Almost all my life I’ve absolutely despised children. Pretty much from the moment I stopped being a child I’ve hated being around children.

It doesn’t even matter what the child is doing. Whether they’re laughing and having fun or screaming and throwing a tantrum. The sound of a child being loud activates an almost primal rage that I can barely contain.

I’ve had to leave social gatherings/restaurants/grocery stores all because if I’d stayed I’d have made a complete ass of myself by screaming at a child just for existing.

It’s even worse with infants which makes me feel horrible because I know they can’t help it. I know the kids don’t know any better and it’s our job as adults to get them through childhood, but my blood boils when they get loud or demand attention.

Has anyone else dealt with something like this? Is there anything I can do to stop from getting so angry?

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    923·
    11 months ago

    The sound of a child being loud activates an almost primal rage that I can barely contain.

    Yeah, that’s actually a thing for some people to various degrees.

    It’s called misophonia

    https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24460-misophonia

    I had it for high pitched sounds as well, went on Beta Blockers for migraines and it fixed this as well.

    The noises are triggering your adrenal response and your body is screaming at you that the noise has to stop and it doesn’t matter what it takes. Beta blockers block adrenaline, so now noises that used to set me on edge are just normal noises to me.

    I think one of the current hypothesis is that it might be close to a sound that would attract predators, but sometimes wires get crossed and you have the reaction to a random noise.

    Most commonly it’s people hating the sound of others chewing.

    • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
      5·
      11 months ago

      I’ll have to look into this. People chewing normally don’t bother me, but if someone is sitting close and chews with their mouth open… yeah, instant rage.

    • HootinNHollerin@slrpnk.net
      1·
      11 months ago

      I’ll have to look into this again thanks, but Just a cautionary note that it can be hard to get off of beta blockers iirc

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        11 months ago

        While true, it’s not that they’re addictive or dangerous or anything.

        It’s just a long half life so they stay in your system for days when taken as prescribed.

        So if you take your doses regularly, your body gets used to never having adrenaline.

        Take a week off, and your body is suddenly dealing with adrenaline again while having like zero tolerance for it.

        So if you’re on it for cardiac reasons, stopping abruptly can very likely lead to a heart attack.

        So (like most meds) if you’re going off them you need to titrate slowly so your body adjusts. But it’s not like Benzos where it causes withdrawals or anything.

        If someone takes them “as needed” then they can just stop taking them whenever without cause for concern. Because their body is still used to occasional adrenaline.

        Obviously consult your doctor though, I just took a few classes on this stuff over a decade ago