ear infection. Wet wipes alone didn’t cut it. Needs wet wipes + hand sanitizer. Don’t forget the case too. I also made the mistake of putting the AirPods on too quickly after a shower. I was like 90% dry but inpatient. That too can trigger ear infections.
    - JoachimS 4y ago
      Not directly related to your post but tinnitus + Airpods. I have tinnitus. And after starting to use Airpod Pros, I feel the tinnitus has become *much* worse. And I basically don't have any music on. And if I do, at very low levers. I basically just use the transparent mode, or silence mode. Am I the only one experience this? I'm sort of hestistant to use Airpods to not risk getting permanent worse tinnitus. At the same time, they are very practical. And the dampening of noise makes work and concentration easier.
  - treeman79 4y ago
    Actual ear plugs. Dampens eveything. Eliminates most distractions. Music in background becomes more soothing.
- edgyquant 4y ago
  >just get a few days of severe nerve pain throughout body. What is this? I get the same experience and my docs haven’t given any explanation after multiple times bringing it to their attention.
  - colechristensen 4y ago
    Welbutrin? That sounds a lot like a common side effect of that drug.
    - treeman79 4y ago
      Adderal, vyvanse, concerta. And Xarelto (blood thinner) all cause burning pain
      - edgyquant 4y ago
        Yup, Adderal. When I take it the two sides of my brain stop fighting each other and I'm able to be what I think is normal. But then i get nerve pain (which I've had, mildly, in general due to two surgeries when I was a kid.)
  - treeman79 4y ago
    Neuropathy. Lots of damage to my nerves. Makes me hyper sensitive to many medications. Heavy vitamin regiment has reduced issues. LDN, and getting a previously undiagnosed autoimmune condition under control has given me some tolerance. I still avoid Medication as best I can. But Family likes having a house.
theGnuMe 4y ago
Many people use sound machines to drown out background noise so it doesn’t wake you up. You can however train yourself on to a sound machine or off of one. Some people can’t fall asleep unless the tv is on or the radio or a podcast… same principle. But it really only makes sense if you environment is quiet in general.
- dghughes 4y ago
  I think it's consistent sound/noise that matters. My Dad worked on a ship and he said when he was trying to sleep the worst sounds were intermittent. He preferred a constant sound no matter what it was.
  - doubled112 4y ago
    I think this is it. The change is what does it. Intermittent noise is constant change. Loud music in the next room never stopped me from sleeping as a kid. I'd wake up when the music turned off, though.
- meltyness 4y ago
  Yeah, in other news many environments are badly engineered, badly outfitted, and their inhabitants are content to let their artificially occupied mind anguish with squealing refrigerators, air conditioners, notifications, sleep issues, illumination issues, blood sugar spikes and trenches, social uncertainty and misplaced conscientiousness, and so on without attributing their focus issues to anything more specific than "something wrong" or, in medical terms, "disordered."
  - travisjungroth 4y ago
    When you're stigmatizing mental health, avoid writing it as a single run-on sentence that's 63 words long. The point loses its punch.
    - meltyness 4y ago
      In what sense are any of those elements of distraction or the claim about vagueness "stigmatizing mental health"?
ghc 4y ago
> I have ADHD and I straight-up don't do silence. > It probably started when I was much younger with much worse asthma and always had a HEPA filter running in the background. Eventually this turned into basically always having some kind of fan in my primary locations. Same exact experience.
Natsu 4y ago
For tinnitus, try massaging the back of your head/neck. Tightness there can be the cause in some people. Reddit posted a similar trick a few years ago, but in my experience, massage seems to be just as good, so if you haven't tried it, do so and you might get some relief from that.
- treeman79 4y ago
  It could also be high cranial pressure.
- swader999 4y ago
  If massage does work, consider getting a Theragun percussion massage tool. That thing has done wonders for my old age pains.
  - chrisallenlane 4y ago
    I'll second this. I keep one at my desk now. Between switching to a standing desk and the Theragun, my hips/back/neck are in much better shape than they were a few years ago.
Behemoth66 4y ago
« Between restless brain and tinnitus, actual silence, or anything with a noise floor below ~15dB, just doesn't sit right with me.» As someone with both (and particularly bad tinnitus) I look forward to my new air filters/fans.
reilly3000 4y ago
Ditto and a plug for https://austinair.com/ https://austinair.com/ I run it in my office on low during the day and sleep with it at night. Its a sizable investment but WOW its been worth it. I'm on year 12 and its still going strong.
slim 4y ago
is asthma correlated with ADHD ?
- comprev 4y ago
  For me there was an unknown psychological dependency on my inhaler due to anxiety. The paranoia of needing the inhaler due to allergies/whatever would itself trigger a panic attack. Since my ADHD diagnosis (aged 38!) I can happily leave the house without the inhaler without fear of needing it - but only when I'm on stimulant meds. The ADHD diagnosis has brought to light several things which I never knew would be connected. The meds are life changing in many ways more than just help with concentration.
ChildOfChaos 4y ago
Any slight sudden noise also tends to wake me up, last year I bought some Bose Sleepbuds 2 and they have been fantastic, they play a range of sounds such as white noise while your sleep and it really blocks out everything else. I've used them to sleep like a baby in a tent at a music festival when all my campmates woke up tired and complaining from lack of sleep. When working I use Endel / Brain.fm.

