I have found when I am reacting that sounds, sunlight, motion, vibrations, even the rubbing of my skin will irritate me to no end and that includes the noise children make, even whistling!! I just can't handle it! This is because mast cell release a TON of really good neurotransmittors, histamine being the major one. If we could correlate it to anything it's like plugging your 110 TV into a 220 socket!!!! Can you see the sparks flying?!
What can you do about this? Well, Joan's got an EXCELLENT idea with the ear plugs, I don't know why I've not thought of that sooner myself and I'll have to try it. But I've found that when I step outside (I live in Brazil and we always have bright sunshine!) and the sun makes my eyes hurt that this is a warning to me (prodome) that I'm reacting too much already. I will take a pain reliever at this point. When I talk of pain reliever I'm not talking heavy duty pain meds - tylenol, aspirin or something like Ibuprofen, depending upon what you are tolerant of. I don't trigger with any of these meds so I take what is handy. But even those who are not tolerant can usually handle tylenol and this would be the item of choice then. What you are looking to do is to counteract the mediators and one of the mediators is prostaglandin and these meds are anti-prostaglandin meds, so in taking them, you help to counteract the prostaglandins which are being released. If this isn't enough then I will then consider taking an anti-histamine as well. And as my last resort, I will consider singulair, which I am not taking daily anymore since my system has calmed down a bit.
You see, why are you feeling so sensitive is the question, since you know that this is not normal? The hypersensitivity is directly caused by the mediator release and like I said a great many of them are neurotransmittors, which are essential for our body's function, but too much of a good thing will drive you nuts! So, you need to counteract it. That's why we take the meds we take, but often our doctors don't realize that the pain relievers are anti-prostaglandin meds and don't add them to our daily meds, but that is also because some of us are sensitive to those meds since they are intolerant to salycilates. So, if you are sensitive to salycilates, you may want to research this a bit more or try very small amounts and build up, for that has been seen to work well with these meds. But as I said, Tylenol is not a salycilate and most of us are quite tolerant to it and it should give you some help.
I hope this helps!
Lisa