EDS & PINGING: The Sensory Overload No One Warns You About

By Antonia | Unremarkable Me

Let me paint you a scene. You walk into a room—it’s loud, crowded, smells faintly of cheap perfume and burnt toast, and the lighting is flickering like it’s trying to Morse code a breakdown. You haven’t even sat down, and already your brain is doing what I call “pinging.”

It’s like your attention span has morphed into a pinball in an old arcade machine—ricocheting off every sound, smell, light, and texture while you just try to stay upright and maybe remember why you came in here in the first place.

This is sensory overload—but for those of us with Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (EDS), it’s not just an annoying quirk. It’s a full-body, full-brain, system crash. And for some reason, nobody talks about it.

What Is Sensory Overload, Exactly?

Sensory overload happens when your brain receives more input than it can handle—and instead of filtering and prioritising, it goes full-blown “nope.”

It’s the neurological equivalent of being shouted at through a megaphone while someone flashes a torch in your eyes and rubs sandpaper on your arms. Glamorous, right?

For people living with EDS, HSD, POTS, and often neurodivergence, this happens not occasionally, but regularly—and it can completely derail your ability to function.

SPD Foundation – What Is Sensory Overload?

Why It Happens More Often in EDS

Here’s the behind-the-scenes sabotage happening in your nervous system:

1. Chronic Pain & Fatigue

Your brain only has so much bandwidth. When it’s using most of it to manage joint pain, spasms, migraines, and fatigue, it has less capacity to filter out background stimuli—like that fluorescent light buzzing like a caffeinated bee.

Chronic pain is loud. It demands attention. So when more stimuli come in? Crash. BMJ – Chronic Pain and Cognitive Load

2. Dysautonomia (Like POTS)

A common sidekick of EDS is Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)—a condition where your autonomic nervous system stops behaving like an adult and starts throwing tantrums.

Your body’s supposed to automatically regulate heart rate, blood pressure, and sensory processing. But when that system’s is different, even small sensory inputs can feel overwhelming. Dysautonomia International – POTS Overview

3. Neurodivergence

Many with EDS are also neurodivergent—autistic, ADHD, or both. And guess what neurodivergent brains often struggle with? Yep: sensory processing.

So when you put hypermobility, chronic pain, nervous system dysfunction, and sensory sensitivity together, you don’t just have a bad day—you have what I like to call a full-blown sensory mutiny.

What Does “PINGING” Feel Like?

You might call it overstimulation. I call it pinging. Because that's what it is—your brain is bouncing.

It can look like:

• Sudden irritability, panic, or the urge to bolt

• Difficulty forming sentences or making decisions

• Physically curling in, covering ears/eyes, going non-verbal

• Feeling like the world is “too loud” even if it's silent

Sometimes you just walk into Tesco for dog food and end up crying in the biscuit aisle because the packaging is too shiny and someone’s perfume smells like regret.

Coping Tools: Because Surviving Isn’t Optional

When escaping isn’t possible, adapting is everything.

Sensory Support Kit:

• Noise-cancelling headphones or earplugs – trust me, they’re not just for music. Loop Earplugs – Sensory Solutions

• Tinted glasses or light-dimming lenses – especially helpful under brutal strip lights

• Tagless, soft clothing – because a waistband shouldn’t be a source of rage

• Fidget tools or chewable jewellery – give your nervous system a focal point. Chewigem – Stylish Sensory Aids

• Weighted items – scarves, lap pads, or jackets for that comforting pressure. Sensory Direct UK – Weighted Therapy

  
  

Nervous System Regulation:

• Box breathing (In 4, hold 4, out 4, hold 4)

• Body scanning to ground yourself

• Finding your reset zone—a quiet car, a bathroom, a friend’s shoulder

You’re not being difficult. You’re managing a system that takes effort just to stay online.

You Are Not Too Sensitive

You are not overreacting. You’re reacting appropriately to a world that isn’t built with us in mind.

If you need to wear headphones to walk through a shopping centre—fine. If you cancel plans because the world’s too loud that day—valid. If you carry ear defenders and a stress banana—legendary.

Further Support & Resources

• The Ehlers-Danlos Support UK (EDS UK) – Advocacy, resources & community

• Dysautonomia International – For POTS & related conditions

• Sensory Integration Education UK – Understanding sensory health

• Autistica – Neurodivergent community & sensory research

• The Mighty – Real Life Stories on Sensory Overload

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Final Thoughts: Ping Proud, My Friend

If your brain feels like a pinball machine some days, don’t beat yourself up. You’re not lazy, dramatic, or too sensitive. You’re just managing life on hard mode—with style.

You’ve probably got headphones in your bag, a backup pair of sunglasses, and know exactly where the quiet corners of the supermarket are. That’s not avoidance—that’s adaptation. That’s survival. That’s strategy.

And if your brain ever screams “TOO MUCH”—listen. Step back. Breathe. You don’t owe the world your overload.

Because those of us who ping? We’re not broken. We’re just tuned a little differently.

Love

Unremarkable Me