https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/wo...story.html
EXCERPTS: . . . Yet the vast majority of clinical and experimental research shows a surprising finding: females are more sensitive to pain than males. This is true when tested for in the lab. Whether pricked with a pin prick, touched with an electrical probe, exposed to a caustic chemical, or asked to hold a heat probe or dunk their hand in freezing water, the majority of studies show that females experience more pain more quickly than males.
These findings also hold true in the real world.
Some of these differences come down to how pain is processed differently between males and females. Initial research focused on the role hormones play: Testosterone reduces sensitivity to distress, and individuals undergoing male-to-female transition who receive estrogen and testosterone blockers experience an increased frequency of migraines. More recent work, however, appears to suggest that differences in the immune system mediate differences in how noxious signals travel across the bodies of males and females. The experience of pain and access to its relief is not just affected by biology but many other factors, as well...
[...] multiple studies show that women are more likely to be prescribed opioids, in higher doses, and for longer periods than men. (The reason may be because chronic pain is more common among women than men and women are more likely to seek medical care for their ailments.)
Scant research has been performed in understanding women’s pain, and part of that is because of medical researchers’ historical tendency to ignore diseases that exclusively afflict women. [...] But attitudes are changing. Emerging research is raising the possibility of therapies tailored to providing comfort to painful conditions that heavily afflict women.
Migraines, for instance, are much more frequent in females. A new category of medications inhibits CGRP, a molecule associated with more pain in females than males. There is increasing hope that this category of medications might help women with a variety of painful conditions beyond migraines. More research that uncovers why males and females hurt differently could provide insights into alleviating suffering for both sexes... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: . . . Yet the vast majority of clinical and experimental research shows a surprising finding: females are more sensitive to pain than males. This is true when tested for in the lab. Whether pricked with a pin prick, touched with an electrical probe, exposed to a caustic chemical, or asked to hold a heat probe or dunk their hand in freezing water, the majority of studies show that females experience more pain more quickly than males.
These findings also hold true in the real world.
Some of these differences come down to how pain is processed differently between males and females. Initial research focused on the role hormones play: Testosterone reduces sensitivity to distress, and individuals undergoing male-to-female transition who receive estrogen and testosterone blockers experience an increased frequency of migraines. More recent work, however, appears to suggest that differences in the immune system mediate differences in how noxious signals travel across the bodies of males and females. The experience of pain and access to its relief is not just affected by biology but many other factors, as well...
[...] multiple studies show that women are more likely to be prescribed opioids, in higher doses, and for longer periods than men. (The reason may be because chronic pain is more common among women than men and women are more likely to seek medical care for their ailments.)
Scant research has been performed in understanding women’s pain, and part of that is because of medical researchers’ historical tendency to ignore diseases that exclusively afflict women. [...] But attitudes are changing. Emerging research is raising the possibility of therapies tailored to providing comfort to painful conditions that heavily afflict women.
Migraines, for instance, are much more frequent in females. A new category of medications inhibits CGRP, a molecule associated with more pain in females than males. There is increasing hope that this category of medications might help women with a variety of painful conditions beyond migraines. More research that uncovers why males and females hurt differently could provide insights into alleviating suffering for both sexes... (MORE - missing details)