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Women More Sensitive to Pain Than Men
healthday.com ^

Posted on 04/01/2004 5:43:09 PM PST by chance33_98

Women More Sensitive to Pain Than Men

But study didn't find any racial differences in pain thresholds

THURSDAY, April 1 (HealthDayNews) -- Blacks and whites have about the same sensitivity to pain, but women appear to be more sensitive to it than men.

That's what Duke University researchers report in the April issue of the Journal of Pain.

"Many pain medications are addictive and have unpleasant side effects, so it's important for physicians to be able to understand exactly how much pain their patients are experiencing," lead researcher and psychologist Dr. Tavis Campbell said in a prepared statement.

He conducted the study while at Duke; he's now at the University of Calgary in Canada.

"This research supports well-established findings of slightly higher sensitivity to pain among women compared to men, but revealed no difference between whites and African-Americans," Campbell said.

Previous research and anecdotal evidence have suggested blacks are more sensitive to pain than whites. Campbell suggested pain assessment procedures may be responsible for such racial differences in pain sensitivity.

His study included 76 men and 59 women aged 25 to 45; 72 were black, the rest white. A blood pressure cuff was inflated on the arm of each study participant and left inflated for several minutes. That created an aching sensation. The participants rated their pain according to standard pain rating scales, which gauge both the intensity and the unpleasantness of the pain.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: health; pain
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1 posted on 04/01/2004 5:43:09 PM PST by chance33_98
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To: chance33_98
This is the most bogus study I have ever read. Tell me that men deal with cramps and labor pains. Women that I know work every day with chronic pain...arthritis, fibroneuralgia, pinched nerves, etc.

Men with similar conditions call in sick or are on disability.

2 posted on 04/01/2004 5:46:38 PM PST by Miss Marple
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To: chance33_98
Wow what a revelation!! I also heard we landed on the moon!!
3 posted on 04/01/2004 5:46:58 PM PST by Shepster (Hook 'em Horns!!!)
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To: All
Rank Location Receipts Donors/Avg Freepers/Avg Monthlies
39 Arizona 10.00
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10.00


145.50
12

Thanks for donating to Free Republic!

Move your locale up the leaderboard!

4 posted on 04/01/2004 5:46:58 PM PST by Support Free Republic (I'd rather be sleeping. Let's get this over with so I can go back to sleep!)
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To: chance33_98
This post really hurts me.
5 posted on 04/01/2004 5:47:34 PM PST by LurkedLongEnough (Bush '04 --- in a F'n landslide.)
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To: chance33_98
I can tell you my wife gets real sensitive about every 28 days.
6 posted on 04/01/2004 5:49:30 PM PST by Drango (2 FReep is 2B --- 2B is 2 FReep)
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To: Miss Marple
I agree with you. I don't believe this at all.
7 posted on 04/01/2004 5:50:49 PM PST by Dog Gone (End Freepathons. Join the Dollar a Day Club!)
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To: Miss Marple
So all men with similar conditions call in sick or are on disability? Gimmie a break?
8 posted on 04/01/2004 5:51:18 PM PST by Shepster (Hook 'em Horns!!!)
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To: chance33_98
This absolutely must be an April Fool's joke....can't imagine men being able to stand menstrual cramps and labor pains. Every guy I've known has been a big baby when it comes to pain. They get a little sniffle in their nose and have to lay in bed all day being mothered. Women just endure on, embracing the pain as they get their work done.
9 posted on 04/01/2004 5:51:42 PM PST by sonserae
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To: chance33_98
Are women more emotional and also show this in pain tolerance?
10 posted on 04/01/2004 5:53:00 PM PST by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: chance33_98
There is no question of this in my household.
11 posted on 04/01/2004 5:53:46 PM PST by JmyBryan
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To: Shepster
My husband doesn't have a pain threshold. He has a DISCOMFORT threshold. He can't stand to be hot, hungry, or itchy, let alone in pain. For tooth extractions, he had to be on hydrocodone.

