Woman with ‘mutant’ gene who feels no pain and heals without scarring discovered by scientists. She reported numerous burns and cuts without pain, often smelling her burning flesh before noticing any injury, as published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia, and could open door to new treatments.

PaddyMcGeezus | 13 hours ago

People like this sometimes end up with vision problems or going blind because they can't feel when particles land in their eyes

ArcFurnace | 12 hours ago

Yeah, the "heals without scarring" is definitely the more useful part of this. Total insensitivity to pain has a lot of well-documented issues.

g0ing_postal | 11 hours ago

Yeah. Leprosy causes nerve damage so victims don't feel pain. That's why lepers are often depicted as missing limbs. It's not because of the disease itself, it's because they get hurt and don't notice it until it's too late

MyDamnCoffee | 10 hours ago

I never knew that! Thank you for sharing

Crying_Reaper | 8 hours ago

It was depicted well in The Kingdom of Heaven Durectors Cut when it shows the young king putting his hand over a candle and not feeling anything.

KerouacsGirlfriend | 2 hours ago

Diabetics too. I have a friend with type 1 and he is always checking his feet for cuts. Says that if he doesn’t look he won’t know if he’s cut, then it can get infected so bad he might have to get the foot amputated.

Lorgin | 12 hours ago

Literally wolverine

dikbisqit | 6 hours ago

A zero on the scale of anxiety depression seems like biggest biggest if them all.

EquipLordBritish | 7 hours ago

Hopefully they aren't connected.

MentalDisintegrat1on | 10 hours ago

I believe they also have to really watch every time they eat they can chew their own tongue off.

At glance it seems like a superpower until you realize it over rights all the ways your body is telling you something is wrong.

I wonder if they feel stomach pain like if they have to poop.

Caspur42 | 46 minutes ago

In the movie Novocain Jack Quaids character can’t feel pain and has to set alarms to remind himself to go to the bathroom or his bladder might burst and he wouldn’t know. He also eats mostly soft food that doesn’t require a lot of chewing or he can bite his tongue off on accident.

As cool as they tried to make his condition in the movie it still came across as very horrible.

atlantagirl30084 | 11 hours ago

Or when they’re toddlers they rub their eyes and damage them. I remember one kid, they had to put goggles on her because she kept sticking her fingers in her eyes.

propargyl | 12 hours ago

Referring her to pain geneticists at University College London and the University of Oxford they identified two mutations of note. One in a gene called Faah (Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase), which is well known to pain researchers.

The FAAH gene plays a role in the body’s endocannabinoid system, the parts of the central nervous system which play a role in pain, memory and mood and which the compounds in cannabis act on.

Aside from her lack of pain, Cameron was additionally described as characteristically happy, friendly, talkative, optimistic, and compassionate, as well as exceedingly affectionate and loving towards family members.^([3])^([1])^([12])^([2])^([5]) Moreover, she was lacking in anxiety, depression, worry, fear, panic, grief, dread, and negative affect generally.^([3])^([1])^([2])^([5])

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Cameron

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty-acid_amide_hydrolase_1#

Active_Builder_74 | 11 hours ago

the body really said FAAH in response to pain

Evilsushione | 11 hours ago

Kind of points to physical pain and mental pain as having the same origin. This also might be the key to addiction. Opiates might be so addictive because the alleviate a common source of pain.

Ssspaaace | 11 hours ago

It's well documented that emotional and physical pain activate the same structures in the brain.

radome9 | 5 hours ago

One heroin addict described heroin "like getting a hug from mum".

Otter_Pockets | 8 hours ago

And maybe my fibromyalgia isn’t “all in my head” after all. Sigh.

rheetkd | 7 hours ago

the origin is the brain so it literally is in our heads lol. I have Fibro as well. Something originating from your brain or nerves doesn't mean the pain isn't real.

Otter_Pockets | 6 hours ago

I meant that in the hysterical sense. I do understand the brain/body connection and how pain signals work. Thanks though.

rheetkd | 6 hours ago

yeah but when drs say its in your head they are not meaning the pain isn't real. Which is how a lot of people interpret it.

