If You Don't Feel Pain, Your Life Could Be In Danger

if you could have one superpower where would you rank invincibility or the ability to feel no pain imagine walking through fire being hit by a train and feeling absolutely nothing that's right forget nerve-wracking visits to the dentist's sure donate blood it won't hurt drink that glass of ice-cold water your sensitive teeth won't get you this time but while the inability to feel pain seems like something straight out of a comic book brainiacs think again there are everyday people with an extraordinary genetic disorder known as congenital insensitivity to pain or CIP but this is no superpower if anything it's kryptonite in today's video we talk about this rare and mysterious genetic disorder and why it does more good than harm to those affected we dive into some medical anecdotes of those with CIP chat about up and coming cures and tell you why pain is actually good for you don't believe us well brainiacs imagines spraining your ankle a person without CIP would instinctively alleviate weight from the injured ankle because of the piercing sensations of pain but after a visit to the doctor's office in a few weeks of rest and recovery you're bound to get back up on your feet but a person with CIP may continue to walk run or bike with the injury because they don't feel any pain nothing feels different so they go on as per usual which would stretch out the healing time and may even lead to lifelong injuries or what about that burning sensation of walking into an extra hot shower a person without CIP would immediately be deterred from the extra hot water and turned down the knob but a person with CIP risks first or second degree burns because they do not feel pain from hot temperature it's exactly for this reason why from an evolutionary standpoint pain is good not only does it keep us safe but it's enabled our survival for all of these years without it we get ourselves into dangerous even fatal situations on a daily basis the first case of CIP was reported in 1932 when a physician described a 50 year old salesperson who claimed to not recall any pain despite coming face-to-face with a hatchet as a kid unbeknownst to the pain the boy even ran home since then doctors and researchers have slowly documented the rare genetic disorder but it's only in this day and age of social media that experts have begun to really understand CIP researchers started to observe symptoms of CIP online which has moved to research along despite all the information available to us in the increased access we have to one another there is still no official statistic as to how many people suffer from CIP so what exactly causes CIP in short it's the result of a genetic mutation which prevents the formation of nerve cells that are responsible for transmitting signals of pain heat and cold to the brain interestingly people with CIP are reported to have short lifespans in fact a BBC article cites that a few folks with CIP reach adulthood because they may end up fatally injuring themselves before them just take the Pakistani boy who performed deadly stunts on the street like walking on hot coals or sticking knives into his arms actually his whole family has been observed as a part of the CIP research turns out the genetic disorder is hereditary which means it can be passed down by your parents and onto your own children while there are some rare cases of children born from parents without CIP or similar symptoms those affected mostly have a parent or even two with the genetic disorder for those who are lucky enough to receive a diagnosis they need to learn how to be in pain to further avoid injuring themselves as for a cure there's no single antidote to CIP researchers have discovered that there is more than one mutation of this genetic disorder the good news though is that the smart people in lab coats are using gene editing technology to crack down on CIP some are even trying to hone in on the neurotransmitters responsible for reducing anxiety and pain commonly found in those with CIP and using it to help folks with chronic pain so maybe CIP isn't the superpower you thought it would be turns out feeling pain after accidentally bunning down on your tongue is actually a good thing even though it hurts very very badly put it this way in order to feel the really good sensations in life we need to know what the really bad sensations are like - if you liked this video don't forget to give it a thumbs up and for more videos from us subscribe here see you next time brainiacs it pains us to see you go but you know where to find us [Music]

Channel: Brainiac

Views: 639,337

Rating: 4.8734879 out of 5

Keywords: C.I.P, genetic disorder, person who feels no pain, science, genetics, congenital insensitivity to pain, pain, no pain, what if, body, survive, survival, what would happen, things you didn't know, cartoon animation, animation, animated facts, cartoon facts, animated stories, facts about the body

Id: FMM8963x8eA

Length: 4min 17sec (257 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 06 2020