Pain and Consciousness?

LOLatChristians · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:26 am Post subject: Pain and Consciousness?

Perhaps this has already been hypothesized, but...

Last night, I had a killer toothache. I didn't take anything for it and instead just went to sleep. When I woke up, my toothache was gone.

Boring, I know, but I was thinking... do we feel pain when we are sleeping? If not, couldn't we theoretically develop a tactic to not feel pain by making a part of our brain unconscious (instead of taking drugs, for instance)?

I'm not even close to an expert on science, so pardon the question if it's wrong on so many counts.

Moloth · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:56 am Post subject:

to me, there are two different topics at play:

pain and suffering.

pain = a particular kind of sensation that alerts an organism to danger/physical damage.

suffering = the outcome of pain in a self-aware mind. It is aware that it is in pain and wishes, consciously, for it to stop.

people ahve been trying to 'block' pain in a myriad of ways for thousands of years... acupuncture, meditation, stuff like that.

one way to look at it: if you didn't feel it, it didn't exist. why? because its a 'feeling'! a feeling that goes unfelt does not exist as a feeling!
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Last edited by Moloth on Tue Feb 30, 2026 13:61 am; edited 426 times in total

LOLatChristians · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 11:09 am Post subject:

Do you think it's at all feasible that we could allow ourselves to live pain-free lives if we were able to "numb" (so to speak) that part of the brain?

RyanDzundza · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 11:26 am Post subject:

if it is possible then i dont think it would be a good idea

pain reminds us that that part of the body is still damaged and if we train ourselves to ignore it, then we will most likely forget about it and the wound could get worse

maybe a better idea would be once we have been alerted to the pain we could numb the pain so we still know its there but it doesnt hurt like hell
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Nimitz · Guest Local time: 10:08 AM

Pain and I are on a first name basis right now. I have a large kidney stone (8mm) and it's killing me! Whoever invented demerol and percocet should be nominated for sainthood! Friday I get this damn thing blasted with ultrasound.

If you have a toothache see the dentist. Pain is the bodies way of saying, "HEY THIS SHIT HURTS! DO SOMETHING" (take hand out of fire ect)
The nervous systeem spent billions of years evolving. The least you could do is pay attention to it for a minure or two. Laughing

LOLatChristians · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:19 pm Post subject:

Sorry to hear about that Nimitz. My next door neighbor just had one too, so I know second-hand what you're dealing with.

I don't have any health/dental/eye insurance so seeing a dentist is out of the question. But that's beside the point.

I like Ryan's idea:

baddogma · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:25 pm Post subject:

There is some fascinating stuff on youtube about hypnosis. Not the parlor trick kind, but they actually show live surgery of a woman having varicose veins cut out without pain killer and she feels it but not as pain, it is redirected some how. I thought hypnosis was bullshit, but after watching her get hacked on without so much a flinching it seemed interesting. Could be total bullshit and she WAS numbed chemically....not sure.
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RyanDzundza · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:27 pm Post subject:

LOLatChristians · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:27 pm Post subject:

Who did the surgery? Was it in the U.S.?

baddogma · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:32 pm Post subject:

baddogma · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:32 pm Post subject:

I'd provide a link but I am blocked from Youtube at work.
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