My skin triggers are almost identical to yours or so it sounds. I also can't handle when my skin (particularly my hands) feel dried out (not even rough, my skin in general is very soft). I wash my hands very often. I find cold water eases the pain and calms the sensation a bit. Usually though, when it's bad, there isn't much that will make me comfortable until the feeling passes on it's own. Like one day I'll be fine then suddenly it'll "flare up" or whatever until again one day I'll be fine again.

I also have very bad oral issues. Certain textures are unbearable. Especially wood and paper. So drinking out of paper milk cartons or eating popsicles is out of the question. Even drinking or eating something that was once in a paper container will bother me. I'm convinced that there is a smell and taste that the paper has given whatever liquid/food that was within it. I've never met anyone who agreed with me on this, which makes me feel crazy. I also have a very difficult time licking envelopes. I won't even touch toothpicks. THINKING about these things will send me into uncontrolled gagging if I'm not careful. Other things I can't handle are most nuts (peanuts because they stay so gritty and almonds because they squeak), coconut (squeaks), or things that have kind of a fatty, squishy texture like avocado. My biggest one is probably anything with a foamy texture. Like milk that has been shaken, soda foam, or the biggest one of all... toothpaste once you start brushing. It seems that they continually come out with more and more foamy toothpastes too. Brushing my teeth is basically an insanely miserable process that quite often ends with me vomiting and breaking the tiny vessels in my face around my eyes. I also don't put my hands in or near my mouth. It's hard for me to watch/hear people bite their fingernails. The whole thought/idea of it makes my skin crawl.

The other biggest of my triggers is touch. Sometimes even a soft brush of someone's fingertips can feel so incredibly painful. This is probably the hardest one for me to live with as it hurts those who love and care about me so incredibly much that I jump and flinch at every touch. Tickling of any type (even the threat of being tickled) is excruciating to the point where I actually defend myself. I say to people that I'm not responsible for the damage I may inflict if I'm tickled. People think its a joke, but its very real. I've punched, kicked and elbowed before and when this happens I'm completely out of control of my actions. And not to mention the days that I'd give anything for a hug, but I know I can't, that it would just end up being a miserable experience for me. There are days when I can't even handle my own skin touching me. I'll lay in bed arms, legs, fingers and toes all spread as far as they'll go.

As far as a "feeling" goes touch is the most painful. I'm clumsy and will walk right into corners and this will hurt for a long time. Like I can feel the texture and edge of a wall on my skin 20-30 minutes or more after I've bumped into it. It's hard to describe the level of pain as I don't think I register pain in a normal way AT ALL. For instance I enjoy tattoo's. I fell asleep during them and they are quite large. But bumping into a wall, stepping on even something like a grain of rice on the kitchen floor, hitting my head... these are are intensely painful. Light is also very painful at times.

My sound triggers aren't so much painful. I don't really know how to describe my reaction to them though. Irritating is perhaps the best term. But with certain noises at times they can irritate me so much I feel like throwing a tantrum like a child. That feeling confuses me. I'm usually very put together and in control of my outward self so that people don't know what I'm experiencing on the inside and I find this very very hard to do on the days that I'm so very sensitive to every little noise.

I've gotten very good at holding it all in and if I'm going to meltdown it will usually happen at the end of the day when I'm in bed. The tears will come and nothing calms me really. I'll bury myself under piles of blankets and basically "hold" myself until I cry myself to sleep. This doesn't happen often, but will usually come in phases. I'll have a period of time where I just can't stop all the sensory stuff enough, so breakdowns happen often.