Does anyone else get skin sensitivity before a virus hits?

Whenever I catch a virus, my skin starts acting up. If the infection really takes hold, the sensitivity gets so intense that I actually have to grit my teeth just to pull a blanket over myself. Heat helps dull the sensation, but for me, this skin pain is always the first warning sign that some bug is trying to settle in.
Sometimes it’s localized—just behind my ears or along my arms, for instance—but it almost always serves as a precursor to at least a mild cold.
When it's particularly bad, I get these shooting pains through my head and the soles of my feet. It’s frustrating enough that I flinch every time I sneeze, and when the sensation spreads across my entire body, I honestly just feel pathetic.
Has anyone else dealt with something like this?

Yeah, I definitely feel it before the temperature even drops. Dealing with layers—putting them on and taking them off—is a total nightmare at that point. My back gets incredibly sensitive during those shifts. It's a miserable feeling.

Ugh... ice... and that area around the kidney too...
So, I guess I’m not the only one dealing with this. Every single person I’ve asked about it just gives me this weird, puzzled look.
I still can't quite wrap my head around why this is happening.

I have come to realize that I am either developing a fever or already running one based solely on the sensation of my skin burning. There is no actual pain involved, just this persistent, searing heat. Since I don’t happen to keep a thermometer lying around the house, this has become my most reliable diagnostic tool lately.😁
It feels absolutely dreadful across my legs, my back, and my arms.
Brrr. And it happens because... well, it is quite simple: the elevated temperature causes a certain hypersensitivity in the skin. To my mind, that remains the only logical explanation for such a phenomenon.🤷

Yeah, I’ve definitely noticed that weird skin sensitivity whenever I run a fever too. It’s such an uncomfortable feeling...

I have to say, I experience that same sensation where my skin feels tender to the touch.
It’s most intense on my scalp—I always joke that it feels like my hair itself is aching! It tends to flare up across my body too, especially along my back. Honestly, it is such an unpleasant feeling; I can't even focus because the pain seems to radiate through my entire system. It's just awful.
When I mentioned this to my husband, he gave me this really puzzled look.

My husband has been giving me these strange looks lately... mostly because of how sensitive my skin gets when I'm coming down with something. 😁
To give you an idea, I usually only run a fever when I’m fighting off a virus. I've dealt with various minor inflammations in the past—nothing life-threatening, mind you—but I’ve never experienced skin pain or a fever tied to those specific issues.
However, whenever my skin starts acting up, I know I’ve been exposed to some kind of bug, regardless of whether I actually feel "sick" yet. Sometimes it just feels like a sharp, stinging sensation; a day or two later, I'll come down with a mild cold and it passes without any fever. Other times, I get hit full force and it feels like I’ve been run over by a freight train. Warmth helps soothe it, but the second I uncover myself, the pain flares right back up.
I used to assume it was just my skin reacting to temperature changes, but then there was this one time where I felt a sharp, stinging sensation stretching from my ear down to my shoulder. The very next day, my son came down with a high fever and all the classic flu symptoms. As for me? I felt absolutely nothing. 🤷