# SPs and physical pain



## Pyroscope (Apr 8, 2010)

I was with some friends a while ago and it got brought up that my ISFP friend and I are very different in this respect. She apparently notices it to quite a high degree and is always aware of being physically harmed, but I frequently get cuts/scrapes/bruises that I remain oblivious to for ages. Like yesterday for example where I cut my finger with a breadknife and only noticed about 10+ hours later.
There weren't many of us in Ns vs Ss so I wouldn't draw a conclusion that this necessarily means anything, but I wondered if SPs would be more likely to notice because of Se? (We started theorising when the subject came up)
So, do you all notice it to the same extent, or reckon this is all just coincidence?


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## Linnifae (Nov 13, 2009)

My husband (an ISTP) is very oblivious to most physical injuries and if he does notice he seems to have a very high tolerance for pain. I on the other hand have a very low tolerance for pain (though if I'm into something and I get hurt I may not notice until much later)


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## Aerorobyn (Nov 11, 2009)

I typically do not notice cuts, scrapes, bruises, etc., unless of course it was from a hard fall or something. Like last night my uncle accidentally cut me with a knife on my face, so of course I'm going to notice something like that. 

I do have a very high tolerance for pain though. I can't remember the last time I ever really complained about being in physical pain. I may say something like, "Well shit, that hurt" but I don't whine about it or anything. I typically just shrug off physical pain... it doesn't mean much to me. 

My brother, ISTP, is the exact same way.


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## RyRyMini (Apr 12, 2010)

I'm pretty tolerant of pain, too. Although I haven't broken bones, I've sprained my ankle, and have had some pretty rough biopsies that weren't that big of a deal. Sometimes I notice scrapes or bruises that I have no idea where they originated from.

Emotional pain, however, I completely collapse under.


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## Mina (Jan 21, 2010)

Most of the time I'm very cautious in situations where I could possibly get injured. If I get a cut or scrape I usually notice it. I have had a few bruises that I was clueless to as how I got them. I do have a high tolerance for physical pain though.

I'm with you RyRy. Emotional pain is a million times worse than physical pain for me.


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## Pyroscope (Apr 8, 2010)

Well there's a reason it was just a theory :crazy: I guess since pain is to do with the nerves then cognitive functions aren't likely to be that relevant. It was just weird that the Ns and Ss happened to be opposites in this one case. Woo, coincidence :happy:
I thought of another thing. Sometimes I kind of zone out on pain, particularly if it's something I'm in control of. If it's really severe then this obviously doesn't apply but sometimes I suddenly come back and remember that there's pain that I'd forgotten about. Does that happen to you? Going with the 'shrugging pain off' comments.

Going with this, I'd agree about emotional pain. Noticing physical pain is usually not too hard to turn off, but I can never do that with emotional pain :frustrating:


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## briannaharleyyy (Mar 29, 2010)

i'm the same. i really don't notice and/or care about physical pain. i found out that i was immune to novocaine because when i got my wisdom teeth pulled, i basically felt the entire thing. i put up with the pain because i didn't want a needle in my arm. i hurt myself all the time and don't know about it. i constantly have random bruises and cuts and shit and i have no idea where they came from. my enneagram type also says that 8s are way more afraid of emotional pain than physical pain.


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## Raindrops (May 2, 2010)

I notice I have obvious cuts, but I have a pretty high tolerance for pain. However things like bruises on my knees, I usually have loads of them and I don't notice, nor do I remember how I get them, I've pretty clumsy you see.


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## firedell (Aug 5, 2009)

I have a high threshold for pain, yes. More than some people I know, who cry at injections, and slight burns. Who are these people? I have dropped very hot boiling water on my chest, legs, and feet, and I can carry on afterward with elegance. :tongue: (There are cases with really bad burns, which I understand, but i'm sure you get what I mean).

I know people who cried while getting tattoo's, which when I had mine done, (I have two) I hardly knew that my skin was being destroyed with needles. Also as Raindrops pointed out, I get loads of bruises as well, from out of no where, I more than likely bash myself and not even notice.

I'm not sure what it is...


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## Nearsification (Jan 3, 2010)

The same things happen to me. I look at my hand and realize I am bleeding and I don't even know where they can from....


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## Raindrops (May 2, 2010)

inebriato said:


> I have a high threshold for pain, yes. More than some people I know, who *cry at injections, and slight burns*. Who are these people? I have dropped very hot boiling water on my chest, legs, and feet, and I can carry on afterward with elegance. :tongue: (There are cases with really bad burns, which I understand, but i'm sure you get what I mean).


