Do people with AS react more strongly to pain?

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Zonder
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04 May 2008, 9:05 pm

Hypo to some pain and hyper to others. I had a bad tooth and it I only had a sharp pain one time - briefly. The dentist thought that I should have been crazy with pain.

If I smash a finger (in a car door etc.) I go into shock and pass out. Weird. Drop a piece of concrete on my foot and I am in pain, but nothing like the fingers.

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pschristmas
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05 May 2008, 2:12 am

I'm hyposensitive to pain -- very high threshold. It runs in my family. I never could understand why my husband and daughter would complain about things that seemed very minor to me. It took a long while before I understood that they were experiencing something very different from what I was experiencing.

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amaren
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05 May 2008, 3:28 am

I'm over-sensitive to some things (period pain, stomach aches, burns) and under-sensitive to most others - I routinely get injured sparring and don't realise it until the joint gives way when I try to use it, or until the bruise shows up. I have now learned not to chew on myself to relax as it leaves the kinds of marks people ask tricky questions about.


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TallyMan
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05 May 2008, 4:28 am

Both yes and no. :? There have been times in my life when a simple touch was painful. I've also lived with chronic pain in my neck due to nerve compression which took a lot of pain killers to make manageable. :cry: A simple sneeze while in that condition made me swear out loud with agony - which got me some very strange looks from strangers.

However, on the other side I can chose not to feel pain to certain parts of my body if I'm expecting it. A number of years ago my friends didn't believe me and I allowed them to burn a freshly lit cigarette right down to the stub while pressed against the back of my hand. While I chose not to feel the pain, the stunt wasn't worth it as they'd actually burnt a hole right through my skin and into the tendons. It took many months for the hole to heal and I still have a scar to this day. It was a pretty dumb thing to allow them to do. :roll:



Zancaur
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05 May 2008, 9:38 am

Sounds like me. I am very sensitive to instant, intense pain. However, headaches, toothaches, somachaches etc. I am not very sensitive to at all.
I am much less sensitive to pain now than I used to though, now I have about a normal threshold. However, I tend to be more scared of pain than others, even if it doesn't hurt me more than anyone else.



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05 May 2008, 9:47 am

While sensory sensitivity is prominent is Aspies, it is a spectrum.
I have no sensitivity to touch, but sound and sight are overpowered. :?



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05 May 2008, 10:35 am

I'm extremely sensitive to physical pain. Being a living body hurts, just from my own experience. Periods, toothaches, bruises, infected cuticles, zits, etc. I've only ever (in my entire life, so far) broken one bone, my big toe-and that was excruciating.
There are lots of negative words for people who feel a lot of pain & I don't like those names-they imply that sensing pain and being overwhelmed with reactions as consequence should lead to blame towards sufferer. Most people who are full of hurt & engulfed in pain don't want to be feeling so miserable.


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05 May 2008, 11:46 am

Light hugs hurt, stubbing my toe hurts. Punching my fist into a glass frame causing a large gash across 3 fingers requiring 21 stitches= painless.



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05 May 2008, 12:18 pm

Do any of you find that your pain threshold for a particular stimulus can come and go, depending on your state of mind at that particular point in time?



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05 May 2008, 2:22 pm

I'm hypersensitive to pains such as pricks with needles that many people seem to describe as mere discomfort. Well, to me it hurts like hell.

To many other types of pain - concussions, knife in my leg (that was an accident) and other things that make other people react as if I must be severely hurt - I'm hyposensitive. It doesn't hurt or does only very minimally hurt.


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samtoo
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05 May 2008, 2:32 pm

I think my pain threshold is relatively low... and I seem to be the most ticklish person I know, as well as much more easily affected by heat and cold. I've never been able to concentrate when it's too hot... and stuff.


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Willard
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05 May 2008, 2:46 pm

bookwormde wrote:
Pain as with all sensory sensitivities can be above or below NT standard levels and can be both in the same person dependent on intellectual involvement with the event.

bookwormde


I agree that a lot of it is psychological and varies from instance to instance in each individual. I work in a tattoo shop and virgins are always asking "Is it gonna hurt?" and there's no set answer to that. I've been tattooed and felt no discomfort at all and I've been tattooed and nearly broken the footrest off the chair from pushing against it to tolerate the pain. Some spots are more sensitive than others, some days you're more acutely aware of sensation than others, depends on your mood, your current focus, the body part involved, your personal physiology and who knows what else.

I did read somewhere online the other day that Aspies supposedly have a higher pain tolerance than NTs but I see no evidence of that in RL.



Willard
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05 May 2008, 2:48 pm

Must admit, though - you can't make food spicy hot enough to offend me. I'm downright masochistic about that. The hotter the better, bring it on. :rambo:



craola
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05 May 2008, 2:49 pm

Well im a self harmer although I've been free a couple of months. I have burnt and cut myself pretty badly in the past, my entire left arm from shoulder to wrist is thick with scars, so I would consider myself hyposensitive. I ended wondering around the woods on the point of collapse with a temperature of 104 because I didn't realise I had a sore throat, I've trod on needles etc.

When I am ill I'm just quieter than normal and I want to be left alone, everyone else seems to complain, my brother thinks he's dying, he moans and moans. I am the least sympathetic person ever, my family understand that now.

Im hyper alert to any pain or discomfort in my mouth but thats due to a phobia of teeth.

My hands are the most sensitive, I was organising the piles of rubbish in the garden and I couldn't clutch the brambles without gloves.



gbollard
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05 May 2008, 6:03 pm

Are you sure that you are reacting to the pain itself and not BEFORE the pain (eg: When you see a needle?).

Supposedly aspies are quite resistant to strong pain but quite sensitive to softer touches. Aspies also have very good memories which makes things like repeated pain (children and needles) all the worse.

Of course, not all aspies are the same.



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05 May 2008, 6:04 pm

Reodor_Felgen wrote:
Some people with AS are very unsensitive to pain, others are very sensitive. I have a high pain threshold, which was frequently commented by my peers when I was younger.


You mean that some aspies that have their arm cut off won't feel it? woo... 8O