Otter_Pockets | 6 hours ago

Guess you haven’t been to a lot of doctors or aren’t a woman. I’ve never misinterpreted the intent of the doctor’s explanation. Medical gaslighting is real and happens to fibro patients probably more often than those with most other ailments. The only people it happens to more are WOMEN with fibromyalgia.

rheetkd | 6 hours ago

I am a woman with fibromyalgia and been to dozens of doctors over the last 20yrs of have fibro. Also look after a support group with a few thousand people with it. Medical gaslighting is real but this statement is the most misunderstood.

Otter_Pockets | 5 hours ago

Not in my experience. The phenomenon of fibromyalgia is poorly understood, even in the medical community. There are vast swaths of doctors who don’t acknowledge that the pain is “real”, only that the patient is anxious and/or hysterical, suffering from some sort of psychological disorder. I’ve been labeled as drug seeking and doctor shopping when all I wanted was a doctor who acknowledged my pain was real and offered non-opioid pain medication or other methods of controlling my pain. I think you’re oversimplifying the medical experience because yours was simple or straightforward. I’ve had pain for as long as I can remember. Nearly half a century. I am just now starting to see changes in the way my medical complaints are being addressed. I’m barely starting to sense that the doctor isn’t skeptical of my symptoms. I acknowledge that there is 100% a psychological component, but the pain was present before the psychological toll.

rheetkd | 5 hours ago

some anecdotes doesn't mean that's the whole reality. and to their credit again anxiety is linked to fibro and can mess up the way body perceives pain. Our body and mind are not separate things. they work together.

Own_Round_7600 | 8 hours ago

I wonder what it feels like being Gods favourite.

shynotgay | 8 hours ago

FAAH 🗣️🔊‼️gene

mycatpartyhouse | 11 hours ago

And then there's me, who's hypersensitive to pain and scars at the scratch of a fingernail. I'd be up for some gene therapy to reach a happy medium between me and this woman.

FuturAnonyme | 11 hours ago

I was just thinking the same thing, that I have the reverse of this

I just have to gently bump into a wall and I know I will get a bruise

PTSDeedee | 7 hours ago

Same ugh. I feel longing for what she must experience everyday.

louisa1925 | 5 hours ago

You would end up like me then. I feel pain but unless it is severe, I usually don't usuallly notice I am injured until someone points it out. This body excells at healing too.

NapsAreAwesome | 11 hours ago

"Novocaine"... great movie!

louisa1925 | 5 hours ago

Was GreenDay in it? Because they want some.

Emotional-Chain9696 | 14 hours ago

"...often smelling her burning flesh". How you ending up in these situations???

jkurratt | 13 hours ago

Cooking

spearmint_wino | 13 hours ago

"Wait, I didn't put bacon in the ratatouille..."

Round_Credit_5158 | 9 hours ago

True, I've gotten second degree burning from boiling water falling into my hands.

Pardot42 | 9 hours ago

cooking....

ravens-n-roses | 12 hours ago

Well when you don't feel pain, pretty easily i imagine.

Frankly if I didn't feel pain I'd have died at my own recklessness before I was 18. Barely made it past 18 despite myself as it is.

Life_force_stealer | 11 hours ago

Saw this video on a guy who does not feel pain. He said people have asked if he was given to chance to feel pain, would he. He said no, because at this point he had caused so much damage to his body that he would just be in constant pain.

FlameBoi3000 | 11 hours ago

I swear I touch something hot or even burn myself every time I cook something. Easy to imagine

wendalls | 9 hours ago

Slow learner huh 🤣

Terrible-Visit9257 | 11 hours ago

No pain

Koltova | 11 hours ago

She is [ Title Card ]

AldurinIronfist | 5 hours ago

>In addition to the mutation in FAAH, Cameron showed a heterozygous microdeletions downstream of FAAH overlapping a pseudogene.[13][3][2][5] This novel pseudogene was named FAAH-OUT and was considered likely to encode a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA).[13][2][5]

Lol

CyberpunkAesthetics | 5 hours ago

This phenomenon has bioethical importance as well. In everything from laboratories using animals, to issues of abortion and euthanasia, pain awaeness is in fact paramount. For good reason. But what if someone is aware, and capable of consent - but lacks pain awareness? This woman is a living thought experiment, one that needs to be asked.

