how much physical pain can you take?

maumau

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no, this is not about S&M it's about torture.

those programmes on Crime and Investigation give me the creeps when they show killing/torturing but i remember a TV interview with a young girl who'd survived an attack by a serial killer who left her for dead - can't remember which killer :confused:.

the girl reported being stabbed several times in the back. she said she could hear the thuds and feel the impact but no pain.

is it the idea of being hurt that makes people scream in agony or do they really hurt - i mean intense pain not sore.

is the feeling of pain processed in the brain? does that mean stupid people feel less pain (only kidding)? can we use concentration to control it? at what point to endorphins kick in?
 

guest2013-1

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it's adrenalin. the reason why, if you cut yourself real deep, that you dont start bleeding immediately.

after that isn't enough to block out some of the pain, your brain switches off those receptors. not enough? it literally switches off (you pass out)

I can take quite a bit of pain before passing out (or feeling like I'm going to)
 

thestaggy

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Well, I have read shark attack victims describe it as thus;

You feel a bump, which dependent on the size of the shark is light or quite forceful. Next, you look down and see the blood. Then a sharp, deep pain that they cannot explain pierces through the limb/what is left of the limb before they go into shock, at which point the pain becomes ''distant''. At this point I think the brain shuts the body down when it realises it has experienced extreme trauma.
 

ChilliGirl

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It starts as pain
It changes to a burn
Burn changes to a warm sensation
Warm sensation changes to numbness.

After that it depends on each person, how they experience pain, then you can pass out.

Let's just say it is wonderful having an op done and the drugs don't work. And the op HAS to be done.

I never passed out.
The pain is gone, but the memory will always remain.
 

Alton Turner Blackwood

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It starts as pain
It changes to a burn
Burn changes to a warm sensation
Warm sensation changes to numbness.

After that it depends on each person, how they experience pain, then you can pass out.

Let's just say it is wonderful having an op done and the drugs don't work. And the op HAS to be done.

I never passed out.
The pain is gone, but the memory will always remain.
Are you referring to this?
 

maumau

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It starts as pain
It changes to a burn
Burn changes to a warm sensation
Warm sensation changes to numbness.

After that it depends on each person, how they experience pain, then you can pass out.

Let's just say it is wonderful having an op done and the drugs don't work. And the op HAS to be done.

I never passed out.
The pain is gone, but the memory will always remain.

that sounds hideous - similar to what has been seen cannot be unseen, seriously.
 

Nicodeamus

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been knocked out a few times, kicked on the jaw or punched while performing dangerous techniques (all in the name of fun). I normally feel a peak pain effect then afterwards I feel nothing, that is if I am not knocked out. A few times my mind managed to remain conscience, but for some reason my body never responded to any pain afterwards, which is probably adrenaline.

I also have no feeling in my thumb. I cut the sinew of my thumb when I was little, while working with a carpet knife (the dangers of being left handed). So I literally feel no paint there.
 

HavocXphere

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If you know its going to happen then the adrenaline kicks in & you don't feel anything regardless of what happens.

If you *don't* know its coming then the adrenaline doesn't kick in fast enough...you black out before it does. It feels different to what one would expect though...its not instant. The first ~1 seconds you fell the pain 100%, then you get tunnel vision & lose some colour vision and then you're out. <3 seconds total. I imagine there are circumstance where it'll happen a lot faster, but someone else will have to tell what thats like.

Pain doesn't bother me for the most part...except for specific kinds. Teeth, eyes, chest pains etc freak me out & that makes it 1000% worse.

Oh and seeing ones own arterial bleeding is a rather weird experience too. Felt decidedly lightheaded after seeing that even thought lots of blood generally doesn't freak me out.

Realistically though, everybody has a limit. With proper torture everyone will cave regardless of how hardcore they are.
 

Hosehead

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If you know its going to happen then the adrenaline kicks in & you don't feel anything regardless of what happens.

.

Hm. I wonder if that was the case in the video of the execution of two alleged members of the Cartel de Sinaloa- the chainsaw and the knife. They were pretty chilled about it considering...
 

copacetic

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I think I have a pretty low pain threshold, but luckily, don't know the details.
 

j3n0va

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I've had the skin on half my face grated off by concrete (I was a stupid kid) The pain lasted around 2 hours and it was constant.

Had a fire cracker explode on my leg (Neighbors kids threw it over the fence on new years eve) - Pain lasted about 10 - 15 mins before loss of feeling in my leg.

Worst pain though was when I was 16 and had just had my circumcision earlier in the week (Hospital Operation) and I was on a school outing and horsing around on monkey bars till I lost my grip and crushed my wang on pole underneath me. popped all the stitching. But when I think back, the pain may have been more of a mental thing rather than physical, but still it's the most pain I've ever gone through.
 

satanboy

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Having a tattoo done (4 hours sitting) is about my limit...I think.
 

ponder

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Worst pain ever was having a toe nail extracted. I ripped 3/4 of the thing off while surfing so it was only attached by the one corner. The local anesthetic they injected into the bottom of my toe almost made me cry, I could feel the needle grating the bone and I had about 4-5 of them. Bastid still left a bit of nail behind. Last year I killed the same toe nail, this time I just ripped the thing out sitting at the bar, I did not even feel a thing! So if you ever need a nail extracted do yourself a favour and do it yourself, there is very little pain and you will save yourself about R2k.
 

D3nz

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When you're in labour and the epidural wears off and the nurse says 'no need to top up, it's going to be time soon'...and soon is an hour later.
Weirdly enough, the memory of the intensity of that pain does not remain.
 
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