Asperger's and skin sensitivity

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Do any of you have trouble being touched? For me, around my belly, I am incredibly sensitive... It tickles so much it hurts... My girlfriend can barely touch me and it nearly broke us up...

Yes, this is a common trait amongst a lot of AS people.

I have a patch of skin above both hip bones that if touched lightly by another person will actually cause me to convulse.

Many of us have a strange disproportionate pain threshold. I've been run over by a car before (note: not hit by a car, the tyres went over me and I was dragged) and that was fairly painless. I've also had surgery that left me with a big scar across my throat and staples holding me together, I never asked for pain relief and went home the same day - to the horror and amazement of hospital staff.

But if I have a migraine I weep like a child. The feeling of something brushing across my top lip and even having cold objects against my skin are excruciating to me. It's all screwey and upside down.

I also have a hard time getting wet... hate cold water

I also experience it. For me it's pretty much my entire body. I find warm water (showers, hot tub, etc) desensitizes me.

I think I have a good pain tolerance. However, it really hurts when I get my back patted hard, like my mom does to me..Don't like having my back touched at all.Strong back muscles, but the nerves ache..

Very sensitive skin here, especially in winter. A hot bath using a firm brush usually cures it (kind of drowns out the irritating sensation), otherwise I'd be itching all the time. Nothing organically wrong, if I don't scratch, the skin looks fine. But the slightest touch can set it off.

I was once happy enough in a small circle of friends - we used to throw their arms round each other all the time and I didn't mind - quite the reverse. But that was a long time ago, and these days it's rare, I never initiate it (except with my partner when I remember), and when it's done to me it's too much of a shock, so they've tended to only try it once. I'm not rude about it and don't push them away in any overt way, but they seem to pick up that they've goofed. Nothing to do with sensitive skin though, I think I just need forewarning, and these days there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason why people do that with me, so it's usually a complete surprise and I'm not ready.

i'm the same way. my dad got into the habit of patting my back, usually the small of my back, and it really hurt!! i had to finally explain to him that it hurt and i didn't like it. also, rubbing my neck or shoulders... it hurts!! lightly rubbing is fine, but the way my dad does it randomly, i have to be like "owowoowowow" to get him to realize he's hurting me. i remember once, my aunt, who was a masseuse at the time, went to rub my shoulders without any warning, and it hurt so bad, i cried!! she was really surprised and just thought my muscles were really stiff. but, i was only stiff because she had done it without any warning. not that i would have let her do it even with warning!!

im not sensetiv but i have a reaction if somebody touch me i dont exspect it

I'm extremely ticklish... I also get scared around lighters and hot steam hurts me more than it seems to hurt others.
This might be some strange muscle thing, but the odd time when I wash up and stuff like that my arms ache real bad... and when I write.

I don't think I'm weak as such, but it seems I'm very sensitive and my muscles can't seem to cope very well sometimes. I don't know why.

And when working, I might feel exhausted and my body reacts badly with the heat... just when thinking about it I guess... I don't know what it is. In such circumstances my back might sting a bit too.
I don't know what causes all this... I haven't had to work as such for a while though so I haven't felt any of that for a fair while.

This does seem to be a common thing.
I am not all that fond of being touched, anywhere.
Having said that, if someone touches my head, it triggers my "fight or flight" reflex, in a big way.

I don't mind the (mild fall) early-morning cold most of the time, which is all well. But I'm terrible during the solstices.

Whenever I feel a ball fly past my face, I can feel the air rush by my head. Yet, if a ball actually hits me, I'm fine unless it's a headshot.

It's very odd. I'm very odd. ._.

I have to wash new clothes before I wear them...something about the chemicals bugs the *CRAP* out of me.

I seem to have a high threshold for pain from scrapes abrasions and punctures but a low threshold for burns & scalds.
Some parts are strangely sensitive.
I'd swear my mother was attempting to saw my ears off with that comb...

I hate having anything wet on my face, even just a little. It took my fiance a while to understand why I wiped my lips after he kissed me.

I'm severely ticklish. I can't stand the feeling of having wet hair on my hands.

At the same time, when I'm touched just right, I get this intense, druglike feeling of euphoria that I can't put a name to. It reminds me of Soma, a prescription muscle relaxer.

I can also get this feeling from visual stimuli.

I used to have a high pain tolerance. But years of being on SSRI's have upregulated my pain receptors. Now, everything that used to kinda hurt can hurt so bad that it causes anxiety and panic attacks.

I also cannot stand the heat. I'd rather be cold than hot, because it's easier for me to get warm than it is to cool off.

Last edited by AngryReptileKeeper on 10 Oct 2008, 8:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Interesting, I hate being touched around my fits.

Is there a study on oily-skin types and sensitivity?

My cutaneous sinsitivity considering my skin type is number 3[darker than a nordic ike you) or an an average white but lighter than a mediterranean european], I burn and may tan under UV:

Heat and cold - I prefer cold.
epidermis and dermis: almost no sensibility.

I think, maybe it has something to do with your endocrine system(whatever you say in english, mah english too bad), it may interfer in the blood vessels of your epidermis(the sensitive part of your skin), also consider that your muscular mass and your adipose can change your skin elasticity. I have high triglyceride rates in blood and I follow a diet(brazilian) close to the mediterranean diet -veggies, fruits, blah-. So I sometimes I am bleeding and people say "hey, she is bleeding!!" and I tell them: "where exactly?" . Low sensitivity compared to most of people I know

Sorta depends. I have different levels of sensitivity depending on who touches me, whether I can see it coming and what mood I'm in when it happens. If it's someone I know, they're approaching from an angle that I can see them from, and I'm not tense, it's fine. If it's someone random bumping into me, pushing me, or manhandling me, I can't see them and/or I'm already very stressed out, I'm probably going to freak out at them for doing that. It's not a particular area of the body that's sensitive, it's really dependent on circumstances.

Most of this probably stems from my medical history - people touching me, prodding me, hurting me, often when I wouldn't know what was going on, and I had no control to stop them - and from people bullying me. I still feel an overwhelming sense of being under attack when people touch me in the wrong ways, even if intellectually I know (or should know) that they mean no harm.

There's also some textures or feelings that don't have anything to do with people that make me feel rather sick... sometimes even just to think about. Wet socks and rubbery textures (especially when the latter is rubbing against my face or fingernails) are some of the worst. Food textures of some sorts annoy me too.