I had the same tooth extractions and needed not 25% of the medication he needed.

I had both my children with NO anesthetic.

Ask almost any woman on this forum. You will find that the big babies on pain are their husbands/boyfriends.

I don't have a "study", but I know what I know.

12 posted on 04/01/2004 5:56:56 PM PST by Miss Marple
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To: chance33_98
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1092103/posts
13 posted on 04/01/2004 5:59:59 PM PST by gg188
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To: Miss Marple
Tell me that men deal with cramps...

Believe me - we do. Why? Because we want to be with that special woman after her cramps are gone.

14 posted on 04/01/2004 6:00:48 PM PST by Senator Pardek
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To: Senator Pardek
And, when you get the flu or a cold, do you whine and demand pampering? Do you go to work without complaining?

I doubt it.

One time I was in the emergency room with heart races, and my husband asked the nurses if they had any cold medicine for him.

Case closed.

15 posted on 04/01/2004 6:03:19 PM PST by Miss Marple
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To: Miss Marple

"Eww!
I broke a nail!"


16 posted on 04/01/2004 6:04:00 PM PST by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: sonserae
They get a little sniffle in their nose and have to lay in bed all day being mothered.

It's called a good excuse. ;)

17 posted on 04/01/2004 6:05:09 PM PST by Buggman (President Bush sends his regards.)
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To: Miss Marple
I don't have a "study", but I know what I know.

"Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is already made up"

... There there, sweetie ... we'll make those nasty ol' facts just go away.

18 posted on 04/01/2004 6:05:15 PM PST by ArrogantBustard (Chief Engineer, Tomas de Torquemada Gentlemens' Club)
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To: billorites
Breaking a nail hasn't anything to do with pain. It PO's women because they have an ugly, broken nail which they will have to have fixed at the salon.
19 posted on 04/01/2004 6:05:47 PM PST by Miss Marple
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To: ArrogantBustard
Demonstrate your opinion with some anecdotal evidence. I have.

In addition, I do remember Ashley Montague's book, The Natural Superiority of Women.

20 posted on 04/01/2004 6:07:36 PM PST by Miss Marple
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To: Miss Marple; All
I know a female bodybuilder who can bench press more than I can. Ergo - females, on average, can bench press more than men - Q.E.D.

BTW - there's a physiological reason why females are affected more than males when it comes to cold temperatures. Quick - who can explain it?

21 posted on 04/01/2004 6:08:19 PM PST by Senator Pardek
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To: Miss Marple
It doesn't make sense to me or the wife. My wife is a P.A. and says she was taught that women have a much higher threshold of pain to deal with the pain of childbirth.
22 posted on 04/01/2004 6:09:24 PM PST by cripplecreek (you tell em i'm commin.... and hells commin with me.)
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To: chance33_98
Duh!
23 posted on 04/01/2004 6:10:27 PM PST by jackbill
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To: chance33_98
I just asked my medical doctor husband what he
thought about the finding of this rather bogus research.

This one line from the article told him all he needed:

"His study included 76 men and 59 women aged 25 to 45; 72 were black, the rest white."

This isn't a study, it is not even a decent sampling.





24 posted on 04/01/2004 6:11:59 PM PST by onyx (Kerry' s a Veteran, but so were Lee Harvey Oswald, Timothy McVeigh and Benedict Arnold.)
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To: Senator Pardek
Smaller body size may account for it. however, there are studies which indicate than women are LESS likely than men to succumb to hypothermia.
25 posted on 04/01/2004 6:12:32 PM PST by Miss Marple
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To: Senator Pardek
BTW - there's a physiological reason why females are affected more than males when it comes to cold temperatures. Quick - who can explain it?

It's not necessarily a fact, but *if* it is true, then it probably has something to do with reproduction and maintaining the proper body temperature when a fetus is in there.

