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Redheads Need More Anesthesia than Others
Natural redheads need 20% more anesthesia than other people report scientists. "Redheads are likely to experience more pain from a given stimulus and therefore require more anesthesia to alleviate that pain." said Dr. Edwin Liem of the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Anesthesiology is still very much a mystery to scientists, and picking the right dosage that keeps someone out without killing them is still very much an art. Studies like this will help them determine how anesthesics work and why.
They're just more pissy, thats all. Blondes go under real fast because theres not as much brain to put asleep.
Cheers,
Abe.
Thanks Slashdot!
Do they need 20% less stimulation? :)
so that's why I spend so much on alcohol...
Is it a fricking slow news day or what? I'd like to see a follow-up post about blondes having more fun.
Red hair is a phenotype particular only to scarce areas of Northern Europe, mostly in Scotland, Ireland, and Scandinavia -- even there, it is not entirely common.
Blazing red hair is a very recessive trait created entirely by past inbreeding in Europe -- and past inbreeding is a common heritage for Europe, as well, since most Europeans can trace their ancestors back to a very small group of perhaps a dozen Ice Age survivors. It requires not only a 3rd-level hair gene (0-3 for red), it also requires a very low lightness gene (0 for platinum blond, down thru 12 to pitch black), which is extremely recessive as well.
Since the trait is so recessive, the extinction of redheads is predicted to be sometime in the late 21st or early 22nd century, due to population implosion of the native populations of northern Europe and the traits being lost due to interbreeding with those with dominant dark-haired traits.
It's no surprise that redheads have other strange recessive genes that we are only now discovering -- this could prove to be very interesting, and could help a lot in future gene therapy.
"Hey brother Christian with your high and mighty errand / your actions speak so loud I can't hear a word you're saying"
This proves that correlation studies can be used to find many results. You can find that statistically, red-heads feel pain easier, but this does not say anything about any single individual.
There is a reason to why one says "lies, damn lies and statistics. Correlation has been used to "prove" many things such as racist ideas (superiority due to colour), intelligence from weight etc. A good correlation between two parameters does *not* prove that they are connected!
I am a redhead who is dating a redhead, and who has red haired relatives all over my family tree. I can tell you that redhead pain sensitivity is no more or less than anyone else. You can believe what you want, but just remember: If you tell an irishman he can't handle pain, he'll cut his own balls off to prove it, then he'll shove them down your throat and stomp your ass into a mudhole so you remember. Believe me.
... meanwhile, the cure for cancer people have given up and gone home.
Then again, these were scientists from the University of Kentucky. Who better to study redheads, than rednecks?
On a serious note, this doesn't surprise me too much. Redheads are well known for having extremely sensitive skin. Ever see a redhead with a tan? If you have, it was a rarity, most redheads go straight from pasty-white to fire-engine red; freckles (another sensitivity based reaction to the sun) are more common among redheads than folks with locks of other colors. So it seems logical that this would extrapolate to other areas of pain and sensitivity.
Bart Wilkins
Chrisd: I know.
Taco: well, do soemethiung abouttit man!!1!
Chrisd: Some poor schmuck submitted a storie a few minutes ago about the effect of anesthesis on readhe...
Taco: yeah, post that. Do it!!1!!
Chrisd: Are you sure???
Taco: Do it, dammit!!!1!1!
Chrisd: OK...
Yeah, I've noticed that if the girl's a redhead, I usually have to slip an extra hit of roofies into her drink.
Its just the Irish blood. Its gotten too used to the mind-numbing effects of tranquilizers and other barbiturates.
Why, even after a double dose of Novocain, I always feel some pain when the dentist works on my cavities (black/grey hair here)? Is it worth it to ask for another hit? :-)
Last time I told the dentist the drill was hurting he told me "I'll get it done quicker then"... ARGH! Quicker hurts more! (You're better just not to say anything).
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
How to see the difference between a fake and a real redhead 101
:)
I'm sure this might boost the number of Anesthesiologists a bit in the future
"Son, in a sporting event, it's not whether you win or lose, it's how drunk you get" - Homer J. Simpson
From the article: "Red hair is the first visible human trait...linked to anesthetic requirement." Not sure what "anesthetic requirement" actually is, but I recall that years ago it was reported that blue-eyed people have a higher tolerance for pain. Whether that lowers their anesthetic requirement... I believe "anesthesia" means "without sensation," in other words unconscious. So what are we talking about here? Do we mean the ability to tolerate perceived pain, or how easily one slips into unconsciousness after being drugged? Are the two related?
I'm greatly disturbed that this got modded 'Interesting'....
as a natural redhead, i've never dyed my hair. about 95% of my friends w/out red hair have dyed their hair red (or some other color); thus, i wonder if the chemicals in hair dye affect the brain so that it is less stimilated by pleasure, pain, etc...
-MB
Red-Haired Girls
[Setting: A Tree-Filled Field in the Woods.]
[The It's A Fact Girl jumps in front of the camera and into a close up.]
It's A Fact Girl: It's A Fact.
[The It's A Fact Girl runs back into the woods, in sped up motion. When she stops, Scott as The Queen of England leans over in front of the camera and smiles as she addresses it.]