We all had injections at school, loads of people were complaining and I really didn't get what the problems was, I barely even realised I had, had it. 

A month ago my sister dropped some straighteners on my arm, and I still have a blister, people are like I bet that hurts and I'm like no it's doesn't lol :bored:.


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## Mina (Jan 21, 2010)

Doctor Paradox said:


> The same things happen to me. I look at my hand and realize I am bleeding and I don't even know where they can from....


Bleeding as in from a paper cut.. or..?

lol

It must have been a pretty small cut to not notice you were bleeding, let alone how it happened.


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## Pyroscope (Apr 8, 2010)

Mina said:


> Originally Posted by *Doctor Paradox*
> _The same things happen to me. I look at my hand and realize I am bleeding and I don't even know where they can from...._
> 
> 
> ...


 Hehe, this has happened to me before :laughing: It's not that common but I do occasionally find I'm bleeding with no understanding of why


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## Darner (Apr 20, 2010)

I also don't care about physical pain even if I feel it. I am also not a hypohondriac so I hate it if I have to lie in bed and/or doing nothing so I usually get healthy superfast because of that.


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## FearsomeCritter (Jan 14, 2010)

I kind of doubt pain tollerance is linked to personality type, honestly. Pain tollerance ussualy comes from more frequent exposure to pain.

A person who works as a constuction worker or someone in the military is generaly more prone to pain on the job than someone who codes for a living (carpal tunnel syndrome excluded) because they have jobs that expose them to the elements more, as well as things link hammers and nailguns.

I guess the more likely link to peronality type would have to be that certian personality types are more likely to take certian jobs and have certian hobbies over others.


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## Quin Sabe (Jan 26, 2010)

I snapped my toe this weekend and was laughing and smiling about it. I just sat down started playing with it, putting it back to the right direction, assessing it, wrapped some tape around it and was good to go. I also broke my foot when I was like 10 and didn't notice it for almost two or three weeks. But, that's my feet, I can have a little bit of pain in my teeth and I'm ready for the heavy pain killers. Blister's another thing I barely notice. And, yes I have found a scratch from noticing random blood and wondering where it came from. In my book it's not a good weekend if I don't spend the next week finding scratches and small cuts different places.


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## SuperDevastation (Jun 7, 2010)

The only pain I've ever found nearly impossible to tolerate is a second degree burn, and I don't want to know what a third degree burn feels like.


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## Neon Knight (Aug 11, 2010)

I notice physical pain, it's just I can put up with a lot I guess. For years I had severe pain and didn't realize it wasn't normal and just lived and tried to cope with it as best as I could and as a 7, any kind of pain sucks emotional or physical. I do think emotional is worse though. I've had tattoos and piercings in highly sensitive areas and can take it quite easily as it's just a short lived pain, in those cases they hurt like hell but I knew it would be done hurting shortly. I'm not the type to squeal either, I'd rather not for some reason. If it's hellacious then yeah I'll verbalize or screech in some way, not loudly though, oh and curse a lot if it's bad enough whether in my head or out loud lol. It's the long kind of pain I can't deal with. Migraines and cramps suck too for me. Like you all wanted to hear that...:tongue: but it's true, I don't have much tolerance there, then again both of mine last quite a while.


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## Seralya (Mar 8, 2010)

I have no idea what kind of pain threshold is "normal" or "average" so I cannot say anything about it. However, I can tolerate pain with no great problems, _unless_ it's in a tooth. I am just frightened of dentists and any smallest pain at the dentist's is nearly intolerable. Of course, I have been there a lot..

On the other hand, I do like having massage - not the pat pat pat-kind of massage they give to the office ladies, but with force. In my opinion it has to hurt to make effect. I know that it's not really so, but it's just my version of "a medicine has to taste bad to make it better". Also, massage-like pain is very enjoyable. It's not sharp and pointed - like the dentist kind - but on a broader area and thus much easier to have. 

Pain is also the only sensory feeling I know that can totally overwhelm you, bring your wandering mind "back to the body" and anchor it there, if even for a short time. Maybe that's why I like the harsh massages so much..


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## Darner (Apr 20, 2010)

I agree with the massaging. If someone just does it nicely and softly it feels more like petting and I don't like to be petted very much. But if the massage is hard, then the muscles get really relaxed once the hands are off and that's the whole point.


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