A pop culture staple is when, under interrogation, a person passes out from the pain and the villain says “We’ll get nothing out of him for now,” or something along those lines.
What really happens to the body under such torture? When you “pass out” from the pain, is it because your body is shutting down to protect you from more pain? Or are your pain receptors overloaded and your body just can’t handle any more sensation?
If the pain of something was so intense that I passed out, I can’t imagine why continued application wouldn’t wake you up in the same way that pricking a sleeping person with a needle would wake them up. When someone is passed out from pain, what effect does the application of more pain have on the body? In other words, can pain bring back consciousness as well as cause unconsciousness?
And, no, I am not a torturer-in-training. I do not need answer fast.
But I always wondered why unconsciousness, and not death, occurs first when the maximum pain tolerance has been surpassed.
I believe passing out from pain is a myth, or hollywood invention.
Most paramedics and gruesome real accident videos online can tell you that people can be in unimaginable pain, bodies mangled horribly, and still be totally conscious.
I once felt very lightheaded and nearly passed out after an injury, however, I am not sure that pain was the reason, because I’ve felt even worse pain than that injury and didn’t pass out. Furthermore, while I was extremely lightheaded, I would certainly have felt any additional pain that happened.
I think the notion that pain makes one pass out is wishful thinking. People like to tell themselves that this mechanism exists because the idea of being conscious in the midst of terrible suffering is, well, terrible. But unfortunately, I don’t think it’s reality; I think many people do remain conscious in the midst of horrific pain.
I passed out twice from pain, both times on the way to the hospital. At least i think it was the pain, one time it was my appendix and the next time extreme bloating from gas.
Unless one goes into severe shock (see actual medical definition), I don’t see unconsciousness occurring.
I once slit (deeply) a thumb with a utility knife. Very little bleeding For some dumb reason that caused me to pass out - I was awakened by the blood dripping onto my palm (hand curled upward).
I once put a finger in a table saw - this was potentially life threatening - I felt no pain and was conscious all the way to the ER - where I did go into shock, but did not pass out.
Because agony (or just pain) is a good way to rouse someone. The sternal rub being the classic, but a fingernail squeeze is even better. Even if you’re good and sound asleep, a lunula squeeze will perk ya right up. Even people with a severe level of brain injury (on the Glasgow Coma Scale) will respond to pain by grimacing and opening their eyes, if only briefly.
Most people who pass out from pain (and no, it’s not common) do so because they hyperventilate or they hold their breath and/or bear down and cause a vasovagal response. Out like a light. But within a few minutes, the pain will wake them up again.
If a person remains unconscious after vagaling out, then something besides the pain is causing that, like blood loss leading to actual shock, or seizures, or low/high blood sugar or brain damage or drug overdose.
Pain is not an uncommon cause of vasovagal syncope (loss of consciousness). It’s more common with visceral pain, but any sufficiently strong pain stimulus may induce a reflex drop in blood pressure via the vagal nerve system. No valsalva maneuver is necessary, though it may contribute.
And more painful stimuli won’t necessarily wake a person up if their blood pressure is too low to keep them conscious in the first place.