How does pain affect you?

[Suzette]

I have had a pinched nerve in my shoulder since the middle of summer. Last night the nerve became exceedingly painful and woke me from sleep with stabbing pain in my hand. I took some Aleve, but there wasn't anything else I could do. I could not sleep

When my husband woke up I found myself calmly explaining the pain but he was indifferent. It wasn't until I applied a little emotional drama with teary eyes that he understood.

The interesting bit is that I am not sure I experience pain the way others do. There was only one time when I had a tooth abcess that I felt all the pain.

This is hard to describe but initially I will feel pain normally. Using the 1-10 scale I will say "5". But there is also a deeper physical pain that I am only aware of almost intuitively. Like I am aware my body is experiencing the pain but I don't consciously feel it.

For example, when I went into labor I knew something was wrong but I could not feel my contractions. My son was born by c section and several times nurses would rush into my room because my vitals on the monitor had indicated a problem but when asked, I felt no conscious pain.

This piched nerve is the same. There is some pain that I am conscious of but there is a deeper pain I am aware of but do not consciously feel. So my expression is outwardly calm while inwardly I am thinking "omg, I can't bare this".

I know that is a muddle and hard to understand. I wonder how others experience pain? It seems sometimes I have to fake a reaction to get my family to take me seriously. Do you experience that?

 

[Progster]

I don't think that there's anything unusual in the way I feel pain. Though some things that other people find painful, I barely notice - like a burn to my hand. Sometimes I find bruises or cuts or burns and have no idea how I got them.
Then, other times, things hurt me that don't hurt other people. Especially around the neck and face, I'm really sensitive on certain parts of my body. And the soles of my feet - I remember being on the beach and not being able to walk on the pebbles because they hurt my feet so much, but the person I was with had no problem at all.

 

[tree]

How does pain affect me?

I feel it. It hurts.

The only part about pain being special or different to me
is trying to tell somebody else how it feels.

Not a good plan to tell the doctor or dentist that something
hurts blue like the color of a work shirt.
They don't use that sort of scale.

They don't have a chart that I could point at to inform them
of a green or blue pain. Or pink or red.....Or black.

 

[clg114]

I do not know why, but pain does not matter to me much. I have had several broken bones, but I always go back to the activities that hurt me. I spent a lot of years racing motorcycles and snowmobles and had my share of crashes. I just always felt like I wanted to get up and get back on. So, for me, pain does not hurt all that much.

 

[Streetwise]

I have had a pinched nerve in my shoulder since the middle of summer. Last night the nerve became exceedingly painful and woke me from sleep with stabbing pain in my hand. I took some Aleve, but there wasn't anything else I could do. I could not sleep

When my husband woke up I found myself calmly explaining the pain but he was indifferent. It wasn't until I applied a little emotional drama with teary eyes that he understood.

The interesting bit is that I am not sure I experience pain the way others do. There was only one time when I had a tooth abcess that I felt all the pain.

This is hard to describe but initially I will feel pain normally. Using the 1-10 scale I will say "5". But there is also a deeper physical pain that I am only aware of almost intuitively. Like I am aware my body is experiencing the pain but I don't consciously feel it.

For example, when I went into labor I knew something was wrong but I could not feel my contractions. My son was born by c section and several times nurses would rush into my room because my vitals on the monitor had indicated a problem but when asked, I felt no conscious pain.

This piched nerve is the same. There is some pain that I am conscious of but there is a deeper pain I am aware of but do not consciously feel. So my expression is outwardly calm while inwardly I am thinking "omg, I can't bare this".

I know that is a muddle and hard to understand. I wonder how others experience pain? It seems sometimes I have to fake a reaction to get my family to take me seriously. Do you experience that?

I access pain through panic disorder normally its physical if I feel it at first on my right hand and psychological on the left side as panic wears off the pain is unbearable side note waiting for conductive gel to arrive so I can use the tens machine again

 

[Luca]

I’m sorry you’re feeling pain Suzette

Tylenol usually helps me to an extent, but I experience pain in extremes. Like a broken bone might be a 7 on the pain scale for someone else but for me it’s +++10. I don’t have a very strong tolerance to pain :/
Like right now I have very bad jaw pain from my braces, which probably wouldn’t bother anyone else as much.

I don’t know exactly what would help in your situation, but I really hope you can get comfortable and feel better soon. I’m here for you

 

[Crossbreed]

For me,
Big pains are debilitating.
Small pains that I understand are manageable.
Small pains that I do not understand give me anxiety.

Pains from someone else's malice also cause anxiety,
but not so much in the absence of malice.

