Why do they tend to downplay it so much most of the time? Do they truly not think it will be painful? Or is there some other reason for that?
In: Biology
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It’s also partly a placebo/nocebo thing. You likely trust your docs to be correct, so when they say it’ll only hurt a little bit, there is a good chance it’ll actually hurt less than it’d do without saying anything.
If they’d say “Oh this? This’ll hurt like a motherfucker”, that’d prolly make it hurt more as you’re now expecting it to.
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Sometimes the doctors say it because they want to avoid panic. But sometimes when they say the pain will be barely noticeable they can be based on the majority of people or on their books, and that’s not always the case. It can happen that you are more sensitive to pain than most people. Then you’ll feel more. It’s not exactly a rule the amount of pain each person experiences from each type of touch. Some people can even feel needles and cuts without it being painful to them. It’s how the human body works (like a random generator).
The thing about avoiding panic it’s because sometimes the psychological effects of panic can increase the pain. The fear increases the perception of pain in the brain. And also you can move your body for being nervous and cause issues that would cause more pain. Therefore; you believing there will be no pain may help avoiding that.
For some people this mechanism is not helpful because they get more scared over the lies. If that’s your case, it’s valid for you to tell any doctors you meet to be honest with you. Otherwise it will be a problem for them.
because they did a study. If Doctors tell you “This wont hurt a bit” it hurts less than if the Doctor tells you “This is going hurt like, a lot!” https://www.comforttalk.com/images/TrainingDayManuscripts/Pain.2005.pdf
Everyone’s pain tolerance is different. Something might hurt terribly bad to you but may only be discomfortable to others. Personally, I would be greatly disappointed if my doctor said, “This is going to hurt a great deal” and then I hardly noticed it. I would never trust him again.
I asked a relative who is a physician the same question regarding a GYN appointment. This is the explanation as best as I can recall it. If you tell someone it’s going to hurt, it magnifies their perception as painful, thus increasing the pain. Also, keep in mind that pain thresholds vary. (I personally plan ahead and have some Tylenol on board for GYN appointments now that I know what to expect.)
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