Did/do I have sensory issues?

General Questions
#1

A friend of mine was telling me about her sensory issues, especially when it comes to being touched. This got me thinking (dangerous, I know) and I told her about how, when I was a kid, I had this weird thing about light.

It drove me crazy as a kid that I could never quite get my room the right brightness. I tried everything. Blinds open and electric lights off, it was too dim. Blinds closed and just electric lights on, the light was too artificial. Blinds open AND electric lights on, the light was too bright.

I also had and have a thing about clothes. As a child, I hated wearing blue jeans because of that knot thing they all have in the crotch. I eventually got over it. But clothing tags – the kind that rub on the back of our neck – make me CRAZY. I have delicately performed “surgery” on shirts before, using scissors or sometimes nail clippers to carefully cut the threads tying the tag to my shirt so I can remove the tag without ripping the shirt collar. It was a glorious day when companies realized they could print the label onto the fabric itself.

Now, I know a lot of people hate tags in clothes. But I’m wondering with the other examples included, if I might have some sensory disorder no one ever noticed.

#2

No, you are just neurotic (but probably not as badly as I am).

#3

High end of the autism spectrum?

I have issues with against the skin texture, but it is recent. I have had to change to using microfiber plush bed linens, and chenille socks, and tagless tshirts and so forth. [Chronic pain makes me ‘feel’ stuff rubbing against my skin as coarse and annoying] And I am more temperature sensitive as well. Getting it just right is a pain, and then if I get a freaking hot flash I have to start all over again:mad:

#4

You sound normal to me. You’re just trying to replicate conditions on the Mother Ship. Not a danged thing wrong with that. Things were better then/there.

P.S. I also hate neck tags and the threads that hold them. Clearly, lots of other people do, too, so much so that some t-shirt manufacturers have started printing the labels directly on the fabric. I also tinker with shades, lights, curtains, etc. all day long. HATE ceiling fixtures. Lighting in a room is very important to my mental state.

#5

There is a Polish psychiatrist who identified “overexcitability” in gifted children. One of them is tactile sensitivity as you described. Were you considered gifted as a child?

#6

I’m trying to figure out this part. What was the issue with the “knot”? By which I assume you mean the seam at the bottom of the crotch that joins it all together. You don’t see it while wearing the jeans, and it doesn’t touch the skin.

#7

In women, it can dig into or rub on the crotch area, especially when seated or bending over, in my experience.

#8

I suppose I have this tactile sensitivity. Not so much the gifted part, but the depression and dyslexia may have screwed that. I have plenty of evidence that my nervous system is not quite right. Just today I was out pulling weeds and I could feel every bug and bit of debris that landed on me. I try not to notice, if I can get immersed in something I won’t notice at all.

The first thing I do with new clothes is turn them inside out and trim excess threads and of course cut the tags out. Clothing that is tagless from the store is an improvement but I can feel the rubbery printing against my skin.

I don’t mind casual or intimate touch when I am expecting it but contact out of the blue is surprising at the least. I have “blocked” a friend coming for a spontaneous hug - I mean blocked in a karate way. Minus the HAI sound though.

I have been told I may be over-sensitive by friends, acquaintances, and even a psychiatrist. My family was definitely not touchy-feely and probably borderline abusive. I have trust and boundary issues too. Gak, I can’t believe I put this up.

Bottom line, we all have some issues to deal with, and I guess they could be worse. Seek professional help if you need it or just accept this is who you are.