Sudden sensitivity to normal air conditioning

Hi all,

I’ve been doing OK in my TMS journey of late, but today I had something new and it’s scared the heck out of me. I’m feeling sudden sensitivity to the A/C, I feel cold, but no one else feels it. Blood pressure a bit higher but body temp normal according to a nurse. I was sitting outside on a warm day, and felt cool. Could this be TMS and has anyone else had this? It’s scared the hell out of me. Thanks in advance.

 

Hi there- yes I believe it can be - I see it as one of my TMS symptoms too. My nerves in my skin are very sensitive. I can feel the lightest sensations, strange “pain” sensations, and yes to both hot and cold and I can even feel things like cold “spots” on my body- “wet” spots as well. None of this is constant and none of it all occurs at the same time- but all of it happens to me. I “know” I am fine. I just think it is hypersensitivity. And it fits perfectly with TMS. When the nervous system is overstimulated and overwhelmed, it can become overly sensitive. Then we focus on that strange feeling and we can feel it even more (at least I can!) and that reinforces hypersensitivity into the skin. AND it makes for a great distraction now, doesn’t it? Lol. Because it just feels so weird. When I get weird sensations like that, I look at as my body saying it is overstimulated and overly stressed. And when I stop focusing on it, it goes away. Hope this helps.

 

I have allergies and the cold air blowing on me at my desk at work has always bothered me, increasing the longer I sit under the AC.

 

This could definitely be TMS. When we’re overly stressed or trying to numb ourselves to pain, our bodies can become hypersensitive and things that don’t really make sense can actively hurt, including cold air. It’s like the body’s way of steering a little attention elsewhere. I've felt those too and once I stop paying attention to them, they'd go away.

 

When the body & brain becomes hypervigilant it's always scanning and analyzing for sources of danger, and eventually even things not actually dangerous can be perceived as dangerous. My mom had this - she would be scared of opening the fridge without gloves and claimed it caused her headaches and hand pain. But she would be totally fine outside during winter when it was -20 degrees. It sounds like the fear of A/C is just another scapegoat for TMS.