Sensitive to heat?

Hi everyone,

My name is Alex. I was led here whilst doing some research on HSP. I've felt 'wrong' and 'different' through-out my life and had a complex one so far. I battled with extreme social anxiety and shyness at college which led me to research self help audiobooks and hypnotherapy. Ever since taking that action I've expanded and grown in many ways including knowing myself better. It was that jolt of self awareness that has eventually brought me here. Even though I've been diagnosed as dyslexic I'm sure that isn't the full extent of the story. My mum told me I may be Hypersensitive a few years ago and after the past few months I've felt myself wanting to answer that question. Depression, HS or otherwise - I would like to know.

I've got many questions. I'm very open to discussing my own life with everyone. I may disappear for months at a time but I'll always be back.

I wanted to find out if anyone here is sensitive to heat? This links in with something I'll bring up later but I've read that HSP may be sensitive to heat.
In my experience there are a couple of instances of this. Firstly every time I over-heat in bed (e.g. if I leave my socks on) at night I'll get intense nightmares which wake me up, without fail. Secondly most times I'm inside a restaurant in the evening where it is quite warm and I've just eaten I feel claustrophobic and slight anxious panic.

Has anyone else had similar experiences?

Welcome Alex!  There is much for you to explore here about being hsp.  You're in for wonderful discoveries.

As for your heat question, most HSP are sensitive to either heat or cold and it often depends on where they grew up (i.e. people from warm climates are sensitive to cold and visa versa).  Since I grew up in a mildly cold climate, I have always been very sensitive to heat and have always struggled with heat exhaustion even though I've lived in a warm place for decades now. Your experiences with heat and nightmares and panic attacks suggest a past experience that associates heat with a traumatic event.

You'll find many links about HSP here: Discussions on what highly sensitive people are all about;  they are a great place to learn more about the many facets of being HSP.  Keep scrolling down for more current links as I add them as new information comes along.

Hello! Welcome to dimension o.o
I have the reverse when I'm sensitive to cold but heat isn't that much of a problem as long as I keep hydrated.

You might want to take the test and look at the info Mel linked to see if you are HSP or not. HSP is not a disease however, it's a characteristic that when honored is a gift and when not embraced can be a struggle.

Hello and welcome.   Not sure if this will answer your question about heat, but when I was younger my parents moved from a cooler area to a much warmer southern area.  The first summer I got very sick, would pass out in the heat, and had to stay inside till it cooled off.  The next few summers my parents would send me back up north so I could stay cool.  I slowly got a bit used to it, but if it it's still to hot here I'll get dizzy spells, nauseous, and just feel yucky.

Hope that helps answer your heat question at least, and I hope to see you around

Thank you everyone.

Melodiccolor - Traumatic event. Hmm it's interesting you say that. Being born?? lol. In all seriousness I was delivered using a pair of medical prongs and I was told this can sometimes cause depression in adults. I use to get intense nightmares as a kid so the trauma would have to be even further back? You've given me something to think about! The claustriphobic/panic isn't exclusive to feeling overheated either but 9 times out of ten It'll happen at night.

Zen- I took the test a while ago. I was a bit skeptical because I tried a ADD test a few years ago and scored 100% though I don't think I've actually got ADD. I think its the dyslexia.

In Elaine's HPS test I got 24 but I'm still not 100% convinced. I hope to visit a psychologist when I save up some money but until then I've got many threads here to look through.

Samt03 - I recently spent some time in Greece where the weather was pretty hot. I wouldn't say I felt nauseous but I wore out easily and my brain didn't want to function properly during the day.

I'm dyslexic. I'm very, very dyslexic, supposedly if you're female and dyslexic it's worse for you, and since I got it from my father I've got a very bad case of it.

Dyslexia, (aside from being hard to spell) effects how you read, write, and talk, the most common symptoms being reversing letters, and spellings (R and S were impossible for me to write in elementary school.) It basically causes your brain to think in reverse so in order to speak, read, and write you need to translate from 'dyslexic speak' to normal people speech. It does mean in some high stress situations you can get more tired when trying to write or talk about, because of the extra step to speak. If you ever talk to me in the real time chat you'll notice I tend to slow down a bit when I'm tired and talking, or I make really bad spelling/grammar mistakes. My brain simply cannot translate to normal people fast enough for my fingers.

I have also been diagnosed with ADD, or adult onset ADD, not sure why but it does show up randomly when I get distracted by something totally random... I call it the 'oh shiny squirrel' syndrome.

24 is a high score on the test, and if you feel it fits you then it's probably right. Don't worry about the dyslexic side of you, it's not influencing your thoughts and your feelings.

I'm gonna post this before I write a book about being dyslexic while being hsp.... cause I probably could go into more details about stuffs. (Hopefully this doesn't seem preachy or anything, I'm just trying to explain some things about dyslexic stuffs...)