by kortex 4y ago

treeman79 4y ago

Silence is horrible for me. Best is paid programming. Someone that keeps me on task. At home best I’ve found is ear plugs with music in background. Or I can take my medicine and the horrific pain of boredom goes away. I just get a few days of severe nerve pain throughout body.

steve_adams_86 4y ago
Do you mean in ear headphones with music or actual ear plugs with music on a stereo? I don’t know why but I feel a million times better with ear plugs in. I had these etymotic ear plugs that were more like sound filters for years before I lost them, and I loved them so much. I’d wear them with headphones over top while working for this oddly silent and muffled sound experience. I didn’t replace the etymotics because my wife was too embarrassed to be around me having these things in. But at a restaurant or other loud places they were an absolute saviour. I use AirPods in a similar way, but it’s not as nice. Sometimes I actually just want plain old ear plugs. Even so, the AirPods are a lot better than nothing at all. I use them with no sound perhaps more often than I do with sound.
- alvarezbjm-hn 4y ago
  Once I lived in the worst place noise wise. The street was transited at night, there were many dogs barking in the neighborhood, and people came in and out of the nearby rooms. After one month, I managed to sleep by wearing something like these: http://static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/2FLL3_AS01?$mdmain$ http://static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/2FLL3_AS01... and over that, thick headphones playing a recording of popcorn in a microwave. I managed to stay 4 months there.
  - steve_adams_86 4y ago
    Haha, that sounds awful. I hope you’re somewhere peaceful now. I do find those work (and I keep a pair in my toiletry bag which I take just about everywhere), but if I leave them in for prolonged periods I find my ears start to hurt. Almost like I could be developing some kind of inner ear skin irritation.
- shaunkoh 4y ago
  I too love having AirPods in! Do you clean your earplugs daily? I discovered I had to after a minor ear infection. Wet wipes alone didn’t cut it. Needs wet wipes + hand sanitizer. Don’t forget the case too. I also made the mistake of putting the AirPods on too quickly after a shower. I was like 90% dry but inpatient. That too can trigger ear infections.
  - JoachimS 4y ago
    Not directly related to your post but tinnitus + Airpods. I have tinnitus. And after starting to use Airpod Pros, I feel the tinnitus has become *much* worse. And I basically don't have any music on. And if I do, at very low levers. I basically just use the transparent mode, or silence mode. Am I the only one experience this? I'm sort of hestistant to use Airpods to not risk getting permanent worse tinnitus. At the same time, they are very practical. And the dampening of noise makes work and concentration easier.
- treeman79 4y ago
  Actual ear plugs. Dampens eveything. Eliminates most distractions. Music in background becomes more soothing.
edgyquant 4y ago
>just get a few days of severe nerve pain throughout body. What is this? I get the same experience and my docs haven’t given any explanation after multiple times bringing it to their attention.
- colechristensen 4y ago
  Welbutrin? That sounds a lot like a common side effect of that drug.
  - treeman79 4y ago
    Adderal, vyvanse, concerta. And Xarelto (blood thinner) all cause burning pain
    - edgyquant 4y ago
      Yup, Adderal. When I take it the two sides of my brain stop fighting each other and I'm able to be what I think is normal. But then i get nerve pain (which I've had, mildly, in general due to two surgeries when I was a kid.)
- treeman79 4y ago
  Neuropathy. Lots of damage to my nerves. Makes me hyper sensitive to many medications. Heavy vitamin regiment has reduced issues. LDN, and getting a previously undiagnosed autoimmune condition under control has given me some tolerance. I still avoid Medication as best I can. But Family likes having a house.