Scott: Hello. When I was a little girl, if a child was born with red hair, she was considered irreparably evil and drowned as a witch. It's a fact!
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
Is this why Redheads are so much sassier? Because they're so much more physically sensitive? ... in bed?
- http://pakman.sytes.net/
Novacaine only reduces pain by about half to three quarters for me, and that topical gel stuff they put on your gums before the injection? That actually CAUSES me pain. I told them to cut it out and just do without it.
Carbocaine's usually used for shorter term dental work as it doesn't last as long, but I find it's fine for the average 30-45 min job and then I don't have to be numb for another few hours too, which is a plus. The downside is it kinda tickles a little cause it feels like you've got a mouthfull of fizzing soda for some reason.
Introducing the new Occam Fusion! Now with sqrt(-1) fewer blades!
Redheads Need More Anesthesia than Others
What section is this, ChrisD's lurve tips?
I am a Karma Library.
In Northern Romania (Maramures) there is a village where 90% of the people have red hair. The 10% without red hair are originally not from the village
every time I have been knocked out I wake up in a rage swearing and kicking and screaming , but that cause also be cause im scotish
I'm blonde, but can see light tinges of red in my facial hair...it comes from my grandmother who's a natural strawberry blonde; my uncle is definately a redhead.
What I've noticed is that when it comes to alcohol, caffiene, and other intoxicants/stimulants, I need a much higher dosage to feel the effects. I have a higher alcohol tolerance than antyone I know, matched only by a binge drinker who weighs 60 lbs more than I do.
I don't think that I'm more susceptible to pain either. Friends frequently refer to me as the guy with the 'asbestos hands'. If anything, I have a higher pain tolerance than most.
Drugs, just like pain and other nerve stimulus (I have very strong willpower over being tickled even though I am quite ticklish) seem to require stronger amounts to affect me to the level as the average populace.
I guess I can attribute this to my redhair or Dutch genes, being one and the same.
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
I've got red hair, bright red. I've got freckles too, though fewer now than when i was a kid. I'm 20 now. Anyways, the only thing that i've noticed about having red hair is that you get sunburnt easily. Other than that, nothing. In fact, i think i have a higher than average tolerance for pain. It's hard to compare levels of pain with others, of course, but I don't find myself hurting more than others at all.
The article states that, in general, redheads felt more pain. But what if i don't? What if i feel less pain than average? Directly linking hair-color to pain reception is tenuous at best, and it seems like doctors messing with my anestheisa beacuase of my hair color could be bad, with the threat of coma.
I've never heard of hair color affecting ANYTHING before. Sure race affects some things, like reactions to certain drugs, and diseases. Sex and age as well will determine the best treatment. But hair color? What about eye color, does that factor in?
It seems like this is a broad generaliztion, and i don't think this can be the deciding criteria for pain reception. I don't buy it this first time round, if only based on personal experience.
We are looking for women aged between 19-40 to take part in our research aiming to help us understand fundamental questions such as which systems in the brain produce unconsciousness and which modulate pain perception. The research is conducted using empirical studies. Basicly, we will stick you with nails and see how you react. Please send your applications to...
I would believe the test group contains a bit more than average of masochist individuals. :)
Another comment now that I've read the article.
They claim their findings indicate redheads are more susceptable to pain.
Based on what is presented in their article, an equaly valid point can be made:
anesthesia is less effective on redheads.
Both are legit conclusions from the presented evidence. Either redheads could feel more pain, or their bodies may not absorb/be affected by intoxicants as much.
Explains why the redheaded cultures are known for impressive drinking skills.
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
...and just rent a cheap hotel room, do a shitload of psychadelic drugs and shoot up some vodka intravenously, and you can fuck my fat slop hole until your buttcheeks go 180 miles per hour, all while being filmed by the MTV cameras!
Dad's too busy working on his latest mallcore album and playing on his latest mallcore Ozzfest tour -- plus he didn't like the "taco snotting" he got from the head caterer of CmdrTacoBell after he passed out from eating an entire mason jar full of Xanax a few years back.
I'm a specialist anaesthetist and for many years we have anecdotal reports of redheads being more resistant to anaesthesia. We certainly find clinically that this is the case and also there is information that they are more likely to suffer a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis). Many of these anecdotal reports are what start these interesting studies initially conducted on small samples and lead to serendipitous discoveries of how things work.
Keep in mind that you'll have to make the tranquilizer dart 20% heavier to make Carrot-Top less annoying
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
Patient: Uhm - WHAT are you doing?
...
Doctor: Well, Miss Everhart I need to verify that you're a 'real redhead' before we proceed with the operation to ensure proper dosage
The Pjammer Chronicles --
Well the theme is quite interesting but the story is, as usual relatively superficial, I don't get up what level of investigation they reached. So I fear that soon the Mass Media will start publishing such stories:
Eggheads can be knock down only with a hammer...
Shaking melonheads as a new form of anesthesy...
Lemonheads give always a twisted smile after receiving the approporiate dose of anesthesic...
I'm greatly disturbed that this got modded 'Interesting'....