 

[Streetwise]

I bought white craft card 8" x 8" ,and wrote on it ,the names of whatever is hurting, I take an acrylic felt tip, with a medium nib and colour all 4 edges, so I can see it, it was given the cutesy reaction bizarre! by nhs funded autism ot(occupational therapist)

 

[Loren]

I too, am sorry you are in pain. I hope you begin to feel better, very soon.

I'm, actually, quite sensitive to pain, although, I can have a hard time describing it, or it's severity. Similar to Progster, I am less sensitive to it in certain areas on my body. Specifically, I have a preference for deep tissue massage and Rolfing, on my upper back and neck, where other people can find it to be too painful, although, this might not count.

Someone I work with has mentioned having similar responses to pain/ being injured, to what clg114 has described, and has mentioned that feeling pain less severely, in his case, is the result of Alexithymia, interestingly. Apparently, Alexithymia can impact the way one processes physical pain or sensations, in addition to the way it impacts the processing of emotions. He, also, experiences the sensation of hunger, minimally and very rarely.

 

[iamlindsaythatisall]

Pain is another thing I do seem to experience differently than NTs… unless it’s extremely intense or persistent, I really don’t register it. I have a few piercings, and none of them hurt. I’ll also do things like poke vaccine injection sites as a sort of stim, I guess.

There was also a time in third grade when I broke my arm at a skating rink on a school field trip. It didn’t hurt, but I knew something was wrong from the way it felt when I tried to move it. For the longest time, I figured that’s how everyone experienced broken bones.

Pain for me is weird, too… definitely.

I hope your pinched nerve gets figured out I’m sorry you have to go through that.

 

[Suzette]

I too, am sorry you are in pain. I hope you begin to feel better, very soon.

I'm, actually, quite sensitive to pain, although, I can have a hard time describing it, or it's severity. Similar to Progster, I am less sensitive to it in certain areas on my body. Specifically, I have a preference for deep tissue massage and Rolfing, on my upper back and neck, where other people can find it to be too painful, although, this might not count.

Someone I work with has mentioned having similar responses to pain/ being injured, to what clg114 has described, and has mentioned that feeling pain less severely, in his case, is the result of Alexithymia, interestingly. Apparently, Alexithymia can impact the way one processes physical pain or sensations, in addition to the way it impacts processing emotions. He, also, only experiences the sensation of hunger, minimally and very rarely. I find this very interesting. The only aspects of Alexitymia I scored notably on, were my inability to describe certain emotions, but, I feel them deeply and know what they are. Now, I am wondering if this could be the cause of my difficulty with describing physical pain, or, explaining it's severity.

This is very interesting Loren. I have a degree of Alexthymia. I wonder if this pain I can't feel but I am aware of might be part of that too.
At 54 I've learned a lot about my emotions but sometimes I still don't know what I am feeling.

Thank you to all well wishers. I know some of you have quite a bit of pain for various reasons so any complaint I have seems immaterial. Except when I can't sleep of course!

Like others I am often unaware of minor things. Cuts, bumps etc are barely noticed. Sometimes it can be scary. The other day I noticed a fresh burn mark on my forearm. Since I've had this kind of burn before I know what it is but I don't recall getting the burn. The burn is from steam from my kettle when I reached over it and didn't realize it was already boiling.

 

[Loren]

This is very interesting Loren. I have a degree of Alexthymia. I wonder if this pain I can't feel but I am aware of might be part of that too.
At 54 I've learned a lot about my emotions but sometimes I still don't know what I am feeling.

Thank you to all well wishers. I know some of you have quite a bit of pain for various reasons so any complaint I have seems immaterial. Except when I can't sleep of course!

Like others I am often unaware of minor things. Cuts, bumps etc are barely noticed. Sometimes it can be scary. The other day I noticed a fresh burn mark on my forearm. Since I've had this kind of burn before I know what it is but I don't recall getting the burn. The burn is from steam from my kettle when I reached over it and didn't realize it was already boiling.

Have you viewed an Alexithymia website or forum? I had a friend who was Alexithymic and reading on one of the forums, helped me to understand him, better, and understand how I could be a more effective friend/partner, as the level of severity I experience is somewhat minimal, so, I hadn't had enough of an understanding of it. It was a very helpful resource at the time. Although, you may already have significant knowledge. Anyway, I thought I would mention it, in case not, and you have an interest.

 

[Aspychata]

Pinched nerves , oh boy. I need serious meds for that. Please find relief some how? Heating pad or ice pack?

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Depends upon what kind of pain it is.

If it is the chronic, persistent type,...you might not know I am in pain unless I am acting "stiff" or "limping around". I competed at the national level in weight lifting for many years,...I was in pain literally 24/7, 365 days,...I just pushed through it.

If it is while weight lifting,...I can literally shut it off and push through,...I've torn so many muscles, tendons, and ligaments,...lost count. The injuries swell up like a balloon,...no pain, just tightness from the edema and blood. I have an extremely high tolerance for muscular pain. I've gotten those deep tissue/sports massages,...some 200lb person jamming their elbow into me,...I'm snoring on the table.

