Pain - do we experience it the same as NTs?

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Hi everyone

Great to meet and was wondering if someone cared to offer an opinion on something for me.

I'm on a course at the moment and one of the teachers pet subject is pain and he mentioned this experiment which the key bit is here:

"In one experiment, he (experimenter) asked people suffering from lower back pain to participate in a performance-assessment test, lifting buckets filled with material of different weights lined up before them in rows on a table. Later he (experimenter) asked them to undertake the same tasks after asking them about their pain and how much it hurt. For many participants, the amount they were able to lift declined dramatically. Just asking the question can have an impact"

I can understand that being a NT reaction because they seem to have a different experience of pain i.e. lower thresholds and fussing over everything and anything (just my experience), but does just asking the question affect us in the same way? When it comes to Dr's I just give up. Everytime I say it doesn't hurt they automatically translate it into a cry for help or something

Be interested in your thoughts.

Thanks

Interesting. IDK, but I remember reading an article many years ago about reaction to pain across cultures. One thing that stuck in my mind was the sherpas in the Himalayas. They would hold their hand over a flame ( the test) and report calmly that yes, it did indeed hurt very badly, all the while still holding their hand above the flame.

http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p ... ent-266505

^ Blog entry (not by me) on this subject I was just reading. Some interesting comments there. I.e. not realizing one is in pain until they can't physically do something or laying/writhing in bed all day and don't know why (except that maybe they're being lazy).

It seems like there is a disconnect -- or maybe better -- a lack of interpretation of pain signals. And maybe that has something to do with how pain plugs into the social world. IOW, that if you're a member of a social species, maybe evolution has it so that when you're in pain, it is signalled to others, and has a group/social meaning. If you're injured, then less might be expected of you for a while -- and maybe that's why people/society are very skeptical and suspicious that people are faking pain/disability to "cheat" or get "special status."

Anyway, I've been somewhat lucky pain-wise, but have had enough experiences to know that not showing it (or even perceiving it) in a normal way can be a real problem sometimes.

http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p ... ent-266505

Actually I would be willing to bet that in general Aspies would have a lower threshold for pain because of increased sensitivity to sensations. I have an extremely high pain tolerance, but my AS son did not inherit it at all. He says practically everything hurts. Of course sometimes I suspect that it is not bothering him as much as he just wants to get out of doing things. (He's a pre-teen boy, sort of comes with the territory.)

My husband, and both younger children also have a high pain tolerance, with my husband able to walk on a shattered foot and ankle for several months before the crappy Army Doctors finally ordered an MRI and X-Rays done.

Anyway, luckily for my oldest he also got my low tolerance for meds. If he is ever seriously hurt he will not require as much to assist with the pain.

Actually, from what I understand it can actually vary on both ends. I understand some AS have a lower threshold, while others have a massive threshold for pain.

I suppose I am kinda lucky since I have the huge threshold of pain, cold, and heat. I can freak people out buy running around in the dead of winter with no jacket on, running in the snow with no shoes on, or wear a nice parka in the dead of summer. Usually I wear a jacket to fit in and maybe a little comfort and will actually have to focus on the weather outside to determine if I should wear a coat or not.

I remember when a co-worker seemed surprised that Ive never been injured on the job, when in reality Ive probrobly gotten quite a few bumps but wouldnt know because they just dont affect me.

I would suppose Aspies don't feel pain the same. We are either hyper sensitive, or hypo sensitive. I explained to my mother once the pain in my leg from a botched surgery. She listened, just kinda staring at it, then finally looked up at me and asked how I even walk.

I feel pain rather severely, I suppose. But I am more capable than most of blocking it, really just shuttling it off to some distant corner of my mind. For the past four months I've had the same headache, always there, always painful, always the same little ball. But so long as when I wake up in the morning and meditate for a few, I can push the pain back. Later if I need to for something like a doctor's visit, I can drop those 'walls' I've built and truly feel it. It confuses the doc's though, cause then they think I'm making it up.

Also, pressure points do not work on me. Has anyone else noticed this?

hmm i'm not sure what mine is. i think the original example could perhaps be not to do with pain but limiting damage? If you have it in your mind that you are in pain perhaps you will be more careful not to damage yourself further. That is my main reason for being careful pain is not that bad usually unless i feel it can be damaging.

I have a high tolerance for all types of pain except heat. People could kick me in the kidneys at kickboxing and I'd just look at them, but if I burn myself I complain like a baby.

My parents told me when I was younger I had a low pain tolerance.
so low infact that when i broke my collarbone they didn't take me to the hospital to have it checked for two weeks.
because my parents thought i was making a big deal over nothing much. turned out i wasn't.

when I got older my pain tolerance increased. Now whenever i hurt myself i swear or cry if it really hurts.

Wow this is really interesting because I have also noticed that I can endure more pain then others..

It is strange, I can sit and calmly stitch my own arm up without a second thought about it (I used to rock climb when I was younger)

I don't mind the heat, nor the cold, I would wear shorts in the dead of winter with feet of snow on the ground and be happy as a clam to walk through it.

I can stare at an x-acto knife stuck in my hand and think, "Ow, that is going to hurt later" then pull it out and bandage the wound without a complaint.

My Thought process goes something like
"Hey, you just injured yourself."
"Well, is it something you can take care of?"
"It is."
"Ok, Fix it, no need for the pain to bother you"

So when I go to the doctor and say "My shoulder hurts, a 7.5 on your 1-10 scale" then look at me in disbelief, until they run the scans and tests and see that I have 40 tears in my shoulder and a splinter of bone almost pressing through a major nerve and ask how I am even able to function.

Nurses always look at me if I have a shot or give blood. "You didn't even flinch."

I try telling doc that if I go in for something, "hey, this hurts really bad, and I have a very high pain tolerance," but I'm not sure if they actually believe it.