No, not at all. What you are saying is really interesting. Were you diagnosed at school? How long after did you realised you were a HSP?

I often wonder how dyslexia has shaped my life in different way. I haven't got it as severely as some people I know but I guess the main things it affects are my concentration and mental stamina.

Yeah I believe it does fit.

I've been called a sensitive my entire life. Both my parents are hsp and raised me knowing I was a sensitive. Mel actually gave me the term HSP to apply to it a few years though, before then we just used sensitive or empath. I was diagnosed officially as dyslexic around 2nd grade in school, they knew I had a learning disability in 1st... so kinda hsp before dyslexia.

I have found having the dyslexia will make me a bit more shy at times, just cause there are times not only does my introvert nature kick in, but I also get nervous cause I'm not sure if my sentences will come out correctly. I tend to get shy on the forums cause I'm worried what I'm typing wont make sense to anyone else, same as real time chat. And there are times I want to say a word but just can't seem to spell it properly so I kinda just will fade to silence at times, there's nothing worse then wanting to say something awesome and I just can't seem to spell a word.

Samt03 - My dyslexia was only diagnosed later in University. Before that in school I was constantly bottom of the class and displayed very disruptive behavior because the system of teaching didn't fit my brain's way of learning. I remember staring down blankly at the classwork in front of me not know what to do or where to begin. My mum mentioned I could have been Dyspraxic recently like her which is something I'll have to look into. I briefly read that many dyspraxics grow up anxious and lack social skills which I could identify my own experience as being similar to.

Ah, so both your parents are HPS. I did wonder if it was hereditary.

Denmarkguy- Wow Texas. I imagine its hot! Enough to cook an egg on the sidewalk maybe?

Stress dreams sounds like a good way of describing it. I wake up overheated and often hallucinating. In any situation when I get hot I feel very uncomfortable and fidgety.

bosharpe wrote:Samt03 - My dyslexia was only diagnosed later in University. Before that in school I was constantly bottom of the class and displayed very disruptive behavior because the system of teaching didn't fit my brain's way of learning. I remember staring down blankly at the classwork in front of me not know what to do or where to begin. My mum mentioned I could have been Dyspraxic recently like her which is something I'll have to look into. I briefly read that many dyspraxics grow up anxious and lack social skills which I could identify my own experience as being similar to.

Ah, so both your parents are HPS. I did wonder if it was hereditary.

I just get worried talking to people cause I'm worried what I say will come out in reverse, and it sometimes does when I'm stressed. That whole thing does have an affect on how I interact with people and I tend to be more 'shy' then I need to cause of it.

I believe my grandparents were hsp as well, so it tends to follow my family line, at least for me, not sure if does for everyone else.

Some families are strongly HSP overall. However HSP can show up in families in which there are no other....my case for example. I seem to be the only one.

I am sensitive to heat. It make the skin itchy and cause red rashes. I just cant think properly. On the other hand a cool weather make me feel relax and optimal.

Samt03 wrote:

bosharpe wrote:Samt03 - My dyslexia was only diagnosed later in University. Before that in school I was constantly bottom of the class and displayed very disruptive behavior because the system of teaching didn't fit my brain's way of learning. I remember staring down blankly at the classwork in front of me not know what to do or where to begin. My mum mentioned I could have been Dyspraxic recently like her which is something I'll have to look into. I briefly read that many dyspraxics grow up anxious and lack social skills which I could identify my own experience as being similar to.

Ah, so both your parents are HPS. I did wonder if it was hereditary.

I just get worried talking to people cause I'm worried what I say will come out in reverse, and it sometimes does when I'm stressed.   That whole thing does have an affect on how I interact with people and I tend to be more 'shy' then I need to cause of it.

I believe my grandparents were hsp as well, so it tends to follow my family line, at least for me, not sure if does for everyone else.

I'm quite sure my mum and dad are HSP. My mum is very sensitive and very sentimental. I'm worried her sentimentality blinds her from logic sometimes and as she gets older she gets set in her ways. I admire her for a lot of reasons though and care about her happiness. Same with my dad although he's not as nearly sentimental as me & my mum.

I've read about Moral sentimentalism recently and that's a interesting take on things.

Being stressed always brings out that kind of thing with me too. Although I'm nowhere near as shy as I use to be. I think it's practice and the more you do it the less stressful it is. I'm always friendly toward people and usually that provokes a friendly response. It didn't come straight away for me though and I'm still working on it.

Me and my girlfriend are often opposite temperature. She's hot and I'm cold etc. She is acutely sensitive to room temperatures and seems to notice tiny drop or increase. I seem to lag behind a bit. I do kick the covers off the bed sometimes which does annoy her. She doesn't overheat and get nightmares in bed however which I do.