IME, you deal with unpleasant tactile sensations the same way that you deal with any other unpleasant experience - it’s all about coping skills: distress tolerance and emotional regulation. You’ve done DBT, I believe? Well, all of those skills will stand you in good stead with this experience too. Granted, I personally find my unpleasant tactile (and somatic) sensations much more unpleasant than any of the other sensory experiences, but I cope with them the same way: it’s basically all about distraction, and remaining calm, and reminding myself that it won’t last forever and that I am strong and have survived this awfulness before.

With tactile experiences though, I also find avoiding triggers really important. Whilst Sometimes suggested pleasant tactile sensations, personally I try to reduce tactile sensations in general. Whilst touching different textures with my hands can be grounding, if I’m feeling bugs crawling, or my skin on fire, or I’m being stabbed by tiny pins, the breeze blowing my hair across my face, or my clothes rubbing against my skin can send me over the edge. Some days, my hair will have to be completely pulled back so that no stray hair can touch my neck or face, but then other days, it’s not so triggering. I try to stay cool, which is very difficult with the unusually hot weather we’ve been having lately, but then having a fan blowing can make it worse, so it’s trying to balance that. Tight clothing can make it worse for me, but then loose clothing that’s constantly moving back and forth over my skin can make it worse too. My lower legs are usually the most frequent site of torture, so I’ve been wearing shorts/short skirts and bare lower legs a lot lately.

I also have a zero tolerance policy towards bugs in my home. Any bugs that I see can trigger the visual ‘spiders’ that I experience, and the crawling/wiggling sensations too. So bugs have to go, immediately. I avoid my mum’s house, which is full of spiders and cobwebs because brushing against a cobweb, or seeing a spider will have me crawling for days afterwards. It’s just not worth it.

Other skin conditions can make it worse too. Often, itching can be mistaken for, or trigger, crawling sensations. So I make sure that my skin is well moisturised; not that moisturising reduces the crawling sensation at all because it doesn’t IME, but because my eczema acting up can worsen the other skin sensations. Not getting too hot will prevent prickly heat rash. And I use insect repellent on bare skin whenever I go out, because the itch of insect bites can really exacerbate things. I have Skeeter syndrome, an allergy to mosquito bites, which I only recently understood as I got bitten 12 times by mosquitoes a few weeks ago and I almost lost the plot. My legs were ON FIRE with the severe allergic reaction to the bites, and that triggered a free-for-all in terms of feeling bugs crawling, insects wiggling underneath the skin, vibrations, being stabbed by pins etc etc. Basically, everything that I usually experience, but all together and very severe for a week. It was truly horrendous. The only thing that helped at the time was cooling the skin. I tried ice at first, which did initially help, but then the water evaporating off my skin actually increased the crawling sensations. Literally, the only way I made it through was sitting in a cold bath for hours whenever I got hysterical with all of the sensations. It was actually amazing how quickly it stopped the sensations and calmed me down; within minutes. So, now insect repellent is the way forward for me to avoid that torment.

It’s also worth mentioning that lots of meds can cause itching, as a side effect, and also by damaging the liver and/or kidneys, which can then cause itching as certain chemicals build up in the body. So it’s worth getting that looked at by your primary care physician, rather than assuming it’s definitely hallucinatory in origin.

And try not to scratch, as hard as that can be. It damages the skin and makes it sore, which can then trigger other skin sensations IME. I try not to react to it and focus instead on distraction, but if I absolutely have to, I try to rub or lightly pat/smack the skin, rather than scratching, as that doesn’t break the skin.

HTH

*Willow*