In this episode my son and I are discussing how Sensory Overwhelm affects me when I'm out and about. It is something I have to manage on a daily basis as living with PTSD causes Mental Fatigue in me much more quickly than before.

Absorbing information from our environment, in the form of sight, sound, smell, touch and taste is what we do continuously. Our brains then have to process and file that information as well as make decisions on how to respond to it.

Since living with the effects of severe trauma I have come to physically experience how much effort that constant processing is for my brain. It causes my mental fatigue, resulting in a frequent sense of disorientation and physical unsteadiness. This, of course, can make travelling very difficult, even short trips on foot.

We talk about how I manage that fatigue and find ways of getting to my destination. At the same time, sometimes it is wise to give up and cancel or rearrange a trip or commitment.