Things take different tolls on people.

"Johnny's girlfriend broke up with him, Johnny killed himself"

I can "will" through pain. When I got some of my teeth removed, I didn't took painkillers after the anesthesia went off because I thought:

"I know there's nothing wrong", "this pain is just a natural response, a signal, and I am ignoring it", "it's just healing", "painkillers don't actually cure anything"

It was hurting pretty badly, I could have taken the painkillers but I didn't took them.

I figure most people would never be able to do that without panicking or having a melt down.

But there's still a limit, a threshold being which it's impossible not to panic or have a meltdown, or to wish to just be dead to make it stop. That level of pain can fry your brain and mess you up.

The next time I had a teeth removed I took the painkillers, but I new I could go without them.