This is super interesting. At first thought it seems like a superpower, but then again feeling pain is a very helpful indicator that one should stop doing a thing. Like leaning on a hot stove or...
This is super interesting. At first thought it seems like a superpower, but then again feeling pain is a very helpful indicator that one should stop doing a thing. Like leaning on a hot stove or scratching your eye until it's damaged. It's one of those cases where I wish I could experience the world both ways so I could feel the difference. Actually, that might solve a lot of our problems.
My immediate thought was that it sounds a lot like the effects of leprosy, which is definitely not a super power.
My immediate thought was that it sounds a lot like the effects of leprosy, which is definitely not a super power.
Leprosy may cause the victim to lose limbs and digits but not directly. M. leprae attacks nerve endings and destroys the body's ability to feel pain and injury. Without feeling pain, people with leprosy have an increased risk of injuring themselves. Injuries become infected and result in tissue loss. Fingers, toes, and limbs become shortened and deformed as the tissue is absorbed into the body.
I remeber hearing a story of having to keep cats in the leprosy wards to name the rats because when the rats would come at night and chew on peoples' fingers, they couldn't feel it. I think it was...
I remeber hearing a story of having to keep cats in the leprosy wards to name the rats because when the rats would come at night and chew on peoples' fingers, they couldn't feel it. I think it was from a book called Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants.
Pain is the sign that you've been carrying those grocery bags for too long and they're digging into your wrists because you won't take more trips, or tells you when you're stretch is just to the...
Pain is the sign that you've been carrying those grocery bags for too long and they're digging into your wrists because you won't take more trips, or tells you when you're stretch is just to the right extent and not going to far. It tells you you have a cavity that needs addressed, or that your blood pressure is up. It lets you know that you have a splinter in your finger, or a yeast infection, or appendicitis, etc. In the active injury sense it alerts you to the injury before it gets worse.
We experience a lot more "pain" in very small amounts that helps protect us before that injury.
I actually am curious if this impacts her spinal cord response to pain as well or just her conscious perception. We drop a hot object before we actually "feel" the pain because it's a reflex action undertaken by the spinal cord. Not feeling any fear is similarly potentially dangerous. I feel like I read an article about someone who didn't feel fear who'd had guns drawn on them several times and ended up in multiple bad situations because she had no fear and no instinct for her own safety.
Yes, definitely acknowledge your fear instincts and make decisions accordingly. Many people who have grown up in safe places end up in an unsafe situation because they don't change course when...
Yes, definitely acknowledge your fear instincts and make decisions accordingly. Many people who have grown up in safe places end up in an unsafe situation because they don't change course when they get that feeling. It's there for a reason, and sometimes it's unreasonable, but it's certainly a data point worth analyzing.
I suppose you're correct in your assessment and what I'd really like to know is what her lived experience is, rather than the acute instances of a lack of pain. How does this affect how one...
I suppose you're correct in your assessment and what I'd really like to know is what her lived experience is, rather than the acute instances of a lack of pain.
How does this affect how one thinks, makes decisions, and lives their daily life?
Is living without pain really better?
Or should we heed Captain Kirk in The Final Frontier?
It seems to be a particularly benign form of it, though? There's not much detail online about the woman who has it, but she did live to old age? Apparently with nothing too bad going wrong, other...
It seems to be a particularly benign form of it, though? There's not much detail online about the woman who has it, but she did live to old age? Apparently with nothing too bad going wrong, other than more burns while cooking?
I think that's what makes it interesting; other diseases that reduce pain sensation have worse effects.
This is n=1, so more research is needed. Maybe, now that they know the genetic basis, they can look for milder forms of it? And testing with animals will likely happen.
There is apparently a startup that wants to breed livestock with this gene to reduce animal suffering due to factory farming. That sounds pretty weird and information about the company is sketchy, but it could be important someday. (Most startups fail, but perhaps someone else will do it.)
Hoo boy do I want more ethical meat, but this gives me the heebie-jeebies. It seems dystopian instead of ethical. I wonder why. Maybe there's a facet of intelligence that I (rightly or wrongly)...
Hoo boy do I want more ethical meat, but this gives me the heebie-jeebies. It seems dystopian instead of ethical. I wonder why. Maybe there's a facet of intelligence that I (rightly or wrongly) assign to cows? Pigs doubly so.
I've read about people being unable to experience pain before, maybe not this specific mutation but similar cases. Like you said, it sounds good at first until you realize just how vital pain is...
I've read about people being unable to experience pain before, maybe not this specific mutation but similar cases. Like you said, it sounds good at first until you realize just how vital pain is to survival. Along with alerting someone that an activity is causing egregious harm, pain is often one of the first indicators that something is wrong such as internal organs failing, various infections and illnesses, broken bones, etc. Some people can't even sense temperature, which I assume can make them more susceptible to heat stroke and hypothermia.
