BS: Pain in all its Glory

Subject: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Ebbie
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 04:02 PM

Doctors have told me that I have a high pain threshold- for instance, I once got 4 stitches without an anesthetic of any kind- although, I must say, if there had been one more I would probably have hollered uncle.

My question: Given a high threshold, does that mean that when I feel pain it is not as bad as when someone else feels their pain? In other words, is giving birth less painful for me? Is a headache less intrusive? A broken ankle less incapacitating?

If the answer is Yes, I resent that; I know what pain is.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Dead Horse
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 04:46 PM

Pain in itself does not exist - it is merely a message sent by the nervous system to the brain that something bad is happening.
Its primary purpose is to get you to take your hand out of the fire before all the skin is burnt off. Memory of pain stops you from sticking your hand in the fire again.
So tell me, why are some women so keen to repeat childbirth? :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 04:54 PM

It isn't the childbirth part itself they are focused on, most likely.

(but, yes, I realize you were just joshing)

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: gnu
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 04:56 PM

Ebbie... it's you. I refuse to give in to pain. I refuse medication unless it affects, say, sleep. Even then, I gotta lose a lotta sleep before I will take any drugs for it. You feel as much pain as anyone else... you handle that pain "better". It's in the mind. Kinda what DHorse said, but in a different way.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 05:03 PM

Only up to a point, Dead Horse. One of the classic failings of creation/evolution is that chronic pain has no purpose.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: olddude
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 05:07 PM

You are talking to an expert, with all the back and neck injuries it has left me in chronic pain. One think I found, the more I move the better I am. I refuse to give into it. However, and this is a big however, Sometime no matter how tough a person is, you have to yell uncle and get meds and the help. When I blew my neck my arm felt like it was in boiling water. I would wake up scream and pass out with pain. Once at that stage even morphine doesn't work well if it gets a hold of you. Best idea, if you feel it getting bad, get something, it can knock you down no matter how tough.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Wolfhound person
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 05:41 PM

The memory of the pain of childbirth fades quite quickly. Remembering that it hurts very much has to be flagged as a conscious choice "I don't want to forget how much that hurt / I don't want to have any more" rather than just left to natural purposes.

Evolution, I suppose, otherwise none of us would have siblings.

Paws

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: GUEST,999
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 06:05 PM

Women maintain that giving birth is way more painful than a guy
getting kicked in the nuts. Well, after another beer, and a few more, and some heavy deductive thinking, I have come up with the answer to that question.

Face facts, Ebbie, you're a wuss.

Getting kicked in the nuts is much more painful than having a baby, and here is the reason for my conclusion.

A year or so after giving birth, a woman will often say, "It might be nice to have another child."

On the other hand, you never hear a guy say, "You know, I think I would like another kick in the nuts."

I rest my case.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Bobert
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 07:34 PM

I've lived in pain since I was 6 years old... Like Don Firth, I had polio... Polio survivors learn to live with pain...

It's kinda a mind-over-matter thing... If you don't mind, it don't matter...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Bill D
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 07:49 PM

Women who have experienced both childbirth & a kidney stone tell me that the kidney stone is about as close as men will come to labor pains... but the pains are *different*. I had one bad kidney stone, and nothing ever hurt so bad.... though I'm sure that other types of pain are just as bad in their own way.

I am reasonably tolerant of pain, but not to the extent that gnu describes. I WILL use meds when necessary.

One of the Watergate burglars, G. Gordon Liddy once demonstrated his attitude by holding his palm over a burning candle. When asked if it didn't hurt, he replied, "Yes..it hurts. The trick is in not minding."

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: GUEST,999
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 08:06 PM

There are many kinds of pain, and each has something to say. It ain't the pain so much as it is how much of it we hear. Break a few bones and after-pains will be judged against that. Have a toothache and after-pains will be judged against that. Have an earache, have the death of a loved one, have your life shattered, have your psyche distorted beyond any shape you can recognize--pain is a relative thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 08:15 PM

I distrust it when people talk about other people as having a "high pain threshold" - or indeed of people who say they have "a low pain threshold".

