Cold vs. Wet: Sensory Issue?

Post Reply New Topic

This is something I've wondered about for some time, but never really knew where to look for answers. Most of the time, when it comes to my sense of touch, I can't tell if something is cold or wet unless I can actually see or feel the liquid. For example, if I sit on a metal bench during wintertime, I can't tell if what I'm sitting on is cold or wet. I often find myself jumping up and seeing if there was a puddle or some moisture on the bench, or if I can feel liquid on the seat of my pants. To me the sensations of cold and wet are the same.

Is this a common sensation? Does everyone experience this? Or could this be considered a sensory issue?

I think it's a sensory issue
I know other people who have that kind of mixed physical sensations but I think it's still a sensory issue, not that common.

I know when something is wet always, but not cold. I could go out in my underwear or a bikini in January & probably not care. Though I do eventually get cold in water if the air temp. is either a lot higher or equal to the water temp. (I'm not sure which it is b/c I've never used a thermometer to check). I only recognize that my body is cold when I go from "just fine" to "numb". Numb for me is, "Crap, if I stay in here any longer I'll lose a finger or my arms...". If I jump into a pool rather than go in slowly I usually cannot feel the temp. But we need some NT opinions for comparison. plus I usually like being wet (unless its just like my face or one limb only).

When we had a new leaky puppy, I did a lot of leaping off of surfaces that sometimes turned out to be only cold. I confuse cold and wet too. I'm trying to think where hot comes in, or how.
Don't extremely hot and extremely cold both sting?

It burns!
Well, at first or close to it, it feels like burning.

I think that's normal. I mean, liquid sucks heat away from your body, so if you can't feel the actual wetness, how WOULD you be able to tell? I just think you don't hear about it much because it's usually pretty easy to quickly confirm if something's wet with further investigation. (feeling it between your fingers, looking at it, etc.)
It might be a sensory issue if it takes you a couple seconds longer than usual to do this and process the outcome, but the innitial sensation of "is it cold or wet or both?" is normal.

I have this problem too, and figured that was probably what the thread was about, just by looking at the title.

I have this too. I have long wondered if everyone else did; now I see at least a few other people do

same here.

I know a lot of NT kids, and during the summer when I go into our house (I have some hormonal balance probs so sometimes have the air down way low without realizing it) and they ALWAYS say "this feels wet to me, did you get it out of the washer?" When it's definitely dry and was just sitting in the hall closet, lol. I think it's a pretty common thing to confuse cold with wet at times.

My son and NT (well, gettin her checked out one of these days I think as her speech isn't getting better) daughter both ask if things are wet or cold, or think they are cold when wet and vice versa.

Thanks for all the replies. I've been thinking about it and what everyone's said, and I'm now inclined to think it's not likely a sensory issue in my case.