Embracing Pain: The Hidden Power of Sensitivity

　　The moment the anesthesia needle was inserted, I really felt the pain of cutting through my skin, even if I didn’t count the thunderous impact. In order not to bear the pain of filling the tooth that will require nerve pumping, I had to endure the relatively short-lived heart-piercing pain at this moment.
　　I believe that my struggling and distorted facial features must be ugly enough for the dentist. I am grateful that she is well-informed and did not ignore my pain. Instead, she gently patted my stiff arm and was willing to comfort me like a child who was afraid of pain.
　　For as long as I can remember, my pain tolerance has always seemed to be lower than that of most people. When I was very young, my physical fitness was very poor. I would have fevers and illnesses every three days and had to go to the hospital for injections.
　　Later, my parents described that every time I got an injection, I would cry bitterly, and the entire hospital corridor echoed with my painful screams.

　　Maybe I cried too sincerely, and the children who had already received the injection were infected by my sadness, and their original sobs turned into crying louder. Those who were queuing up, seeing me crying so heart-wrenchingly, probably imagined a drama about “Grandma Rong stabbing Ziwei” in their minds, and soon joined in the crying contest.
　　Maybe I am the child that all parents and medical workers are most afraid of meeting in the hospital. In the past, my parents only thought that I was timid. After all, I was not the only child who was afraid of injections. But as I grew older, my fear of injections became more and more serious.
　　Later, when I went to school and had blood tests with everyone, I realized that unlike many classmates who were also afraid of injections, I was not afraid of needles, nor did I feel dizzy. I just felt that the moment the needle was inserted, it was very painful and full of stamina.
　　I remember that during the physical examination for the college entrance examination, I lost consciousness immediately after the blood was drawn. When I regained consciousness again, I was helped to a chair and rested for a long time with a pale face.
　　Situations like this are not uncommon. Some time ago when I went out, I accidentally ran over the instep of my foot. Normal people would be fine immediately, but I was in pain for half a month.
　　”Pain” is the real reason why I wear a “pain mask” every time I get an injection, fall down, or bump into something, and I am even inexplicably afraid of sharp objects such as nails and pins. Because I am too sensitive to pain, many people have always thought that I am hypocritical and like to make a fuss. I can’t bear even minor injuries and I really have a princess disease. So for a long time, I warned myself to endure it even if it hurts, never shed tears to make others dislike me, and even secretly complained about why people feel pain. It would be great if I could lose this feeling!
　　But is pain really my enemy? What happens when we lose pain?
　　There is a case of inability to feel pain in “Grey’s Anatomy”: the injured little girl Megan has consulted for the fourth time in three months. Megan’s adoptive parents said that she fell and broke her leg in the playground. . Looking at the so-called “fall injuries” that were very serious, and the wounds on her arms that were “sewn” with staples (God knows how much pain I felt when I saw this scene), it was hard for the doctor not to suspect that she had been raped by her adoptive parents. Abuse.
　　However, Megan insisted that everything was done by herself and had nothing to do with her adoptive parents. Because she has “superpowers” and can’t feel pain at all, she doesn’t need to come to the hospital. If the doctor doesn’t believe it, he can try beating her now.
　　The wound on her leg was still a minor matter, but when the doctor learned that she had been hit in the abdomen with a baseball bat in order to prove that she had the superpower of not being afraid of pain, she finally realized that something was wrong. You must know that organs are the most vulnerable to internal injuries. If there is no pain, she will only be discovered when she loses too much blood or her condition is so severe that she loses consciousness. By then it will be too late!
　　Doctors diagnosed Megan with long-term painless sensory syndrome, or painlessness. This disease is mostly congenital and is an autosomal recessive genetic disease. Due to mutations in the SCN9A gene, the transmission of pain in the human body is blocked, that is, the pain sensation is lost.
　　Losing her sense of pain made Megan mistakenly believe that she was Superman, but just because she couldn’t feel the pain didn’t mean she wasn’t injured. Pain is a signal that reminds us that we are being hurt by the outside world. Once this ancient survival mechanism loses its sensitivity, it is equivalent to being directly exposed to a hail of bullets without wearing a body armor. The pain I was trying so hard to avoid was actually protecting me.
　　Art comes from life. The documentary “The Secret of Pain” interviewed a “pain-free” family in Tuscany, Italy. The grandmother’s pain was so low that she was not aware of two ankle sprains. It was not until she went to the hospital for the third ankle sprain that she was diagnosed; her daughter was not sensitive to temperature and could swim in icy water; the third generation of the family’s children I also inherited this gene. I fell off my bicycle and thought it was okay, but ended up delaying treatment.
　　The documentary also mentioned the extreme opposite case of painlessness, which is tormented by pain all over the body all the time. Rachel, a girl who injured her arm while throwing cricket, originally thought that the pain would disappear after the injury healed. Unexpectedly, the pain spread to her whole body. In addition to her arms, her head, back, and ankles began to hurt. She suffered from complex regional pain syndrome. It is a “pain syndrome secondary to an injury event such as trauma.”
　　It can be seen that it is impossible to have no pain, and being too sensitive to pain will lead to another kind of injury. Because I am afraid of pain, I always do things carefully for fear of getting hurt. This also makes me gradually become highly sensitive and prone to looking forward and backward. As soon as there is any disturbance around you, you will immediately become alert and nervous. Once I feel uncomfortable, I will immediately find a way to escape from the scene.
　　The term “dullness”, as opposed to hypersensitivity, has been thrown around a lot lately.
　　”Insensitive power” was first proposed by the Japanese writer Junichi Watanabe, which can be literally translated as “dull power”. “Once you have made up your mind, you can ignore the looks and rumors of people around you and proceed resolutely. Even if you hear other people’s opinions, The irony is also an attitude that has nothing to do with me, and I move forward bravely.”
　　The experiments in the documentary also confirmed Watanabe Junichi’s point of view. Pain can be subjective and does not necessarily come from the external environment. This means that sometimes, it is the brain’s feelings and emotions that control pain.
　　For example, when we are anxious, our perception of pain is doubled. On the contrary, when we are less alert to our surroundings and less nervous, our brain’s processing of signals will change, changing the level of pain. This may be what Junichi Watanabe refers to as having the power of insensitivity. “This kind of person is always in a certain degree of stability. In the process of dealing with various things, the autonomic nervous system will not become tense or overreact. Able to maintain a good balance at all times.”
　　Many times, humans perceive the world through pain and adjust their boundaries to gain a sense of security. However, the experience of pain can also lead to excessive fear, which in turn creates a vicious cycle.
　　The suggestion given by scientists is that since pain has a strong psychological component, it can be suppressed using psychotherapy. Because among the many senses of human beings, vision is the dominant one in transmitting information to the brain. Where we focus our vision means where the brain gets the information to create emotions.
　　For example, when I was drawing blood, if I watched every move of the nurse, tying the tourniquet, disinfecting, and collecting blood, I would definitely be more nervous and even feel pain in advance. Psychotherapy, to put it bluntly, is to divert attention and allow the brain to focus on other things, so that it naturally has no time to deal with the feeling of pain.
　　Maybe I can’t have the power of insensitivity at this stage, but I am willing to try to deal with it in a more relaxed state. At least when I was filling my teeth, I would control myself not to stare at the various medical instruments in the tray and imagine them tapping on my teeth in advance.
　　I always believe that we should be more insensitive to other people’s cynicism and bad words, but we should still be sensitive to our own body and mind. Don’t ignore your physical or mental discomfort because you are afraid that others will say you are not brave enough or do not know how to endure, and let a little pain develop into a wound that is difficult to heal.