Haven't been here in a while and have a question.

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Hi. So I have been doing some reading on ASD's and came across the topic of under reacting to physical pain in lots of cases. What I wanted to know is if a child or adult with ASD can OVER REACT to physical pain?
I have the issue of over reacting to pain. I don't think I'm dying or anything, I'm just very sensitive to it. Plus I have a real need to know facts and why things happen.

I am scheduled to meet with a psychologist next month for other issues I have been having and I plan on discussing possible future testing for ASD.

I know plenty of NTs (especially men, funnily enough) that oveereact with physical pain. In fact my female colleagues at work were having a grumble about their husbands today about it.

I don't know if I overreact or not. If it's bad, then I obviously am in pain, but I don't try to overreact. I don't know how other people feel pain because I'm not them, so I can't prove how the pains I feel are worse than other's or not. It seems that other people react to it the same way I do.

I think Tony Attwood writes about the majority of aspies underreacting but some overreacting to pain. I think it is one of the many traits where it could be either extreme.

Thanks for your responses.

My daughter over reacts and under reacts to pain (or I mean she reacts more strongly or less strongly than one would imagine she should). She broke her leg and only cried for a few minutes. It was the next day before we realised she needed to go to hospital, as she couldn't put her foot on the ground. But, if she has the tiniest scrape (I mean no blood, just the surface of her skin rubbed off), she can go on and on about it for days on end, asking for plasters (bandaids) and cool packs, when it really shouldn't be necessary. Recently, I was at a seminar for parents of kids of the spectrum and about half of them said the same thing about their kids. As for myself, I under react quite a bit. I was in complete torture, when I was in labour, and the midwife had no clue that I was in pain. I was feeling the pain just as much as anyone else, but my outward response to it didn't really reflect how bad it was.

i think this is more a case of life experience than aspies tbh, i have a signifigantly higher pain tolerance than anyone i know, and refuse to take pain meds under most circumstances.

some overreact, some under react, some do neither. I definitely over react due to sensory issues.

Bumping my side on a table hurts much more than a sprained ankle for me.

Why do you call yourself "MusicalLife2Me" and not "MusicalLife4Me"?


Wouldnt "4" make more sense?

I've always thought of it in terms of reactionary areas.

Like how our mind processes it, but by the time we've finished processing that the pain is there, we've already been able to assess the situation for what we think is probably correct.

That said, I think it depends on the type of injury. If something begins to sting a bit (A small cut) it's ALWAYS there, and it bugs the hell out of me >_<

On the other hand, I got a bruise on my arm that was half an inch high once. Thankfully it wasn't broken, but that thing was HUGE.

Strangely enough, it barely hurt at all.

the issue of pain has been a fascinating one for me. as a former self-injurer (although there may be some co-occurring stuff there that would help with the lower-pain response) and someone who all too frequently burns themselves in the bathtub (nothing serious, just observationally the case), i can say that i have a lower-than-normal response to pain.

however, some pain just becomes magnified (perhaps with the help of ruminations, or what can be called obsessive compulsive disorder with co-occurring somatoform disorder). these seem to be internal pains for me. at one point in time, a doctor helped me to realize (with the help of some pretty powerful medication) that the feeling i was having of being strangulated or like my throat was stopped up, was actually the way the inside of a throat actually feels. perhaps that sounds crazy.

i wonder at times if this has something to do with being unable to habituate (get used to sensations) that some with AS seem to have. i read an awful lot on here about folks 'noticing' their breathing and hearing, and i often wonder if it is also connected to special interests (as we dont habituate to or 'get bored' with things).

anyway, i hope this was helpful. if you are in pain though, heres a thought: perhaps you're not? i can remember the fourth scope they did of my stomach back when i thought i simply must have had a hernia or something, it was awful. anyway, lying there on the table, the technician said, 'welp, there it is' (referring to my stomach. i looked up and it was glowing on the screen. it was blue. looked like a jellyfish. i was in awe, it appeared perfect. i stared at it. before i left the hospital, my stomach had stopped hurting.

For me, it depends on the pain, but mostly I underreact. I tend to get ingrown toenails, and they get infected so much that others wonder how I don't notice the pain. But I just don't feel them, until I stub my toes when I have one. When I was a kid, phlebotomists didn't mind taking my blood, I didn't even notice the needle. They said lots of people (especially grown men for some reason) are in tears. I'd watch them put the needle in.