It was frequently asserted, as a kind of mitigating factor for people accused of cruelty towards their black slaves or servants that Africans were less sesnsative to pain. The same kind of suggestion was made about poor people generally. "It just osn't the same for them as it would be for few"

I suspect that the difference between the way people react to pain-inducing things is far more likely to arise from other factors which have nothing to do with the actual sensation felt.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: gnu
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 08:17 PM

9. Hahahahahahaaaaaa! Yer gonna get kicked in the nuts for that!

Heheheheheeeee! I am still laughing. Yer nuts! I love it.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 09:04 PM

(Re-post, to correct daft spelling arising from computer with a mind of it's own)

I distrust it when people talk about other people as having a "high pain threshold" - or indeed of people who say they have "a low pain threshold".

It was frequently asserted, as a kind of mitigating factor for people accused of cruelty towards their black slaves or servants that Africans were less sesnsative to pain. The same kind of suggestion was made about poor people generally. "It just isn't the same for them as it would be for you".

I suspect that the difference between the way people react to pain-inducing things is far more likely to arise from other factors which have nothing to do with the actual sensation felt.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 09:25 PM

I've had constant pain for over two years (and had much sporadic pain before that). And I mean debilitating pain, not vague, dull aches. The only time I am not in pain is when I am in a certain position keeping absolutely still. Every time I get up from a chair or bed, stand still or start to walk, I am in pain. Anyone who tells you that pain is a state of mind, or something similarly glib, tell yourself that that person does not know what pain is. The important thing is to keep cheerful. Your body might hurt but your brain is still capable of things that are out of this world. We have one shot at life, so, pain or no pain, you get on with it with a smile on your face, trying your damnedest to not let people see your pain.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Bill D
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 10:00 PM

Well Steve, that is certainly the best attitude possible under the circumstances. Makes my occasional aches & pains of aging seem trivial.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Ebbie
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 10:15 PM

Well, ahem , I am going to bring up a subject that I have never heard discussed:

Did you know- do you have any idea - that the male with his dangly bits has his counterpart in the body of his opposite - that the female also has her body part that is capable of excruciating pain?

Smashing down upon the bar of a 'boys' bike is not fun. For either sex.

I do like you guys's interpretation of 'high threshold'. For the record, the worst pain I have ever felt was not giving birth but a massive allergic reaction to penicillin. Lost 2 1/2 hours of my life to that one.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 10:20 PM

The best thing to relieve severe pain is to guzzle large amounts of hard liqour. I swear by it. One thing that can sometimes go wrong, though, is you can get a real bad hangover which causes even MORE pain! To defeat the hangover, it may be necessary to do some more heavy drinkin'. One time I had a hangover so terrible, the pain was so awful, that I swore I would never drink again! I laid around most of the weekend, groanin' and moanin' and swearin' that I would never drink again, so help me, Kong. Fortunately, though, I recognized by Monday that I musta just gone temporarily insane to even be thinkin' such a stupid thing, and I went straight to the bar and had some more whisky. I felt better right away.

The only way I know that is better than whisky for defeatin' severe pain is unconsciousness. Nothin' works better than that. You don't feel a thing. The trouble is, though, somebody may be stealin' yer wallet or dumpin' you over the side of a boat in lead boots if yer unconscious, and you won't know it's happenin'.

For this reason I do not regard it as a very good method of relievin' pain, and I try to avoid it.

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: gnu
Date: 14 Mar 13 - 10:34 PM

Ebbie.... 9 made a joke. I laughed. Nothing more.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 Mar 13 - 03:16 AM

You mean this one, Gary?

"A year or so after giving birth, a woman will often say, "It might be nice to have another child."

On the other hand, you never hear a guy say, "You know, I think I would like another kick in the nuts."

