Comments on: Melanocortin-1 Gene for Red Hair and Pain Tolerance

By: Sherri

Sherri — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:27:57 +0000

I am a redhead and have had many bouts with pain throughout my life of 47 years. I first found out about anesthesia and redheads when I had my first colonoscopy about 9 years ago. They simply could not knock me out but continued with the procedure….YOW! I was coming up off the table in agony. What made it worse was the nurse shaking her head with a smirk on her face saying to me “relax, Honey. Just go to sleep”. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!! They finally had to stop and reschedule so that an anesthesiologist could try and put me under before proceding. While in “recovery” I was up and dressed when the doc came in and took his surgical cap off…he was a redhead himself and explained that he gave me 3x the normal dose of med. which could have litterally put a non-redhead into a coma or killed them. He was aware of the studies conducted on redheads and explained it all to me. I was so relieved! It was so validating. I have to mention that I have severe scoliosis and deal with acute back pain every day of my life. I have been flagged in the emergency rooms as being a drug seeker. My doctors in the past have all given me “that look” when I tell them that the med. they prescribe doesn’t work. I’m at a loss and feel helpless. There has to be SOMETHING out there that will help ease my pain, right? How do I find it?

By: amy

amy — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:36:42 +0000

I thought it was only me. asa kid i had bright firery red hair which later turned to auburn and now at 53 in some parts gray, in the back alittle darker brown. but i suffer from chronic pain owed to a car which left me with fixed screws and plates in my neck. i have been on several differnt types of pain meds only to learn that most did not work for me, or that i was even allergic to in a most serious way. for example i can not longertake any kind of SR meds or extended release meds as there is eithe something in the binding agent that my system can not take or i do notknow what it is. now on dilaudid IR seems to help some. it has no tylenol in it. after being on vicoden with all this tylenol, after several years, it was time for me to get off it and give my liver a rest. when my pm doc told me the other day that redheads have a more complicated treatment regime i questioned him but after doing some homework now i see why

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:05:18 +0000

Yes this is true I am having a problem right now trying to get my pain under control I don’t know if I have high or low pain tolance but I do know that even the doctors I see can’t beleive how much med I take without even feeling it so it is true Oh and I have very light skin and arburn hair and lots of freckels I dye my hair though cause I hate what people say about redheads thanks so much for having this web site

By: arabitca

arabitca — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:39:34 +0000

I think that the thing that we really have to remember about genetics is that there is very rarely one cause for a trait that is expressed in a person. For example, I have red hair naturally (well, more like orange) and I usually do need more painkillers at the dentists office and I have a high pain threshold. However my mom, who also has red hair and blue eyes, is very sensitive to pain and pain medication. So to say that red hair is all that is needed to make a person more or less sensitive is probably oversimplifying it. While there may be a relative trend (based on the data it looks possible) every person is different and no anesthesiologist would use hair color as a concrete guide.

By: skam3gal

skam3gal — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:55:48 +0000

this is fabulous! I heard something briefly about this on talkback and thought I’d look it up but wasn’t expecting such a response. I am a natural redhead but with brown eyes and am not fair. And after reading this might stop telling pregnant women they don’t need painkillers in childbirth, I used nothing and found it quite tolerable.
I had previously tried to stay away from using painkillers (supermarket shelf avaliable) for headaches and back pain as I thought I had worked up a tolerance as they do nothing! Whereas a prescribed nurofen plus will knock me out but not last very long?

By: Linda

Linda — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 14:43:46 +0000

Auburn with blue eyes and very fair skin here! I can tolerate pain, but I have trouble with getting rid of it. Any time release drug does nothing as well as Demerol. I have a chronic back condition and take roxycodone which takes the edge off, but never gets rid of the pain entirely. I also have extremely sensitive skin and cannot wear anything with lace touching my skin or sleeves with elastic, and if there is one little crumb in my bed I can’t sleep. I am also very good at feeling slight temperature fluctuations. My mother calls me the princess and the pea. Nice to see I am not the only one with this problem. Two of my doctors actually heard about studies with redheads and pain, the rest think I’m nuts.

By: Mary

Mary — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:57:16 +0000

I, too, am a redhead, have blue eyes. I have a high pain tolerance and trouble with painkillers. Like many of the above comments, I need extra injections at the dentist and at doctors and hospitals. Unfortunately, like WyomingRN, medical personnel just think I’m drug seeking loser. Not so! I also suffer from from head and neck along with migraines. Usually end in the ER with migraines several times a year. The last time, they had to give me 5 injections (IV) of morphine, 2 of toradol and 2 of dilaudid. I was still awake and had some pain, but could move about. When I had my son, I had 5 injections wtih my caudal, plus 6 injections of demerrol. Very frustrating!! Glad to know I’m not crazy. thanks for the opportunity to learn and vent.

By: What's your view on Kick a Ginger Day?

What's your view on Kick a Ginger Day? — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:43:39 +0000

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By: Melissa

Melissa — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:04:52 +0000

I am a natural red head and I can tell you that I can tolerate moderate pain but when it gets bad enough pain pills don’t usually work for me. After My husband had dental work he could take a hydrocodone and be knocked out but with me I usually have to take 2 and then the pain starts to decrease a little bit. I am going in tomorrow for dental work, having all 4 wisdom teeth pulled, and I’m a little nervous that I won’t respond to the anesthesia. A couple of years ago I had surgery for cervical cancer, and when they tried to “knock me out” it didn’t go so well and they had to use the mask instead of just an iv.
As for the hot / cold discussion, I get hot very easily, it can be 70 degrees in my house and I’m burning up, my husband is exact opposite and is usually freezing. Needless to say I still have my air conditioner on in the winter. If it gets too hot like in the 90’s then I get hot flashes and feel like my face is on fire, and then I get very moody and don’t want to be bothered. I do have a fiery temper, and I’ve always been told it’s because of my red hair, but never put much thought into it. However the more I research this theory the more I find it’s true. I hate that it seems harder for me to control my temper than my husband, or others. My doctor put me on prozac thinking that it would help with my mood swings, but I don’t see a difference at all. Do any other red heads have problems with mood swings or am I just crazy ???

By: Kim

Kim — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:30:20 +0000

I too am a natural redhead. I do have a high pain tolerance and thank goodness for that as I metabolize anesthetics and painkillers rapidly. I do believe that when the medication is administered they pack the full punch the doctor intends but the effects don’t last. Such was the case when I had a root canal recently. The dentist kept pumping in the Novacaine but each shot would last about five minutes at most. Finally the doc apologetically said that he would have to finish without without any more shots as my heart was racing and he was too far into the procedure to bring in an anesthesiologist. Post-op pain management isn’t much better. Vicodin lasts 45 minutes to an hour at most. Morphine comes and goes faster than I can say, “ouch it hurts!” Again thank goodness for higher pain tolerance than most!