:-)
Yeah, he didn't even realize the potential of a Beowulf cluster of electro-shock machines.
That'd be far more interesting to watch, don't you think?
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
this will be a much needed vacation for blondes who get made fun of, possibly now redheads will be the butt of every joke.
Slash-for-Thought
Hmm, this is not new news. A doctor (M.D.) friend told me about 15 years ago that your pain threshold and your hair colour were related.
If anyone paid for this research, they wasted their money. Better trying to find a cure for cancer instead.
>and that topical gel stuff they put on your gums before the injection? That actually CAUSES me pain.
:-/
Five bucks says it feels like your mouth is on fire wherever they apply it. I find it useless, too. Can't they find a better way to inject than to go an inch into the joint in my gums? I can't imagine there's anywhere else it could hurt more... And they make sure your muscles are as as stretched as possible for maximum pain (ok, they don't do it on purpose, and I could always lay off the candy).
"Don't worry, it just feels like a mosquito bite". Yeah, like a mosquito bite on my crotch, maybe.
Carbocaine sounds great, but with previous experiences with other prescription pain killers, I'm wary to try it.
Last major dental surgery was having wisdom teeth removed. After waking up, I puked lots of blood (I'm told I was a real winner for the amount -- and the first in the last while) and was given Toradol for the pain.
After two Toradols I sat in a seat for a while trying to catch my breath while my heart was racing (probably a stupid thing to do -- next time I'll get my ass to the hospital instead). So again, I lived with the pain, and used that super-duper tylenol they prescribe you instead.
Maybe I'm just an over-sensitive, over-complaining loser, though. Or it could be the fact I haven't been in hospital for anything serious for a couple of decades. No, the first one sounds more realistic.
Thanks for the suggestion anyways. I'll ask about it...
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
I don't think that I'm more susceptible to pain either. Friends frequently refer to me as the guy with the 'asbestos hands'. If anything, I have a higher pain tolerance than most
I don't buy it either. I'm pretty blond-ish (I've got reds in my beard and mixed in with a bunch of light colors in my hair) and I'm rather light-skinned. I'd describe myself almost exactly as you describe yourself. I even have a friend like yours with a higher tolerance than myself (although he's recently stopped drinking). I hardly feel pain and when I do it's usually too late.
I've broken all of my fingers (most twice), most of my toes, a few ribs, both ankles and both wrists. I have a 10" long "depression" in my skull from when I cracked it playing football in the house at age 6 (dove for a "pass", hit the little metal striker plate on the door jamb). I had a double hernia at 18 months old. When I was growing up, I'd say I had a cast/splint on something for about 3 months out of every year. For the longest time, everyone thought I was really fragile. Turns out I just didn't feel it when something broke, and so never had that "Don't dive into a tackle with your fingers sticking out" negative reinforcement. I'd break something and not notice until I couldn't bend a joint or it hurt later on when I moved it in some way.
I've even broken fingers and not known it. I once went in to the emergency room for a sprain or whatever and they discovered an old break I didn't remember. That was when I did go into the emergency room. After a while, I stopped because it was too expensive (and I had a full set of splints anyway). That's why to this day I can't touch type; I took typing class three times but could never complete it (twice for fingers, once for wrist).
I don't get cold very easily. I mean, wiping ice off a windshield is no big deal. Hot isn't terribly bothersome, either. Reaching into a campfire to move a log around or into water to get corn (or whatever) isn't something I normally think about not doing. It takes a couple more beers than most people to get a head of steam going, and I never ever throw up from drinking. I'm not ticklish. When I get a splinter, I just take it out with a scalpel and a small incision because it's easier and quicker than digging around. A healthy splash of rubbing alcohol afterward isn't bad at all. I've had a tooth (accidentally) removed without anesthesia. That hurt a lot. It takes a couple Vicodins to do any good. Curisouly, aspirin works very well for most stuff. When I get a headache, it's migraine-quality.
Long story short, I don't buy the relationship between hair color/skin tone and nerve responsiveness. I know I'm only a sample of one (and a highly biased researcher :-) but the theory just doesn't hold water. I am not more susceptible to pain than most people.
BTW, I haven't broken anything in four years. If the lack of negative physical feedback didn't teach me to be careful, the feedback of "no type, no money" sure did. I still do stuff like play paintball, it's just that I tend to think a little more carefully about what I need to do before I do it.
Oh yeah, I'm not Dutch. Scotch-Irish/English, with a teensy bit of Polish.
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
Shame Desilu didn't have access to this fine research 50 years ago... I remember Desi Arnaz's denial of Lucy's alleged Communist leanings (McCarthyism even got to Lucy): it went something along the lines of, "She's not red; in fact, the only thing that is red is her hair, and we're not even sure about that." Anyways, yeah. I was thinking of a dentist episode.
Wrists killing you? Not in 2 weeks. Learn Dvorak.
My mother used to work as a nurse in the delivery wards and every time they had a red-headed woman coming to deliver, they would put a hemorrhage watch on her. Seems that red-headed ladies were far likely to bleed during birth than ladies with other color hair. Anecdotal evidence, but useful still.
