I am similar. The first time I had a tooth drilled as a child, the pain was unbelievable - I think he did it without novocaine. I didn’t believe such pain possible, but I was a ‘good child’, and didn’t think my parents would put me through this unless it was necessary, so I bore it without complainaing. But I was terrified of the dentist for years after that.
Eventually I learned about novocaine, and though the dentist sometimes had to give me multiple shots before it worked, drilling never bothered me again. For pain after dental work, like having a tooth pulled: Beer!
I can’t stand the way pharmaceutical pain meds make you feel; my brain would get so fuzzy I couldn’t do anything productive on them.
LOL, they TELL you you aren’t supposed to do anything productive on them!
That said, they don’t do much for me. If I have surgery or something and get them, I will take them, but...I don’t have good results. But they don’t make me fuzzy...:)