Hello! And welcome back to Anika’s story. You can go back and read part 1 [here]. Today we’re going to focus on the oral sensitivities that were leading to Anika’s panic attacks and shut downs.
Oral Sensory Input
The mouth is one of the most densely wired parts of the entire body. It's why babies are constantly mouthing things, and it's tied directly into reflexes that protect us, like gagging, swallowing, and coughing. The sensory responses of the mouth are meant to be sensitive, because if the wrong object or food goes in there, it can be dangerous. Unfortunately, some kids’ oral sensitivity is dialed a little too high.
Anika’s History with Oral Sensitivity
One of the first things Anika’s parents shared with me was that she has a history of shutting down, going “mute” and refusing to open her mouth “when there are intense feelings in her mouth, including a very wiggly tooth about to come out, during a stomach bug.”
Anika is also an extremely picky eater, and any oral hygiene task like brushing her teeth or getting checked at the dentist are extremely stressful. (If you're looking for tips for managing the dentist, click here)
Fight Or Flight… Or Freeze
All of these point to a heightened response to tactile input in her mouth. However, unlike other kids who have meltdowns or have bigger reactions to sensitivities (often known as fight or flight), Anika tended to respond with a freeze or shut down stress response. To the outside, this looks like a calm, quiet kid behaving “completely fine”. But on the inside, her nervous system is still in a sympathetic activation state.
Freeze shows up as immobility, shutdown, going quiet, or refusing input. It's the nervous system's way of saying: I can't fight this, I can't run from this, so I'm going to stop engaging with it entirely. You know how some animals will “play dead” to avoid further harm by a predator? That’s a freeze response: still completely focused on survival, still completely in a legitimate “stress state”, but visually appears to be slow, calm, and quiet.