From what I read, a lot of people with the inability to sense pain die during childhood because they unintentionally hurt themselves or can't identify something is wrong. It's pretty easy to cause permanent damage to your body like biting off the tip of your tongue when you don't have pain to tell you something is VERY wrong.
From the article: ... Here is the paper: Molecular basis of FAAH-OUT-associated human pain insensitivity
From the article:
Scientists say they have found out how a rare genetic mutation allows a woman to live her life feeling virtually no pain.
Doctors were first alerted to Jo Cameron's condition after she had a serious operation and she needed no pain relief during her recovery.
Researchers at University College London (UCL) have discovered how the mutation works at molecular level.
They said the study could lead to development of new treatments.
...
Doctors were first alerted to Mrs Cameron's condition when she told doctors following an operation that she did not need painkillers, and her medical history showed she had never been prescribed pain relief.
Her anaesthetist sent her to pain geneticists at UCL and Oxford University.
This is super interesting. At first thought it seems like a superpower, but then again feeling pain is a very helpful indicator that one should stop doing a thing. Like leaning on a hot stove or scratching your eye until it's damaged. It's one of those cases where I wish I could experience the world both ways so I could feel the difference. Actually, that might solve a lot of our problems.
My immediate thought was that it sounds a lot like the effects of leprosy, which is definitely not a super power.
I remeber hearing a story of having to keep cats in the leprosy wards to name the rats because when the rats would come at night and chew on peoples' fingers, they couldn't feel it. I think it was from a book called Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants.
Oof, why you gotta make me learn stuff?! That's deeply unsettling. PSA: don't get leprosy, y'all!
Pain is the sign that you've been carrying those grocery bags for too long and they're digging into your wrists because you won't take more trips, or tells you when you're stretch is just to the right extent and not going to far. It tells you you have a cavity that needs addressed, or that your blood pressure is up. It lets you know that you have a splinter in your finger, or a yeast infection, or appendicitis, etc. In the active injury sense it alerts you to the injury before it gets worse.
We experience a lot more "pain" in very small amounts that helps protect us before that injury.
I actually am curious if this impacts her spinal cord response to pain as well or just her conscious perception. We drop a hot object before we actually "feel" the pain because it's a reflex action undertaken by the spinal cord. Not feeling any fear is similarly potentially dangerous. I feel like I read an article about someone who didn't feel fear who'd had guns drawn on them several times and ended up in multiple bad situations because she had no fear and no instinct for her own safety.
Yes, definitely acknowledge your fear instincts and make decisions accordingly. Many people who have grown up in safe places end up in an unsafe situation because they don't change course when they get that feeling. It's there for a reason, and sometimes it's unreasonable, but it's certainly a data point worth analyzing.
I suppose you're correct in your assessment and what I'd really like to know is what her lived experience is, rather than the acute instances of a lack of pain.
How does this affect how one thinks, makes decisions, and lives their daily life?
Is living without pain really better?
Or should we heed Captain Kirk in The Final Frontier?
It seems to be a particularly benign form of it, though? There's not much detail online about the woman who has it, but she did live to old age? Apparently with nothing too bad going wrong, other than more burns while cooking?
I think that's what makes it interesting; other diseases that reduce pain sensation have worse effects.
This is n=1, so more research is needed. Maybe, now that they know the genetic basis, they can look for milder forms of it? And testing with animals will likely happen.
There is apparently a startup that wants to breed livestock with this gene to reduce animal suffering due to factory farming. That sounds pretty weird and information about the company is sketchy, but it could be important someday. (Most startups fail, but perhaps someone else will do it.)
Hoo boy do I want more ethical meat, but this gives me the heebie-jeebies. It seems dystopian instead of ethical. I wonder why. Maybe there's a facet of intelligence that I (rightly or wrongly) assign to cows? Pigs doubly so.
I've read about people being unable to experience pain before, maybe not this specific mutation but similar cases. Like you said, it sounds good at first until you realize just how vital pain is to survival. Along with alerting someone that an activity is causing egregious harm, pain is often one of the first indicators that something is wrong such as internal organs failing, various infections and illnesses, broken bones, etc. Some people can't even sense temperature, which I assume can make them more susceptible to heat stroke and hypothermia.
From what I read, a lot of people with the inability to sense pain die during childhood because they unintentionally hurt themselves or can't identify something is wrong. It's pretty easy to cause permanent damage to your body like biting off the tip of your tongue when you don't have pain to tell you something is VERY wrong.
Yes, this tracks for me and is the crux of why I want to be able to compare and contrast that lived experience. Utterly fascinating mental exercise.
From the article:
...
Here is the paper:
Molecular basis of FAAH-OUT-associated human pain insensitivity