Redundedited | 10 hours ago

Harvest a few cells and clone them? She shouldn't have to live in a lab to study this.

Stem cell injections for burn victims?

The lack of scars is the most impressive part to me.

scrndude | 10 hours ago

If they start talking about adamantium, run!!

rgbhdmi | 10 hours ago

It’s only a flesh wound!

Color-Correction | 5 hours ago

*Tis

Xzenor | 5 hours ago

Not feeling pain is not uncommon.. it's a curse though. Not scarring is cool. That's absolutely special

Forward_Motion17 | 26 minutes ago

Yea I’m far more curious about this process of not scarring for her

SmokeInABottle | an hour ago

I wish the article focused more on the rapid healing aspect as opposed to the lack of painful sensations.

I want to know if she's a crab person! JK

But for real the way she heals should be worth more than a potential painkiller gene.

Ill_Mousse_4240 | 14 hours ago

That would be amazing!

viralmessiah00 | 12 hours ago

Until your appendix bursts and you don't feel the pain that tells you to go to the hospital!!

I'm pretty sure people with the not feeling pain disorders have way reduced lifespans because pain is the body letting you know something isn't right so they can't feel infections or similar.

Real-Olive-4624 | 8 hours ago

Yeah, there's a reason why even plants have ways of detecting damage. It's a pretty necessary thing for survival

UCanBdoWatWeWant2Do | 8 hours ago

They may be talking about the new treatments

RedBMWZ2 | 11 hours ago

Snikkt

spankmydingo | 13 hours ago

She is Unbreakable.

SeaCraft6664 | 2 hours ago

Hope her family prevents her from being made into a guinea pig by the scientific community, wonder what other organizations could intervene on her behalf? 🤔

GlassMunky | an hour ago

The amount of people something like this could help is immense. Millions of people have chronic pain, so I’d actually hope this woman does everything she can to help humanity find some ways to deal with that better for everyone’s sake. Not to even mention all the other medical issues that this could help from the whole non scarring thing and other mental tie ins.  This is huge.

SeaCraft6664 | 48 minutes ago

Such ends don’t overshadow the potential for abuse nor the importance of ensuring her safety in providing what could be a boon for mankind…

costsegregation | an hour ago

Super soldier, yes now brain wash with social media.

deep_rover | 41 minutes ago

It's Wolverine!

Ok_Nectarine_4445 | 10 hours ago

Can you imagine the Roman soldiers coming across a Scottish warrior like that?

Not enough of them I guess.

radome9 | 5 hours ago

She's 71? People who feel no pain rarely make it to adulthood. Absence of pain means serious problems go unnoticed: broken bones, infections. Imagine the usual teenage recklessness, but untempered by a fear of pain.

Bum_Hunter | an hour ago

I dont believe this healing without scarring is impossible in any "real" wound. Unless the physiology of this individual is so massively and fundamentally different you could argue they are a different species.

GlassMunky | an hour ago

Tell us you don’t understand biology

Bum_Hunter | an hour ago

Informative you must be a real contribution

Bum_Hunter | 58 minutes ago

The title is sensationalized bs and fake

GlassMunky | 54 minutes ago

lol ok bud.  Guess you can’t read either….

It’s ok though, keep on yapping into the wild. Eventually you’ll feel better.

costafilh0 | 13 hours ago

Poor woman will become a rat lab. As if her life has been easy already.

But I'll take her sacrifice for the humanity. Hopefully she at least gets well compensated for it.

svenner2020 | 12 hours ago

Anyways.

There's this insane take.

Rickshmitt | 12 hours ago

I was going to make the joke that they are going to lock her up in a lab and give her an adamantium skeleton. But youre getting downvoted...so i did it anyway