Sensing warm and cool: how the body detects temperature changes | Hacker News Reader

Sensing warm and cool: how the body detects temperature changes

news.uq.edu.au

47 pointshhs10 comments

> “These findings could help explain what happens when the body’s thermoreceptors become impaired in ageing and disease.”

> ...this new understanding of the body’s thermoreceptors could inform treatments for people struggling with thermal dysfunction.

It would be amazing if this research also led to a treatment for the rare symptom of temperature reversal caused by ciguatera fish poisoning (ciguatoxin neurotoxins) overstimulating one's nerves. I am not personally afflicted but have friends who have been; one is still dealing with various symptoms many years later.

Thats super interesting I've never heard of this before. It seems that toxin gives a persistent increase in the activity of the sodium channel(s) that make cold painful. I imagine similar to how cold water on frozen fingers feels burning hot.

Several years ago I went to a talk about a receptor (TRPM8) that is activated by cold and also minty flavors(!). Would be curious to know if your friends experience(d) mint as burning/uncomfortable. If not, it would suggest the pathology is linked to separate cold-sensing physiology/pathways/neurons than the common "cool" feeling most are familiar with.

get poisoned twice and flip the bit?

I have CNS and nerve damage from covid and my hands are basically my regulators now

I get Raynauds syndrome even in the summer

Basically if my hands are warm, I am warm, if my hands are cold my entire body is cold

always wanted to try this Sony cooling device

* https://www.sony.com.hk/reonpocket/2026/en/

but wrist heater/cooler might also work

* https://embrlabs.com/products/embr-wave-2

I changed ADHD stimulant medication during the winter, and the weirdest part of that change was experiencing raynaud's syndrome for the first time. (Temporary, only when I'm on Vyvanse it seems) Temperatures I have never even considered chilly, like ~17-20 degrees, indoors with socks on, and suddenly, bam my feet and sometimes my hands are white and numb.

I really feel for you dealing with that on a regular NON-temporary basis. The pain as you get feeling back is awful, the unpredictability around it is awful, having to balance that with other CNS issues must be doubly awful. It really does seem like we're starting to understand the nervous system a bit more though, so there will be some breakthroughs in the near future!

Is there a connection between Covid and Raynaud's ?

In this context, something fascinating is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_grill_illusion

You can artificially induce a burning pain sensation using alternating strips of mildly warm and mildly cold.

Here William Osman of all people builds one of these and uses it on his friends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw67_k6oDQY

I wonder if this is related to the way bright stripes can be a migraine trigger?

We still don't know how, like from a physics point of view, thermoreceptors detect temperature.

Will this help to better therapy for hyperhidrosis? I hope

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