myrmepropagandist1d ago

Have you ever been in pain in such a way that when the pain stops the feeling of the pain being gone is almost as intense as the pain itself?

I've had this with a few things, mostly migraines, tooth aches, and one time what may have been a pinched nerve.

Maybe it's because the thing that scares me the most about pain, isn't the pain itself, which I can tolerate, I'm tough, I like to think. But, the thought of not being able to escape pain scares me.

What happens to the body when pain stops?

Show threadErin Jonaitis
@futurebird I'd imagine a sensory afterimage of the sort you get if you stare at something red unblinking for a minute and then look at a white wall; or do that trick where you press your arms against a doorframe for a minute and then stop. Perhaps pain-sensing neurons do something similar.
May 11 at 9:48amWeb
Show threadmyrmepropagandist1d ago

@emjonaitis

The mind and body must be doing things to compensate for extreme pain, and maybe for a bit you still have all of that going on, but the signal is gone.

Sometimes when I take an advil for a minor migraine and it goes away I feel a little light-headed because the pain is gone. And I think it's because I'm alway worried that a regular migraine might turn into one of the evil ones. The "real" migraines.

Show threadErin Jonaitis1d ago
@futurebird I used to get cramps bad enough to get sent home from school. I'd take Advil and a nap and when I'd wake up, I'd have this floaty feeling. Physically not unlike the arms-in-the-doorframe trick, really.
Show threadGreenbeard1d ago

@emjonaitis @futurebird

Well, intense pain causes physiological reactions. That's why when in pain we sweat, our heartbeat quickens, BP rises, and so on. So when the stressor goes away, for some time the body stays 'overclocked', which feels weird until it settles