Tactile hyposensitivity

Tactile hyposensitivity is one of sensory processing disorders which makes us being under sensitive to touch, pain, pressure, heat, cold and/or tickling. There is nothing wrong with our skin. The entire problem consists in the brain, concretely in the way how it processes tactile stimuli.

Let’s look at most important symptoms of this disorder to understand it better.

First of all, we aren’t sensitive enough to touch in general. It can cause following problems. We have to constantly deal with a feeling that we don’t have enough tactile stimulation. Therefore we incessantly touch everything, especially things which a texture which provide strong tactile feedback. We love hugs and kisses. Like kids, we can constantly hug somebody. Because we are under sensitive to touch we may not even register when some touches us. We often aren’t aware that our hands of other parts of our body are dirty so we often forget to clean ourselves. We seek for vibrations and we like to wear tight clothing to feel something on our skin all the time. Like little kids, we may love to put objects in our mouth. We also like to eat food with strong texture to provide our mouth which tactile stimuli.

The above mentioned symptoms are valid if we are under sensitive to touch. If our hyposensitivity influences how we perceive pain, then we may not feel pain at all or almost don’t feel it. We might not notice that we bump into something or that we have injuries on the skin like for example cuts. We can hurt ourselves on purpose to feel at least something, for example pitch ourselves. Like kids, we may even bump which our head into the wall. When we are little, we can unintentionally hurt other children while playing because we don’t have any idea what hurts and what doesn’t.

We can be also less sensitive to tickling so we aren’t ticklish at all or just a little. If we are hyposensitive to heat we may not feel anytime that there is hot, even in the sultriest days. Then we tent to always wear long sleeves. It’s also possible to be hyposensitive towards cold. It causes that we don’t perceive that there is cold even in the winter. We may always wear short sleeves then.

Have you find yourself in above described signs? If so, you have probably tactile hyposensitivity. This can be very distressing and uncomfortable condition, sometimes even dangerous if we don’t feel pain at all. That’s why it’s important to learn how to cope with it. Always buy tight clothing to provide our skin tactile stimulation. We can also buy a special sensory toy which gives us comfortable sensory inputs or a heavy blanket to feel the pressure on your body. In the case we’re under sensitive to pain, learn, which inputs can hurt us and which are safe to don’t hurt ourselves seriously by accident. If we suffer from hyposensitivity to cold or heat, adapt our clothes to our sensory needs. Don’t hesitate to use any coping strategy which comes to our mind!

I don’t have almost any personal experiences which this condition. I’m, in contrary, hypersensitive to touch. However, I almost stopped feeling pain after taking antidepressant called Zoloft. Then i had a huge taste to hurt myself. So I can understand very well how distressing and dangerous it can be. Always use whatever you need to make yourself feel comfortable in this world.

Do you think you might have this disorder? What do you exactly suffer from? Do you have any questions? Write us in the comment section bellow. We are here just for you!