Clothing irritation 'only'

by Sooty
(UK)

I'm 40 now, but have had this issue since as long as I can remember. I've only just seen this forum and the term SPD.

I used to wear mainly second hand clothes as a child (which might have masked the issue for a few years). But it really became a problem having to wear smarter clothes for school - the irritation was so bad that I ended up wearing smooth fabric jogging pants under my school trousers and a t-shirt under the formal shirt. But on the days I couldn't it was utterly miserable. The sensation of my clothes was the number one thing on my mind all the time - it ruined my day and I couldn't wait to get home and take them off. Sports kit made from that polyester mesh fabric was like wearing a Brillo pad!

So I grew up having to wear t-shirts under shirts and jumpers. I would wear some of these t-shirts so much that even with huge holes worn through I'd rather wear them than not!


This has severely affected the type of clothes I can buy - in shops, one touch and I know that there's just no way I could wear some things for more than a few seconds without having to rip them off! So instead I've just stuck with the same few boring things for years.

Some ways to cope have been to always sleep naked (inside a sleeping bag when on rougher, newer sheets), wear socks inside out, only buy the softest denim trousers, and most recently wearing t-shirts inside out with another t-shirt over the top the right way around. I started becoming super sensitive to t-shirt seams over the past 5-7 years, especially on the shoulder area.

I know its all in my mind (as I don't get any redness or rashes) and I keep telling myself that its not 'harming' me. But it's like my brain at a younger age didn't learn to 'turn off' the sensitivity to clothes, so now its 'on' all the time constantly sensing the tiny individual fabric hairs.

I'd probably be much better if I could wear silk or sleeping bag material clothing all over!

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.