Doesn’t That Hurt?

A common symptom of EBF3-HADDS is a high pain tolerance. Chloe never cried at shots. She never cried when she was hungry. She never cried when she had gas. She never cried when she banged her head on the floor. She never cried when they took blood or when they dug around trying to find a vein for an IV. She never cried. Period.

While technicians dug around in her arm for a good vein, she would just lie perfectly still staring deeply into their eyes with her gorgeous blue eyes, imploring them to glance her way. She never flinched. She just sweetly stared a hole right in their hearts. They could never stand it. Seriously, if anyone cried during a blood draw, it was the technician having to see this beautiful silent baby  lie there peacefully.

Chloe once sat too near a fire ant bed in our backyard in Texas. Without my knowing it, they were stinging her bottom and her legs and all around her socks. She never moved. She never cried. She never even processed the pain. Thankfully I was very close by and noticed fairly quickly, but not before she had a dozen or more bites that had welt up on her skin.

I always had to caution caregivers to be careful about the temperature of Chloe’s bath water since she wouldn’t know or notice or alert them if it was too hot.

You know that sense and feeling too hot to the campfire that causes children and adults to automatically step away from it? Yeah, it’s nonexistent in my girl. She doesn’t feel it, doesn’t process it, and would never step away to keep herself safe from the heat of the fire.

Nurses commented often how “good” Chloe was for her vaccination appointments. She would lie still, not fight the nurses, and never make a peep when she received the shot. She literally never processed the shots as pain.

Did she feel them at all? Did she process them as some other feeling other than pain? Did they hurt, but her body didn’t know how to react with a flinch or a cry? I have no idea.

She eventually learned to cry. I remember the first time she cried after hitting her head. I celebrated! Seems strange to think about. But it’s true.

It ends up that a high pain tolerance is a very common symptom of EBF3-HADDS.

Again, it’s nice to have company. High pain threshold folks unite! 🙂