Maximum pain threshold

Question

hi ...

I recently read this history story about a man in a battle whose both arms had been amputated, and continued  talking and trying to fight, carrying the army flag. and after a a debate with a friend. he said it is physically impossible, i went on reading medical  encyclopedias trying to come up with a rational explanation to the man's high pain threshold. Is this possible in terms of science ?

I read about glands and hormones, assuming i'll find an explanation, however i arrived to nothing.

I am really serious about this, and i know that there are more important questions than mine, and that my question is a waste of time to you doctors, but i really hope to find an answer. or please just point me to the right direction and i'll continue from there. or anything to just get me started.

kind regards

Jaybay · Accepted Answer

There are no doctors here as this is a patient-to-patient forum.  You bring up an interesting topic.  Pain is a terribly subjective thing.  A person who has never had anything worse than hangnail may find the pain of a broken bone to be a 10.  A person with cancer pain would probably do anything to switch that cancer pain for the pain of a broken bone.  Our perception of pain seems to depend a lot on previous experiences with pain.

In the story you mention, people with catastrophic injuries react in amazing ways.  I personally think it has to do with the fight-or-flight response.  It's not that they don't feel the pain, but that their bodies are so flooded with adrenaline and their minds so focused on the task at hand that they do things that seem inconceivable to the rest of us.

My mother always had a very strong sense of denial where health issues and pain were concerned.  Her spine was a complete wreck and more than one doctor in the last 10 years of her life found it hard to believe that she could walk at all.  Eventually, that did happen.  She fell and broke her hip but refused to tell anyone.  She crawled around with that injury for 10 days before she collapsed.  (No, she wasn't neglected but refused help from anyone.)  

Mom broke her arm years ago and it was the same story.  She took over-the-counter meds for two weeks before seeing the doctor.  When she developed a bleeding condition and needed a bone marrow biopsy, she didn't make a peep when that huge needle punctured her pelvis.  Grown men have been known to cry like babies with that procedure.  Then there was childbirth.  All four children were born naturally - there being no good pain control measures to offer back then - and she always bragged that she never made a sound, unlike those other "babies" who shrieked all the way through labor.

In my mother's mind, acknowledging pain was to give it control, and she was a woman who would not willingly give control over her person to any one or any thing.  It wasn't that she didn't feel pain, she just refused to let it take over her life.  The sad thing is that instead of going to a doctor she treated everything with aspirin and advil.  A lifetime of abuse destroyed her stomach and small intestine and she died of a GI bleed.

There's also a big difference in dealing with acute (short-term) pain as opposed to chronic pain.  We all develop some kind of mental coping mechanisms with pain over the course of our lives.  Some people fall into it naturally while others benefit from learning relaxation and self-hypnosis techniques.  In short, everyone is different in how they initially react to pain and then cope with it as it becomes chronic.  I'm sure someone somewhere has done a study on pain stimulus response who could answer the psycho-physiological questions you have.  I just don't know where to find it!  :-)

NO000 · Answer

Yes ... I've considered and read all about ( flight-or-fight ) ... also known as ( flight-or-fight-or freeze response ) ... and how endorphins come to play the role of the body natural pain killers ... however can a body release an amount that enough ??? am not convinced it can ...

Maybe it's like you said jaybay ... maybe it depends on the individual perception of pain ...
but still ... a scientific explanation would be very helpful.

I just started writing this essay about ( history from the sceince skeptical point of view ), it's not the official name yet, wouldn't want to upset the history proffesor unless i back up my essay with some proof, and I really hope I can finish it ...

Thanks again guys ... I really appreciate you took some time to write back.

el_em_en_oh · Answer

Jaybay hit the nail on the head. It's all about your own personal 'perception'.

I have kidney-stones and get them on a regular basis (4-5 times a month). Some pass by themselves, other I have to have removed (via cystoscopy & under general anesthetic). I've had this issue since the age of 18 (21 years now), and have become quite accustomed to the pain. It's almost ROUTINE.

That being said, my level-5 with a kidney-stone may be someone else's level-10, if it's their first stone. And me passing a small stone that's only 4-6mm, and only rates a level -1 or 2 might be someone else's 6-8.

It's all about personal perception my friend.

Good luck in your search for answers.

LMNO

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