Hi, I have level 1 Autism and I think I have only now discovered I have an actual sensory overload, after having been told it was silly or dramatic my entire childhood.

Hi, as the title says, I have level 1 Autism, diagnosed officially at just a couple years of age. I am now 18 years of age, nearly 19, and male, if that matters. Essentially, I have heard about "sensory overloads" but I never thought I had them myself. I can do loud carnivals and watch a full stadium match, and have no "painful" or "stressful" response at all, infact, I enjoy loud, chaotic environments more so than quiet ones, so I thought maybe I was lucky and didn't have the sensory overload issue I had heard others talk about.

Anyhow, for as long as I can remember, I have had this awful full-body shudder/shiver response whenever I hear nails on those plastic course-textured cooking cooking devices, whenever I'd scrape a wooden eating device against my teeth, whenever I scraped a metal or wooden eating device in a styrophoam noodle cup, plus more. Whenever a family member or anyone did any of those things, I would genuinely feel cold shivers shudder down my back if not full body.

Whenever I tried to explain this however, it was dismissed as silly or "yeah sure, whatever". I then came to view it as similar to the nails on a chalkboard sensation, despite being more intense, and tried to rationalize it that way. Eventually had to get used to it as everyone around me didn't see issues with it and thought it was maybe just an annoyance to me at most, and that I was dramatic. I still hated the sensations, it would still always be momentarily debilitating, but I just had to suck it up pretty much.

I never once thought this could be related to my autism though, and never brought it up in appointments as I was under the impression it was just silly. Years later, many years later, I now look into it a bit further, and I think it might actually be what a "sensory overload" is..

So I ask you guys, is this response I get to those above sensory inputs actually what an overload is? Is it actually related to my Autism or potentially just something else? I've tried looking it up but answers are mixed, some saying yes, while others refer to other conditions entirely. And, is it something I should talk to a doctor about? I am 18 living alone now so I generally am able to avoid the stimulants now, but finding out if it was(and is) actually related to my Autism diagnosis would answer this phenomenon I simply had no idea about, thinking it was something I just has to suck up and maybe grow out of.

Sorry for the read, I'd try add a TLDR but not sure how I could compress it all.