I too laughed. lol

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Claire M
Date: 15 Mar 13 - 08:04 AM

Hiya,

I live in pain, but there's nothing that can be done for cp apart from various bits of equipment to help you. I've been in so much pain I've felt like I could throw up & sobbed that it's not worth it anymore. Imagine being permenantly angry/stressed – you know how your muscles stiffen?? That's what mine are always like.
I've always used music as pain relief, both making up my own songs & listening. I'm smothered in Cocoa Butter when I get up & I love Karma Kream.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Mar 13 - 08:24 AM

The best thing to relieve severe pain is to guzzle large amounts of hard liqour.

It has been known to work, unfortunately.

I've had non-stop tinnitus for 25 years. I decided years ago that I had this bloody thing and I either succumbed to it or tuned it out. It is perfectly possible to do the latter and lead a fairly normal life (go and see your audiologist too). To an extent it's possible to do this with physical pain as well. I've succeeded in not letting my knee pain stop me from doing things. If I focus on it I can say that every step I've taken for the last 15 years has been uncomfortable, but I don't feel that I've had a uncomfortable 15 years with the bad knee. My back pain is another matter. I'm struggling a bit with that but we'll see what my treatment achieves. One step at a time!

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Donuel
Date: 15 Mar 13 - 11:36 AM

Tinnitus can be learned to be ignored. However a single reminder can cause a recurrence which can take a month of retraining to ignore again. NPR broadcast a loud representation of tinnitus frequencies and set me back after a year of relief. They have no awareness of the damage they do with such a broadcast, along with added sounds of sirens, traffic noises and other alarming sound effects they add to their stories when I try to listen while driving.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Becca72
Date: 15 Mar 13 - 11:47 AM

Ebbie,

I, too, have a "high pain threshold". I think it just means other people yell 'uncle' before we do.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: GUEST,999
Date: 15 Mar 13 - 11:51 AM

Neat article about one's sensitivity to pain.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 15 Mar 13 - 12:10 PM

Bruce
can't stop laughing .. so true ... but a kick in the nuts is still better then a stick up the ass

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: GUEST,999
Date: 15 Mar 13 - 12:14 PM

Hi, Dan. I know pain is near and dear to your heart considering how much of it you've been through in the past few months.

I've had a little of it in the course of my life. Mild, moderate or severe, it's seldom fun.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 Mar 13 - 01:26 PM

"Those with genetic dimmer switches set on "high" would be treated more aggressively with painkillers." from 9's link

I've had surgery three times; interestingly, each time I have reacted badly to painkillers. Discovered morphine makes me vomit, some popular narcotics lay me low- Vicodin was the worst- it knocked me out. Usually end up being assigned Tylenol and sent home.

The article is interesting; however, it doesn't support the idea that stoicism makes the difference, that rather it is genetics after all.

One thing I do, though, when faced with pain or even tickling, is to go into a different 'space' in my mind, distancing myself from its immediacy. I wouldn't call it being stoic, but protection.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Bill D
Date: 15 Mar 13 - 01:39 PM

from 9s linked article: "These results suggest that individuals who say they feel less pain are not just stoics but genuinely have inherited a gene variant that reduces their perception of pain," Woolf concludes. "This perception results not from personality or culture, but from real differences in the biology of the central nervous system."

It goes on to say that research is working on how to mimic that genetic situation artificially.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Bettynh
Date: 15 Mar 13 - 03:28 PM

Since I worked as a nurse in a hospital, I've had to think a bit about pain, both my own and others'. Some of my most memorable moments have been as I found myself defending a patient's denial of pain.

As a student, I remember standing beside a post-surgical patient who moved well and denied pain as the nurse in the hall practically shouted "I don't care what she says I'm going to give her a shot." Another time, a 98 year-old man was tied to the bed in ICU because he tried to get up a day after having an appendectomy. We got him up, walked down the hall beside him, and sent him home a day later. My father, who developed a major abscess from his Chron's disease without a single complaint of pain, also ran into overly sympathetic caregivers. I had to threaten to sue the anesthesiologist who wouldn't remove a continuous morphine drip into his spine post-op. For myself, my only surgery was a C-section. I had nothing that I could call pain post-op, but there was intense burning/itching for which I did take a narcotic that made me dizzy and nauseated for 12 hours. My sons also seem to bear pain easily, and I've warned them that narcotics might not be a good idea for our family,

