Synesthesia? Haptodysphoria?

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Anyone with AS also have one of these?

I saw a member on the "being touched" thread mention she didn't like touching certain materials. I have an intense reaction to velvet-type fabrics that to me is worse than pain. I can't even watch someone scratch it in front of me without feeling like little creatures are crawling out of my fingernails and wanting to curl up in the fetal position. I can't walk barefoot on dirt, sand or even carpet. I love cold, smooth surfaces and having my hands and feet submerged in hand lotion or gel.

There are a lot of different types of Synesthetes, and most have more than one type. An interestingly large number of people have both AS and Synesthesia (Daniel Tammet for one). I still can't pin down how many types I have (it's hard to figure out what's abnormal about the way your own thoughts have been since birth. Words, letters and numbers have shapes and personalities to me, music has color, shape and texture, points in time are also points in space, etc.

I think there has to be a connection between these three things (in myself anyway). Who else has either of these?

if you look through old threads you will find a lot of info on these kids of issues.

sensory integration difficulties rule my life and can be very problematic and complex for a lot of us.
i have very clear rules around touch and the types of touch.
it gets complicated so i won't recount it all.
i cannot wear bear feet at all. i wear thongs all the time in summer and tehy stay by my bed so even at night i can put them on to go to the bathroom.
anyway, all sorts of things are problematic and difficult. taste, (hyposensitive,) touch - hypersensitive and then there is sound and also visuals. certain fabrics can make me feel like vomiting. nylon creeps me and nylon curtains i equate with evil! one has to laugh.
the membrane that separates one sense from another is very thin in me and almost blurred. some numbers have shapes and personalities. it's great actually.
objects are more important than people and disruption of my small ojects since living in a family unit has felt like internal death at times. object are not merely imbued with symbolic import - although this is part of it. they are friends in their own right.

Last edited by millie on 19 Jan 2009, 2:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.

If 'Haptodysphoria' is just what you described, then it usually runs under plain 'sensory issues'. Not liking certain touches, not liking certain materials, textures, fluids and so on because it's uncomfortable, hard or impossible to touch them.

You'll find that most people with ASDs have such sensory issues indeed.

I heard some people calling it 'sensory/tactile defensiveness' recently too.

And that makes me wonder if it isn't just the same as SID (sensory integration dysfunction/disorder) since that's what's included in the diagnosis of ASDs. (Let me rephrase this one: I am sure that it's the same.)

Poetry.

Well I knew aspies generally had "touch" issues, just not the touching certain materials kind. I've found other people on the internet who had the same reaction to velvet as me, down to scratching smooth surfaces to make it go away, but generally don't see people relating it to AS. There are also communities of Synesthetes out there and I hear almost none of them saying it's part of their Asperger's or anything like that. So I just think these are independent issues that CAN be a by-product of AS, but aren't always (not that I'm a psychiatrist). But yeah I guess I should have read some earlier threads first, sorry.

Velvet doesn't bother me, but wool does. The barefoot thing I am the same with, though I can't stand lotion or gel. I love cold smooth surfaces as well, I have a horrible habit of rubbing my face against them.

I have grapheme synesthesia and music to color synesthesia, though certain other sounds prompt color as well (mostly unpleasant ones). Curse words, but only curse words, have tastes and textures to me. When I say f*ck, for example, it's nutty and feels like it's stuck to the roof of my mouth.

I think these things are definitely connected.

I would agree they're definitely related/connected. I just think there's enough people with Synesthesia who aren't AS to not call it necessarily an Asperger trait.

And lol, to me "F*ck" has a moustache, as do a lot of F words, Father, Feather, Fletcher etc. Some people's voices are sticky like honey, while some are more like shuffling papers or dripping water.

Synesthesia would be so cool to have, IMO.

I think it is. I'd rather have it than not. I feel like I enjoy different types of art more because of it, because a shapeless blob of paint can look like a friendly face to me, or a song on a CD can be a deep, rich orange with lots of stars and squiggly lines. Learning about it really helped me understand how the brain does everything, and how most people don't have this extra noise flying around in theirs. That's not to say the Aspie side of me doesn't get irritated with all this extra sensory stimulation.

I love my synesthesia Is anyone here a member over at the Nexus?

For me, loud high-pitched sounds causes sharp pains down my spine and arms. I have been even more affected by this recently, as I have been sick with the flu.

Does this count as Synesthesia?

It's a mixing of the senses. Some people can taste music, see colours in words and numbers or the other way around.
I have very weak synesthesia. I can see colours through touch and even taste them, but I don't think it goes much farther than that.
My sister once told me she could taste asparagus, but I'm not sure what she was thinking of. I had to tell her about synesthesia. She skipped being autistic but has stronger synesthesia than me.

Hi

I have recently been weened off effexor which is an antidepressant. i have gone 15 days now with out it and have found an increasing hypersensitivity to touching certain materials. i can/'t stand the feel of my clothes when i touch them getting dressed nd going to the toilet having to touch clothing gives me the awful feeling of goose bumps and shivers and nausea. i cant even watch someone use sandpaper cos i imagine the feel. Is there any relief out there? since going off the effexor i have been taking fish oil, vitamin b and evening primrose oil which is helping the withdrawal symptoms but not the haptodysphoria... i have never been diagnosed with ASD but wonder if this is part of the problem... i have gone off effexor in hopes of falling pregnant. anyway any help will be appreciated