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The original was posted on /r/askscience by /u/sammyand94 on 2023-08-05 00:08:52+00:00.

The explanation I’ve always heard for why people seem to have often dramatically different experiences of pain to one another is either “pain is subjective” or “people have different pain tolerances”. The former is a non-answer and I don’t accept that it’s simply an issue of how much pain individuals are able to tolerate.

When I had my IUD inserted there was a sharp cramping pain for a second then it was over. It really was no big deal. I have known people to almost pass out from the pain. Some people who dislocate their shoulder might wince a bit but are perfectly able to carry on conversations, others with the same injury are unable to move or think.

That’s not an issue of feeling differently about the same experience, that’s people having completely different experiences/ sensations.

How much do we know about the physiological processes that cause us to experience pain? Why do seemingly the same injuries or experiences cause such dramatically different sensations or levels of pain in different people?