Perceiving the "good" in the "bad"?

[Green Xenon]

Hi:

I want to to be unable to perceive any unpleasant tactile, olfactory, or gustatory sensations. Even if the source of discomfort [such as nausea, fatigue, or the discomfort of disconnected hairs after a haircut/shave], are physical present in/on me, I want these "bad" feelings to be edited out before they reach the parts of my brain that make me aware of them.

For example, if I burn myself, I should still feel something in the injured area [tingling, warmth, vibrations, coolness, etc. or something else] to let me know that something abnormal is taking place. However, the pain and itching should not reach parts of my brain that would cause me to feel them.

Same goes for foul odors. I should be able to visit a pasture with lots of manure, but I want to only be able to smell the elements of the manure that are not unpleasant. Once again, I want the noxious elements of the olfactory signals edited out before I become I aware of them.

When will the technology be available so that I won't perceive tactile, olfactory, or gustatory elements that I find to be unpleasant?


Thanks,

GX

[lor]

Your brain wants you to percieve these things because 'it wants' you to know something. For instance if you reach for a piece of fruit & smell an ikky smell, you likely won't eat it & get sick. Or if you step on a nail, your brain 'wants' you to feel the hurt so you know enough to pull your foot away & tend to the wound.

[Green Xenon]

Ok. Let my explain my situation. I was born on 10-22-83. So I'm currently 28-year-old old.

Part 1. Here are my problems:

1. I hate shaving because it makes a mess. I can't stand the sensation of disconnected hairs. On the other hand, I don't like the sensation of male-specific facial hairs [they feel like copper wires], so I HAVE to shave to get rid of them. Catch-22 situation.

2. I hate needing to get a haircut because it results in a mess of disconnected hairs that produce a nasty itching/tickling sensation. They also make a mess of the car I drive to/from the salon shop -- due to this I have to ask my brother if I can use his car, which is an inconvenience to him. On the flip side, I don't want my hair to grow out because I have these involuntary hand movements that cause me to play with my hair to the point where my hands and head hurt. In addition, my scalp is VERY caustic and causes the skin on my hands to burn – if the scales on my scalp enter my eyes, it hurts like HELL. So I need to keep my hair at a #2 length or shorter. Much like the above issue, this is a lose-lose situation.

3. I find any contents of the human digestive system [e.g. vomit, stools, spit, drool, etc.] to be extremely sickening. I hate needing to deal with those disgusting entities in any way, shape or form.

4. My skin is extremely sensitive to many types of clothes. I'm very limited -- around my whole body -- as to what I can wear.

5. I have an incurable form of athlete's foot. My feet itch like hell. The only way to relieve this itch is to submerge my feet in painfully-hot water, not hot enough to burn, but none-the-less it is hot-enough to activate pain reflexes. Nothing else relieves the itch. So why don’t I just take off my socks? This is because when my feet are exposed to the floor, they start to feel dirty and sticky. This unclean feeling will occur even if I wear slippers without socks. They only time I can be barefoot is when I’m laying down on a bed or sofa.

6. When I floss my teeth, I drool involuntarily and this sickens me to the core.

7. I have a serious problem with the tactile, olfactory and gustatory qualities of many healthy foods. They make me PUKE. There absolutely NO way to make them palatable.


Part 2. My dream

I want to be unable to perceive any unpleasant tactile, olfactory, or gustatory sensations. Even if the source of discomfort [such as nausea, fatigue, tickling, itching, crawling, or the discomfort of disconnected hairs after a haircut/shave], are physical present in/on me, I want these "bad" feelings to be edited out before they reach the parts of my brain that make me aware of them. At the same time, I want to be able to perceive elements of noxious stimuli [tactile, olfactory, and gustatory] that are not unpleasant. Let me give an example below.

In the fall of '88 I was playing around with a cigarette lighter in a car. I turned it on until it glowed orange. I waited for the heating element to darken back to black. Then I touched the heating element with one of my fingers, burning it.

Obviously, there was a lot of pain and discomfort. However, not all the sensations from the burn wound were unpleasant. For example, the wound gave off a mixture of different tactile sensations – tingling, vibrations, cold, warmth, buzzing, etc.

The combination of different sensations was likely due to different sensory nerves in the skin firing-off as a result of the injury. As I said before, not all the nerve signals were uncomfortable.

My point is I want to continue to be able to feel, smell, and taste the elements of reality that do not give me discomfort, while not feeling, smelling, or tasting the unpleasant elements. In other words, I want the good & neutral without the bad.

If there is an entity close to me that is giving off a foul odor, I should not be able to smell the foul elements of the odorous substance. Instead, I want to be able to smell the neutral and pleasant elements of the odorant. Same with taste. The foul gustatory elements of a substance that tastes bad should be edited out before I become aware of them but the elements that are not foul should continue to reach my consciousness.

I also want my physiology to be unaffected by my psychology. I want to be humored without involuntarily laughing or smiling. I don’t want any emotion to change the way I move or speak. I don’t want the pitch of my voice to increase when I’m scared. I don’t want my heart rate to increase when I’m excited. I want to be able to be angry and hateful, without my immune system weakening as a result of it. I don’t want my breathing rate to increase when I’m mentally-stressed out. No emotion should result in a facial expression unless I consciously and voluntary make that expression.

