I Have Asperger's

I've noticed that myself, along with other people on the Autism Spectrum tend to have a higher pain tolerance.  I don't know if this is common for ALL people with ASD, but situations have suggested it to me.  Here are a few of them:

1.  A friend had an ear infection, but didn't even feel it until their ear-drum was about to burst.  Then they barely felt a little bit of pain.  (Their ear was treated and is better now.)

2.  A friend had a broken bone (can't remember if it was a collar bone, an arm, or an ankle) and went for days without noticing.  They finally went to the doctor when there were visual signs of something major going on.

3.  A friend had a broken finger, but thought they had just jammed it.  They finally went to the doctor when the finger began to swell too much.

I don't know WHY these extreme cases have occurred, but here is my theory:

Our nervous system is SO sensitive, that we are actually USED to the pain.  Or perhaps we can't tell the difference between major and minor pain.  When we hear a loud noise, it hurts, but we know we have to deal with it.  When we have a terrible ear infection, it hurts, but we don't realize that it's an ear infection, so we figure we have to deal with it.

Whatever the reason, it's an interesting trait.