26 posted on 04/01/2004 6:14:31 PM PST by NYC GOP Chick ("If I could shoot like that, I would still be in the NBA" -- Bill Clinton, circa 1995)
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To: Miss Marple
Tell me that men deal with cramps and labor pains.

If I read the article right, the study indicates that that degree of pain wouldn't bother a man very much. Maybe not even be noticed.

27 posted on 04/01/2004 6:14:36 PM PST by templar
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To: chance33_98
That's what Duke University researchers report in the April issue of the Journal of Pain.

SNIP

He conducted the study while at Duke; he's now at the University of Calgary in Canada.

"This research supports well-established findings of slightly higher sensitivity to pain among women compared to men, but revealed no difference between whites and African-Americans," Campbell said.

Who funded this "research" at Duke? NIH? NSF?

If there were "well established findings", why was someone wasting more money on this study?

If the original researchers were men and if they were married, they would not have needed to look further.

28 posted on 04/01/2004 6:15:01 PM PST by jackbill
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To: Miss Marple
My house is the same way. The men I know are BIG babies when it comes to any little boo boo's or even a sniffle.
29 posted on 04/01/2004 6:15:17 PM PST by codyjacksmom
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To: Miss Marple
Don't come bellyachin' to me 'cause you married a wuss. From where I'm looking, if somebody's whining about the weather being too (cold|hot|moderate), the shoes being too (loose|tight), the poor aching body parts, etc. ad idiotam, I can guaran-Kerryin'-tee you one thing: the whiner has two X chromosomes. The XY crowd just soldiers on ... Sometimes, I think I married the only non-whining female homo sapiens on the planet.

OBTW, the plural of "anecdote" is not "data". That's one of the first things we teach scientists. I guess you missed that.

30 posted on 04/01/2004 6:15:17 PM PST by ArrogantBustard (Chief Engineer, Tomas de Torquemada Gentlemens' Club)
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To: Miss Marple
there are studies which indicate than women are LESS likely than men to succumb to hypothermia.

Because we're smart enough to know when to come in from the cold! :D

31 posted on 04/01/2004 6:15:53 PM PST by NYC GOP Chick ("If I could shoot like that, I would still be in the NBA" -- Bill Clinton, circa 1995)
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To: Senator Pardek
Major guess: Women have a greater water to solid mass ratio? Connected with the reason we don't perspire as much?

32 posted on 04/01/2004 6:16:02 PM PST by madison10
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To: Miss Marple
Demonstrate your opinion with some anecdotal evidence. I have.

,,, you actually went way past that. You told us you have a husband. How did someone like you manage to get one?

33 posted on 04/01/2004 6:16:38 PM PST by shaggy eel
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To: shaggy eel
Some folks are kinky that way ... ;'}
34 posted on 04/01/2004 6:18:02 PM PST by ArrogantBustard (Chief Engineer, Tomas de Torquemada Gentlemens' Club)
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To: Miss Marple
You are assuming that all tooth extractions have the same amount of pain. I had my 4 wisdom teeth (NOT impacted) pulled and bled a lot for several days with plenty of pain and went to work and had to be sent home for several days because I went back to work the same day, but my 16 year old daughter had her's pulled and it barely bleed or hurt and she went to school the next day.

It's the same with labor pains. Some are worse than others. My wife handled it much better the first time than the second. But given the same amount of pain on the whole most men will handle it better. Saying how men would handle labor or menstrual cramps cannot be proven since we do not experience them.

35 posted on 04/01/2004 6:18:32 PM PST by Shepster (Hook 'em Horns!!!)
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To: Senator Pardek
BTW - there's a physiological reason why females are affected more than males when it comes to cold temperatures. Quick - who can explain it?

Does it have to do with frigidity?

36 posted on 04/01/2004 6:18:39 PM PST by jackbill
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To: ArrogantBustard
No, I know full well that I don't have data, which is why I talked about anecdotal evidence. I haven't done a study, nor do I intend to do one.

