I have a condition called Misophonia and it causes extreme anxiety sometimes, how can I calm down?

Misophonia literally means hatred of sound.
In other words, everyday sounds that you probably think are normal, drive me insane!
Like chewing, tapping, anything repetitive.
I’m a college student and I cannot focus while in class because there’s always people around me smacking gum or clicking pens.
NO I cannot ignore it, my brain doesn’t allow it.
This condition literally controls my life and I’m tired of it.
Is there anything I can do?

I have the same thing, have had it for about 10 years or so. I tend to cope by either avoiding the sound (by leaving the room or something), but most of the time I use listening to music to help or a lot of the time, earplugs.

I use Bioears soft silicone earplugs which come in a pack of 6 and are squishy, once you’ve used them you can wash them and re-use them a couple of times. Once you have the earplugs in it’s a bit like being underwater. You can still hear louder sounds like people speaking but the softer (more annoying) sounds are drowned out a bit.

Alternatively you can try and find an audiologist that may be able to help. As of yet there is no real treatment but you can have sound therapy to see if it can help a bit.

I’d recommend getting enough sleep every night as well and finding a way to relax (meditation is usually recommended also). Sleep and anxiety make the symptoms worse in many cases.

There are a lot of support forums on the web for this with people’s experiences so you might get some better answers there.