Pain threshold

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When reading information on AS, it is often stated that Aspies are either under- or over-sensitive to pain.

If someone asked me that question, I wouldn't know what to answer. How do you know if your pain threshold is greater or less than the norm? How do you know what other people feel and therefore whether your own perception of pain is outside the brackets of normality?

Some sensations, particularly certain fine rough textures, used to actually cause discomfort to the extent of pain. Overloading of my senses was very bad.

But when it comes to the things that most people would think of as painful, I think that I have a higher pain threshold than most. Things like physical injury I can usually take in my stride. When I had an operation to remove half of my thyroid, I didn't use the little button for pain relief once. And I was out of the hospital the following day, much to the apprehension of the doctors and nurses. I wanted to show off the cool staples that were holding the gash across my throat closed. It just didn't feel that bad, not bad at all really.

I've had a couple of accidents that have "opened me up" and it's always surprised me how little pain I feel. I'd also be the one who moved the paperwasp nests as a teenager, because the stings never bothered me much and besides, I liked the wasps and didn't want them to be killed instead of simply relocated.

The main exception is headaches. I'm plagued by migraines and they hurt more than anything else I've ever felt. Sometimes I've sobbed because of the pain inside my skull. It really does hurt less being stabbed with a knife.

Oh, and I'm heat resistant, I can handle very hot things, but ice cold things against my skin hurt the way a bad burn does.

how old are you that you are not experienced enough to figure it out? i clearly see that i can handle more pain than other people without overreacting. you've never seen anyone injured? have you ever been injured? if so and if it was comparable, you should be able to say how you and the other people reacted.

I'm 42 and never been seriously injured, no bad accidents or operations or anything, not even childbirth. But even if I had, I don't know how I would know if my pain is more less than someone else's with the same injury.

Some people think I'm strange because I can remove a tea bag from a freshly made cup of tea with my fingers if I can't find a spoon, but I have seen other people do that so don't consider it unusual myself.

Compare what u can feel
To what others u know can

I have a few friends who can not be tickled,
not thro self control they just can not fell it,
that is a reasonably indicator of low sensory input.

All my medical files from when I was younger say that I am un responsive to pain, but now a days I feel the other way, the smallest bump and I am almost in tears

The way I tolerate pain is kind of odd, I guess. It's like I'm under-responsive to big things that should be really painful, but I'm hyper-sensitive to little things that really shouldn't hurt that bad.
For instance, I injured myself a month ago(to the day, actually! haha). What happened was I got the sudden urge to jump over the child gate I had in front of the kitchen. I jumped it but my foot got caught and I fell face first into the tile. The force of the fall pushed one of my teeth back and I nearly broke my nose. I actually think I broke my septum cause it's all twisted inside, it's really twisted.
Anyway, the only reason I cried after that was because I was afraid I was going to lose my tooth. While it was happening, I thought to myself "If this is what a broken nose feels like, it really doesn't hurt that bad". I also split my lip open.
I didn't even go to the dr.

But when say, I hit my finger against the countertop unexpected...it almost hurts worse than when I smacked my face into the tile.

I don't know, I guess that means I'm both. In any case, I definitely don't have the typical reaction to pain.

I've been told I have a very high pain threshold. I never thought about it till I was told and just figured others could do the same as me . My wife was the one that finally said something and made me realize that I was different. At times it can be very distressing because I am never sure if I am seriously injured or not and usually have her check me out. At work I have had nails go through my hand and my feet only to pull them out and go back to work

I think for many aspies it's a matter of both... certain sensations can cause great pain that most people would not even notice while others we ignore. Personally, markers, pencils, and the like make sounds that cause physical pain while I've my knees shattered, toe nails removed with pliers, shattered my elbow (among numerous other injuries) and never taken a pain pill or shot for any of them.

I have a very high pain tolerance. I often get in trouble when sparring in kickboxing for not moving enough or protecting myself. I will just stand there and take it.... waiting for my perfect shot. Getting punched or kicked in the face just doesn't hurt to me.

Certain things do bother me, though, such as being burned. I'm terrified of being burned and I can't stand hot showers.

Sometimes I cope with pain pretty well compared to other people. I once passed out and fell face first onto a concrete floor, breaking my nose so badly I had to have surgery soon after to fix it. Straight after the initial accident I walked the dog, brought my horse in from the field, fed him and made him cosy in his stable. I only went to hospital after that because people at the stables were nagging me to go.

Earlier this year a horse kneed me in the face, breaking a front tooth, cracking my cheekbone under my eye and giving me concussion. I was surprised I didn't fall over or pass out as there was quite a bit of force behind the punch. I had to go to hospital again but once released I drove home and went back to work a couple of days later once my tooth was fixed.

I refused pain relief both times because it just wasn't as painful as everyone seemed to think it should be.

The downside is that you can have something wrong with you for a while before you do anything about it. After walking around for a couple of months on partly dislocated foot it took much longer to fix than would have done if I'd gone to the doctors straightaway

On the other hand, I have Raynauds syndrome and the pain in my hands when the blood starts flowing again can make me cry. It's excruciating.

I think pain just feels different to me for some reason - faulty wiring in my brain, perhaps

Always high pain tolerence - I usually scrap up my knuckles real good and draw blood when doing automotive work and I barely notice the pain - not a good thing.

I have a high pain tolerance up to a certain threshold, for example my girlfriend needs two oven gloves to take a roast out the oven but I only need one. HOWEVER once I pass that pain threshold I'm as bad as the rest, last year I had a kidney stone and I understand that my language at the time was quite bad

Ed Almos

Gods-of-the-north Ed, I hope your okay - those stones are suppose to be as painful as a heart attack I am told. Only Stones I want to encounter is the Rolling Stones - haha

my high pain threshold (nothin too crazy, but i'd say im somewhat insensitive on some things, epsecially heat) lead to an interesting relationship with a bully in pre-school...

when they found they could not push me around by giving me indian-rugburns (using hands to apply friction to your arm in a wringing fashion)... we began a tour where we let other kids give me rug burns and bet them nickels, dimes, quaters, ect... that they couldnt make me yelp or request them to stop.

that excitement got old and so did the friendship with the bully.... and things returned to normal, though they didnt bother me as much after that

also i used to get in trouble for running my lil brother's bath water to "boiling"... when in fact, that's just how i like to take baths

I have noticed the difference in thresholds for pain. I like nice hot baths/showers, but SO screams in pain if he actually dares to get in the water with me. Pools are never warm enough for me. Hot tubs are always perfect.

My son (officially diagnosed AS) had a hernia that caused his private parts to be swollen to the size of grapefruits (he was about 12) and it took the doctor 2-1/2 hours to repair it. My son only complained once and that was the day that I took him to the doctor to look at it! The doctor said he must have been in horrible pain for a long time.

He recently had to have a chest tube and he told them throughout that his pain was only 1 or 2 and I had to keep reminding them that he has Asperger's it was probably really a 6 or 7.

So, even between the two of us, our tolerances are different. I don't really remember labour being that bad until the back labour started.

I think we're so oversensitized to most things that it makes sense that something would have to give. Must be pain tolerance! I've broken a lot of fingers and still functioned pretty well.