And as for my husband...well, I have stories from several friends, my brother, my son, my grandson, and my nephews.

Nothing has convinced me that men tolerate pain better than women.

My husband isn't a wuss. It is simply that his pain threshhold is lower than mine. I have ONE sister out of three who is like him. The rest are like me.

37 posted on 04/01/2004 6:18:53 PM PST by Miss Marple
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To: Miss Marple
Actually, it goes thus - women have a higher fat/muscle ratio than men - fat takes up more space than muscle per lb., so a 150 lb. woman would have more surface area of skin than a 150 lb. man. Therefore - there's more sq. inches of skin to release heat.
38 posted on 04/01/2004 6:19:03 PM PST by Senator Pardek
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To: sonserae
Every guy I've known has been a big baby when it comes to pain. They get a little sniffle in their nose and have to lay in bed all day being mothered.

Sounds like you've got a bunch of sissy girly-men in your life. My suggestion would be to get out of California.

39 posted on 04/01/2004 6:19:20 PM PST by squidly (I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosity he excites among his opponents)
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To: shaggy eel
Well, aren't you a nice person! Thank you so much for your insult, which wasn't germain to the discussion.

Here, let me apply some hot coals to your feet and see how long you can tolerate it. Then we will have some data.

40 posted on 04/01/2004 6:21:24 PM PST by Miss Marple
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To: NYC GOP Chick
LOL - wrong!!!
41 posted on 04/01/2004 6:21:44 PM PST by Senator Pardek
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To: shaggy eel; Miss Marple
Regarding your post #33:
you are rude.
42 posted on 04/01/2004 6:22:11 PM PST by onyx (Kerry' s a Veteran, but so were Lee Harvey Oswald, Timothy McVeigh and Benedict Arnold.)
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To: Miss Marple
about anecdotal evidence

"Anecdotal evidence" is an oxymoron. Anyone who thinks it actually proves anything is a regular moron.

If you want to make a mathematician laugh in your face, offer him a "proof by example"

If you want to make a statistician laugh in your face, offer him "anecdotal evidence".

43 posted on 04/01/2004 6:22:19 PM PST by ArrogantBustard (Chief Engineer, Tomas de Torquemada Gentlemens' Club)
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To: Senator Pardek
No, YOU are! I just called a doctor and asked if that's true about women being more affected by cold weather and he said it's bull. :D
44 posted on 04/01/2004 6:23:18 PM PST by NYC GOP Chick ("If I could shoot like that, I would still be in the NBA" -- Bill Clinton, circa 1995)
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To: chance33_98
I gave birth twice without medication - the second time was back labor. Women may be more sensitive, but we also have a much higher pain threshold.
45 posted on 04/01/2004 6:23:51 PM PST by mombonn (Viva Bush/Cheney!)
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To: Miss Marple
My gosh, MM, reading several of the posts
here by MEN, you'd think they were all having
a "monthly" tonight. B-i-t-c-h-y.
46 posted on 04/01/2004 6:24:31 PM PST by onyx (Kerry' s a Veteran, but so were Lee Harvey Oswald, Timothy McVeigh and Benedict Arnold.)
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To: chance33_98
You're a male pig for posting this.

How dare you? ;)
47 posted on 04/01/2004 6:24:32 PM PST by freedom44
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To: onyx
,,, I'll cherish your assessment.
48 posted on 04/01/2004 6:24:32 PM PST by shaggy eel
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To: shaggy eel
,,, I'll cherish your assessment.



Not to be cherished, just
BE WARNED.
Your rude post is a personal attack on MM.
Understand?
49 posted on 04/01/2004 6:26:05 PM PST by onyx (Kerry' s a Veteran, but so were Lee Harvey Oswald, Timothy McVeigh and Benedict Arnold.)
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To: billorites
LOL! Just pinch her on the inner thigh while horsing around:)
50 posted on 04/01/2004 6:26:11 PM PST by BobS
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