Becoming numb to sensory sensitivities?

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I remember being very sensitive when I was a young child, and things my family tells me confirm this. But by age 5 or so I feel like I was hyposensitive, for the most part. I'd rather be hypersensitive again as long as it wasn't to a crazy extent. Is it possible for your sensitivities to become so stressful that you shut down to them almost? I still get distracted by sensory stimulation, but it's like it's below my conscious awareness. I'm wondering what this could be.

Welcome to WP Slytherpuff. I like your screen name.
I have never heard of someone becoming hypo sensitive when they used to be hyper sensitive. I have always read that you are either one or the other. But it would be very interesting to find out how many others have experienced what you have experienced. I would definitely want to know about that.

From what I have read, in autistic people some senses are always hypersensitive or hyposensitive but some of them also can change in sensitivity depending on stress and other factors. It's also known that sensory hypersensitivity tends to become less of a problem as you get older. I have never heard of something like you have described though.

I agree with Mikeman7918. With me depending on how stressed I am determines how much sensory information affects me. I'm hyposensitive to touch and sadly self-medicate with opiates and alcohol (RARELY!). But I haven't noticed any changes over time since I was a kid. Maybe I didn't notice cold weather as much but that could be said about getting older in general

When I was a child I simply wasn't allowed to display autistic behaviors that would mark me as "different". And that included reactions to sensory defensiveness. The repercussions were usually intense shame and a fair amount of corporal punishment. The only solution open to me as a five or six year old was to repress everything and simply go numb. Silly child that I was, that ended up including any sense of Self, self-worth, etc.. It took until I was nearly 40 to start undoing the damage, with help.

So...yeah. It is possible. Would I recommend it? Now that's an interesting question. Clearly not to the point where lasting damage is done to a person's psyche, but I've learned that it is possible to suppress a lot temporarily so long as there is adequate planning for decompression/decomposing/recovery afterward & careful attention is paid to being overloaded. In other words, it is not a cure. Rather, it's just a poor workaround for a world that would be far better off if people understood that not everyone is like themselves.

I have become much more sensitive as I have gotten older.

I was told I dissociate completely when forced to touch. When I know I can't avoid it.
I am that adverse to touch, it is that unpleasant for me, so sensorily nightmarish that I just check out until it's over.
That comes off as looking hyposensitive when I am actually extremely hypersensitive.
I was also told dissociation is bad for you, and thus, I shouldn't "get away" with enduring touch in this way.

This. Also thanks for that, in much of what I wrote dissociation was in play as much as repression but I'd forgotten the term. Over the years it became so easy to simply combine the two and "go numb" when needed but yes, it is harmful if you can't compensate soon afterward.

I know I asked this ages ago, but I just wanted to say thanks for the replies.

Especially the last person who replied, which gave me hope that through some kind of therapy I could start to experience life again. I'm still looking for the right person/type of therapy. Has anyone here consulted with Donna Williams?

Since the Intense World Theory came out nearly all the emphasis has been on hypersensitivity but in nearly every Autism description by reputable sources hyper AND hyposensitivity are mentioned. How are you supposed to know if you are not sensing something if you are not sensing it?

Sensory differences - National Autistic Society
This site has suggestions for these sensory differences.

Hi slytherpuff (I do love this name too).

This is exactly what I think happened to me. It's like I'm in a dream world where I can't see anything properly (vision is my main problem), though I know I can see things - there's nothing 'wrong' with my eyesight. I think it happened because everything just suddenly became too much and so I just blocked it all out. But something happened to me recently - my brother has a virtual reality headset that I tried out, and everything actually seemed far more real than the actual real world. I think this was because there wasn't so much information to take in and so I could take it in. Another thing I found helpful was meditation. It's like it helped things slowed down and I could process them again. But now it's gone back to shutting everything out. I need to start meditating again and see if it still helps.