Insensitivity to cold?

Post Reply New Topic

This is a serious question. Not an emergency, but a concern.

I have one Aspie son who rarely, if ever, will wear a coat in cold weather, and only then if I insist he does.

My concern is that if he ever found himself in a survival situation he might not realize he could be suffering from hypothermia. He is sensitive to heat. He will get sick to his stomach on high heat summer days, but when the temperature drops to where most people are starting to put on sweat shirts, sweaters, or even heavy coats, he won't unless I'm very insistent, and even then he keeps insisting it isn't cold.

It's only just occurred to me that he may not be able to feel cold normally. I'm wondering if he ought to be brought in for testing to see if there might be something amiss with his nervous system.

Have any of you ever, or known anyone on the spectrum who has, needed medical attention due to lack of ability to sense cold properly? I'm talking about hypothermia symptoms here.

Are any of you aware of any possible connection between insensitivity to extreme temperatures and Autism? I've seen a lot of posts about not liking heat, but not much about cold, and not really in the way I am asking.

Feeling heat and cold is just another one of those sensory issues. Personally I am the other extreme. I feel both heat and cold more than other people do. However I dare say many autistic people are on the other extreme, and feel them less or hardly at all (like your son).

There are two things that could be happening. Either his body is cold but his brain isn't registering it (in which case he's in danger, yes) or he's simply not as cold as you are. Maybe his body is different to yours, and he has a different coldness threshold. People living in VERY cold countries seem to have different cut-off points which their bodies consider to be "cold" so maybe your son's body is the same.

I get cold very easily and have to put gloves and a scarf on if it's just a bit chilly, and I keep marvelling at all those people walking along the street in short sleeves. I keep thinking: "why aren't they cold? Aren't they going to turn blue? Why aren't they shivering?" But nothing bad seems to happen to them, so I think they are just not perceiving the cold to be as cold as I perceive it.

Perhaps your son is like that. Perhaps nothing bad will happen to him after all. Perhaps, if you forced him to wear layers of warm clothing when he wasn't even cold, you would overheat him, and make him ill due to being too hot. If you went to a doctor I expect the doctor would have some sort of clinical definition of what the coldness threshhold is, and wouldn't agree that it can vary from person to person, so he might annoy your son by making him too hot and forcing him to put layers of clothing on when he wasn't even cold.

My daughter's the same. She comes out of school every day and hands me her coat or wears it like a cape. But, she can recognise real cold, I mean when your extremities feel pain. Perhaps her cold sensors are less sensitive than normal, but her pain sensors are fine, so I don't think hypothermia is ever going to be an issue.

Right. This is the possibility that concerns me.




Not likely. This could be a neurological issue. And if it is, there are ways to test the body's ability to sense and react to extreme temperatures properly. It's done by exposing the patient to various environments, and measuring the body's reaction to them. Back in the 1960's an aunt of mine (with Down's Syndrome) was tested for this because she could not feel extreme heat, and would get burned without feeling it. It's not guess work, and not based on some "clinical definition" of any "correct threshold." Science is pretty much well aware that every BODY is different with different abilities to deal with extremes.

The reason I am asking though, and not just bringing him in for testing right off the bat, is because that alone would be yet another bunch of appointments and somewhat confusing experiences for him (and me for that matter) to go through, when we have already been through so much. I'm just exploring the possibility that there could be a neurological issue going on with him.

To tell the truth, until now I've assumed this is the case with my son, but because he does sense when heat is affecting him, but doesn't seem to sense cold so much, that concerns me a little. Insensitivity to cold can be a lot more dangerous. When someone is insensitive to heat, heat stroke or burns that the person doesn't feel, but blisters appear, are a lot easier to see. Cold though, can be really dangerous, because it numbs. People going through hypothermia often don't know they are experiencing it, and it can be harder to detect by others.

He goes out to wait for buses in the morning. If he's not feeling what the cold is doing to him, and is surrounded by strangers not familiar with him, who would know that he's in danger?

The only reason it hasn't been a huge concern is because he's never been far from warmth. He's either waiting for a bus, walking to or from transportation of some kind with heat, and a building with heat. He's never been exposed to the cold long enough for it to be a danger.

What really brought this to mind more than in the past, was Sandy. We're in New England, and didn't get hit hard or lose power thank goodness, but we were projected as being in a a possibly extreme danger area. We prepared for it to the extent that we were ready to evacuate at a moments notice. Last year, when Irene hit, our property was flooded out and we actually did evacuate.

My concern is that if he ever found himself in extreme conditions (which with the weather being the way it has been lately), he could one day find himself in extreme cold with no way to get to heat, without the proper clothing on, and freeze to death. Where we live, this is a very real possibility.

Yes, I get what you mean. I've heard of people going up into the mountains here, without adequate clothing. They think they'll be fine, but it just takes a change in the wind direction (whch happens a lot) and they're snookered. I suppose it has to be a matter of accepting that he dresses the way he does, but instilling in him that he must be prepared (easier said than done, I know).

Absolutely. He's a pretty smart kid though (14, almost 15 now). I'm considering having him tested for this because if he IS unable to sense cold properly, and it can be demonstrated to him in a way that he understands, he'll probably be more likely to accept it and be prepared with reminders. Right now, he just trusts his own senses, and I'm not sure he should.

Who knows? They may test him and find that his body really can adjust on its own better than most.

who says he doesn't feel the cold?

i walk in my flip-flops even when there's snow… i hardly ever put on a coat. rather never wear socks. i hardly ever freeze. hardly ever have cold hands and feet.

so i have no problem with cold… but i do have a problem with temperature over 20° C

He does.

EDIT: He always says it isn't cold no matter how cold it is. The concern I have is that I really don't know yet if that is because he really doesn't feel it and doesn't realize his body is reacting to it normally (as in hypothermia), or if his body's tolerance level for cold is better than normal, and he isn't really in any danger except in very extreme cold. He does seem to have a tendency to think of himself as "exceptional," as if he thinks he has exceptional abilities, which in some cases is true, but in others is very questionable. I am concerned he may have something of a superiority complex about certain things, and that this supposed ability to deal with cold may be one that could get him into serious trouble one day.

He could be naturally warm blooded.

Get him tested you'll know for sure that way atleast if he's not feeling and regulating the temperatures. I know someone who can't regulate body temperature so is indoors most of the time. But if he's feeling the heat he doesn't have regulation problems I'm thinking.

i do feel when it is cold… i know that −10°C is freezing cold… but to me that is not necessary cold enough to put on a jacket or warm boots!

so i too say that it isn't cold when people urge me to put on more clothes or shoes… but that doesn't mean i don't feel it is cold and not warm…

If you go out for any length of time, without adequate clothing, in those sorts of temperatures, you are risking frostbite and hypothermia. A few minutes and you'll be fine, but any longer than that, no. Humans are not designed to withstand such low temperatures, that's why we came up with the idea of clothes.

i must be dead then.

Are you saying that you go out regularly in temperatures as cold as −10°C, without a jacket and warm shoes, for extended periods of time? Seriously, my hands and nose are cold after being out for less than an hour. It's +10°C (wind chill taking it to 7°C) and I was wearing gloves.

yes. and have done so for most of my life.

at +5°C i still wear shorts, a polo shirt and flip-flops.