Posted by Todd (216.199.5.79) on October 30, 1999 at 19:34:51:
In Reply to: Funny you should mention this.... posted by Margi on October 30, 1999 at 18:22:29:
The pain tolerance thing interests me. I currently have a broken rib. I'm taking no meds except 1500 mg of Relefen (an NSAID) daily. The break happened last Saturday night. Sunday, I mowed, trimmed and edged the lawn. Monday, drove 300 miles roundtrip, with a 5 hour workday in the middle. Tuesday, I saw the doc and xrays confirmed the situation. Thursday, did the 300 mile workday again.
Today, I washed the car, ran errands, etc. I do ache a bit, and certain movements cause stabbing pain, but overall, I don't seem to be in as much distress as friends who have had broken ribs infer I should be.
A related aspect, IMHO, is my tolerance for meds. Ibuprofen is, of course, worthless for clusters. But I use it to chase away those pesky 'regular' headaches. I take 3-4 200 mg tabs....well above the recommended dosage (but consistent with ibuprofen when it was strictly prescription).
Now, lest anyone take my thoughts in a way I don't intend, I'm not 'bragging' about either my apparent high tolerance for pain or resistance to meds. Quite the contrary, in fact.
I do believe clusterheads have a higher than average tolerance for pain. I also believe this to be yet another cursed aspect of this disorder.
Let me expound.
As a child, my finger was nearly severed by my hatchet-wielding cousin. Stitched back together, the docs were astounded when SOME of the nerves apparently grew back together. In 1961, this was considered impossible. Nonetheless, I have less than 'normal' feeling in that finger. Clusters aside, pain is the body's way of telling us we have a problem that needs to be dealt with. The number of times I've damaged that finger (lost the nail 3 times, for example) is almost incredible. I have reduced feeling in that finger, which leads to lots of burns, cuts, etc.
Reduced feeling is roughly comparable to increased tolerance to pain. Neither is a good thing, but they do have their advantages.
We suffer from a disorder that causes pain beyond that which 'civilians' can imagine. Pain which is unique in that it is not a signal of some other problem. It makes perfect sense to me that this desensitizes us to pain in general.
Of course, this is just my opinion....
I could be wrong.
KTSSU,
T