What If You Never Felt Pain?

What if we never felt pain? Answered.

Pain can be a little difficult to accurately define, but it’s basically an uncomfortable feeling that’s typically your body’s way of warning you that something’s wrong. It can range anywhere from a little headache to when you burn yourself.


There are two main types: acute pain and chronic pain. Acute pain is a severe or sudden pain that’s usually more short-lived, like when you step on a toy or get hit in the head with a baseball.


Chronic pain is more persistent and can last for months or even longer. Pain can have different causes, but it typically begins when your nerves are stimulated. Let’s say you get stung by a bee. It probably released melittin, a toxin in it's venom. Once your nerve endings receive the painful sensory information, it sends this information through your body and to your spinal cord, usually continuing on to your brain.

Pain can really stink sometimes, but it can be helpful in diagnosing a problem. Without it, you might not figure out that you have a medical problem that needs treatment. You could even seriously hurt yourself without knowing it!


That being said, sometimes pain can occur without any reason that we know of or when we can’t really do anything about it, which is more often found with chronic pain.


Maybe one day we’ll all get futuristic tech that senses pain for us, so we can have all the good without the bad! But not everyone feels pain, which can be the effect of certain conditions. One is called CIPA, or the congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis. The condition has two main defining characteristics: the inability to sense or feel pain and temperatures, and decreased or absent sweating. It can be common for people with CIPA to unintentionally injure themselves, like biting their tongue or lips. Individuals with CIPA can also heal slowly from skin and bone injuries.

Most people do feel pain though, and one way doctors try to treat pain is with painkillers. This can sometimes be troublesome since painkillers are often based on compounds that can be addictive. They can be very useful in treating certain pains, but, according to a 2011 press release from the CDC, prescription painkiller overdoses kill more people than cocaine and heroin combined.

Over 40 people die /every day/ from overdoses involving narcotic pain relievers. It seems to be more of an issue when people try and use painkillers for treating longer, chronic pain rather than shorter-lived acute pain.

All in all, Pain seems to have a pretty important purpose even if can sometimes be a thorn in your side.









Source:
Life Noggin