I learned recently that I have a lower than average tolerance for pain.
My neurologist ran several tests and came to this conclusion after several checkups. It explains a lot regarding my past, how I would get teased from other children at school if I fell and started crying from an injury. I had an allergic reaction to an anti-nausea medication when I was 10-years-old that caused my neck to painfully lock-up, sending streaks of sharp pain going down my back like daggers in my flesh. It was horrifyingly painful, and if my current doctor is to be believed, I suffered more than an average person would. It’s just how my brain is wired. This makes me hyper focused on any minute physical discomfort, especially dry skin. I already have it bad living in a desert climate where humidity rarely rises above 40%, regardless of the season. When we segue into winter every year, the weather gets even dryer and the skin on my hands begins to crack. I have to keep reapplying hand lotion otherwise I get cracks deep enough to bleed. Unfortunately, the air in my house gets even drier if I am freezing cold and want to turn on the furnace to warm up. The furnace dries out the air and removes what little moisture that might be left at this point in the process. I have come to the conclusion that I simply needed to come to terms with the environment and the effects on my hands and keep reapplying lotion as frequently as possible. Although I still had a somewhat miserable winter season this past year, my regular hand lotion applications made it slightly more bearable than years past.