Dude, gross!

December 24, 2021 9:16 PM

I’ve found that it’s I’ve gotten older, my gross-out reflex has gotten a lot more sensitive, but only for food and food-related stuff, nothing else. (For example, I have zero trouble with very gory movies.) Has anyone else experienced this?

So I’ve always been at least a mildly picky eater; I’ve gotten far better as an adult, but when I was a kid, it was a real problem. Even as an adult, I dislike what someone here on Metafilter once described as “wet food” — soups, stews, pot pies, anything like that. As an adult, this isn’t such a big deal, mostly, because I can avoid them. But now I’ve gotten so sensitive about it that seeing photos of those things, like on friends' social media pages, causes me a fair amount of distress, as in actually feeling nauseated or queasy, and even gagging a couple of times. Of course, it's fairly common for people to make soup or something and post a photo of it on Instagram or what have you, and I genuinely have to scroll past really quickly or hide the post. Even hearing the word “soup” gets me mildly distressed. I also once snapped at a friend for a similar reason after he sent me a particular article about a certain food.

I have the same problem with other images getting me unduly upset. For example, a direct report kept describing something as “verbal diarrhea all over the page,” and I actually raised my voice to him when I told him to stop — something I never do at work (I apologized later).

I feel weird and kind of silly even typing this out because it’s so far off the norm, certainly for most people but even for me. So, has anyone else ever had this, where you get weirdly sensitive about images and so on, even when you haven’t been before? Is this a thing as you get older? And is there any way to stop being so weirdly sensitive? I’m slightly afraid that if I keep going this way all I’m ever going to be able to stand to look at is overbaked potatoes or something, and I'm only half kidding.

posted by holborne to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

I think it’s a phobia you’re describing, an irrational fear that’s no less real, and powerful for the fact that you yourself recognise it as irrational. It doesn’t have to be a common one (snakes, heights, public speaking, closed spaces, etc.) to be a phobia, it can be anything at all. Revulsion and physical disgust, and nausea, are normal as well as the kinds of emotional anxiety that people associate with them. They absolutely come and go.

Desensitising through controlled exposure is one way to control them. Mine’s syringes, and I’ve had to come to terms with mine thanks to vaccination and the pandemic. I’m still terrified of them, but getting better.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 11:20 PM on December 24, 2021 [4 favorites]

I developed a severe fear of heights in my 40s, despite a fairly extensive (but not terribly accomplished) history of rock climbing throughout my late teens and my twenties, including lots of of scrapes and near disasters which could have (and probably should have) left me terrified of anything higher than a curbstone from an early stage. It got so bad I was once forced to crawl on my hands and feet (too rough a surface to let my knees all the way down) across a short bridge over a ship canal with a nice high railing and a ten foot wide concrete path for pedestrians.

The beginning of my fears coincided roughly with the diagnosis of a major autoimmune problem, FWIW.
posted by jamjam at 12:31 AM on December 25, 2021 [5 favorites]

I was a picky eater when I was a kid. Now I'll try anything, and if really hungry, I'll eat enough of whatever to survive. On the other hand, I found gory movies entertaining when I was an adolescent, but after sustaining a few serious injuries myself I have little tolerance for watching others endure trauma.
posted by Rash at 8:14 AM on December 25, 2021

My particular trigger is any food substance that reminds me of vomit. This sounds similar to me. "Wet food" sounds about like what bothers me about certain foods. I don't have a solution for you, though.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:41 AM on December 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

Does this correspond to your stress level? My sensory aversions have been a bigger problem lately, and for me it’s definitely stress-related.
posted by momus_window at 9:45 AM on December 25, 2021 [3 favorites]

I studied disgust academically in the past. I don’t recall anything about it becoming more intense with age. Even if that is a tendency, I agree with Fiasco de Gama that this sounds like it has reached the level of a phobia. I bet you could find some relief through exposure therapy.

While evolutionary psychology can be questionable at times, it seems clear that disgust evolved as a defense against illness, given that the classic objects of disgust tend to be obvious sources of pathogens. We’ve all been on high alert with regard to pathogens for a while. I wouldn’t be surprised if this has had an effect on the sorts of feelings you describe.
posted by Comet Bug at 9:46 AM on December 25, 2021 [4 favorites]

Something similar happened to me - basically my gag reflex is much stronger now in my mid 30s than anytime in my life (including when I was on chemotherapy!!!). It's only ever triggered by food - but specifically dirty dishes, garbage, food I haven't prepared myself (like at someone else's house) and leftovers. No idea why but it's worse if I've had caffeine.
posted by CancerSucks at 11:55 AM on December 25, 2021

As I've gotten older, I've definitely developed a sensitivity to certain sights and sounds, especially other people eating. Chewing and audible tongue action (gah just typing that) especially if it's "wet" sounding. If it's chewing with an open mouth, forget it, I have to leave the table. Bodily function sounds like coughing, sniffing, belching (again, a million times worse if they're "wet" sounding) also set me on edge.

I can also hear all the sounds in the house, things other people say they can't hear. All the humming and whirring and screeching, all the low and high pitched tones. Loud stuff seems to sound extra loud to me, and quiet stuff seems not so quiet. I notice I'm happier with the TV and music volume set much, much lower than anyone else I've watched and listened with.

For me I'm guessing it's a combination of (undiagnosed) misophonia and tinnitus. I'm not sure what the visual corollary is.
posted by Majorita at 6:42 PM on December 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

My claustrophobia became more extreme after a botched MRI.

Is it possible you've developed a phobia that's become more extreme after an upsetting event? An illness, food poisoning, etc.?

It's also possible the pandemic could be playing a role. All the emphasis on hygiene, germs, etc. could be activating your disgust reflex.
posted by champers at 8:08 AM on December 26, 2021

hmmm, this might be out of left field but perhaps this is vagus nerve related. Vagal tone appears to diminish with age. Vagus nerve stimulation has been studied as a treatment for PTSD, among other things:

"The stimulation of vagal afferent fibers in the gut influences monoaminergic brain systems in the brain stem that play crucial roles in major psychiatric conditions, such as mood and anxiety disorders. In line, there is preliminary evidence for gut bacteria to have beneficial effect on mood and anxiety, partly by affecting the activity of the vagus nerve. Since, the vagal tone is correlated with capacity to regulate stress responses and can be influenced by breathing, its increase through meditation and yoga likely contribute to resilience and the mitigation of mood and anxiety symptoms." Might be worth looking into.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:59 PM on December 26, 2021