What helps with mental agitation of misophonia?

Posted by llilydolly @llilydolly, Dec 16, 2021

12-year-old granddaughter has had symptoms of Misophonia for about 18 months. It has recently gotten much worse. She has self-hate and is rejecting her family. She is beligerent and self-destructive, and has had to be hospitalized. This is believed to be a limbic nervous system abnormality. What treatments are available to treat the mental agitation and aggression?

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Hi @llilydolly, welcome. Clearly you are concerned for your young granddaughter. The symptoms of misophonia must be hard for her to manage and for the whole family and everyone in her circle at school and friends.

I've added your post to several groups to help find others to connect you with. I've included it in the About Kids & Teens, Brain & Nervous System and the Mental Health group.

I was not familiar with misophonia and found this article helpful to give me a base knowledge in plain language:
- Understanding Misophonia: When Everyday Sounds Cause Distress https://www.healthline.com/health/misophonia

According to the article, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasn’t approved any medication to treat misophonia. No conclusive evidence suggests medication can help treat the condition. However, there are treatments that can help like cognitive behavioral therapy, counselling and tinnitus sound retraining.

Finding a good family therapist or parental support group can also help the whole family. I know it was really beneficial for my husband and I to find support when our teenager was dealing with mental health issues. It's so frightening.

Do you live close to your granddaughter? What support role do you play for the family?

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Before placing blame on your granddaughter ONLY and for all the expectation to fall on her to make a change (that she may not have a physiological ability to do so), I would recommend an approach to understand which particular noises cause your granddaughter distress and have all family members contribute to adjusting their behavior to not cause such annoyances. It will help create a more harmonious environment for everyone. Family is teamwork and everyone needs to be ready to compromise.

If one having misophonia may seem like an inconvenience to others, the same goes if one is dealing with family members or friends with Autism. People must be open to making adjustments to their own behavior as well. I personally have never met one person who doesn't have an issue with something.
Family therapy is extremely important, and I hope that you and the rest of your family members will support each other, rather than conclude that your granddaughter needs to receive drug treatments and hospitalization.

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I get mental agitation from watching TV or watching an Internet movie. I don't know what Misophonia is. If family members would be more caring and turn the channel or turn the programming off that has helped me. Sometimes even just lowering the volume helps me. I have been known to use ear buds connected to my cell phone so I can listen to my own music at times and that has helped too at times.

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I need help finding a pediatric dr who deals with misophonia …my daughter is 10 years old and is suffering with this..we had to remove her from school and I’m doing doing homeschooling, but everyday noises like loading the dishwasher send her into a rage, she has to “hide” we warn her ahead of time..she gets so stressed physically and emotionally, please help.

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Help…I have a 10 year old daughter who is suffering from misophonia. I need a Pediatric dr who specializes in this…we can’t even load the dishwasher, eat or do everyday things without her going into a rage, she has to go and hide. It hurts her physically and mentally. We’ve had to take her out of school and homeschool her. Please help!!

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@kimberlymanny4

Help…I have a 10 year old daughter who is suffering from misophonia. I need a Pediatric dr who specializes in this…we can’t even load the dishwasher, eat or do everyday things without her going into a rage, she has to go and hide. It hurts her physically and mentally. We’ve had to take her out of school and homeschool her. Please help!!

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Hi @kimberlymanny4, I moved your messages about misophonia and seeking specialized care for your daughter to this existing discussion where you can connect with members like @llilydolly @liv38556
- What treatments help with mental agitation of misophonia? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/misophonia/

Kimberly, misophonia affects the whole family. I'm so sorry that you're dealing with this. Getting support can make a big difference. You might appreciate the information on the Misophonia Association's website, which includes a provider directory: https://misophonia-association.org/

Have you considered seeking counselling with cognitive behavior therapy or similar?

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@liv38556

I get mental agitation from watching TV or watching an Internet movie. I don't know what Misophonia is. If family members would be more caring and turn the channel or turn the programming off that has helped me. Sometimes even just lowering the volume helps me. I have been known to use ear buds connected to my cell phone so I can listen to my own music at times and that has helped too at times.

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I have no medical training bu i wonder could misophonia be confused wih or mistaken for one thing i have now, hyperacusis...where noise sounds louder than it is etc. connected with tinnitus
My daughter is told its her issue when problems listening to her partner eat and chew food with open mouth and crunch on crispy treats etc., noisily; but my feeling isL why isnt he part of the problem ..she doesnt have this feeling with anyone else eating.... and get him to stop making such loud noises when he eats???

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I and my sister have it!!! We are 47 and 51 and have had it for as long as we and my parents can remember. It’s mainly triggered by noises made by the mouth like slurping, chewing popcorn, gum chewing, and ‘chew.’ It sometimes gets so bad that I feel like I have no control and have rage and want to shake this person . I’ve been known to have given dirty looks (embarrassing) and it even makes me feel like it have to go to the bathroom. My doctor says this is because I take the annoyance and internalize it and do something I can control. We don’t spend too much time talking about it though. But, I can say for us it never went away. I think we just learned distraction or something. Another thing that sets me off majorly is nail picking! It’s so annoying! I know all of this seems like no big deal, but it is a disorder and has a name with research done on it, so that stands for something. I’d personally take my child to a psychiatrist (not your general doctor) because they are more apt to know about rare disorders or at least the direction you can turn. I’m thinking that your general doctor would just recommend a psychiatrist anyway. Take it from me… invest in a specialist. Any further questions, hit me up. Hope this helps and you are not alone!

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My 9 year old daughter has misophonia and we have found wonderful help and resources for her! Sadly that help is only from the East and west coast. Tom Dozier is amazing and does zoom apt. He can explain misophonia on Misophonia International and 3L parenting. There is also great resources at SoQuiet.com and an amazing Audiologist Dr Naton Bauman with AVI in CT that also is committed to educating the world on Misophonia. I would be glad to give any of you information on this as my daughter have the worst level 5 of this disorder so I am personally trying to get information out about this medical condition to all of northwestern Arkansas and Oklahoma.
You are welcome to message me for many more resources including Children’s educational issues on how to get school accommodations and training for professionals in your area because sadly few people know how to help with this as we have learned for my daughter. In helping her with trigger tamer app to help desensitize hers, I learned I also have misophonia.

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