It is very, very hard to want to keep on with your intimate human relationships and have that contact with others and yet have it be painful to be touched. When I'm in acute pain it can hurt for my son to give me a hug or a kiss. It has been very difficult for my husband and me because resumption of a normal intimate married life has been constantly interrupted by outbreaks of pain. The kind of pain that I experience the most is from the soft touch, the light touch, the brushing touch that hurts the most. The firm contact doesn't hurt. So it's the kind of touch you are more likely to get from somebody who loves you.