Tactile Sensory Issues

[Deleted member 1860]

Hi all,

I posted awhile ago about getting a weighted blanket to soothe me and help me sleep. While doing my research in trying to buy one I learned a lot about sensory issues as most of the blankets are made for those with autism (although they are beneficial for a variety of issues).

I realized that similar to others with sensory issues, I have a definite preference (and corresponding dislike) for certain types of fabrics that touch my skin. I love natural materials such as shearling, leather, cotton, and wool. I hate synthetics such as acrylic, polartec type fleece, spandex etc. I guess that's why it's so maddening that some of my favorite Jean companies no longer have stretch free jeans (hello, Gap!) And the blankets and pillows on my bed are all made of down.

Related, I hate having things touch my hands and feet. I usually sleep with my feet outside the blankets. I hate socks with a passion and almost never wear them. I have so many nice rings but hate how they feel on my hands. I'd go barefoot if I could, but since much of the time I can't, I just wear my shoes without socks, even in the dead of winter.

Does anyone else have sensory "issues" or should i say "preferences" such as this?

Hugs,
SOL

 

[jersey]

Yes. Not sure what it is exactly about, or whether it has anything to do with PTSD. But I am extremely sensitive about certain sensory things. When I was a child, I was that kid who would be driven wild by the feeling of a tag in the back of my shirt, or socks that were too big.

As an adult there are a lot of fabrics I will absolutely not wear. I shop mostly in the women's wear collections where I know I like the fabric first. I am OK with some synthetics, but not with others. The fabrics always need to be extremely thin, like tissue weight t-shirts, or stretchy.

I also like my feet bare and stick them out of the sheets. I have to wear socks now that I am older and my circulation is not as good, but almost never did before....I relate some of these feeling to not wanting to be constricted/restricted/restrained, or something like that.

 

[Deaf Global Nomad]

I have always had sensory and tactile issue. From the time I was born, people could not touch me. I rolled away from everyone who tried. Sitting on laps did not work. To this day human touch is still one of my biggest stressors.

I could not any mixed food. I loved vegetables, but mixed vegetables, or minestrone took a lot of work on my part. I separated everything and only then did I gobble up everything. I could not drink orange juice with "fuzzy stuff" in it. Milk with skin I just had to spit out. Today I still eat one food on my plate after another. Luckily I like healthy foods and pretty much whatever is served. I have a juicer and mix lots of juices together. It tastes excellent. The discarded vegetable parts get crunched up and cut up really small. Then I use those as veggies for tomato soup or tomato sauce for spaghetti.

As for clothes, I had problems with different materials from head to toe. My favorite outfit for years has been footed fleece pajamas because everything covers me with the same material. I always needed tags removed and could not tolerate any lumps or thicker rows of thread in socks. I was fussy about shoes as well, but if I was allowed the 5 min I needed to determine if the shoes were comfortable and was allowed to buy them, I wore them until they were worn to shreds. I still wear weird clothes to this day and it's fine. Luckily my favorite season is winter. So wearing the comfortable warm clothes and long underwear, gives my body the safe cover it needs. My favorite socks are also winter items: Smartwool socks.

 

[Sammyxxx]

I find I have issues with being touched sometimes - if I am stressed what I may love at other times feels so irritating to my skin. I am also more sensitive to the fabrics I wear and am in contact with.

 

[raven1960]

I have sensory issues too, with all of my senses. I have misophonia which means certain sounds drive me up the wall to the point that I get extremely stressed, anxious or angry (human sounds mostly like breathing and eating, plus ringing phones and doorbells). Smells, lights and touch too. Clothing has to be just right, not too tight and not too loose and natural materials. I hate the feeling of newspaper and of my hands or feet not being moisturized. My bed has to be just right too, a sloppy bed drives me nuts and I HAVE to sleep in a room with no other people. I can sleep with a dog or a cat, but a not a human. I'm also super sensitive to temperature and get over heated really easy, yet at the same time the circulation in my fingers and toes shuts down so they freeze. I'm the person out in a T-shirt in 30 degree weather wearing wool gloves and shearling boots, but sweating in my T shirt.

 

[maddog]

Misophonia. I didn't know this had a name, though should have figured that it would. I am definitely strongly inclined towards this as well.

Also have significant body temperature regulation issues and never seem to be able to match my experience of the external temperature with my internal temperature state. At times I feel almost frenzied if I can't be in the sun soaking up warmth and can sit in it long after everyone else has baked to a crisp. Once I am cold, I find it almost impossible to get warm again and can go from being uncomfortably warm to intolerably freezing in the blink of an eye.

Maddog

 

[DMerish]

Misophonia - that's a new term for me also, but a familiar experience as Raven described. I am particularly sensitive to electrical sounds and "quiet sounds" - street lamps, the almost imperceptible buzz of a some light bulbs, heater fans, phones, I have tinnitus. Don't know whether there's a connection or not. I think I'd do well living as a hermit off "the grid" :rolleyes: