Pain thresholds in 'the olden days'

[EinsteinaGogo]

Right now, I'm keenly watching for dentists to re-open for non-urgent appointments.

I have a toothache starting that's not terrible but still really bugs me.

In the past, I've had an abscess which was genuine agony, and a ruptured disc that took around 6 months of incredible pain and inability to move before surgery.

I've had pain relief for all of these things -
Some worked better than others.

I was just thinking - what on earth did people do before pain relief was readily available?

They suffered. A lot.

Actually, they could access things like opium to help if they could afford them!

It was common for people to have all their teeth taken out as young adults to prevent later painful and expensive problems.

In childbirth they were given a bit of rope and told to bite on it (my grandmother) - probably a good job they had no teeth cos that would have loosened them all

When I was about ten I had a toothache that was just starting to twinge, just before Christmas. My parents were going to take me to the dentist but I was too scared and pretended the pain had gone off.

Then, the pain really kicked in, just as Christmas started. My father said that if I'd lied and it flared up over Christmas he would be furious as everything would be closed.

I spent the whole Christmas with an unbearable raging toothache that I was too scared too tell anyone about because my Dad would be furious.

At ten I would sit there politely declining a pick out of the Variety Street Box saying I didn't want any......I don't know how my parents didn't know something was wrong.

By the time we came out of Christmas the nerve in the tooth had died and I was fine.......though the tooth then needed pulling out because of decay two years later.

I imagine in medieval times you would ride the pain out until it killed the nerve off. It's not fun though.

Alcohol. And opium. But also people can tolerate pain and survive. Not pleasant but survivable.

I hate injections especially for dental work. I had root canal treatment in two teeth and didn't have any anaesthetic as I would rather have the pain. Which actually really wasn't that bad. However if I could have taken a tablet instead of having an injection then I would have done!