All that said, I've had toothaches that took away any ability to think. Ibuprofen (Motrin, etc.) worked really well. I sympathize with anyone who has that sort of pain after surgery or, worse yet, constantly with no relief.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: GUEST,999
Date: 15 Mar 13 - 04:22 PM

A pain I recall vividly--or least I recall it was vivid at the time--was the three or four weeks after a total hip replacement. It just plain hurt, but since I wanted to get back to wing chun practice I did my best to pretend it wasn't there. Funny, but looking back on it now what I remember most was the needle shots to the stomach area (warfarin?) to prevent clotting and possible dvt. In hospital I took pain killers to get to sleep but tried to avoid them during the day and the nurse checked with the doc who must have said it was ok. What got me up and moving was a nurse telling me post-op that if I didn't urinate before noon they would have to catratize/catheratize/catherize stick a tube up my pecker. That got me out of bed and struggling to get to the bathroom right fast lemme tell you.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 Mar 13 - 06:23 PM

When they were trying to send me home from the hospital after my last surgery - and I kept reacting to the painkillers they gave me - my surgeon said, strangely crossly, "Well, obviously, you are not used to narcotics."

I thought to myself that if I were used to narcotics, I'd have a different kind of problem.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Bettynh
Date: 15 Mar 13 - 06:28 PM

Yep, hip replacement patients were their own category. Since the main reason for hip replacement is chronic pain and it's voluntary surgery, we tried hard to get the patient to own the treatment of their pain. That meant warnings like your deadline or planning so meds would have their strongest effect during PT. It meant, too, that we could talk like adults in a shared predicament.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 24 Jan 19 - 04:59 PM

My wife saw a Consultant Orthopaedic surgeon this evening who will shortly perform a total hip replacement. Her pain is made far worse because of a very curved spine (scoliosis), for which there was no treatment when a child, and can only move about by doing what I can best describe as a slow sideways linedance!

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Jan 19 - 07:22 PM

Like some are short and some are tall, some people produce large amounts of their own endorphins and cortisol and some hardly at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Jan 19 - 07:43 PM

Well I see I posted to this six years ago. Since then I've had surgery on my back which cured the awful leg pains I was enduring, though my back still aches, something I can live with. I'm in much better shape now then I was then. Happy to report this.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Jan 19 - 08:15 PM

What I've learned about Pain....


Well, there's pain you're on top of and pain that's on top of you-- which can depend on many factors besides just the actual level of the pain.

Then there's dealing with pain that's on top of me. I know two ways besides hot tubs-- meds and tears. Meds just enough to get me on top of it. Or tears to reduce the urgency of stopping it.

I prefer the tears, but their effectiveness depends on a safe listener or lap, which are rarely handy.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 Jan 19 - 04:54 AM

Pain sensitivity can depend on where the pain is. I think I have an average pain threshold for most things, but cardiac pain has much less effect on me than usual. When I had a heart attack and did a stress test on a treadmill, the staff said I should have been curled up on the floor moaning, given what the ECG said - I just felt very tired with a slight ache. Apparently this kind of insensitivity is more likely if you're diabetic or female - they weren't expecting me to have it.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 25 Jan 19 - 03:52 PM

In view of my wife's subdural haematoma in July 2017, her orthopaedic surgeon has requested an assessment from his anethsesist next week so that potentially panicking nursing staff at the hospital may be advised accordingly!

