Pain! It’s a common feeling for all of us. We feel pain for all of our lives from birth to death. Many of us wish that we could feel no pain at all at some point in our lives or in certain situations.
“It would be really good if I don’t feel any pain at all” You may have heard someone say these things, or maybe sometimes you are the one saying or wishing these things.
But do you know there are some people who don’t feel pain at all? Let’s know about this rare condition and guess whether it is really a blessing or curse for them.
Pain alters the quality of human life more than any other health-related problem, and it is one of the implements of our body’s protection. It interferes with our sleep, mobility, nutrition, thought, sexual activity, emotional well-being, creativity, and self-actualization.
Feeling no pain is called congenital insensitivity to Pain and anhidrosis (CIPA) syndrome.
What is Congenital Insensitivity to Pain and Anhidrosis (CIPA) Syndrome?
Congenital insensitivity to pain is a rare disorder. First described in 1932 by Dearborn as Congenital pure analgesia. Congenital insensitivity to pain and anhidrosis (CIPA) is a very rare and extremely dangerous condition. People with CIPA cannot feel pain.
Pain-sensing nerves in these patients are not properly connected in parts of the brain that receive the pain messages.
Signs & Symptoms
There are generally two types of non-response exhibited:
- Insensitivity to pain means that the painful stimulus is not even perceived; a patient cannot describe the intensity or type of pain.
- Indifference to pain means that the patient can perceive the stimulus, but lacks an appropriate response, they do not flinch or withdraw when exposed to pain.
The odds of being born with this condition are about 1 in 125 million. People with CIPA also cannot feel extreme temperatures or sweat, both of which create even more necessary care.
Cause
CIPA is an autosomal recessive disease.
A person who is born with CIPA, the gene encoding the Neurotrophic Tyrosine-Kinase Receptor (NTRK1 gene), is mutated in a way that interferes with and halts the autophosphorylation process, therefore stopping signals of pain and temperature from being sent to the brain.
CIPA is extremely dangerous, and in most cases, the patient doesn’t live over the age of 25. Although some of them can live a fairly normal life, they must constantly check for cuts, bruises, self-mutilations, and other possible unfelt injuries.
Self-mutilation is an almost invariable feature of this disorder, most often involving the teeth, lips, tongue, ears, eyes, nose, and fingers.
Treatment
The opioid antagonist naloxone allowed a woman with congenital insensitivity to pain to experience it for the first time.
Similar effects were observed in Nav1.7 null mice treated with naloxone. As such, opioid antagonists like naloxone and naltrexone may be effective in treating the condition.
Gene therapy is also under laboratory research as a solution to this disorder.
Further study of CIP could yield painkillers that target only the genes that cause pain itself.
But a proper and exact treatment has not been found yet. Scientists are trying to find better solutions for this disorder.
By reading this blog, what do you think about this disorder? Is it a blessing or a curse? Let me know your thoughts.
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Writer
Kulsuma Bahar Bethi
Content Writing Intern
YSSE