Kim's Story
Interviewed by Sara and Kresta Jan, 2024.
Write up by Sara
Misophonia emerged in Kim’s life in her late 50s, along with dystonia. She also received a diagnosis of dysautonomia at this time but looking back she sees the dysautonomia likely accompanied her since childhood (as something she had a predisposition towards and got activated by adverse childhood experiences). The dysautonomia came out fiercely when other health issues were present for Kim such as Lyme disease, occupational asthma, breast cancer treatments and finally with dystonia. Extreme fatigue was the main symptom at these times, as well as significant drops in her blood pressure.
The dystonia (which presented with movement symptoms) showed up in 2014 and along with it came intense sensory issues, misophonia, ear worms, anxiety that was “through the roof” and more.
In 2016, Kim found a lifeline in Dr. Farias' Dystonia Recovery Program, and embarked on a transformative journey that led to the disappearance of misophonia by 2018. By this point, she was 95% asymptomatic from the motor and non-motor symptoms of dystonia and dysautonomia.
But in 2021 the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic and undiagnosed orthostatic hypotension (due to a recent full time move to Tampa where heat and humidity strained her symptoms of dysautonomia) triggered a setback. The motor and non-motor symptoms of dystonia and dysautonomia resurfaced, accompanied by misophonia.
Undeterred, Kim implemented Farias's protocol once more and the misophonia was one of the first issues to completely abate, by 2023. As of this interview (Jan 2024), Kim is 90% asymptomatic of all other related issues.
Kim's misophonia primarily manifested as an intense aversion to her husband's nighttime breathing (not snoring) in 2014, a time marked by dysautonomia-induced insomnia. Curiously, the sounds of her dog and cat in the same bed, including the dog's snoring, provided comfort rather than irritation.
When the misophonia returned in 2021 her main triggers were her husband chewing and the voices and manner of speaking of two friends who had huskier voices and were boisterous storytellers (noting it would send her into a rage). By this time in life, her and her husband had both decided they like their personal sleep space so the nighttime breathing issue didn’t return.
Kim believes her husband was such a trigger because of living together, not because of any boundary issues or repressed anger towards him. She noted, “We get on great and are a bonded couple.” She saw that the sounds of others would start to bother her if she was visiting/staying with another person for a longer period of time.
For some additional context, the perpetrator of her trauma when she was 7 was a man – a neighbor who was quite a “boisterous story-teller”. Kim has no doubt that despite it being decades later in her life, the combination of being “neurologically overwhelmed” and around reminders of this past trauma (close breathing, chewing and jovial yet self-serving storytelling) triggered a trauma response in her.
Before engaging with Dr. Farias' program, Kim rates her misophonia at a 10 (from 0-10) in terms of outrage, with a rating of 4 in terms of impact on her life, given the bigger health issues she faced. Now Kim rates her misophonia at a 0 on both scales. Kim notes, “Misophonia looks SO different to me now. I simply can't believe I felt so strongly, so negatively about something that was no one's fault. “
Kim's approach to addressing misophonia centered around Dr. Farias' extensive protocol, with the addition of finding solace in avid hiking. The program, accessible via videos at dystoniarecoveryprogram.com, involves doing neurorelaxation and neurostimulation movements to balance the nervous system. Farias’ theory is that dystonia uninhibits previously inhibited childhood reflex poses (such as moro, grasping, rooting) and so the program also works to inhibit them again.
For Kim the program involved:
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Movement-Based Exercises: These exercises aimed at fortifying weakened muscle-brain neural connections. The program incorporated uninhibited childhood reflex poses into the movement therapies. Kim diligently adhered to three 10-minute sessions daily, recognizing the necessity of daily practice for neuroplasticity to take effect.
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Daily Neuro-Relaxation Work: This component involved different types of neurorelaxation, one of which was slow, low abdominal breathing exercises. Kim noted that individuals with dystonia often exhibit chest breathing and short exhales.
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Interhemispheric Brain Stimulation: This facet engaged Kim in listening to music engineered by Farias to specifically stimulate the right hemisphere of the brain. The regimen also included daily brisk walking and participating in dance videos on Farias' site, featuring primitive movements
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Tracking, Syncing, and Peripheral Eye Exercises: Dr. Farias designed exercises involving tracking, syncing, and peripheral eye movements, addressing left-eye issues prevalent in all his patients. These exercises were instrumental in correcting eye imbalances, ultimately fostering better autonomic nervous system balance. Kim disclosed that the eye exercises induced emotional release, evoking tears without specific associated memories. In discussing the primitive reflex exercises and the other protocol practiced, Kim and fellow participants attested to them being equally helpful when it comes to mental health.
As misophonia started to relent, Kim employed a strategy of “rationalization” during trigger moments, reminding herself the trigger person was doing nothing wrong. But she noted that when misophonia was at its worst, this type of self-talk did little or nothing.
In 2022, while revisiting Dr. Farias' protocol, she participated in 20 sessions of hyperbaric chamber treatments (thanks to living in close to a neurologist who offers this service), which she believes strengthened the progress made with Farias’ protocol in regard to sensory hyperarousal, social anxiety and PTSD-type symptoms. Maintenance work continues as Kim stays connected with the protocol.
In exploring other factors that may have contributed to Kim’s misophonia journey, the following aspects merit consideration:
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Kim recognizes herself as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) since birth - sensitive to things like fragrances, food, and social situations. Interestingly, the headaches she used to get from perfume went away when her nervous system got balanced.
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She considers herself an empathetic person, which she sees as both a blessing and a curse.
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She no longer harbors any shame and expresses a strong sense of self-acceptance
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She was going through menopause when misophonia showed up the first time.
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Traumas from her childhood prompted a lot of self-help work in her 30s and 40s, which she believes created the foundation for her to embrace Dr. Farias' program with enthusiasm. The self-help work helped her release the anger she was carrying, shift away from using “escapist behaviors” as a primary means to cope with life, and to recognize that the traumas in her life don’t define her destiny.
Kim's story is a testament to human resilience and the powerful transformation that can take place with addressing nervous system imbalance, which Kim did primarily through physiological means.
The picture above is not of Kim, but was submited by her because it was her hikes in nature that helped her the most and "is a beautiful thing". Kim prefers to stay mostly anonymous, staying active by serving the community she has connected with through dystonia recovery. Kim sees a lot of parallels between dystonia and misophonia in how both are "hard to understand" and have been largely dismissed or ignored by the medical community. She hopes that something she shared here helps someone with misophonia or dystonia.