Perception of things and events

[Mary Terry]

Nobody sticks a needle into me without me attentively watching what they're doing. Not unless the needle is behind me... then i'll wince as soon as I feel it.

Until I was about 12 I firmly believed the story my mother had told me as a child so I wouldn't freak out if I had to take a shot I thought that all kids get injections without needles

Only at 12 did I start thinking about the logistics of the whole thing

I never look at needles when they stick me. Puncture wounds freak me out.

 

[Xinyta]

Both @Neonatal RRT and @UFO have good points in regards to how we handle pain and the mindset.

I think I am about like alot of other autistics. But I use to not be as dismissive of cuts and scrapes, nor injuries. And I think alot of involves my psychological trama, and psychosis, with my stepmother. With her 'everything that isn't done, or goes, her way, is wrong' approach to everything. Being hurt in any way is another excuse for her to scream and berate the person for doing something, in her mind, that's 'stupid'.

Basically saying 'How dare you hurt yourself!', without actually saying it.

But alot if it was my own mentality seeing it as par for the course. Which helped create this psychosis.

Though, I think what helped somewhat reset my reactions to cuts, scrapes, and bruises, is seeing how others realistically handle them. I see my Uncle getting them all the time from things he's doing. And I get some occasionally when I help. In that way, it's teaching me that life is full of times where you'll get hurt. But you still do the work. Unless it's a life threatening injury. Something I should of learned from a young age, but wasn't able to.

Now I just look at these cuts and bruises as something kinda interesting. How it changes the feel of that hurt spot on my skin. It's kinda neat and interesting, really.

 

[marc_101]

I think there is a lot of variability. My mother (on the spectrum) has a high tolerance to pain. I do not but not too sensitive either. My bother, who is also on the spectrum, feels pain just thinking about it. I doubt pain tolerance/intolerance is too different in autistics but not sure.

 

[Outdated]

One kind of pain I react to because it stops me from being able to reason. The headache!

I had forgotten about that. It's not very often I get a headache but when I do it's not a pain I can cope with very well. I never take any drugs for them but will instead try to sleep it off.

 

[Au Naturel]

When I was 2 I cut my knee and ran to my mom crying, but not because of the pain, because my lovely white socks were covered in blood. I felt the pain but didn't care much about it.

When I was 6 i was doing crochet and someone bumped into me, the crochet hook kinda got pushed into my palm, between flesh and skin. it was rather curious to look at it like that, but it was painful as well, so i just wiggled the crochet hook out.

Later on, much later, I was walking around the garden in my flip-flops and stepped on something that made my foot hurt. As I looked down and lifted the aggravated foot, I saw a drop of blood on my other foot. I looked at the spot that hurt and thought : Oh look, there's a screw stuck on my foot. How do I take that out?

I've gone through countless situations similar to those in my life.
The only times I acted according to the seriousness of the situation was when I drenched my leg in boiling water (I screamed like crazy) and other events that involve hot water or hot things.
otherwise I'll just stare at it and calmly think of the best way to resolve the matter at hand.

Is this part of how people on the spectrum normally react to similar situations?

I'm sorry for asking so many questions. But it's the first time in my life I feel like I can ask them and get an honest answer, not a blank stare as people wonder why I'm so weird.

Sounds like my childhood. I don't think it is a specifically autistic trait. There are plenty of autistic people who can't tolerate even small amounts of pain and NTs who are extremely tolerant of it.

 

[Mary Terry]

I've read that redheads have a higher pain tolerance than others and require more anesthesia to render them unconscious for surgery.

 

[Boogs]

It's somewhat nuanced, studies have shown a link with differing responses to, say, dark haired, but some types of pain more sensitive, other types less so. Likewise the anaesthesia and analgesia vary according to what's used and how. But it seems the MC1R gene that causes red hair also does indeed effect these things in some way.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

@Neonatal RRT I think that feeling pain is situational for both NTs and NDs: A person might be so focused on something else, or might be so high on adrenaline, endorphin, or something, that his/hers perception of pain is different. It is like being vaccinated: if you stare at needle, fear it, and expect it to hurt, you react to the slightest sign of pain strongly. If you are having nice conversation and are not paying attention, you might not even notice the sting. Sudden damage often goes unnoticed because of these things, or because of initial shock, thus pain is felt only afterwards. I have noticed that sometimes the healing process from a sports wound is more painful than getting the wound.

Agree. If you are focused upon something other than yourself, the pain appears to go away. The second you focus upon yourself, the pain can be intense. Folks who do martial arts know this. If I punched you in the face, surprising you, your pain reaction would be quite different than if we were in the ring together, adrenaline flowing, and expecting to be punched in the face. Short of being knocked out cold, you might not register the pain of getting "your bell rung" while you were actually fighting. In powerlifting, the same thing, there's a point where there is SO much pressure from the weight and your body is screaming "Stop! Stop! Stop!" and by shear will, you push through that pain. Rep after rep. Set after set. Day in. Day out. You just deal with it. If you're not in pain, you should be, so embrace it. It quickly becomes a mental process to override your body's natural instincts to protect itself.

People who have a lot of time to sit and dwell upon themselves, those "inward thinkers", and are not actively engaged in other things, I would suspect, would likely feel pain more intensely.

