Hyperesthesia is a condition that involves an abnormal increase in sensitivity to
stimuli of the
sense
A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the central nervous system re ...
. Stimuli of the senses can include sound that one hears, foods that one tastes, textures that one feels, and so forth. Increased touch sensitivity is referred to as "tactile hyperesthesia", and increased sound sensitivity is called "auditory hyperesthesia". In the context of pain hyperaesthesia can refer to an increase in sensitivity where there is both
allodynia
Allodynia is a condition in which pain is caused by a stimulus that does not normally elicit pain. For example, bad sunburn can cause temporary allodynia, and touching sunburned skin, or running cold or warm water over it, can be very painful. It i ...
and
hyperalgesia
Hyperalgesia ( or ; 'hyper' from Greek ὑπέρ (huper, “over”), '-algesia' from Greek algos, ἄλγος (pain)) is an abnormally increased sensitivity to pain, which may be caused by damage to nociceptors or peripheral nerves and can ...
.
In psychology, Jeanne Siaud-Facchin uses the term by defining it as an "exacerbation des sens" that characterizes gifted individuals: for them, the sensory information reaches the brain much faster than the average, and the information is processed in a significantly shorter time.
Other animals
Feline hyperesthesia syndrome is an uncommon but recognized condition in
cat
The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...
s, particularly
Siamese,
Burmese,
Himalayan, and
Abyssinian cats. It can affect cats of all ages, though it is most prevalent during maturity. Detection can be somewhat difficult as it is characterized by brief bursts of abnormal behavior, lasting around a minute or two.
One of its symptoms is also found in dogs that have
canine distemper disease (CD) caused by canine distemper virus (CDV).
See also
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Auditory processing disorder
Auditory processing disorder (APD), rarely known as King-Kopetzky syndrome or auditory disability with normal hearing (ADN), is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting the way the brain processes auditory information. Individuals with APD usually ...
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Hyperacusis
Hyperacusis is the increased sensitivity to sound and a low tolerance for environmental noise. Definitions of hyperacusis can vary significantly; it can refer to normal noises being perceived as: loud, annoying, painful, fear-inducing, or a combina ...
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Multisensory integration
Multisensory integration, also known as multimodal integration, is the study of how information from the different sensory modalities (such as sight, sound, touch, smell, self-motion, and taste) may be integrated by the nervous system. A coherent ...
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Sensory overload
Sensory overload occurs when one or more of the body's senses experiences over-stimulation from the environment. There are many environmental elements that affect an individual. Examples of these elements are urbanization, crowding, noise, mass m ...
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Sensory processing Sensory processing is the process that organizes sensation from one's own body and the environment, thus making it possible to use the body effectively within the environment. Specifically, it deals with how the brain processes multiple sensory mod ...
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Sensory processing disorder
Sensory processing disorder (SPD, formerly known as sensory integration dysfunction) is a condition in which multisensory input is not adequately processed in order to provide appropriate responses to the demands of the environment. Sensory proces ...
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Sensory processing sensitivity
References
External links
Medical signs
Symptoms and signs: Skin and subcutaneous tissue
Cat diseases
Dog diseases
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