Skin suddenly way more sensitive???

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One of my sons is suddenly having way more sensory problems as far as skin sensitivity. Clothing that he has worn for 6 months and used to find comfortable is now really bugging him. When he gets dressed in the morning he tries on half of the things in his closet until he finds something that he can stand to wear, and the whole process makes him feel really miserable and overwhelmed. We have not switched detergents or changed anything else about how his clothing is washed, and I am at a loss as to why he is suddenly so wretchedly uncomfortable? Does anyone know why this might be?

An allergy perhaps? It could be possible that he developed an allergy to the detergents you're using or to his soap he uses in the shower.

I know my skin has progressively become more sensitive, but it certainly didn't happen overnight. I can't use fabric softeners or my old detergent, can't use the old hand or body soap I used to, had to change makeup, etc. This has all happened over about a year's time.

inconsistancy is a hallmark of neurological disorders.

has he been diagnosed already with sensory processing disorder?

I doubt there's a connection, but when I have a fever, especially a really low one, my skin hurts to touch. So it might be something physical.

He may have developed a sensitivity to something in the laundry - fabric softener or soap that used to be ok may not be ok now. My 20-something year old daughter has done this several times now in her life (most recently, about a month ago).

You might want to try this: there's a laundry soap made for baby clothes, called Dreft. Separate all your child's clothes from general house laundry and wash them in Dreft, no fabric softener. Dry them separate from anything that's been washed in any other soap/detergent/softener. Alternately, purchase a no-dye,no-scent detergent to use on your child's laundry. Run the machine through all the cycles again with nothing in there but the clothes and the water.

I was surprised at how much detergent was remaining on/in my daughter's clothing, even after putting the machine through an extra rinse cycle. Once we switched to an odor/color free detergent and I washed them twice (once with the detergent and once with just plain water, to get the detergent out), her skin allergies cleared up tremendously.

Could your son have a nutritional imbalance or food allergy? Very dry skin? Just trying for all the possibilities here....

I have the same situation but it was triggered by a very bad alergic reaction to a new medication. It lasted about a year after I had stopped the medication. I found taking 10mg loratadine turned my alergic reaction off but I still avoid any chemical triggers that might exasterbate it.

I also thin that other stresses, (social, school) can make me more over whemed by sensory issues. It's like my brain can only handle one issue at a time and to much makes me over load. Has there been any other stressers/changes in his life recently ?

I should have mentioned in my OP that he does have allergies and eczema (under good control), and we already do use a mild fragrance and dye free detergent, no fabric softener etc. However we do not double rinse his clothes....hmmm... ...that would definitely be worth a try.

The reason why I'm thinking that it's more of a sensory thing than an allergy thing (because he does have problems with both) is that he doesn't have any hives, rash or eczema on the parts that are bothering him. His skin looks perfectly clear and normal, but he is feeling great discomfort. He keeps asking me if I used the wrong detergent. DH accidentally bought the wrong kind awhile ago, and he did break out in an itchy rash all over his back, stomach and legs after only having the clothes washed in the wrong stuff on for a few minutes. So apparently this feels like that to him, but there is no corresponding rash, and no change from our usual washing habits this time. He is also fine in his pyjamas, which are washed in the same manner as his other clothes.

He is on a waiting list for an OT assessment, but there is no question that he has sensory issues. He is extremely sensitive to sounds, touch and textures. He has always had to have very plain, comfortable 100% cotton clothing, no tags, flat seams etc. But even his old standbys that he has worn all year are now causing him grief. He strips off his clothes and puts on his pjs the minute he gets home (has always done this). Almost every morning for the past several weeks he cries and squeals in the morning (he makes kind of a guinea pig sound when he gets really stressed out) as he tries on and then peels off all sorts of different shirts and pants until he settles on something he can tolerate. Sometimes he gets so overwhelmed and discouraged that he just wraps himself in a soft blanket and gives up. It makes getting ready for school a very difficult process.

I hate to see him suffering like this.

He is very often stressed out. In the spring his seasonal allergies go crazy, so he feels ill often. I have been in poor health too this spring, so life is a little disrupted and disorganized. He completely refuses to talk about school, but although his teacher says he is doing well, I know that he finds it completely exhausting and heartily dislikes it most days. And as we head into June he always gets more tired and stressed out because he just needs a break from school so badly.

