So you’re walking through the cafeteria and you bump into
Luke and his tray, Luke was holding a bowl of steaming hot chili pepper soup.
The bowl containing the chili tips over the side of the tray and is heading
straight for your foot. Mind you, this is the day you chose to wear the cute
new sandals you got at the mall last weekend. What’s the first thing that
flashes through your head? I’m guessing it’s something along the lines of “OH
MAN THIS IS REALLY GOING TO BURN”. But then the chili hits your foot and you
feel…wait for it…ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. It’s not hot, it’s not cold, it’s just
nothing, nothing at all.
You’re probably thinking, “how can this be? That can’t
happen , you’re obviously going to feel pain when something scolding hot falls
directly on your skin.” People with Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with
Anhidrosis would have no reaction to the chili.
CIPA is a result of a mutation preventing certain nerve cells from being
formed that are responsible for delivering signals of pain to the brain. This
is a recessive disorder usually characterized by the inheritance of two copies
of the mutated gene from each parent.
A little girl in Georgia named Ashyln is afftected by this
disease. She senses absolutely no pain and as a result is in constant danger.
At first glance, not being able to feel any type of pain whatsoever may seem
like deliverance. However, Ashlyn had her cornea scratched at 8 months and
didn’t not shed a tear over it. Her parents were not able to tell anything was
wrong at all. Later, she went into her backyard and put her had on a hot
pressure washer and just stared at the blisters.
When the pathway of nerves delivering pain sensation to the
brain is disrupted, our livelihood itself is at risk.
Below is a clip from one of my favorite shows that
illustrates a picture of a girl with CIPA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmmrzOzX9I4
Pain is something that every human being experiences throughout life. Whether it is accidental or purpose situations always happen all the time. With my concept that I talked about is similar to this type of pain but it’s a branch of pain; which is social pain. I really enjoyed your videos and how it talks more into depth about pain that effects a little girls life.
ReplyDeleteWow. Its kind of scary to think what kind of danger we would be putting ourselves into if we were unable to feel pain. The video was pretty cool. Shows you a little more realistic "picture" of what these kind of people actually go through. Pain was meant to help protect us, not to hinder us. However, like you said, you should obviously feel pain, but since these people can't feel pain... they can basically do everything and never feel the direct effects of the pain.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of pain, we understand it as a natural fact of life. We cannot bear it but we also cannot live without it. Taking a biological psychology course has really opened up my mind into thinking differently about my previously held beliefs or knowledge about certain predisposed things... I never really think twice about what pain really is, up until this module. In this module, we learned about the molecular mechanisms that happen when we experience the sensation of pain. And it makes my life a lot less complicated. Because now with this course, I have a scientific and factual explanation about things that I am experiencing on a daily basis, that is difficult to explain otherwise, on its own... I really cannot imagine life without pain, no matter the intensity of it... It's an important part of human existence, and integral to our growth.
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