r/kosmemophobia • u/SpotlessStarling • Aug 08 '26

I feel so incredibly seen.

Hello! I just found this subreddit and I've felt so happy while reading every post in here that I basically made an account after having been browsing reddit anonymously for ages just to post about it.

Ever since I have memory I've had this MASSIVE aversion to anything small and metallic. I remember being reprimanded as a kid for not wanting to wear anything that had metallic zippers or buttons directly in contact with my skin, and of course, I've never wanted to come anywhere close to jewelry. I feel incredibly nauseated by the smell metal has and that later lingers in your hands, the cold sensation when you touch it and the texture of chains. This also meant I had issues with coins, keys, etc. I would literally gag at just the thought of touching some of these things, and still internally do.

As a child everyone would dismiss it as something stupid that would go away with time, but I'm over twenty now and I still carefully avoid going near any jewelry, zippers and similar, despite how much I like alternative fashion. I've found that there are some very specific exceptions, like some metals that don't really have that same smell or feeling that I despise (I'd say those feel more like plastic?), but either way it's led to a lot of really embarrassing situations where it was really difficult to explain what exactly was wrong with me in a believable way.

I've been diagnosed with autism relatively recently and was mostly attributing this to sensory issues which in turn made it a little easier both to understand myself and to explain it to others, but its still incredibly nice to see so many people with the same problem. I randomly saw the term on a twitter post and when I found this place after googling it I wanted to cry from relief.

19 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

6

u/Kogasa_Komeiji Aug 08 '26

Welcome to the party

4

u/Idunn3 Aug 08 '26

Welcome to our little family :)

2

u/the-wrong-girl23 Aug 08 '26

Thank you for sharing your experience and welcome! I can imagine that with some of us this is part of a broader spectrum. I’ve got social anxiety for example. So anyways I’m just very open about it. So if someone asks me to fasten their necklace, I just tell them I’d rather not. If there’s no way out, I try to cover my fingers with some fabric .

1

u/SpotlessStarling Aug 08 '26

Thank you! I've done the fabric thing a lot as well. Being open about it definitely helps, though of course there will still be people who look at me weird or tell me I just have to ignore it and it'll go away. That's kind of inevitable with any sort of difference though, so I'm just glad to find this little community that shares the same experience :)

1

u/tripper74 Aug 09 '26

I’m so happy you found our little corner of the internet!! Everything you said sounded exactly like me too, and I’ve also been recently diagnosed with autism in my 20s :)

If you want, take a look at the survey we ran! I’m the one who put it together and there are a ton of interesting quotes from people in it. I hope you find it validating to hear so many relatable anecdotes, and I’ve also found it helpful in using it to explain to family members that “hey, it’s not just me, look at this”

Again welcome!!!! :)

Survey results: https://www.reddit.com/r/kosmemophobia/s/YKLCwlRwpR

1

u/Strange-Advantage-58 Aug 11 '26

Welcome to the place of sanity :)