Noise Anxiety

[worriedmuch]

Hello

Was wondering if anyone has experienced similar and had any ideas how to get over it?

Lately I've been experiencing anxiety every time I hear my neighbours do anything. I know it's irrational but I feel like I'm waiting for them to get noisy which they normally do. There is always some sort of DIY going on at the weekend or evenings and just the thought of every little bang or scrape is making me irrationality angry. They've always been noisy with DIY and parties etc and I never cared too much but just the sound of them is making me anxious now. We're in a semi detached house to them.

I think it started with the neighbours the other side. Every time the weather was nice and even in the winter sometimes the kids were out smashing the football against the fence, as if there's not a park up the road. They rarely even went on the grass it was always between the fence and their back door. They were horrid, noisy neighbours and the kids would either climb the fence to get the ball or be calling around for it. I know it's petty, but I just don't want that interaction. I want to be left in peace and not worried about kids coming in the garden! Thankfully, they eventually got evicted for something else, but I feel like I'm still anxious about the noise. I just hate nice weather now because people will be out in the gardens and the sound of the football grated on me to the point I was checking the windows to see if the kids were out with the ball or looking in our garden etc.

Luckily the new neighbours that side seem really nice with no kids in sight.

Back to the current problem, DIY neighbours are the type who do what they want but would be banging on the door if we made any noise (happened once when my dad knocked a single nail in). I just dread the banging and scraping. It echoes too, whenever they're in the back of the house. This has grated on me for a while but it got worse a couple of months ago when they were scraping the party wall at 11pm on a Friday night. I'm not an angry person usually, I hate confrontation and normally just cry but I hammered on the wall and called them selfish. They knocked the wall back, which made my anxiety worse. I hate confrontation because I feel like people will just laugh at me or dismiss me.

I feel like I'm living in a constant state of anxiety, waiting for them to make any kind of noise. I know it's irrational and just feel so ridiculous because they're not thinking about me at all. Even if it's not DIY they're just loud in general. Music blasting at any nice weather, the woman cackling as if she's sat at a cauldron, constant scraping and shuffling.

Sorry for the long rant, but any help would be appreciated!

[jackieann3]

I'm exactly the same but I'm like it with any noise if the tele is too loud or my dog barks or even my phone ringing but especially my neighbours who sound the same as yours I can't even stand hearing them talking in the garden, my anxiety has never been this bad and not sure why its got this bad I never used to be this bad with noise and hope it gets a bit better I feel I've turned into a miserable person.

[worriedmuch]

Same! I don't remember ever caring what the neighbours were doing but now I can't stop thinking about it and getting anxious at every noise they make.

It's so horrible, and you're right, I feel like I've become miserable

[Fishmanpa]

Interesting topic and I share a somewhat similar physiological response to certain noises.

'Misophonia' - a disorder in which certain sounds trigger emotional or physiological responses that some might perceive as unreasonable given the circumstance. Those who have misophonia might describe it as when a sound “drives you crazy.” Their reactions can range from anger and annoyance to panic and the need to flee.

For me, it's a beeping sound. Like what you would hear from a vehicle backing up or an electronic device. Its due to the traumatic experience from cancer treatment and chemo specifically. My treatment consisted of 6 weeks radiation and a weekly chemo treatment. The chemo was administered in enormous room that held probably 50 or so patients and had a nursing station as well. You'd come in, they'd get you a bed/area and get you set up. The machines that fed the drugs had an alarm if the line got occluded or was below where it needed to be in delivery and believe me, that happened often. Imagine 2-3 hours of trying to relax with toxic meds being put into you and hearing the 'beep beep beep' of the machines :wacko: When it would start, I would get up, grab my IV tower on wheels and go for a walk around the ward. The nurses knew me and they would predict me leaving the ward when the beeping started! :roflmao:

To this day, when I hear a beeping sound, I get a visceral physical reaction to it even though I know 100% full well what's causing it and I don't suffer with anxiety about it. That would be the difference between what you're dealing with and what I deal with. Its just part of the new normal along with all the physical side effects. There are a few more sounds that trigger a response. More irritation than anything else but yeah, Misophonia is something I have and deal with :shrug:

FMP

[jackieann3]

Not nice for you, who would have thought that a noise can cause you to panic or trigger something off is there just no ending of symptoms to this anxiety and this one has a name too that's interesting.

[worriedmuch]

I've wondered about misophonia, but I'm not sure how much of my anxiety is coming from the noise itself and how much from my neighbours. I feel like I'm anticipating the noise, waiting for any little sign and then the anxiety begins. It's absolutely horrible - I never used to be like this.

[jackieann3]

I understand what you mean , with me it's already anxiety but them and the noise makes it worse , I only have to see my neighbours and the anxiety starts and they are only next door but one so there quite close , already not liking them don't help without hearing them being loud or hearing there music I didn't like them from day one they moved in, but I'm the same with hearing workman or anyone working outside and I can hear the tools there using its like my nerves are all on high alert all the time , I've just got very sensitive to noise I think since I've suffered with anxiety.