Chatfilter: Weird yet Pleasant Body Sensations
August 25, 2023 5:34 AM Subscribe
We all know Bodies (like Cats) Are Weird. A few years ago, I started paying attention to one particular weird and pleasant body sensation and I'd love to know if others have any idea what I'm talking about.
So I’m taking advantage of the MeFi Fundraiser chatfilter option to ask this ridiculous question that’s been on my mind for years.
We all know Bodies (Like Cats) Are Weird. A few years ago, I started paying attention to one particular weird, repeatable, and pleasant sensation. When I’m going to bed, I’ll lay on my left side and after a few minutes I’ll feel this “whoosh, rush” feeling that starts around my right ear and kind of “frissons” around my head and jaw. It lasts 2 seconds at most but feels so good. I’m guessing it’s a nerve thing since it seems to follow the same path down my jaw and around my head. It’s an overwhelmingly specific and very pleasant rush, very much like an instantaneous build-up and release or going up and over a roller coaster. It’s a weird comparison, but it’s not unlike the build-up/release sensation of an orgasm.
The specific sensation is similar to the feeling I get if I bring a finger or object too close to my face – you know how sometimes when you do that there’s a “whoa something’s almost touching my face whoosh” feeling? Anyway, I hope you do.
I think it may have something to do with squinching a muscle inside my right ear. Sometimes I actively try to make the feeling happens and it works; sometimes it doesn’t.
Experiencing this every night is a tiny joy in my life and though I’m happy never knowing, it would make my day to hear that someone else has experienced this or that there’s a standard medical explanation for it.
If you know what I’m talking about, chat away! If you don’t, but you want to share a related Weird or Interesting Body Thing that you experience please do!
So I’m taking advantage of the MeFi Fundraiser chatfilter option to ask this ridiculous question that’s been on my mind for years.
We all know Bodies (Like Cats) Are Weird. A few years ago, I started paying attention to one particular weird, repeatable, and pleasant sensation. When I’m going to bed, I’ll lay on my left side and after a few minutes I’ll feel this “whoosh, rush” feeling that starts around my right ear and kind of “frissons” around my head and jaw. It lasts 2 seconds at most but feels so good. I’m guessing it’s a nerve thing since it seems to follow the same path down my jaw and around my head. It’s an overwhelmingly specific and very pleasant rush, very much like an instantaneous build-up and release or going up and over a roller coaster. It’s a weird comparison, but it’s not unlike the build-up/release sensation of an orgasm.
The specific sensation is similar to the feeling I get if I bring a finger or object too close to my face – you know how sometimes when you do that there’s a “whoa something’s almost touching my face whoosh” feeling? Anyway, I hope you do.
I think it may have something to do with squinching a muscle inside my right ear. Sometimes I actively try to make the feeling happens and it works; sometimes it doesn’t.
Experiencing this every night is a tiny joy in my life and though I’m happy never knowing, it would make my day to hear that someone else has experienced this or that there’s a standard medical explanation for it.
If you know what I’m talking about, chat away! If you don’t, but you want to share a related Weird or Interesting Body Thing that you experience please do!
Best answer: I have a hairbrush I bought a few months ago that can send little ASMR-like swoops of nerve rush spinning around my head that sounds very much like what you are describing.
My hair is very well brushed these days.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:47 AM on August 25, 2023 [2 favorites]
My hair is very well brushed these days.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:47 AM on August 25, 2023 [2 favorites]
If we are not supposed to use qtips in our ears why does it feel so good?
posted by cgg at 8:08 AM on August 25, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by cgg at 8:08 AM on August 25, 2023 [14 favorites]
Best answer: I don’t experience this sensation but it makes me think about the vagus nerve being near there—there are implantable vagus nerve stimulators used to help with depression. Something to read up on, perhaps.
posted by needs more cowbell at 8:30 AM on August 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by needs more cowbell at 8:30 AM on August 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
Honestly it sounds like an orgasm in a different part of the body, the way people with spinal damage can learn to orgasm even after their genitals cannot perceive or respond to touch, or the way some people can orgasm from sensations to their mouth or to their nipples.
posted by Jane the Brown at 8:39 AM on August 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Jane the Brown at 8:39 AM on August 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
Sounds related to the tensor tympani. Some people, self included, can flex this muscle voluntarily and make a rumbling sound in their head. It's pleasant, but not as pleasant as tickling the vagus nerve in one's ear...
posted by advicepig at 12:06 PM on August 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by advicepig at 12:06 PM on August 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
It's always so interesting to hear about someone else having completely unfamiliar sensations or experiences! I have never felt anything like this at all. The “whoa something’s almost touching my face whoosh” feeling is also completely unfamiliar. I tried bringing my finger close to my face multiple times, to see if I felt anything. Nope, not a thing.
