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Wired for More: Reflections from a Family Physician on Hypersensitivity, Head Injury, and the Healing Power of Presence
Author: Dr. Carlos Yu, MD
Family Physician | Presence Facilitator | Ajax Harwood Clinic
Abstract:
As a family physician with over three decades of clinical experience, I’ve come to recognize a unique challenge in patients who, after head trauma, become overwhelmed by the very fabric of daily life: sound, light, touch, thought. These individuals are often neurodivergent or constitutionally sensitive to begin with. Post-injury, their nervous systems seem to become over-tuned, leaving them navigating a world that feels too much. What I’ve observed clinically—and come to believe deeply—is that the way forward is not through sedation or avoidance, but through presence. This article explores those lived observations, personal reflections, and emerging scientific support for the Presence-Based model of healing.
Real-Life Story: The World Too Loud, Too Bright
I recently sat with a patient who’d been hit on the head during a recreational soccer game. A couple of weeks later, she found herself retreating into dark rooms, avoiding restaurants and grocery stores, and wearing sunglasses indoors along with noise-cancelling headphones just to survive a conversation. “Everything is too much,” she said. “The light, the sounds, even people’s voices—I can’t think straight.”
She’s not alone. I’ve now met many patients like her, often bright, sensitive, high-performing people who, after injury, feel like their nervous systems have gone into overdrive.
The Hypersensitive Nervous System: A Clinical Pattern Emerges
Over the years, I began to see a pattern. A subset of patients who had experienced mild traumatic brain injuries, vascular events, or even psychological trauma would go on to develop a persistent form of hypersensitivity—especially to sound (hyperacusis), light (photophobia), and often emotional or cognitive overload.
What struck me was not only the intensity of their symptoms, but the chronicity. Long after any measurable injury had healed, their nervous systems remained reactive. Their lives had become a negotiation with the environment. Sunglasses indoors. Earplugs in crowded places. Cancelled plans. Social withdrawal. Hypervigilance.
Many of these patients, I noticed, were already highly sensitive before their injury—empaths, deep feelers, or individuals diagnosed with ADHD, PTSD, or migraine-prone nervous systems. And they suffered longer. Recovery seemed elusive.
The Role of Avoidance: When Relief Backfires
Out of necessity, these patients often develop patterns of avoidance. And while avoidance provides short-term relief, my clinical suspicion—and now supported by research[1][2]—is that it contributes to long-term sensitization.
Avoiding sound by wearing earplugs constantly can lead to auditory deconditioning. Over time, even moderate noise feels painful. Similarly, dark adaptation from chronic sunglasses use indoors increases photophobia. This is the paradox: the very strategies people adopt to cope may be amplifying their suffering.
A Shift in Perspective: What Is Experience, Really?
I started asking myself: what is it that makes a sensation become suffering?
I’ve come to understand that experience is not just the raw sensory input. It is the product of three interdependent variables:
- Sensation – the actual stimulus: light, sound, heat, emotion.
- Attention – how much awareness is being focused on the sensation.
- Judgment – the mental interpretation of the sensation. Is it dangerous? Is it welcome? Is it a threat?
To explain this, I often use a simple example:
Imagine putting hot pepper on your tongue. That’s a sensation. If you’re paying attention, you’ll likely experience it more vividly. But if you’re deeply distracted—say, watching an intense film or caught in conversation—you may barely register the spice unless it’s extremely strong. Attention amplifies or dulls the experience.
But attention alone isn’t enough. The final layer is judgment—and that’s where things get personal. If you enjoy hot food, the heat of the pepper might feel exciting or pleasurable. If you dislike it, it might feel irritating or painful. The same sensory input, with the same level of attention, yields a completely different experience.
That’s because judgment is cultural, conditioned, and often unconscious. And yet it powerfully shapes our relationship with discomfort.
Pain as Information, Not Enemy
This understanding has reframed how I support my patients. I often explain: “Pain isn’t the problem—it’s the messenger.” If we respond to pain with fear and suppression, we lose the opportunity to learn from it. But if we can meet pain with presence, we can begin to listen. To distinguish signal from noise.
This doesn’t mean spiritual bypassing or denial. It means becoming attuned to the experience without collapsing into it. Not flinching away, but gently noticing.
Presence Therapy: A Pathway to Re-inhabiting the Body
Out of these insights, I began developing a practice I now call Presence Therapy. I hesitate to call it therapy, because there’s nothing to fix. It’s a way of inviting people back to the here and now, into an honest relationship with what is arising.
Presence Therapy blends:
- Ear acupuncture (NADA protocol), an evidence-based approach supported by acudetox.com,
- Subtle sensation awareness training to uncover equanimity at the sensory level,
- Group integration to learn from shared experiential insight and restore a felt sense of safety in community.
The work is not about changing the content of experience, but changing our relationship to it.
Conclusion: Invitation into the Unknown
I believe many of the patients suffering from post-injury hypersensitivity are not broken—they are simply more tuned. And this tuning can become a strength when met with compassion, structure, and presence.
We are not done learning. This is a living inquiry, and I invite others—clinicians, patients, and curious minds—to join in the exploration.
If you’re interested in learning more or participating in Presence Therapy, feel free to reach out. I currently offer an experiential course for physicians and wellness professionals who want to understand this approach firsthand.
Sometimes the path forward begins not with more effort, but with stillness.
Feeling curious? You’re invited.
If this reflection resonates with you and you’re interested in exploring further:
- Start with the Sensory Sensitivity Reflection: A short guided inquiry to explore how you relate to your own nervous system and sensitivity.
- Ready to connect? Begin your Presence Therapy intake below.