Nerve pain,...like a pinched nerve in an ankle joint or something like that,...that will stop me in my tracks.

Cuts,...no pain.

 

[Au Naturel]

I have had a pinched nerve in my shoulder since the middle of summer. Last night the nerve became exceedingly painful and woke me from sleep with stabbing pain in my hand. I took some Aleve, but there wasn't anything else I could do. I could not sleep

When my husband woke up I found myself calmly explaining the pain but he was indifferent. It wasn't until I applied a little emotional drama with teary eyes that he understood.

The interesting bit is that I am not sure I experience pain the way others do. There was only one time when I had a tooth abcess that I felt all the pain.

This is hard to describe but initially I will feel pain normally. Using the 1-10 scale I will say "5". But there is also a deeper physical pain that I am only aware of almost intuitively. Like I am aware my body is experiencing the pain but I don't consciously feel it.

For example, when I went into labor I knew something was wrong but I could not feel my contractions. My son was born by c section and several times nurses would rush into my room because my vitals on the monitor had indicated a problem but when asked, I felt no conscious pain.

This piched nerve is the same. There is some pain that I am conscious of but there is a deeper pain I am aware of but do not consciously feel. So my expression is outwardly calm while inwardly I am thinking "omg, I can't bare this".

I know that is a muddle and hard to understand. I wonder how others experience pain? It seems sometimes I have to fake a reaction to get my family to take me seriously. Do you experience that?

I'm in pain all the time because all my major joints have bad osteoarthritis, yet I keep plugging along because I don't have a choice. Doctors and people who are close always underestimate how much pain I'm in. I really do have to exaggerate my response to it to get them to pay attention. I'm just so used to it. Then they do an X-ray and wonder how I'm putting up with it.

Can't get my knees replaced until after my wife gets her second knee done. It would not do to have both of us out of commission at the same time.

OTOH, doctors get used to people exaggerating the pain of relatively small stuff. Very common behavior.

Most of the time there is no point in complaining because complaining and a buck will get you a bad cup of coffee. If I complained every time I hurt, that's all I'd do.

One thing I hate is the question, "On a scale of one thru ten with one being perfectly pain-free and ten being the worst pain imaginable, how do you rate your pain?" I can imagine some pretty horrific pain because I've been there. Peeling the skin off my feet and losing my toenails? Been there too. That's a five if I'm being honest.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

How does pain affect me?

I feel it. It hurts.

The only part about pain being special or different to me
is trying to tell somebody else how it feels.

Not a good plan to tell the doctor or dentist that something
hurts blue like the color of a work shirt.
They don't use that sort of scale.

They don't have a chart that I could point at to inform them
of a green or blue pain. Or pink or red.....Or black.

Synesthesia?

 

[tree]

Synesthesia?

That's what it's called, yes.
How Do You Know If You Have Synesthesia?

 

[Richelle-H]

Pain?! Don't talk to me about pain!

At my age, it is the extremely rare day where my laundry list of pains stay below the threshold of awareness. On top of that I have peripheral neuropathy in my hands ad feet and and oddly the right corner of my mouth (both top and bottom).

There is the cross of pain that is always there. It is across the shoulders and from my skull to my pelvic bone. Down toward that base L2, 3, and 4 were compression fractured at the end of 2019 and that area's pain continues to increase over time. My right humerus was broken in four places in 2016 due to a fall that also separated my shoulder as well. The bone was reinforced through the use of a five-inch plate and eight screws, surgically.

The pain caused by that plate and its screws has steadily increased with each passing year and wouldn't you know that I am dominantly right handed (that injury forced me to become much more ambidextrous). It makes so many things more difficult when you can't raise your right hand and arm higher than your shoulder or even reach your left armpit completely when bathing.

So pain and I are on a secret name basis. A lot of it is what I think of as whispering pain; always there and it never leaves you alone, but you can ignore it for long stretches of time. Nevertheless, my right shoulder and lower back scream at me constantly unless I am unconscious (this happens even blunting most pain with low level pain medication).

I therefore identify with a lot of your description @Suzette and I rather wish I was back at that level of pain again, but I am resigned to the fact that aging and pain are bedeviling partners in life's smorgasbord.

 

[Metalhead]

Well, I recently had a root canal because I had an infected molar. I found that CBD edibles were the most efficient pain relief I could get for something like that.

If I had to choose between an infected tooth and the pain of getting into family drama again, I would take the infected tooth, though.

 

[Fino]

One thing that confuses me about pain is when people ask if it's a sharp pain or some other kind of pain, and I almost never know and usually just have to guess. If they're surprised or react in some way, I change my answer.