why do we differ in feeling pain?

Question

why and how do people differ in tolerating pain, i usually exagerate my pain sensation involuntarily for example when i go to the dentist or any other painfull procedure almost always they say that i do not tolerate even mild pain so what should i do to "increase my pain threshold" i mean to be able to tolerate more pain?

Answer 1

each of us is a unique individual and how we deal with pain would then obviously be different. I have found that relaxation skills help a great deal in increasing pain tolerance. Things like consciously relaxing the muscles in your arms makes shots hurt less, often if relaxed enough I don't even feel them.
In the dental office, concentrating on deep breathing and keeping hands and arms relaxed, rather than on what the dentist is doing will often minimize any discomfort he may cause. How you percieve discomfort or pain thru relaxation is greatly altered and will raise your level of tolerance.

Answer 2

Everyone's pain threshold is different and like you there are some people who can tolerate very little pain and then there are people like me, who is the words of my ex gp have a pain tolerance that goes on forever.

Neither is good, because if something is really wrong those of us with high thresholds of pain can actually damage ourselves because we don't see medical personnel as soon as we should. And people with low pain thresholds are seen as crying wolf for any amount of pain and thus drs. and medical personnel dismiss it as there she/he goes again.

Like anything else you have to learn how to control your pain, either through your own mind or in radical cases hordes of medication.

Sometimes pain is the body's way of telling you something is wrong and it hurts to get your attention to remediate it.

At the moment I'm suffering from back pain, it's not bad enough that I need medication, but it is bad enough to slow me down on the things I need to do today.

However I'm continuing to do what I can and when it starts to hurt too much I will indeed take some meds.

It's like the law of attraction, if you focus too much on it you'll get more pain, but if you just go with the flow , you'll find other ways to get around it.

Answer 3

It's really not something you can fix. You really have to just try and think about something else to distract you.

I have a low pain tolerance for most things but when I get blood drawn it's pretty high. I think it's because it fascinates me. I usually let the newbies practice on me because I can tolerate the pain if they miss. But I jump when I am at the dentist and tear up when they inject Novocaine.

Answer 4

every one has different levels of stamina you tend to get use to some levels of pain for example have you ever got smacked with a belt when you where a kid you would just cry for hours but know you just kind of go ouch or just laugh

Answer 5

because we'll all different. and sum ppl are used to more pain than others.. like me im used to getting scratched, hit, bit, and all this other stuff. (no im not abused)