FYI she worked at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.
yellowcat ^_^ ??
Hahahahhahahahahahhahahahahah FP I R ELITE!!!!! Wooooooo!
It's a FACT.
He Left
Best of luck with the game company :)
OR
(b) Sex with a mare?
OH no - SAVE THE REDHEADS!!!
(No redheads were harmed in the making of this post.)
I vaguely recall reading somewhere that male and female responses to pain are somewhat different (beyond the obvious differential responses to anaesthetics caused by different body weight). Any of the anaesthetists who've posted care to comment?
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
The answer is: eyebrows.
> "Redheads are likely to experience more pain from a given stimulus and therefore require more anesthesia to alleviate that pain."
Huh? I can't think of anything more likely to *induce* pain than listening to that man-faced, pop-singing gasbag, Anesthesia.
Si
Why she's always screaming so much ;)
Any technology distinguishable from magic, is insufficiently advanced.
That is a bad idea. I know a girl who's boyfriend did this to her, and she's still traumatised by it to this day.
is quick to fire off. She even has bipolar! I've also known a redhead who was cool as ice. Then i've also known one crazy one too. All kinds of flavors, but I bet the article is true.
Two adults should be able to share honestly their sexual fantasies -- and if you're not adults, you're not supposed to have sex yet in the first place.
Many blondes are brainier than you'd suspect.
Just go to brainyblonde.com
Ya, it's really me and my site.
Anne Marie
Incidentally, I, the parent poster, agree wholeheartedly with the other two replies.
The article doesn't indicate that participants were tested for pain sensitivity in the absence of anesthetic. This is an important control case -- without it, there's no telling whether redheads have greater sensitivity to pain or greater insensitivity to anesthetic.
There may be some truth in that the "ugly chicks" are the best sex. It applies to less handsome men like me as well. I ain't pretty, but I know how to give good head...
another thing i've noticed between the different ethnic groups is the threshold for salty or spicy food.
asians and indians in general seem to be able to take more spicy and salty food before the food starts to taste bad to them, whereas i've noticed caucasians in general can't take one bit of spicy food, and their threshold for salt is quite low.
i had this classmate who has a caucasian dad and an asian mum, and he could take more spicy food than other caucasians, though not as much as asians or indians. ditto for salty food.
this perhaps explains why asians on holiday in europe or america always complain about the food being too rich and sweet and caucasians in turn, complain about asian food being too salty and spicy.
has anyone else noticed something similar? my guess is this has definitely got to do with genetics, though only to a certain extent since i've also noticed that resistance to spicy and salty food can be built up over time.
I have brown hair and a red beard and my mother's hairs was flaming red but is now grey.
All through my adult life I have had a higher pain tolerance than my friends, most of them anyway. However whenever I went to the dentist I always found that the anasthetic wore off before the dentist had finished which is not a nice feeling but I just bore it, not being able to grit my teeth.
As I realised that it wasn't going to change I explained the situation to my dentist and he upped the dose a little and voilà! Painfree dentistry.
I suspect that this has more to do with anasthetic than pain reception. I am no wuss after all, I once finished an aikido class with a broken thumb and never even thought about it.
Why would RedHat need anesthesia?
Uhh, never mind, I misread the title
Does this mean they're also more sensitive to sexual stimulations? God, I knew I loved redheads.
I don't care.
it's time to stop beating my red-headed stepchildren...
HAHA come on that was funny...
I don't know, the food I eat is generally *very* spicy (habanero flakes anyone?) and no one can eat the food I prepare for myself due to the salt content. *shrug* as with all things food wise, its really to taste, what food your raised on I think generally has more effect than what your ethnicity genetically was.
Red hair is a phenotype particular only to scarce areas of Northern Europe, mostly in Scotland, Ireland, and Scandinavia -- even there, it is not entirely common.
Everyone thinks I've got red hair because I'm Scottish. Actually - though I generally keep it quiet - I'm English, but I spent most of my life north of the border and have the accent to prove it. My granny on my mum's side of the family is descended from Norwegians, and that's where the red hair came from.
What I find really interesting is that, as far back as we can determine, the red hair has skipped a generation and shown up on one of the grandchildren... anyone else know of this happening?
Then don't date those kind of women.
Waiting until marriage is completely abnormal in today's society.
I agree mostly. I like Dutch spicy mustard. Most other caucasins don't realy like it. My entire dad's family likes spicy mustard but my mom hates it. My dad is Dutch, while my mom is Lithuanian and Scottish. German spicy mustard has sugar added and I hate it. I think there is a bit of genetic predisposition going on. That sure doesn't explain my love of Mexican and Oriental food though.
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
Like slashdot.org, huh?
For all except megacorps, the www is redundant. Though most people used it instead of http://. So if it starts www, of course it is http, dummy.
Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
...and I have found this to be true in my case. Whenever I go to my dentist he's always surprised how much anasthetic I need. I get the dosage. We wait like ten minutes or so, and it's still not numb. We wait longer. Still nothing. Finally he gives me another dose. Two hours after the filling/procedure/whatever NO PAINKILLERS exist any longer anywhere in my body, and my mouth hurts.
Maybe this sensitivity has a correlation to the stereotypical "redhead temper." I know I'm a bit prone to fits of rage myself. (Yeah, okay, I've got a horrible temper and no one should ever be a passenger in a car that I'm driving because a sweet little redheaded girl turns into a demonic monster from hell behind the wheel screeching all kinds of obscenities especially when I'm in New Jersey but that's another stereotype for another day. I digress.) I'm such a wuss about pain, so I might have just started reacting more to negative things. Hence the temper.
I don't know, just my two cents..
Angry IT woman in big clompy boots. And talking lint!.
redheads can be expensive
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
And no - I am not about to say some racist thing.
I just recall in my days of competitive running that I was taught at the OTC that people with genes from one side of Africa have certain body makeups and are mostly fast twitch fibers, and people from the other side are mostly slow twitch.
What does that have to do with any of this? The odd thing that they also noted was that natural red heads had nearly identical makeups to the fast twitch section of people that they studied in Africa.
This meant that if you were at a track race and were looking at the top runners winning a sprinting race - the odds were going to indicate it more likely that the people of African decent (aren't we all if we go back far enough?) would most likely be genetically from the same area, and the white people would most likely have red hair.
And once I started looking for it, I was impressed that it actually rang true - lots of fast Irish guys.
I've never seen much mention of anything pointing out red heads since that study until now - usually hair color isn't thought to mean much in the grand scheme of things (aside from my preferring blondes).
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
An update on that recessive blond gene story here. Turns out that the British media ran with a false story. The media, not checking facts? Who would have imagined it?
I tend to date mostly redheads, they seem to be ~20% more responsive. ;)
My dentist has always told me that I take an incredibly high dosage of the stuff they shoot in your gums when you have cavities filled. When they pulled my wisdom teeth last year, the pulling took about 10 minutes, max. Getting me numb pushed through 2 of his other appointments. Usually he gives you some shots and goes to work on someone else and returns when he's done there. That way the shots have time to take effect. Well when he did mine, he gave me a little extra like normal. Then went on to the next person. He came back and started poking around, asking if I could feel it. I could feel it and told him. More shots. He left again. Came back. Still could feel the prodding. More shots. He left, came back. Finally it was numb enough to procede. I always have needed a lot of that stuff to get numb. He could have simply played a tape of my old english teacher talking and I would have been right out. Nope. Always wants to do it the hard way. :-)
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
I found an article on the 'net some time ago which noted that blondes and redheads produced different (more effective?) pheromones than brunettes. It was quite an interesting article, from about the mid 1970s; unfortunately, when I try to google on it now, all I find are human pheromone perfume advertisements.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
My ex-girlfriend is a redhead. Things were fine till about the 2nd year we'd been together, then she turned into some sort of evil witch demon thing. After many arguments and fights it all ended when she cheated on me with my best friend.
If I'd done what I wished I'd done, no amount of anesthesia would have alleviated her pain.
Avoid redheads.... they're evil!!!
"Dre don't get as high as me.... I'm Cheech and Chong" - Snoop Dogg
Wow, I heard this on the radio today on the bus. Thats about all I have to say.
Does your Mom know you're posting stuff like this from her computer?
It's not as implausible as one might think. That area has seen incursions by the Arabs and the Greeks...
I mean seriously what the hell kinda sense does that make? It's like Al got more votes but George won. (-1, Funny)?!!?!!?!!? I think I need to sit down.
If your an anesthetist, do you get to check if she is a real redhead before the operation? Cause, I mean that would be a really cool job!
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
Just make sure your don't plug a 110v version into a 220v outlet... it really pissess off the morgue - it could take them hours to get that smile off her face!
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
I have blue eyes, and here are some of the problems associated with them:
More suceptible to macular degeneration later in life due to most of the following-
Extriemly sensitve to bright light. I really HATE camera flashes, and bastards who turn on the lights without warning after a movie. THat shit HURTS. I cant walk from a dark area into full sunlight without being largely blinded for 10-30 seconds, again, it hurts.
The damn eye test where he shines a light into the side of your eye in a dark room is almost impossible for me, i tear up so badly it takes twice as long, and i go through some tissues. None of the other test bother me.
One benifit, i seem to have better than average night vision.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
I'm a natural redhead (really bright, dark red), and my ancesters are from Norway.
At any rate, I've had dentists mention they can't believe how much novacaine they've had to give me. Also, I recently had some major surgery and the anesthesiologist actually commented on me being a redhead since he'd noticed we had a lower pain tolerance than most (this was at a major US hospital. shrug).
Interestingly, in my family, there are quite a few redheads (on the Norwegian side at least), and most of them are female for whatever reason, although it seems to always skip a generation (unless both parents were redheads).
Cass
Fast forward a couple of years. I slice my hand open and need to get stitches at the emergency room. The tech gives me a shot of lidocaine and leaves for ten minutes. Comes back and starts to clean the wound with iodine, and I wince because it is killing me. He's -stunned- that I can feel anything. He gives me another shot and rubs my hand hand "to get it dispersed". Comes back in another ten minutes and marvels as I cringe through the stitches. He said, "You are processing the anesthetic very quickly--you should advise your doctor of this in the future."