 

[Au Naturel]

Agree. If you are focused upon something other than yourself, the pain appears to go away. The second you focus upon yourself, the pain can be intense. Folks who do martial arts know this. If I punched you in the face, surprising you, your pain reaction would be quite different than if we were in the ring together, adrenaline flowing, and expecting to be punched in the face. Short of being knocked out cold, you might not register the pain of getting "your bell rung" while you were actually fighting. In powerlifting, the same thing, there's a point where there is SO much pressure from the weight and your body is screaming "Stop! Stop! Stop!" and by shear will, you push through that pain. Rep after rep. Set after set. Day in. Day out. You just deal with it. If you're not in pain, you should be, so embrace it. It quickly becomes a mental process to override your body's natural instincts to protect itself.

People who have a lot of time to sit and dwell upon themselves, those "inward thinkers", and are not actively engaged in other things, I would suspect, would likely feel pain more intensely.

Long-distance hikers, high-end athletes, and soldiers all share one thing. They have learned to embrace the suck.

You know something is going to hurt. You accept it and stop struggling against it because the fear/anxiety before the pain, plus the negative consequences of avoiding the pain, are really greater than the pain itself ever could be. That makes the short-term pain of whatever you are looking at irrelevant.

You're getting a shot. You know the shot will help keep you healthy. You know the pain of the shot is brief, and you know that many other people will get this shot without complaint. What makes the shot a tribulation to undergo is not the actual pain from the shot - which will be over in seconds - but all the anxiety you've generated over worrying about it. That can build up for hours and magnify the actual pain manyfold. Focus on the benefit and exclude the brief pain from the equation.

I have often thought that people don't experience enough ordinary pain, things like scraped knees, bangs and bruises, bee stings, cut fingers, burrs and briars, and sore muscles from overexertion. Parents today seem to want to prevent any and all physical pain, and this is bad. Incidental pain in small doses is good for you. A steady dose of these as you grow up prepares you for a life that is not painless and makes you stronger in the face of serious pain.

As is early exposure to dirt, animal dander, and common bacteria and viruses. It builds a strong immune system.

 

[Neia]

Long-distance hikers, high-end athletes, and soldiers all share one thing. They have learned to embrace the suck.

You know something is going to hurt. You accept it and stop struggling against it because the fear/anxiety before the pain, plus the negative consequences of avoiding the pain, are really greater than the pain itself ever could be. That makes the short-term pain of whatever you are looking at irrelevant.

You're getting a shot. You know the shot will help keep you healthy. You know the pain of the shot is brief, and you know that many other people will get this shot without complaint. What makes the shot a tribulation to undergo is not the actual pain from the shot - which will be over in seconds - but all the anxiety you've generated over worrying about it. That can build up for hours and magnify the actual pain manyfold. Focus on the benefit and exclude the brief pain from the equation.

I have often thought that people don't experience enough ordinary pain, things like scraped knees, bangs and bruises, bee stings, cut fingers, burrs and briars, and sore muscles from overexertion. Parents today seem to want to prevent any and all physical pain, and this is bad. Incidental pain in small doses is good for you. A steady dose of these as you grow up prepares you for a life that is not painless and makes you stronger in the face of serious pain.

As is early exposure to dirt, animal dander, and common bacteria and viruses. It builds a strong immune system.

You made me remember my childhood
Boy... should I have a great immune system

 

[Au Naturel]

You made me remember my childhood
Boy... should I have a great immune system

There is a well-documented syndrome where children who are raised in extremely clean homes tend to develop much more severe allergies, have a greater risk of asthma, and are more vulnerable to childhood diseases and opportunistic infections. We evolved to grow up in the dirt.

 

[Neia]

There is a well-documented syndrome where children who are raised in extremely clean homes tend to develop much more severe allergies, have a greater risk of asthma, and are more vulnerable to childhood diseases and opportunistic infections. We evolved to grow up in the dirt.

I'm 53.
I grew up running around in mud and dirt, cuddling with my pets, running around barefoot because shoes "hurt my feet and were too hot" and I have asthma, have a whole load of allergies, and had all the usual childhood diseases.

We were created to be unique individuals.
What works for one person doesn't work for tge other.
From what I could personally witness from children raised in the same home, by the same parents: my mother had asthma, a fragile heath with lots of illness in her life, lots of surgeries even, and the same could be said by a couple or her younger siblings, while others had an iron clad health it was almost half and half.
She and another sister and 2 brothers all had bad heath, and one brother and 2 of her sister were healthy and ages all mixed up.

It's a thing you can't generalise. It depends a lot from genetics as well.

 

[Boogs]

I think the lack of immunity being seen these days relates to statistical measurements, there are always exceptions of all sorts, but there seems to be a general movement towards poorer developed immunity, believed to be related to children having less outdoor environments to play in regularly (or discouraged to for various reasons).

Additionally, children seem to have poorer general survival skills from a lack of outdoor activity teaching physical limits gained through minor injuries and accidents, and also relationship skills through face to face interactions. Again generalised, but seems to be a trend, and possibly feeding into the growing mental health issues among the young especially.

It seems that too much safety is quite likely a risk!