Anyone else? Sound sensitivity (for lack of a better word)

[Guest guest]

Wondering if anyone else experiences sensitivity to sounds like I do.

Even though I feel like I have a very good grasp on my PTSD and am

well on the road to recovery, I am still struggling with this. Not

entirely sure it's related to abusive childhood, though.

My biggest issue with sounds at this time comes from our upstairs

neighbors in our apartment. We've called the police due to screaming,

yelling & what sounded like her being bashed against walls/floor...

what we could hear was clearly domestic violence. We've complained to

management several times in regards to the noise which also includes

her yelling at her kids at all hours of day/night and the damned

stomping! The stomping is absolutely insane. It drives my husband

nuts too. She has a 2 year old up there and I swear that kid just

romps all day long from sun up till sun down and sometimes in the

middle of the night we're awoken. Management always says " they don't

have carpet up there " . My reply is always, " maybe you should put some

carpet up there. " (I feel strongly that would help). We also pay our

rent on time every month and were even paid ahead for a while.

We also get lots of bass booming music and loud TV from them.

I can see how the stomping could be connected to PTSD due to my nada

stomping down the hallway after me to physically abuse me. But I seem

to be overly sensitive to the other sounds from up there, like the

bass... which I'm dealing with right now (mixed with the stomping).

We've made recordings with my iPod and everything, filed numerous

complaints. I feel like this is my problem, like management doesn't

seem to think it's a big deal, even though we've had things fall off

of our walls (pictures) due to the stomping.

Aside from the neighbor issues, I also have issues when TV or music is

too loud in my house. And too loud to me seems to be a normal level

for most people, I guess. My husband gets frustrated with me when I

ask him to put in headphones or turn down the computer when he's

playing video games. Sorry, but I have no desire to hear that stuff

at that volume. I don't even listen to my own music or play my games

at that volume.

I have tried ear plugs (both while awake and asleep). When I sleep

with them, I always have nightmares about being mute and then drowning

(Really weird!). And I frankly don't feel comfortable wearing them

asleep or around the house anyway in case I do miss something like a

knock on the door or a phone call.

I'm just seriously frustrated with the noise here and the lack of

action by management to do anything to remedy the situation. We have

to give 60 days notice before we leave, per our lease, and then pay an

early termination fee on top of that. So moving right now is out of

the question. Lease is up July 1st, so i will be giving them 60 days

notice on that, but I'm not paying extra fees so I can leave. That's

not cool.

Anyway, I just wondered if other people here are sound sensitive like

this too. It's not like it hurts me, though often it startles the

crap out of me (especially the really loud stomping/jumping). The

bass is just extremely annoying when I'm trying to think or whatever.

Feel like I'm losing my marbles, that's for sure.

Mia