Since then, it's been a nice conversation point, but no it seems to have a little backing. I feel somewhat vindicated.
blarg.
"Redheads are likely to experience more pain from a given stimulus.."
This explains why you don't see as many redheads in anal-fisting videos.
Why redheads have piercings and piercers dye their hair red? Just curious...you never know..
>though my sensitivity to stimuli is much higher than average (I can read a photocopy with my fingertips, sometimes even writing in ink).
;-)
woah! Mr. DareDevil sir can i please have your autograph?
sadly dumb-ass mods wount mod this up...
Do we also experience more pleasure? I hope so, it would explain why I'm an eight-pump-chump...
Welcome to the land of the free...pay toll ahead...no photography...please open your bag...
Why did they spin this off as "redheads feel more pain"? Couldn't it as easily have been "Redheads have a higher tolerence to anesthetics"? How do you quantify something like "feeling pain" anyway? Seems a bit crackpot to me. Easily you can quantify how much of a particular substance someone can ingest to get a desired effect. But quantifying how much pain someone feels? Gimme a break.
Slightly off topic, but a former co-worker of mine always used to say "Redheads give me the shits". I was never too sure what he meant by that.
I have no sense of smell, whatsoever. This means that when our bathtub coughs up 3 inches of raw sewage and Im home alone, I dont find out about it until my mom gets home and can smell it from the driveway.
It also means that I can eat more spicy foods than any other human in the world, thats right I am the single greatest on the planet. When I was like 9 my mom used to yell at me for sucking tabasco out of the bottle and my dad always said it would ruin my stomach and I alwasys said "yeah right you crazy old fool" until one time I ate a small bottle of tabasco peppers (why are they green when tabasco sauce is red?) and I felt like I was constipated all night, "thanks for pretecting me from the dangers of the world father, way to do your job leaving the pepper drawer unlocked".
Well anyway my indian freind said, "Oh you stupid white boy you think you can handle hot stuff you should try indian food". So I goto the indian store (not where you buy indians) and I ask them "for the spiciest thing they sell", they goto the back and get me this big clear plastic bottle full of ketchupy looking stuff with a rooster on the front and a green squirt top (does anyone know what this is?) so they are all handling it like its plutonium or something and they sell it to me, I take it next door to the mexican food restraunt and squirt it all over my food, and its not spicy at all, so either I just uncovered a conspiracy for them to try to keep their sacred spice from the crazy white boy, or it wasnt that hot.
I have since discoverd Cholula, its not quite that spicey but has a good flavor, its not efficient for me to use the 5oz bottles from the store (i go through about 1 per meal) so we buy them 2 gallons at a time (that saves like 40 cents per ounce) from www.cholula.com.
I also cant detect flavor as much in foods (all jelly beans taste alike, even dirt and vomit flavored jelly beans from harry potter jelly bean collection (yes, harry potter jelly bean collection - tyler durden would roll over in his grave) of my cousin's). I have also been known to drink whole bottles of robotussin without flinching.
That's why I always tell it to the ones who already cut them off.
I guess that is why going to the dentist was so much more painfull for me. :) You know they say "this should make sure you don't feel a thing". But I still feel a thousand needles poking around.
my sig
The article states that, in general, redheads felt more pain.
It just says that some particular dose of drug is less likely to affect you enough to sustain serious surgery.
(Two cents from another redhead, who knows how painful dentistry can be).
Lisp is the Tengwar of programming languages.
One of my friends who is a redhead had to have surgery on his toe. After like 5 or 6 shots of local anesthetic (sp?), it wasn't numb at all. He finally had to be put to sleep.
A few years later, I had the same surgery and was completely numb after the first shot (black hair). So maybe there is a connection.
--Chris
I was told this too, I had major surgery last week and they were worried about this same thing in my case. INteresting...
For the little red haired girl in accounting...
Yesssss my precioussss
This
Obviously, since the poster is reading Slashdot, all this proves is that red-heads are better actresses.
Not so sure about that. Redheads' (and light blonds') inability to tan has more to do with their lack of melatonin - the stuff that makes your skin go dark. I don't think low melatonin (or lack thereof) has anything to do with nerve endings or them being closer to the surface, which in my mind would more closely be associated with higher sensitivity to pain.
What no redheaded step-child jokes?
Understanding is a three-edged sword. -- Kosh Naranek
The active ingredient in hot peppers, capsaicin, is a nerve toxin. Large doses (as in a lot of hot food) damage the nerves in the tounge and throat. The net result is that you are less sensitive to hot food, and need more "hot" to produce the same sensation as that first jalapeno on your virgin tounge.
What were you expecting?
I'm not an idiot (IQ in the 150s), I'm only 1/16 Polish, no inbreeding (that we know of), and Mr. Glass is slightly inaccurate; Mr. Not-Too-Careful is more like it. Although my name isn't Brasky, the thought has crossed my mind that the crack in the head might have something to do with it.
Oh yeah, no trophy needed. But it's so sweet you guys care!
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
... here in the UK and has always said 'beware the asthmatic, the overweight and the redhead!' Apparently they also bleed more and have more laryngospasm (whatever that is!)