I want some – not all – of my reflexes eliminated. For example, when I touch a hot object, I don’t want my hand to pull away from it unless I make a voluntary and conscious decision to pull away from it. When I walk in a daisy field and inhale pollen, I don’t want to sneeze no matter how irritated my nostrils are. During a nasal allergy, slimy fluid should continue to drip out of my nose without me feeling that nasty tickling sensation on my upper lip. I don’t want to vomit even during the most serious gastric infection. Vomiting is an unnecessary response.

Necessary reflexes – such a coughing, throat-clearing, and reflex bradycardia [activated by unusually-high carotid pressure] – should continue to exist because they are necessary for *immediate* survival.

I want it to be such that the only way for any non-respiratory muscle involved in voluntary movement or vocalization will remain completely relaxed, unless I voluntarily and consciously make it “un-relax”. This means I would no longer have any subconscious habits – such as playing with my hair.

In any type of muscles in my body – and regardless of their locations – there are two types of muscle fibers: type 1 [good] and type 2 [bad]. I want the type-2 fibers to enter a state of complete and permanent relaxation. No matter what condition any part of my body is in, the type-2 muscle fibers need to be unable to un-relax. This will prevent me from injuring myself in the event that I experience a seizure.

Here is more info on muscle fiber types: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeleta...#Muscle_fibers

[tic chick]

hey green xenon!

i'm sorry you have all these probs. i have tourette syndrome and my one sensory problem is that i can't stand noise overload. it makes me edgy and anxious. you seem to have several of these types of probs. have you ever consulted a doctor or neurologist about it? have you ever read about "sensory processing disorder"? here is a website with a lot of great info on that subject: http://www.sinetwork.org/about-senso...-disorder.html have you ever been told you might have obsessive-compulsive disorder also? that problem seems to go along with sensory disorders a lot.

in my opinion, i don't think the technology to not perceive certain tactile, olfactory, or gustatory elements that you find to be unpleasant will be found in your lifetime. there are too many areas of the brain that control these feelings and not only are they feelings, but i think they also have to do with memory and other intangible factors.

i think it is possible through behavior modification to learn how to ignore certain perceptions, for example your aversion to bodily secretions. i hope there is something that can cure athlete's foot by now. your salon should be able to put a plastic cape around you so that your hairs fall onto that and then blow the rest of the hair away with the blow-dryer. cover your eyes when they do that. i know you must have a hard time finding clothes that do not cause sensory problems. maybe googling to find clothes made out of bamboo plus cotton would help. bamboo is also called "modal" now, these clothes are extremely soft and non-binding.

your problem with touching your hair repeatedly might be due to obsessive compulsive disorder. have you ever talked to a doctor about that problem, or a neurologist? i also think your hopes for feeling the good and the neutral without feeling the bad or the painful are not going to be fulfilled. if you feel the good you have to feel the bad and some of your feelings are perceptions that certain feelings are bad.

i hope you read the article above. perhaps it will lead you to explore the sensory disorders you have and find a doctor or someone who can help you with these probs. i have been here about 10 years and in that time i have read about many young people who have sensory disorders. it's tough to fight, but i hope you try.

welcome to the bt communities and i hope you find some help here.

jeannie

[Green Xenon]

Tic Chick:

Thanks for your understanding. My mom is a physician and I am also seeing a variety of therapists and psychiatrists but they all tell me one thing -- to somehow "get used" to the discomfort. I'm currently working on "desensitization" but it's not helping. They therapist wants me to wear uncomfortable clothing and walk barefeet. I've tried it but it was disaster.

There is no way to adapt to the discomfort. I think society should stop expecting me to do the impossible.

[tic chick]

hey green xenon,

this is just my experience reading about people's medical problems here, but it seems like all of us with medical probs have to know more about our probs than the doctors do. everybody is unique, even though their probs might be identical. there are many psychological therapies that can be tried for people with sensory probs. if one therapy isn't working for you, don't hesitate to disagree with your doctor or therapist on their approach. if you read about the various therapies you can ask to try something different.

just living with your probs and managing them the best you can is also a valid choice to make, but also prolly the hardest. coming to terms with an uncommon prob requires acceptance that your life is going to be different. after an almost 20 year and 20+ drug odyssey to find a drug that would reduce my tics, i decided that unless there was a drug that had no side effects, i was going to stop looking for that elusive drug that would make me tic less. with acceptance comes a certain peace and also a certain attitude of just not giving a chit about what others think.

whatever you decide to do, i just wish that you take the time to arm yourself with knowledge about your condition. knowledge=power. that power manifests itself in being able to make informed decisions about how you want to manage your medical probs and your life. it is your life.

jeannie

[Green Xenon]

Sometimes I daydream about using a synthetic virus to treat my condition. Viral therapy has been used to kill off cancerous tumors.

I'm thinking of virus that is bio-engineered to kill the following cell types:

1. Cells that are solely pro-inflammatory [such as mast cells]
2. Myocytes that specifically make up the type-2 muscle fibers
3. Cells that make up c-fiber nerve endings
4. Cells that make up sensory receptors that specifically supply the c-fiber nerve endings -- such as TRPV1

Here is more info on c-fibers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_C_nerve_fiber