Writing: Input Wanted Can extreme pain cause paralysis?

[caters]

I have been editing my Kepler Bb story and after Robin gets a nasty stomach bug that causes projectile vomiting and thus abdominal muscle soreness he has this pain all over his body.

The stomach bug lasts for 5 days and it is an unknown pathogen(Possibly a super version of salmonella since he was handling eggs)

The pain is so great that he can't get up. Even breathing is painful.

It seems that whatever he was infected with not only caused projectile vomiting but also sent a myotoxin all over via his bloodstream to cause this paralyzing pain.

Now I looked up "pain paralysis" and all I got was "Pain does not cause paralysis. They are 2 separate phenomena that have no relationship whatsoever."

But this super stomach bug Robin had seems to be enough to prove wrong that pain never causes paralysis. And I am sure that there are people who can't get up or have difficulty getting up because of pain. I once got a bruised tailbone. It lasted for several weeks. The first few were extremely painful. During that time, I slept every night on my stomach to avoid pain. And every time I was getting up or sitting down I did it slowly and often leaning forward so that I could minimize pain. The last few weeks were painful still but not cringing pain like before. Anyway, yeah I had trouble getting up and sitting down due to pain and pain alone.

So is it possible to be almost completely paralyzed(practically only breathing and even then, shallow to minimize pain) due to an all over bodyache?

And how would Robin tell Grandma that he is in extreme pain and needs pain relief now while minimizing his pain? Or would Grandma just know from the look of him that he is in a lot of pain?

Here is the scene in question:

A few days later Robin tried to get up from bed. He was so hungry and thirsty after that bad stomach bug. But he couldn't. Robin is in so much pain it is almost like he is paralyzed. He can't talk and breathing is very shallow due to pain but also very fast. Grandma went to check on him since he was late for breakfast. Once she saw Robin she realized that he is in extreme pain. Luckily she has morphine and knows what the dose is.

Grandma said “Grandpa! Get the morphine! Robin is in too much pain to do anything but breathe!”

Grandpa said “Couldn't something else work?”

Grandma said “He is almost completely still from pain! Get the morphine!”

Grandpa ran to the medical cabinet and got the morphine and syringe. Grandma got just the right amount into the syringe and was very delicate in her morphine injection. After a little bit of venous bleeding, Robin was fine thanks to Grandma knowing what to do for extreme pain.

Now here, Robin is 5 years old and I looked up morphine in children and it is fine to use for extreme pain. Morphine used to relieve extreme pain doesn't have all the addiction side effects that morphine used for any pain does.

So would Grandma know Robin was in extreme pain just from the look of him as I have written in this scene or not?

Would she really use morphine right off the bat for paralyzing pain instead of step by step pain relief(so maybe acetaminophen first then naproxen(extra strength ibuprofen) then morphine)?

Would she know something is wrong if Robin is late for breakfast?

Would she have to be very delicate in her injection when Robin is already paralyzed from pain? I mean I know you don't want to inject into an artery by mistake since that causes severe bleeding(gushing, likely to die(platelets just can't repair an arterial bleed fast enough to stop it)) but do you have to be very delicate to avoid an artery?

 

[hsdrop]

ok you have a lot well just wrong with your scene but i'll just give you a few tips on pain. I have chronic abdominal pain so much so I'm disabled due to my crohn's. When pain gets to the point that you talking about you do not become paralyzed. Most go into a fetal position (ball like) you start a cold sweet and your skin sometimes goes flush if the pain is bad enough you can get "vibritration sensitive" to the point you can feel someone walk across the floor in the room you're in even when you're in bed. The type of pain you're talking about also does not affect your breathing at all but movment of your body does. Myself I have passed out from abdominal pain. Also getting a painkiller injection can go into any muscle. The butt is a favorite cause it so big. As a side note no one but no one has morphine on hand in their home no matter what era you're in. On top of that morphine will lower your rate of breathing so if he was having trouble breathing you might not want to give him something that would make it even harder i hope this helps some what if you want more first hand info about pain just drop me a note

 

[Vanadium 50]

So much of your Kepler Bb story is so far from science that it's pure fantasy. Indeed, your "humans" are nothing of the sort - they have two stomachs for heaven's sake! Why worry about how humans feel pain when they aren't the species in your story, and when the rest of the setting is inconsistent with science as we know it?

These threads follow a predictable pattern. You ask us if something is scientifically correct. We say it isn't. We go back and forth for a while, and then you say that it's your story so you're going to do it anyway. Fair enough - but why did you come here to begin with?

And, just to satisfy my own curiosity, have you ever sold a story?

 

[hsdrop]

they have two stomachs for heaven's sake!

wait what hold up did i miss something?

 

[caters]

ok you have a lot well just wrong with your scene but i'll just give you a few tips on pain. I have chronic abdominal pain so much so I'm disabled due to my crohn's. When pain gets to the point that you talking about you do not become paralyzed. Most go into a fetal position (ball like) you start a cold sweet and your skin sometimes goes flush if the pain is bad enough you can get "vibritration sensitive" to the point you can feel someone walk across the floor in the room you're in even when you're in bed. The type of pain you're talking about also does not affect your breathing at all but movment of your body does. Myself I have passed out from abdominal pain. Also getting a painkiller injection can go into any muscle. The butt is a favorite cause it so big. As a side note no one but no one has morphine on hand in their home no matter what era you're in. On top of that morphine will lower your rate of breathing so if he was having trouble breathing you might not want to give him something that would make it even harderi hope this helps some what if you want more first hand info about pain just drop me a note

But it is important that it goes to all muscles since the muscles are what were injured by the toxins from the pathogen that was in his system and if all muscles are hurting, it is very hard to move due to pain. And why wouldn't breathing be affected? The intercostal muscles and diaphragm that make our lungs able to inflate with air are under our control(we can consciously lower or raise our respiratory rate). If those muscles are injured then there will be problems in the lungs since they will not inflate as much as they need to. Lungs not inflating as much naturally leads to high RR(respiratory rate) to prevent hypoventilation. The pain will lead to the breath being shallower, lung problem or not.

I have never passed out from pain, even when it was at it's worst(injured tailbone). Why would someone go into fetal position due to pain? I mean when I have pain I either try to minimize it(like sleeping on my stomach if my tailbone hurts) or if it is abdominal pain, I put my arm over my abdomen. But I never get into fetal position.

 

[hsdrop]

But it is important that it goes to all muscles since the muscles are what were injured by the toxins from the pathogen that was in his system and if all muscles are hurting

when you get the flu shot in a muscle do you really believe it so that one muscles will not get sick lol well morphine works the same way look it up if you do not believe me the pain killer does not stay in the muscle for long at all and spreads out throw the whole body much faster then most think

I have never passed out from pain, even when it was at it's worst(injured tailbone). Why would someone go into fetal position due to pain? I mean when I have pain I either try to minimize it(like sleeping on my stomach if my tailbone hurts) or if it is abdominal pain, I put my arm over my abdomen. But I never get into fetal position.

well you obviously have never been in too much pain at all then explachy abdomen pain if you can not take the first hand experience from someone that is disabled from daily chronic abdominal pain and believe that it truthful then i can't help you and i do not believe anyone else can eather

 

[Vanadium 50]

And now we're going down the usual path.

Hsdrop, yes, two stomachs. If it hasn't been titled yet, I'd like to offer "Heather Has Two Tummies".

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Ruptured appendix back in '88. Amazingly painful, but not paralyzing. It did render me hepless, extreme effort needed get and dial phone by my bed. Other than the lack of total loss of muscle control, it would have passed for paralysis. The medics had to read my lips to get answers.