I have a high pain tolerance, no one believes me

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I have a very high pain tolerance as well. I remember when I went to get my tattoo, the tattoo artist seemed kind of worried, and he even asked me what I had eaten for lunch that day (like he thought it would hurt so much I would get sick!). But I didn't even flinch once.

Don't worry whether or not anyone believes you

My O-Pain-ion topic

Tolerating intense pain is not difficult if you try to focus on something else. I have been able to do this since I was a child. Crying out did not help.

I have given birth to three children naturally. with very little pain med. I found if I was quiet and breathed regularly, I could tolerate the intense pain. I also knew the pain would not be permanent. I knew the same applied to headaches--the longest I ever suffered was 62 hours.

Pain can be a good thing as it warns us something is not right, and intervention might be needed.

I have a high pain tolerance and have AS. I doubt people tell by looks, but then I know nothing about looks because I have next to zero ability to read facial expressions. Once I tore my muscle badly in a skiing accident and I ended up pretending I was in a lot of pain just so they would treat me for it, because it just felt like I had pulled it a bit, but the physiotherapist said it was torn.

I do, too. It comes in handy whether people believe one has it or not.

I have high pain threshold alwell.

Me and pain are always at odds. I believe I'm an Aspie, I have fibromyalgia and I'm also a redhead. All three of these things can confer 'altered' pain sensations. Light touches or things like a slap on the shoulder or a poke can send spasms of pain through every nerve but real internal pain I have a very high tolerance for. And like alot of others on the spectrum, I have an affinity for body pressure - not just a hug but near crushing pressure. So, most people think I'm a wimp because I bellyache over an affectionate grasp of my shoulder but a deep slash that requires stitches and I don't even blink twice. Not all pain is the same and all people have their own reactions to it - some learned, some inate.

ocdgirl - it's just a difference. Why do other's opinion of it bother you so much?

A connection between autism and pain tolerance is interesting.

Although I don't have autism, a particularly traumatic event as a 3-year-old plunged me into an autistic-like state that I didn't start coming out of for twenty years. After another twenty years, it is behind me.

Somewhere along the way, I have developed an extremely high tolerance for pain, even though I can still feel more-or-less normally. I cannot imagine an injury that would cause intolerable pain, though some might cause enough pain to be diverting enough to not sleep normally.

For example, I was once playing substitute goalie in indoor competitve soccer. An opponent kicked a rocket ball high in a corner. I leaped for it, stretching my fingers and thumbs wide and stiff as I could. The ball blasted past my left palm, on my thumb side. It instantly snapped my thumb back, then let it snap back in place. I kept playing, not particularly feeling anything. After a few minutes, I noticed blood dripping down, and realized the ball had ripped the skin apart between my thumb and palm, on the palm side. I later went to a doctor, who stitched it up, without anaesthesia. At least I learned why pro goalies wear gloves!

Hi DavidForthoffer and welcome to the WrongPlanet. I read about your sports injury and it reminded me of something that happened to me once. I was playing basketball (a sport I don't like to play and was never good at it) when I sprained my ankle on a sweaty tile gym floor. I didn't experience any pain. All I felt was a strange heavy feel on the side of my ankle. When I looked down, it was swollen severely. During the entire duration of my recovery I experienced no pain. But most people with this type of sprain experience a lot of pain.

as a matter of fact, it used to be the other way around for me for a long time.
i too have a high physical pain tolerance, and i just assumed that my reference frame was the norm, so every time people commented on knocking their head or cutting themselves while cooking, or commenting on my lack of reaction on the same happening to me, were exaggerating...

it is a normal human thing to judge abilities to your own reference and experience; if you look like something they have seen before, they assume you 'work' simularly

I agree. I think some people may be put off by how strong you come off when you say that.

I have a high pain tolerance too. I have really bad IBS, but I've never missed a day of school from it, even when the pain is easily a 7/10 (muscles compressing nerves). I have a low pain tolerance for squeezing pain, though, like when I pluck eyebrows.