This is great news, I will get 20% more pleasure from beating Carrot Top!
RP = Redheaded Pain
.2 + P
.2 + P
P = Pain suffered (in spankings)
RP = P *
6 = P *
P=5
So when my dad beats me like a redheaded stepchild; does that mean i'm going to suffer 20% more pain than when he beats me like a blonde headed step child?
It's Sriracha, a piquant blend of chillis and garlic in a convenient plastic squeeze bottle. And you're right: it's not that hot.
But it sure is tasty.
k.
"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
Long term exposure to Capsaicin such as extreme hot sauce may cause pain receptors to become "desensitized".
However, pain receptors are completely different from taste receptors. In fact, Capsaicin fakes out the pain receptors as it simulates real damage. This tricks the brain into producing endorphins, which promote a pleasant sense of well-being or even an alterted state of consciousness. The endorphin high can make spicy foods mildly addictive (and for some, such as myself, a complete obsession).
I had surgury on my shoulder a few years ago. The doc had to give me 3 times what he said he normally does because I just wasnt going to sleep. He said he the amount that he gave me would have put under a small horse. I just would turn green and then I was fine. I was still awake when I went into the OR and watched the docs getting thier equipment ready. They kept looking at me and asking each other why I was still awake. They finally gave me some O2 and told me to count backwards from 10 to 1. I made it to 3, took a deep breath, and I was finally out like a light. The doc told me that males in thier teens tend to be violent when they wake up from surgury. When I woke up I backhanded one nurse across the chest and then gave another a perfect right hook and broke her nose. Its also true that redheads bleed a lot too.
I've got quite red hair, so at least it would appear that I've got some sort of authority on which to base my claims.
My dentist never gives me enough novocain the first time around. When I had my wisdom teeth out, (all 4 at once, only local anaesthetic) I had to request additional novocain 3 times. The novocain then wore off before I got home, about 20 minutes.
I can also out drink almost everyone I know. I'm rail-thin (6' 140 lbs.) and can drink people twice my weight under the table.
However, since I haven't conducted a double blind study, I can't definitively state that these phenomena are connected to my red hair.
My mom grew up in the SouthWest, so I always ate spicy food as a kid. The Indians at college said the same sort of thing and were disappointed when I ate their food and didn't have any adverse reaction to it. Of course, the guy that was 100% Norwegian and never ate a spicy thing in his life gave them the desired response. They didn't want to touch the lutefisk his grandma sent him, though.
the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
...you're mistaking cause and correlation. The things that are found more typically among red-heads are not therefore caused by the same genes that cause the red hair - they're caused by other genes that just happen to be typical of the same gene-pools where you find red hair. So the fact that you didn't get the red hair doesn't affect the chances that you got the other in the least.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
Doh! Of course they do, on a female it's called the g-spot... develops from the same material, pressure from the same angle gets it off.
The taste also usually correlates with submissive traits, for obvious reasons.
When I was younger I had to go to the dentist and have some cavities filled. Since most people are given novacaine to deaden the feeling while the dentist hacks up your teeth that's what I was given. He stuck me with the needle, waited and the feeling was still there. Stuck me again, waited and same crap, feeling was still there. stuck me a third time and got the same result, feeling. So i got annoyed and said start drilling and that's when I discovered I didn't need the novacaine to be worked on. Still when I have to to get some cavities filled I don't use novacaine. You get quite a look of scepticism when the dentist is all ready to stick you and I tell them to forget about the novacaine and start working. It rules because I'm in and out in 10-15 minutes. So, I could see the anesthesia thing but I don't know about it being due to pain sensitivity comment. I'm a BMX'er and your BMX bike can be a love/hate relationship. I don't think I'm overly sensitive to the crashes, cuts, bruises that come with the territory.
--
What is pirate software? Software for inventory of stolen treasure?
Pubic and facial hair can naturally be different colors.
May we never see th
What the hell is this thread doing on /.?????
You're almost certainly right in this case, but there can also be interactions among genes, so it's *possible* that the "red hair" gene is also a crucial component of the "likes massive quantities of garlic" gene.
May we never see th
If only I had this information a few weeks back, I would have bought her a couple of more drinks.....
...when we contacted them, none of the researchers, who were all red-heads, were alert enough comment on the new findings.
Donate background CPU time to fight cancer.
I always have to give them more rohypnol to get them to pass out; or talk to them with my scintillating personality- that works too. Either's good. ;-)
-WolfWithoutAClause
"Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"I mistakenly believed the more a person weighed meant more anesthesia. Drug addicts also need more powerful doses of drugs.
So maybe most redheads are heifers or heroin addicts.
cl.
Since the trait is so recessive, the extinction of redheads is predicted to be sometime in the late 21st or early 22nd century...
For what it's worth, a blonde version of that assertion has been circulating as an urban legend.
So that's why redheads scream louder in bed!
I was reading your post thinking, "Boy, this is some interesting stuff. I'm learning a lot from this dumb webpage." Then I look up and see that it's a SexyKellyOsbourne post. If it was slightly less interesting, I wouldn't have noticed.
Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
Then how can Carrot Top tollerate himself?
I was reading their page and had this thought exactly.
The Large RealLike is based on the 'average' male penis. With our data we have gathered from Venus 2000 users we know what 'average' really is! It even has all the bumps and ridges of the real thing.I bet they have a larger more accuate sample size than most 'science' projects... Only problem is that they don't have the dimensions on the web page. LOL
Yeah, it's a troll post. Any Beowulf post is a troll post by definition. Beowulf? Grendel? Trolls? Read a book! Read a book! *sheesh*!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
I am amazed to see the number of posts here from people who are readheaded and agree with the story. I never really thought about it before but I don't think I'm more sensitive to pain, just definitely require more anathesia. So I guess I concur with the results of the study. At the dentist I just skip the novicaine when possible since it doesn't really work anyway. With my wisdom teeth the tylenol with codeine was completely ineffective. I get nothing from regular doses of tylenol either. Ibuprofen and aspirin tend to work though. I once woke up just after a surgery when I should have slept for at least two more hours, and I do tend to bleed a lot. I seem to have a fairly high pain threshold I've been told. Not sure about the alcohol or drugs though since I rarely drink and haven't tried drugs.
And to think, these are all because of my hair color? Wow.
Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.
Anesthesia? Some of you guys are just sick. Just use some duct tape and a good-weight baseball bat.
First of all the site works with or without the www and secondly, my site says coming soon so obviously the content is limited...as of yet.
Also, Mr. Macdaddy, I am more than just Kevin's sidekick --see my other site too (above) I was written about on Slashdot, Salon, Slate and just about every other site on the internet.
Cheers,
Brainy Blonde/Anne Marie/Educated Escort
Now shut your nigger face!
Come have a smoke with me, I'll fix up that problem for you. :)
// The fastest Alt-Tab in the West
Probably because all redheads are descendents of virulent, wild, and crazy highlander scotsmen.
...who could guzzle 2 gallons of double malt and then toss three cabers 20 feet. Arrrrr!
This research is flawed. They were apparently operating under the impression that redheads are human beings. Anyone who has been in contact with one for any extended period of time will tell you that this is not true. Redheads are another species, and in fact they exhibit many many more differences to humans than just pain sensitivity.
They ought to plenty hot for any but the most hardcore;-)
Atomic
-- The morphemes of your disquisition are ascertainable, but they have eschewed an ambit of transpicuous exposition.
Ok, I'm a redhead, and not your standard redhead, my hair is RED, very red. Anyway, I play soccer, and I've played WITHOUT shinguards and injured others that WERE wearing them when we hit shins. I have other examples, but this is a pretty easy one. It takes a hell of a lot for me to feel pain, and if I do feel it, it doesn't really hurt (I suppose that's threshold, but still). All I'm saying is, I'm not very succeptable to pain. I agree with others that are saying that redheads MOST LIKELY, due to my experence, just don't absorb the anesthesia the same way others do. I always either don't get any at all (at the dentist) or they have to give me excessive amounts. But by no means am I more snsitive to pain than anyone else I know; in fact, I can take more pain than anyone else I know. I'm not saying this is special or bragging like some people are saying, I'm just stating the facts.
Since childhood it's been known by all medical folks trying to tend to my ills that it takes an enormous amount of anaesthetics to numb me up -- or down. Dentists using nitrous oxide pump me up at very close to ten on their mixture scale, the max. No one has ever guessed why but I've been told many times that the problem is evident in about five percent of any group of patients, red-headed or bald like me! For those in this group, the relatively new Versid given intravenously before the usual anaesthetics reduces the amount needed and also blocks all memory. Great!
Those who would surrender freedom for security soon have neither.
It's the other way around, blue eyes were reported to make a person more susceptible to pain ... I think it was on the order of 20% (similar to red hair).
:) Oh wait ... there's the advantage!
Both red hair and blue eyes are recessive. Both most commonly occur in people of northern european descent. I would guess that the higher-intensity pain is also a recessive gene that tends to piggy-back onto the same cultures.
Total supposition: there might even be an explanation to them. In extremely icy/snowy regions, blue eyes would reflect back more light (blue eye coloring has the highest index of reflection of the natural eye colors), reducing glare/distortion? In those same places, the cold may number nerve endings, causing more sentivity to pain to be an advantage, too.
I don't see what survival advantage red hair would have, but it sure is sexy
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
By the middle 1880's, practically all the roads except those in
the South, were of the present standard gauge. The southern roads were
still five feet between rails.
It was decided to change the gauge of all southern roads to standard,
in one day. This remarkable piece of work was carried out on a Sunday in May
of 1886. For weeks beforehand, shops had been busy pressing wheels in on the
axles to the new and narrower gauge, to have a supply of rolling stock which
could run on the new track as soon as it was ready. Finally, on the day set,
great numbers of gangs of track layers went to work at dawn. Everywhere one
rail was loosened, moved in three and one-half inches, and spiked down in its
new position. By dark, trains from anywhere in the United States could operate
over the tracks in the South, and a free interchange of freight cars everywhere
was possible.
-- Robert Henry, "Trains", 1957
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