Broken Ankle....yet feel nothing

2 weeks ago I broke 3 bones in my ankle. I was at friends house, last thing remember is saying goodbye to her and then am at bottom of stairs with foot at unnatural angle.

My friends who came behind me tried to get me up, but I couldn't move my foot. Yet I was in no pain at all. Everyone else was panicking and yet I was just sitting there and not feeling a thing. Actually I was trying to keep friends calm.

Once paramedics got there they asked if I needed pain meds, and still told them I was not in pain, they couldn't believe it.

My ankle was badly damaged, they said people with less severe injuries to ankle scream in pain.

Doctor came in and said same thing and said I have high tolerance for pain.

I am feeling totally disconnected from my body, although don't want to tell doctors that. Problem is I could damage foot by using it sooner than I should because I don't feel pain like normal person.

However this is first time where I see how dissociation/depersonaliztion might be a good thing. I don't think I could have withstood the pain of 3 broken bones and dislocated ankle.

I can relate to this and agree it is a handy tool! In childhood I had several painless broken bones and cuts needing stitches etc. I know now that the physical pain was dissociated, but as a child / teen my ability to not feel pain totally fascinated me.
Now as an adult I can consciously apply the 'technique' to pain at will. It mostly only works for injuries though. If I have a headache, toothache, or ache from a viral illness I'm a mess.
I hope your ankle heals quickly. As you say you'll have to be really careful with it so you don't damage it further. When I broke my fingers at age 12 I kept thinking the pain would come later but it never did, and I did do further damage to them because I overused them before they had healed.

I can relate also. It's a lucky thing for me, as I am allergic to all pain meds. I was able to have surgeries with general anesthetic yet have nothing but an ice bag once I woke up. I guess it can be a good thing.
Canuk, I hope your ankle heals quickly.

Years ago I broke 3 bones in my ankle and felt nothing.

When the radiographer said I had a broken ankle I asked if he was kidding.

Dunno how the no pain thing happened but it did.

Don't know if my mental illness had anything to do with that. Mind you the next day I knew about it.

I dissociate pain in different ways. Sometimes the pain is just so separated from my body (in my mind) that while I feel it, it's as if it's so separate that I don't hurt, even if I have a head knowledge that it hurts. Not sure if that makes sense or not.

Other times, I have been told that I have complained about pain a lot and then all of a sudden I am fine, even if there is an obvious need for medical attention. I don't usually remember those times (neither the being in pain nor being fine) so I assume other parts of myself have dealt with that based on their experiencing in the past.

I also learned that I have a nurse inside that apparently came about from a time when I was a child and needed that. She professes to be very old (I guess from a child's viewpoint, she is) and from what I do know, she seems to be pretty knowledgeable in taking care of the body when it needs something medical.

Not being able to tell when the body is ill or in pain though has caused a lot of issues in my life. It means I don't get the care I might need sometimes or I wait too long for care, which makes the issue worse. My doctor tries to get me in every 3 months just to monitor things because he knows my history. That's been helpful for me (when I make it to the appts... which I often miss due to lost time).

It definitely comes in handy in the moment though and in times where people might need pain meds. I can't do chemical drugs (due to other events in my past) so I'm thankful my brain has found a way to deal with pain without taking anything.

Not being able to feel pain can really be useful .

I remember the first time I ran into this was when I was in 5th grade. I fell off the swing set and injured my wrist. The teacher was really worried and wanted me to go to the nurse, but since I felt fine the teacher let me return to class. Turned out my wrist was broken. Mom wasn't to happy about that.

If you're worried about over using you're ankle you should talk to someone about it. After a few more incidents like the one I described above, both my mother and step-mother started to keep an eye on how I'm treating my body. It can be annoying at times, but it is much safer than if I were to simply guess at what was too much for my body.