Polio Survivors and a High Threshold for Pain
Original Post: Why do we feel pain twice as much as other people? Are there others who are always in pain?
Dr. Bruno’s Response: It has been known since the 1970s that the body produces its own morphine-like painkilling opiates, called endorphins and enkephalins. The problem for polio survivors is that the poliovirus killed off the brain and spinal cord neurons that produce the body's own opiates. So polio survivors can't "medicate" themselves against pain, which is why polio survivors need more pain medication than do non-polio survivors.
Our 1984 study showed that polio survivors are TWICE as sensitive to pain as non-polio survivors, likely due to the lack of endorphins and enkephalins (1) “Normal” levels of pain would be doubled in polio survivors and "intolerable" if polio survivors didn't develop a higher pain tolerance.
Here’s another example of sensitivity and developed tolerance. Think about many polio survivors’ emotional hypersensitivity to hospital smells (e.g., alcohol, the smell of wet wool from hot packs). As adults, polio survivors had to develop an increased tolerance to these emotional triggers or they never would allow themselves to enter a hospital again. (Sadly, many polio survivors have indeed refused to get medical treatment because they didn't develop an increased tolerance for hospitals and medical facilities). (2)
(1) Bruno RL, et al. Motor and sensory functioning with changing ambient temperature in post-polio subjects. Late Effects of Poliomyelitis. Miami: Symposia Foundation, 1985.
(2) Bruno RL, Frick NM. The psychology of polio as prelude to Post-Polio Sequelae: Behavior modification and psychotherapy. Orthopedics, 1991;14 (11):1185-1193.
For more information, please read:
Trauma and Illness as Precipitants of Post-Polio Sequelae and