A teenager can put his hand in boiling water and step on his nails without feeling pain due to a rare genetic disorder that only a few hundred people suffer from.
The 18-year-old was just a toddler when she tore off two nails with her teeth, forcing her parents to wrap her hands in a cloth.
In elementary school, she knocked out five baby teeth because she wanted the Tooth Fairy to visit her. Instead of money, he got a gum infection and needed antibiotics.
And in high school, he didn’t realize he’d stepped on a rusty nail until his sock was soaked in blood.
At age four, the young woman was diagnosed with congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP), a genetic condition suffered by a handful of Americans and only a few hundred people worldwide.
Your pain receptors are not synchronized correctly with your brain. So, although he can still feel hunger pangs and similar sensations, he can “grasp things quickly from the fire” and the fingertips of his right hand are so marked that only two fingers have prints.
The teen, who had an anonymous Ask Me Anything (AMA) thread on Reddit, said that while “getting hurt doesn’t scare me,” she is “terrified” that the condition will lead her to ignore serious problems like internal bleeding or organ failure.
An 18-year-old woman on Reddit detailed her experience living with a rare condition that leaves her unable to feel pain (file image)
She said: ‘I’ve never felt that pit or sinking feeling in my stomach that some of my friends describe when they see injuries. Gore is an interesting but neutral topic for me.
“I worry when I think something is potentially lethal or could permanently incapacitate me.”
CIP is caused by a genetic mutation that prevents the body from transmitting pain signals.
Tests the Reddit user received as a child revealed a mutation in her PRDM12 gene, which helps form nerve cells that normally help the body feel pain.
Nerve endings called nociceptors end up underdeveloped or unresponsive to pain signals.
The Reddit user said: ‘Give me a paper cut on one hand and cut off a finger on the other, and I couldn’t tell you which “hurts” more with my eyes closed. I would just tell you that my finger is missing.
In addition to the pain, she also has trouble regulating body temperature, which prevented her from playing sports as a child or spending time outdoors during the summer.
She said: “I can’t feel when the cold or hot temperature becomes painful, but I still feel my body shake and my skin get bumpy when it’s cold and I don’t like it very much.”
Also called congenital analgesia or congenital indifference to pain, CIP is so rare that fewer than 100 cases have been recorded in the US.
Although she doesn’t feel pain, the Reddit user still feels sensations like muscle aches and nausea.
She said: ‘Pain is also a source of discomfort that I feel and dislike deeply. I can feel the muscles inside my body moving slower than usual and the sensation is like trying to push my limbs through tar.
“I can tell when I’m nauseous and about to throw up because my mouth is watering and my stomach feels tight, but I don’t think I actually feel nauseous.”
‘The same goes for headaches. I can tell when I have a headache because my forehead feels tight… and my vision gets weird, but I can’t feel the actual pain inside; I just know that it’s a sign that I should take aspirin.’
Jo Cameron (left), from Scotland, has led a virtually pain-free life due to a rare genetic mutation similar to that of the anonymous Reddit user. Mrs Cameron, pictured right with her children and husband Jim on her daughter’s graduation day, did not realize her case was unusual until she was 65.
The woman noted that her parents protected her from getting hurt and taught her to be “overly cautious and always on the lookout” for injuries.
She said: ‘I was definitely less afraid of things as a child. I didn’t understand how my disorder left me more vulnerable to injury than most people. All I knew was that certain things didn’t affect me like other people, and I enjoyed it.
‘I was lucky that, as I got older, my parents did a good job of teaching me to pay attention to my body when I got hurt.
‘My parents have had to deal with my horror show for 18 years and it never gets easier, for them or for me. However, they are very affectionate and have never stopped reacting with my best interests in mind. I was very lucky to have them as parents.’
While he said there are no positive aspects to the condition, he occasionally uses it to his advantage. The teen already has one tattoo and plans to get more, and is “undefeated” in games with her brothers like Bloody Knuckles.
She said: ‘I wouldn’t say I hate my disorder or that I live in constant fear; I just have to be twice as attentive to my body and have regular scans and tests to make sure my organs continue to function.
‘If I could hypothetically choose to be cured of CIP and feel things normally, I think I would reject it. Although I wish I could feel internal pain. That seems really useful.”