Highly sensitive children: learning to live with a pain that few understand

High sensitivity is a personality trait that is shared by around 15% of the population and that becomes visible in the first years of life.

Highly sensitive children (NAS) are characterized by being very reactive to sensory stimuli, they are empathetic and analytical.

"High sensitivity is a personality trait that makes these children more receptive to everything around them, more aware of what is happening around them," Úrsula Perona, a child psychologist, mother of three and author of

(Editorial Toromitic).

“Because of that sensory acuity they have,” he continued, “parents observe that they are very reactive little ones, that they are easily disturbed and that they are often called fussy and fussy.

But all this is not due to a whim, but precisely to that special sensitivity that they have for all the senses”.

For example, does your highly sensitive child resent certain fabrics or labels on t-shirts?

Does he complain more when something hurts and takes longer to recover?

More information

Highly sensitive children: features and tips for parents

According to experts, this is because NAS also have a lower pain threshold, that is, they tolerate it less well.

“This occurs because they have a more reactive nervous system, greater emotionality and empathy, deeper thought and greater capacity for perception through touch, smell and hearing.

By feeling everything more intensely, they reach the threshold of bodily discomfort earlier, as occurs with sensitivity to some tissues, especially in the first months of life, which translates into crying or reddening of the skin”, explains Pablo Villagrán, creator and president of the Association of High Sensitivity Professionals and father of a NAS.

Faced with these situations of discomfort, they are usually described as complainers, "but what lies behind these labels is someone who feels emotions with greater intensity than usual and whose body ends up receiving that emotionality in the form of pain or discomfort, if not it is managed well”, adds Villagrán.

The skin is usually one of its most delicate points.

“We noticed that our son refused to wear shirts.

At first, we thought he was complaining on a whim, but over time we realized that it really was a very unpleasant experience for him.

He kept his arms forward, as if he couldn't lower them to avoid further contact of the shirt with his body”, he recounts.

When pain translates into fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a disease associated with the nervous system and is a chronic condition that causes pain throughout the body.

And some NAS suffer from it, experts say.

“A large number of patients with this disease are recognized as Highly Sensitive Persons (HSP).

Although there are no specific studies looking for direct correlations between both themes, some researchers have found common points when delving into their particularities, as in the study

., 1999, where the presence of a gene (allele of 5 -HTTLPR) associated with both high sensitivity and fibromyalgia, which contributes to a lower tolerance to pain”, Villagrán concludes.

The experiences of NAS who have developed fibromyalgia speak for themselves, as in the case of Aintzane Eride, who is now 30 years old.

Eride contracted the disease when she was 10 years old, although she was not diagnosed with it until she was 17: “The pain was so unbearable that I passed out.

The doctors said that I faked it to attract attention, because my sisters were born when I was that age.

In the end, I learned to shut up and live with the pain, because my parents blamed it on growing up”.

The paper of the parents

The work of the parents of a NAS to ensure that their child does not somatize the emotions in their body and be happy involves "providing them with tools to manage their emotions and set limits to prevent the child from adopting the role of victim of their own sensitivity and become an emotional manipulator”, argues Alberto López, Highly Sensitive Person, emotional therapist and writer.

In this sense, as he explains, yoga, meditation, contact with nature and avoiding instilling guilt in them are recommended, because it is very difficult for them to manage that emotion.

"HSPs tend to have a propensity to develop diseases associated with intestinal transit, such as Krohn's Syndrome or irritable bowel, that is, diseases that have a lot to do with the management of emotions."

Secondly,

In addition, they are prone to allergies.

"They can manifest themselves in various ways, from atopic skin or eczema to allergic and inflammatory reactions with certain foods to which we are not even allergic," describes Bea Sánchez, co-author of the book

, PAS and mother of five children with high sensitivity.

Prevention to prevent NAS from becoming emotionally and sensorially overloaded is essential.

So it is advisable to anticipate as much as possible "to avoid environments where they do not feel comfortable, leave space between activities so that they can assimilate everything and favor actions with which they can recharge that, depending on the child, can be more out , such as going out into nature, exercising and being in contact with animals, or indoors, such as providing quiet spaces or time to work on their interests and hobbies”, recommends Sánchez.

Creating an environment as adapted as possible to the sensitivity of the NAS includes understanding that these children "do not lose anything by preferring other rhythms and environments."

“In our house, everything from clothing to food to the volume of the TV is taken into account.

What for another family can be uncomfortable or capricious, for us it is the logical thing”, assures this mother.

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