Tactile sensitivity UNBEARABLE! Need advice

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Hey all ,

This has been a major annoyance for me my entire life and I'm desperate for advice on how to make it more bearable. I'm overly sensitive to tactile sensations to the point I find it extremely frustrating. I'm highly aware of the fabric in my clothing brushing against my body hair, or the wind blowing against me. I sometimes avoid taking a shower because I don't like the feeling of the water running down my body, or avoid getting a haircut because I don't want to be touched. Often I'll just want to sit still at my computer and avoid movement altogether. The sensation I experience from these things is like a tickling or tingling, or shivers. On occasion I will get a prickly feeling in my skin, sometimes in a single location on my body as though someone just poked me with a pin there. Oddly the problem seems related to my IBS, at least in some small way. Without going in to too much detail; if I'm experiencing discomfort in my gut, it seems to exacerbate my sensitivity to touch. Some days are worse than others or the problem will fluctuate on any given day. The only things I have found that have helped so far is; exercise (after a workout I will generally feel less sensitive, but during it I will often feel irritated by the movement), and when I get relief from my IBS discomfort.

I'm sure some of you can relate since people with Aspergers can be more sensitive to external stimuli in general. Does anyone have any suggestions though on how to better cope with this problem I'm having? Is it anxiety related? Should I get a full body wax to stop clothes brushing against my body hair?

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Have you tried wearing a weighted vest? I am sensitive to touch as well, not nearly as sensitive as you are but what bothers me are light sensations of touch like people breathing on my skin or lightly touching me. I find that the pressure of a strong touch like a bear hug is very soothing and comforting to me. You might try a weighted vest. That will provide pressure which might feel much better to you and keep your skin from tingling.

My skin itches almost constantly these days, usually sparked off by clothing or bed linen lightly brushing against it. I noticed that I'd unconsciously learned to keep very still in bed. A good firm bath brush is very helpful, also "Deep Heat" cream - both presumably work by overwriting the bad sensations with less irritating ones, and the cream contains salicylate which I guess damps down the inflammation. I try to make sure that whatever touches me does so firmly rather than lightly. Reasonably snug-fitting, all-cotton clothes may protect my skin from the light brushing of other things - I'm considering long johns if the weather is cool enough. Experience suggests that ibuprofen tablets can calm down the receptors, and there's also ibuprofen cream that would probably help, like the Deep Heat cream does. You don't mention itching as such but hopefully those interventions might also help with other unpleasant tactile sensations. I agree that stress might make things worse. Another thing I find helpful is to get hyperfocussing on a fascinating special interest so I'm less likely to notice the irritations - when I'm bored the sensory issues are a lot worse. I suspect opiates would sort me out very well, but I have no supplier and the longterm effects could well be pretty nasty. I've wondered if hypnotherapy could help.

I have the same thing where if I am having more gut problems, I also get more sensitive to touch. Taking magnesium supplements helps me with both. I use one that has 2x magnesium vs. calcium, plus vitamin D and K2.

Little light touches really drive me crazy. Sometimes when my cats get around me lightly brushing me with their whiskers and hair I cannot stand it. I have to scratch those spots to get the sensation to stop.

I like the feeling of water though and I love taking showers. It helps reset my nerve endings. Using lots of moisturizer helps too (but I get too lazy to put it on). Everything feels worse when my skin is dry. Drinking lots of water helps too.

I wonder if the gut problems cause the sensitivity or if it's the around way around. I can feel sensations in every inch of my digestive tract. I thought everyone could but I guess most people don't because they look at me like I'm nuts if I say that. lol I feel like the sensitivity in my gut sets off reactions in my whole body if I eat the wrong foods. Spices can irritate my gut, so can artificial additives or GMO food. I try to be really careful what I eat.

Slippery elm bark is really good for soothing the gut, it helped me a lot while I was using it. I ran out of it and need to get some more. I also had good results with an Ayurvedic supplement called Digest Tone, and using probiotics.