World of the Bizarre

Rare condition leaves man unable to feel pain

By T.K. Randall
February 19, 2015 ·  13 comments

Pain is an important, though unpleasant sensation. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 2.0 D. Sharon Pruitt The inability to feel any pain at all might sound like a highly desirable trait, but for 33-year-old Steve Pete who has spent his whole life with the condition, not being able to tell when you have sustained an injury can prove to be highly dangerous.

Whereas a pain response will normally indicate to a person that something is wrong, when no pain can ever be felt it becomes surprisingly easy to sustain nasty cuts and broken bones.

"One time in the playground at school I was on the swing set going back and forth," he said. "I jumped off the swing, landed incorrectly and my bones shattered in my right arm.""I didn't feel it but there was bone sticking out, which was a pretty good indication I'd injured myself."

Pete and his brother Chris, who also suffers from the same condition, have sustained so many injuries over the years that their bodies spend most of the time trying to heal up.

"It's difficult when you don't feel pain because you're always going through this underlying feeling of your body trying to heal itself so you're lacking energy, you don't feel in the best of moods," he said.

The condition, which affects only a small handful of people, currently has no known cure.

Source: News.com.au | Comments (13)

Tags: Pain, Congenital Analgesia