Light touch issues?

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If there was something I could change about my sensory issues, it would be my sensitivity to light touch.

Before my suspicions and diagnosis of ASD, this was something I never understood and had never seen in anybody else in my circle.

For me, it feels like someone is stabbing me with a pin. Not pleasant at all, it startles me. It hurts.

If I see somebody is about to touch my arm, I can prepare and I’m ok. I cannot really control it when it’s on my sides or waistline or legs.

Are you sensitive to light touch too? Has something worked for you to help you deal with it?

One form of building resiliency for touch oversensitivity is called the Wilbarger Protocol (also referred to as brushing therapy). This technique uses a brush to desensitize an Aspie to the stress of being touched. It involves brushing the body with a small surgical brush throughout the day.


People who exhibit symptoms of tactile defensiveness are extremely sensitive to touch. The complete protocol usually takes 2-3 minutes to administer. The first step involves using a soft, plastic, sensory brush or Therapressure Brush which is run over the child's skin, using very firm pressure; it is like a deep pressure massage. Brushing starts at the arms and works down to the feet. The face, chest, and stomach area are never brushed because these are very sensitive areas.

I'm the same. It never really feels like PAIN but it feels like when someone touches you with a really cold object or something. Like you, I can prepare myself for it and be alright-ish but it does still suck that being touched feels horrible to me.

I've also found that I can go the opposite way and become almost numb which is also horrible. I think this happens if I'm touched more than usual.

We've started doing this with our son, and he really enjoys it. Once we're done he grabs the brush and does it to himself.

I'm somewhat similar, though I'm not sure that I'd call the sensation pain exactly (I've always struggled to think of any analogous sensation to compare it with). Firm touch, I'm OK with so long as I'm prepared for it, and I enjoy the deep pressure of a very firm hug; but e.g. someone just brushing the hairs on my arm is very hard to tolerate, even from the most trusted of people. I've had to move seats, stand, or just get off sometimes when I'm on public transport and someone a bit fidgety sits next to me.

I have a form of tactile synaesthesia as well, and quite a few of my stims are also tactile; so light touch isn't the only way in which my sense of touch is a bit unusual.

When I was young I was very ticklish. My dad would catch me and tickle me all the time. It was all in fun. He would say "You cannot become a man if you are ticklish." Must have worked because today I am no longer ticklish.

The thought of the brushes going through my arms and torso gives me the freaks just to think about it! I may be thinking of light tough sensation? If that’s the case, it would be total torture!

I am very ticklish. But it is not funny at all. In a way, it does fell like cold, as someone said here. Like a frozen pin stab.

I’m new to understanding where all my quirks come from. But it’s so good to finally have an explanation to such things!

Back to the brush thing, any adults doing that therapy? Or mostly just kids?

When people lightly touch me it is like my brain goes "TOUCH!". I don't know if I would say it makes me uncomfortable but I am VERY aware of it and my eyes will usually shoot in the direction of the hand. A part of this is probably because of the fact that I know the significance of touch from reading body language books. However, touch from people I don't know very well can tip me over the edge. Yesterday, I was at a movie theatre and the students behind me were putting their feet on my chair, meaning they were touching me for two hours. At the end of the play I couldn't stand it anymore and ended up having a panic attack. I used to hate all touch but my friends (with my permission) on seeing how hard it made things, had me dealing with it more so I can tolerate it now from people I know.

That's the best part, you can't handle it. I have an eye that is forcibly sensitive to lights, every time I walk around town I get my head down. The way is to see how a superpower

Yes, I wish it was something I could just turn off. I'm slightly sensitive to lights but for me the big things are sound and touch/temperature. It's hard to explain to people how I can go from seeming fine one day to the next suddenly saying "I need to get out" over and over again before running away while wearing sunglasses.