I also get nothing from ASMR videos, other than mild annoyance if there's whispering. My sister says she gets ASMR from certain kinds of touch to her head or hair. She loves having her hair brushed or styled and finds it intensely pleasurable when a section of hair gets gently tugged. She showed me what she meant and it just gave me a mild ouch. I must have an overly sensitive scalp. When my hair was long enough to have someone do things like french braid it, I always found the process painful. Does anyone else find hair combing, at least when there's a little tangle, to be a sneeze trigger?
My favorite everyday pleasant sensation is the feeling of the soles of my feet against the ground. I don't consciously pay attention to it most of the time, but any time I do pay attention to it, I find it extremely pleasurable. It doesn't matter if I'm barefoot on grass or sand or walking on the sidewalk in shoes - just the pressure of my feet against whatever is underneath them is a delightful thing. As you might imagine, I also love foot massages.
posted by Redstart at 1:36 PM on August 25, 2023 [2 favorites]
I also get nothing from ASMR videos, other than mild annoyance if there's whispering. My sister says she gets ASMR from certain kinds of touch to her head or hair. She loves having her hair brushed or styled and finds it intensely pleasurable when a section of hair gets gently tugged. She showed me what she meant and it just gave me a mild ouch. I must have an overly sensitive scalp. When my hair was long enough to have someone do things like french braid it, I always found the process painful. Does anyone else find hair combing, at least when there's a little tangle, to be a sneeze trigger?
My favorite everyday pleasant sensation is the feeling of the soles of my feet against the ground. I don't consciously pay attention to it most of the time, but any time I do pay attention to it, I find it extremely pleasurable. It doesn't matter if I'm barefoot on grass or sand or walking on the sidewalk in shoes - just the pressure of my feet against whatever is underneath them is a delightful thing. As you might imagine, I also love foot massages.
posted by Redstart at 1:36 PM on August 25, 2023 [2 favorites]
Having my hair washed at a salon is so, so nice. I never mention this, for fear it will get weird.
I used to feel comfortable raising one arm directly up while I lay on my bed and read a book. It just sort of sat there balanced with no effort, like I was waiting to get called on.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:06 PM on August 25, 2023 [9 favorites]
I used to feel comfortable raising one arm directly up while I lay on my bed and read a book. It just sort of sat there balanced with no effort, like I was waiting to get called on.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:06 PM on August 25, 2023 [9 favorites]
I did that arm in the air thing while lying on my bed. Hadn’t thought about that in ages!
posted by Glinn at 6:17 PM on August 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Glinn at 6:17 PM on August 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
Best answer: I get swoops of nerve rush sometimes when I really like a song or am feeling a big exciting emotion. It’s tingly, pleasant, and lasts about a second; it tends to go up my neck and down my spine. I would also describe it as like a super miniature misplaced orgasm.
I also can flex my tensor timpani for a rumbling noise, and separately can cause a clicking noise inside my ears.
posted by hungrytiger at 10:17 PM on August 25, 2023
I also can flex my tensor timpani for a rumbling noise, and separately can cause a clicking noise inside my ears.
posted by hungrytiger at 10:17 PM on August 25, 2023
Best answer: When I have a UTI, while I pee I get an interesting tingling sensation in the backs of my hands between the thumb and index finger. Asked my doctor and she just shrugged and said bodies are wierd.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 6:01 AM on August 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by a humble nudibranch at 6:01 AM on August 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
Some heavy music makes my face tingle pleasantly. Some psychedelic music can make the hair on my head stand up, but the face tingling feels better.
Spraying cool water in the shower at a certain spot on the top of my head spreads waves of tingly relaxation down my scalp and neck and loosens up my back muscles. Feels weird/good because I am a tight ball of anxiety at all times - I didn't know until recently that the skin on your scalp is supposed to be able to move a bit, because mine is always fixed in place.
posted by Stoof at 7:54 AM on August 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
Spraying cool water in the shower at a certain spot on the top of my head spreads waves of tingly relaxation down my scalp and neck and loosens up my back muscles. Feels weird/good because I am a tight ball of anxiety at all times - I didn't know until recently that the skin on your scalp is supposed to be able to move a bit, because mine is always fixed in place.
posted by Stoof at 7:54 AM on August 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
This is not a particularly unusual observation, but peeing after really, really needing to go is one of life's true joys.
posted by lalochezia at 4:54 PM on August 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by lalochezia at 4:54 PM on August 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: What interesting responses! I'll read up on the vagus nerve and ASMR. Oddly enough a humble nudibranch - I also experience that crazy hand tingling with UTIs. Bodies, am I right?
posted by kinsey at 4:01 AM on August 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by kinsey at 4:01 AM on August 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
One of my favorite things about going to bed is the few minutes right after I close my eyes. Gorgeous deep patterns of the most brilliant colors I've ever seen. Cyan, teal, royal or navy blues, gemstone quality reds and purples and greens. Fire-bright oranges and yellows. They swirl around each other and compete to see which one is the most beautiful. Con grats on your tingles. Bodies are weird and have so much to show us.
posted by CathyG at 10:05 PM on August 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by CathyG at 10:05 PM on August 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by LadyInWaiting at 6:13 AM on August 25, 2023 [1 favorite]