The Upside – Extreme Pain Tolerance

It’s true, from time to time I try to show that if you look hard enough, you can find an upside to everything, even canker sores.  I posted in the past how ulcers keep you fit and trim.  But they also give you something of a superpower…

Extreme tolerance for pain.

Look, you’ve gotta eat.  Even if it feels as if a Japanese Giant Hornet has taken up residence in your mouth whenever you bite on something.  So people with RAS have two options:  die, or engage in the German philosophy of schmerzenficken.

You learn to tune it out.

Tis but a scratch.

This over time gives RAS sufferers a nearly superhuman level of pain tolerance.  Some examples:

I can change light bulbs immediately after turning off the light.

There are women with RAS who reportedly have gone through 36 hours of labor only to be surprised when the baby popped out.

That dude from 127 Hours who chopped off his own hand expressed the feeling of “a tickle”.

Once in 1972, fifteen Buddhist monks set themselves on fire in a demonstration.  One of them eventually just got up and walked away, asking for some grape juice.  Guess what they found on his tongue…

One time when camping I sat down on a cactus for 2 hours without realizing it.

Ben Stiller, who gets canker sores, didn’t even know the camera was rolling in the bathroom scene at the beginning of There’s Something About Mary.  When director Peter Farrelly told him to act like he was in pain, he said, “What’s that?”

People with RAS watch Faces of Death videos and laugh.

I have a cousin who had his testicles attacked by an alligator snapping turtle and thought it was jock itch.

So maybe it’s not always a good thing.

But hey, if you need a light bulb changed, you know who to call.