How Did We Get Here?

Saturday, August 17th 5:53 p.m.

My first post to a support group for parents of children with Misophonia:

I just joined this group to help get input from parents. My 12 year old son appears to have Misophonia.
He has had an aversion to certain sounds for a few years now: the metronome (for piano lessons), ticking clocks and the car radio.

This year his condition has quickly migrated to include fear/aversion to ceiling fans, the air conditioner, windshield wipers, turn signals, birds & crickets if the windows are open, the dishwasher, and hot water heater. When indoors he wears noise-cancelling headphones and sleeps on the couch because he shares a room with a ceiling-fan-loving brother. He also wears his headphones in the car and will usually cover his head with a towel.

We took him to an audiologist to make sure he did not have Hyperacusis (Recruitment) which he does not. My son also does not want to talk about his sound aversions. He was extremely reluctant to go to the audiologist. ("I'm fine, Mom!"). He was worried about getting psychoanalyzed. We had to trick my son to get him to an appointment with a behavioral psychologist that was recommended by the audiologist. (which was not hard with a towel-covered head). Needless to say, things did not go well. The second appointment was even worse. It was a battle to get him in the car and I had to endure screaming, crying and threats of wanting to jump out of the car into traffic and end it all. My husband rode in the back to make sure this did not happen.

We are still working on a strategy with the doctor, who needs to do some research as this is not a common condition. One of the suggestions is to have a behavioral therapist come to our house. The biggest hurtle is to get our son to want help. We have been trying without success to get him to understand that we don't think he is crazy and that behavioral therapy to help him cope is not the same as psychoanalysis.

Any advice from parents or teens would be greatly appreciated. It has been very comforting to see that I'm not alone. Before we had an idea of what was happening, the reactions from triggers were quite alarming.