I wonder if that could be it? Getting progressively more overwhelmed and exhausted with school as the year winds down, and he is just going into overload? Because now that I think about it, this rarely happens on the weekend (at least not severely, he may change his shirt only once or twice).

one other thing -

when i was a kid i had tremendous difficulty wearing clothes. today i have gotten used to them, but there are times when they just drive me crazy. recently (a few months back) i was taking an antibiotic (cipro) and had a really bad reaction to it. in addition to tremendously bad gut pain, i had a feeling of dread/doom and that i needed to crawl out of my skin. at one point i'd stripped down and stood in the shower trying to calm my skin down. it didnt' help. i had never had an allergic reaction quite like that - it was awful. and the feeling of clothes on my skin was maddening. then it was just my skin that was driving me crazy - not itching, exactly. but like a bad suit i needed to get out of.

doctor said it was an allergic reaction, for sure, and no more cipro for me. i'd taken it before with no problems, but that was just horrific.

if your boy is on any medications, could he be having an allergic reaction to them? i'm sorry, i don't remember if you said he was taking anything.

Nan,

You've brought up a couple of really good points. He is on various meds for his allergies. All of them used for a long time and well tolerated, except for a new type of steroid inhaler that he has recently started. He was on Flovent and it was making him crazy irritable, so we are now trying Qvar. Could that be causing this? I am going to look into that.

This morning I chose some of his softest, least stressful clothes, but again heard him squeaking in his room as he tried to get dressed. I remembered your suggestion about the dry skin, and had him take a break from dressing, and rubbed cream on his back and arms (where he is feeling the most discomfort). This seemed to help. Whether because dry skin is the issue, or because it is stress and having me slow everything down for him and take a time out to get the cream massaged in, I don't know, but he was much happier and calmer for the rest of the morning. I will try it again tomorrow.

Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions. He really needs help with this, it is miserable for him.

Thanks for being understanding with him. That makes all the difference in the world to a kid.

You should try a fragrance free detergent. You said you are using mild fragrance. My son can't tolerate any fragrances. I buy All Free and Clear. It's cheap, fragrance-free, dye-free. The clothes come out soft and I don't use a fabric softener.

My son also has allergies and eczema. If you use lotion on your son's skin, make sure he's not allergic to any of those ingredients. I found out that my son is allergic to Lanolin and they put that in a lot of the sensitive skin lotions. If you use sun skin, you might want to try a chemical free one. My son is also allergic to the chemical ones.

Just want to echo the above. I am very allergic to wool and sometimes have problems with lanolin, which I believe is taken from sheep oil???? The odd thing, i that my allergies seem to come and go..maybe a matter of the body reaching critical mass before it starts responding to some thiing yu are only mildly alergic to? I use lotions that are mostly Aloe or you can use organic only pure aloe. Sometimes the sticky or oily "feeling" of lotion bothers certain aspies and there are also more "powder" based lotions that dry faster...less sticky time until it drys. Just make sure it is not "talk based"...there is a link to talk and female "private parts" cancer

I should learn to make better use of commas. What I meant to say was that we do already use a mild detergent, which is dye and fragrance free. There are three of us in the house with very sensitive and allergic skin, and we can't tolerate any type of fragrance in any of our personal care products. We don't use any fabric softener either. We use all of the mildest, most natural products possible for laundry, cleaning, personal hygiene etc. His pjs are being washed in the exact same way as the rest of his clothes and he says that they aren't irritating him. Also his legs are fine and his pants are also washed the same. We use only one kind of cream that is also fragrance free (no lanolin either Krex, I can't tolerate that stuff or wool either...my skin is crawling just typing the word!). We haven't changed any of our products, and we have a carefully planned regime (as advised by our paediatric allergist) which keeps his eczema under good control. He is also on a large daily dose of antihistamines (also as advised by the allergist), and has been since spring arrived, which should really knock out any but the strongest of allergic reactions right now. So all of this is why I was thinking it must be a sensory thing, not an allergy thing...

But today he tried one of his older shirts, which still happened to have a tag in it. He was intensely uncomfortable after a couple of minutes, and when I looked at his back there was an angry red rash in the shape of the tag!! ! The rash lasted all day. He tried school in the morning, but although his teacher said he behaved beautifully , he was too distracted and uncomfortable to attend in the afternoon . We put a little hydrocortisone cream on it, which helped with the itching...but I am completely stumped as to the root cause.

Skin increasingly irritated for about a month, to the point where something like a tag rubbing up against it causes a rash on his back. His legs are fine, it is his torso and arms that are bothering him. No change in the products that we use or the foods that he eats. He is generally fine on the weekends and evenings. It is before school that he struggles to find any clothing that will not "drive him crazy". It is not hives or eczema.

Thanks Nan. But seeing as I gave him at least half of these super sensitive genes, it's the least I can do.