theGnuMe 4y ago

Many people use sound machines to drown out background noise so it doesn’t wake you up. You can however train yourself on to a sound machine or off of one. Some people can’t fall asleep unless the tv is on or the radio or a podcast… same principle. But it really only makes sense if you environment is quiet in general.

dghughes 4y ago
I think it's consistent sound/noise that matters. My Dad worked on a ship and he said when he was trying to sleep the worst sounds were intermittent. He preferred a constant sound no matter what it was.
- doubled112 4y ago
  I think this is it. The change is what does it. Intermittent noise is constant change. Loud music in the next room never stopped me from sleeping as a kid. I'd wake up when the music turned off, though.
meltyness 4y ago
Yeah, in other news many environments are badly engineered, badly outfitted, and their inhabitants are content to let their artificially occupied mind anguish with squealing refrigerators, air conditioners, notifications, sleep issues, illumination issues, blood sugar spikes and trenches, social uncertainty and misplaced conscientiousness, and so on without attributing their focus issues to anything more specific than "something wrong" or, in medical terms, "disordered."
- travisjungroth 4y ago
  When you're stigmatizing mental health, avoid writing it as a single run-on sentence that's 63 words long. The point loses its punch.
  - meltyness 4y ago
    In what sense are any of those elements of distraction or the claim about vagueness "stigmatizing mental health"?

ghc 4y ago

> I have ADHD and I straight-up don't do silence. > It probably started when I was much younger with much worse asthma and always had a HEPA filter running in the background. Eventually this turned into basically always having some kind of fan in my primary locations. Same exact experience.

Natsu 4y ago

For tinnitus, try massaging the back of your head/neck. Tightness there can be the cause in some people. Reddit posted a similar trick a few years ago, but in my experience, massage seems to be just as good, so if you haven't tried it, do so and you might get some relief from that.

treeman79 4y ago
It could also be high cranial pressure.
swader999 4y ago
If massage does work, consider getting a Theragun percussion massage tool. That thing has done wonders for my old age pains.
- chrisallenlane 4y ago
  I'll second this. I keep one at my desk now. Between switching to a standing desk and the Theragun, my hips/back/neck are in much better shape than they were a few years ago.

Behemoth66 4y ago

« Between restless brain and tinnitus, actual silence, or anything with a noise floor below ~15dB, just doesn't sit right with me.» As someone with both (and particularly bad tinnitus) I look forward to my new air filters/fans.

reilly3000 4y ago

Ditto and a plug for https://austinair.com/ https://austinair.com/ I run it in my office on low during the day and sleep with it at night. Its a sizable investment but WOW its been worth it. I'm on year 12 and its still going strong.

slim 4y ago

is asthma correlated with ADHD ?

comprev 4y ago
For me there was an unknown psychological dependency on my inhaler due to anxiety. The paranoia of needing the inhaler due to allergies/whatever would itself trigger a panic attack. Since my ADHD diagnosis (aged 38!) I can happily leave the house without the inhaler without fear of needing it - but only when I'm on stimulant meds. The ADHD diagnosis has brought to light several things which I never knew would be connected. The meds are life changing in many ways more than just help with concentration.

ChildOfChaos 4y ago

Any slight sudden noise also tends to wake me up, last year I bought some Bose Sleepbuds 2 and they have been fantastic, they play a range of sounds such as white noise while your sleep and it really blocks out everything else. I've used them to sleep like a baby in a tent at a music festival when all my campmates woke up tired and complaining from lack of sleep. When working I use Endel / Brain.fm.