Do you often find yourself dreading to sit down at the dinner table because the feeling of anxiousness is already sinking in with the thought of everyone around you chomping on their meal? Do you often feel like flipping a table, ripping your hair out, crying or punching small children at the sound of the person next to you slurping their soup? Can you hear someone chewing from a few rooms away, or from over your blaring TV set, when you know they're probably not actually chewing as loud as you hear it?
Well, if you answered yes to any of those (or all of the above), you have a little thing called Misophonia.
What is Misophonia? To put it simply, Misophonia is the hatred for the sound of chewing or repetitive sounds. Many people experience frustration with the sound of a pen being clicked, or people tapping their feet, but chewing is one of the more extreme sounds that pushes some over the edge. It is actually something that is considered to be a rare disorder and affects very few. The response to the sound triggers can range anywhere from feeling slightly uncomfortable, to having a full on panic attack.
Some people, but not many, get so uncomfortable that they result to harming themselves to try and distract their mind from the sounds. Now, if you're anything like me, the second you hear someone chew, you're shying away in extreme discomfort, and if you can still hear it and it gets worse, you're ready to flip tables and possibly cry. On top of that, your brain is amplifying the chewing sounds, making them louder than they actually are. It's so great, I know! Not.
Not everyone's chewing sends me into a full fledged nervous breakdown, and there are some people that somehow fly under the radar and don't irritate me, but they are few and far between. Sitting down to have dinner has become something I don't always enjoy, no matter how fantastic the food is. I just can't help but feel the anxiety building over what I'm about to hear for the next 45 minutes or longer. I hate that I get so worked up about it too, but it's something I actually have no control over.
The sight of someone chewing with their mouth open, or talking with food in their mouth, is enough to make me nauseous, and I can always tell when someone is talking to me with a mouth full of food -- even when I'm not looking at them. It drives me absolutely nuts and frustrates me to no end. Some foods bother me a lot less than others, where some I actually refuse to eat because I hate what it sounds like in someone else's mouth.
For example: popcorn, chips, chewing gum. These three foods have to be my biggest triggers. I never eat popcorn, will very rarely eat chips, and when I chew gum, I am extremely cautious with the way I chew it. I hate being around anyone eating these things. Also anything crunchy drives me crazy, especially when the person chews with their mouth open. Don't even get me started on slurping.
How does Misophonia come about? I honestly couldn't tell you. I think I noticed chewing starting to bother me about five years ago, and my triggers and responses were not as extreme as they are now. It has only worsened over the years. Misophonia is also not permanent, but can last throughout your lifetime.
Not sure if you have Misophonia, or want to know how extreme yours is? There are self tests that can be done to evaluate these things. Misophnoia is commonly self-diagnosed, so if you think you have it, you most likely do.
Reading all of this, you probably feel crazy or think that I'm crazy, but I promise you that is not the case. You are not alone!
If you're reading this and you don't have Misophonia, please take a step back and evaluate the way you chew. Make sure you're not being obnoxious or rude by chewing with your mouth open or talking with food in your mouth. You shouldn't do that in the first place. It's gross.
For more information on Misophonia, check out this website.