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Jan 19 - 04:59 PM

I see on re-reading this that I have been 'relatively' very fortunate. Besides the kidney stone, I had/have a bone spur pressing on a nerve in the 3rd cervical vertebrae... which at one time had me unable to sleep without my right arm resting on a pillow on shelf beside the bed. After an MRI showed what it was, I finally got a shot of cortisone directly into the vertebrae (they only miss & cause paralysis maybe 1 in 100 tries). This reduced the swelling and allowed me to be 'almost' normal. I have learned to sit at certain angles and turn my head carefully and am pretty cautious about sudden movements.
Now my main concern is standing on a hard surface for an extended time, which cramps my back and gets VERY uncomfortable if I don't lie down soon. Because I do have a shop where I stand a lot, I DO use an occasional pain killer after I sit down in order to ease the cramp without just sogging into a heap.
   In retrospect, I am very fortunate to be still in control while pushing 80 years!
I certainly sympathize with those who endure serious pain on an ongoing basis.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Jan 19 - 05:19 PM

I've always regarded you as just about embarking on early middle age, Bill... ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Senoufou
Date: 25 Jan 19 - 05:52 PM

My sis is a retired consultant anaesthetist, and she has always said people have different levels of pain tolerance. Apparently red-haired folk usually have lower tolerance than others, and need more post-operative analgesia too.
I'm very sorry for all the folk on here (and their family members) who are in pain and have to cope with discomfort on a daily basis.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 26 Jan 19 - 12:12 PM

Thank you Senoufou

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 27 Jan 19 - 11:31 AM

My wife sees the consultant anaesthetist this coming Friday, so may well have full hip replacement during the following week. As the hospital is only 10 minutes drive away, we won't need to pay for a dog sitter for "Dreamy Dog", our grey!

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Senoufou
Date: 27 Jan 19 - 11:41 AM

I do hope her hip replacement will indeed be scheduled for the following week Bonzo. Quite a few people in our village have had one and the results have been amazing.
One man (Bob, who has a Jack Russell called Buddy) was in awful pain last year and couldn't go far on walks. After a hip op, we see him all over the place striding along like anything, with Buddy dancing happily on the lead. He told me that even in bed at night he had been kept awake by the pain, but now he sleeps so well.
Glad to see Dreamy mentioned - please give her a pat from me!

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 27 Jan 19 - 12:12 PM

I will certainly give her a pat, I think we have been lucky with her so far and she has become very attached to us.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: robomatic
Date: 27 Jan 19 - 01:39 PM

My favorite pain story is of someone else's pain- my brother's. He was in the dentist's chair with some drilling in his immediate future, and the dentist, an old WWII veteran, explained to him that he was not going to get any pain killer because the patient's brother (that would be me) was known allergic to pennicillin and the dentist didn't want to take a chance with the painkiller (I don't know what's in this stuff!)

Drilling commences. Dentist says (these are close to the exact words):
"What you are feeling is pain. Pure, concentrated, unadulterated PAIN!
Think of something to take your mind off it. . .Marilyn Monroe, ZaSu Pitts!"

The brother: "ZaSu Pitts!"

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Jan 19 - 01:44 PM

I got a pih replacement but the dyslexic surgeon replaced it backwards so now I fart in front.

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Senoufou
Date: 27 Jan 19 - 01:52 PM

In the early fifties, children were expected not to 'make a fuss'. I fell in the playground when I was seven, and my leg snapped. I was skeletally thin and tiny. I remember the headmistress scooping me up in her arms and getting very cross because I was weeping. The pain was excruciating.
An ambulance was called and my mother appeared, to accompany me to hospital. I waited what seemed like an age in a wheelchair (perhaps two hours) before they wheeled me off to X ray, where they manhandled my poor leg mercilessly to get a good picture.
The attitude of all the folk around me was to exhort me to maintain a 'stiff upper lip'. No pain relief was given, and honestly, I can still remember the agony all these years later.
Luckily I had a general anaesthetic for the bone to be set!

Subject: RE: BS: Pain in all its Glory
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Jan 19 - 10:35 AM

Veterans who were injured in what was considered to be a heroic act, always seem to need less pain control than soldiers who felt bad about the circumstances of their injury.


Then there is the issue of the 'center' of your self which feels pain.
If your eyes are in agony the pain is close to your center and is severe.
A far away ankle seems easier to ignore.

Nature is Not going to allow you to remain conscious when pain is beyond all control. So agony is still less than what ultimate pain could be. (this was my rationalization in the midst of severe migraine.)