#hypoesthesia

For those unaware, hyperesthesia is when your senses are higher than those of a neurotypical person - yes, hyper- and hypoesthesia count as neurodivergencies. It usually shows up in higher sensitivity to touch. Whereas hypoesthesia is the opposite, your senses are duller than those of a neurotypical person.

How do I know this? Well, I'm a living example of hyperesthesia!

In my case, every sense of mine is heightened - except for my sight, that one is genetically bad. I have a more refined taste, sense of smell, touch, and hearing. I taste the slightest differences in recipes, hear the faintest of sounds, like electricity running, if you know what I mean, I feel the faintest of touches on my skin and smell the finest scents - the strong scent of strawberries gives me a headache, lol. Though I gotta say, before my sight got worse due to genetics, I had extremely good sight! Now I can't even decipher a license plate that I'm standing ten meters away from without my glasses, lmao.

I'd probably have Checo be the one to live with what I live with, which is hyperesthesia, and thus Max would be the one with hypoesthesia. So whereas Checo doesn't understand how anyone can not feel as much as others like Max does, Max doesn't get how anyone can feel as much as Checo does.

Imagine them exploring each other's senses. Max brushes a careful hand up against Checo's upper arm, and Checo immediately flinches - he instantly feels it, even as Max's fingers hover only millimeters over his skin. Meanwhile, Checo has to apply some pressure to get Max to feel his touch. In terms of smell, Checo instantly gets a headache from smelling cinnamon - it's too strong for him. Max is barely fazed by it, though. Things like that!

And whereas Checo learned about his condition through the internet, Max learned about his through personal experience and contrasting ones of his peers.

I learned about it through my dentist, of all people, lmao. I got a shot into my gums to desensitize my mouth since I was about to undergo an operation - but it seems my dentist hit a specific space in my mouth that caused the pain I felt from the needle piercing my gums to shoot into my lower lip (that was the day I learned my lips can physically hurt). I was so confused, trust me, meanwhile, my dentist just nodded and said, "Aha. Hyperesthesia." I googled it a few days after my operation and everything fit - then I asked my mom, and she confirmed it, too.

And that's my story! Fun facts with Kira!

"That's not.... Normal?"