P is for Pain
by Anna
My dad was telling me about one of his patients who couldn’t feel pain. He said it is very dangerous because pain is a good thing, without pain we wouldn’t know that there was something wrong. People with this disability lack the nerve endings to detect substance P.
Substance P is a protein that is found in the spine and brain. It serves as a neurotransmitter between nerves. Its purpose is to cause pain, but it also causes stress and anxiety. When there is a problem in the body, the nerves send messages to the spine. Substance P then sends pain to the problem.
Substance P causes:
- The gag reflex
- Defensive behaviors
- Change in heart beat
- Salivation
- Change in blood cell size (vasodilation)
- Smooth muscle contraction
- Salivation
When pain arrives it is increased depending on how bad the problem. If the problem is bad chances are the pain will become “large”. If it is not a severe injury the pain size will remain “small”. Once the pain is increased to the appropriate size based off of the severity of the injury or infection it moves on to the brain. Here the pain strength is determined. Once again if the problem is severe the pain will become excruciating. If it is minor the pain will be felt slightly. Then the pain will be sent back to the infection or injury spot, at this point the pain will begin to be felt.
The protein that increases the level of pain is called N-methyl D-asparatate (NMDA). The organism will then be aware of the problem and will be able to do something about it. If the pain proteins aren’t working correctly it can cause the person to feel no pain. This is usually due to a genetic defect. The disease is called Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy type-4. People who feel no pain usually die at an early age due to dangerous actions or unnoticed problems. Look at the following articles to see the dangers of feeling no pain.
What more information is there about Substance P and feeling no pain? Is there a cure for this disorder? Have there been any new discoveries about Substance P? If so what are they?
February 19th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Anna as I was reading I say that it affected the gag reflexes, which kind of grossed me out at first but as I was researching I found it was kindof neat. What I learned was that the vomitting center in the brainstem holds a high concentration of substance p and its reception. With other neurotransmitters such as; cholin, histamine, dopamine,serotnin, and opiods; their activation starts the vomiting reflex. But with substance p being a mutation, the vomitting reflex is therefore “destroyed” in a sense. Yet there is a cure for this called aprepitant which is avaliable in the market.
February 19th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
We always wish we didn’t feel any pain, but reading this post made me think again. Pain is actually good because it tells us when there is something wrong. Feeling no pain would allow us to do horrible things to ourselves without even knowing it was harmful, like the things mentioned in the article about the 3-year-old girl.
Here is an article that says that naked mole rats have evolved to be born without substance P.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080129125533.htm
This article says that the study of these rodents may lead to the development of new analgesic drugs for people without substance P.
Good job Anna!
February 19th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Not to long ago, I watched an extreme makeover:home edition episode. They were building a home for a family of a girl who felt no pain. Here is a website about it her..
http://www.realitytvmagazine.com/blog/2008/01/13/extreme-makeover-home-edition-helps-girl-who-feels-no-pain/
her condition is extremely rare. she feels pain only when its about 20 to 30 times the normal intensity and her body has trouble being able to regualte its own temperature.
this website describes it more in detail..
http://www.pediatriconcall.com/fordoctor/CaseReports/hsan.asp
February 21st, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Morgan, I agree, the gag reflex is kind of gross but it is very interesting to know that pain happens, if I understand correctly, to fix whatever is going on with your body.
I find that ironic because we always want the pain to go away, obviously, but, it is really fixing the problem or becoming aware of it.
It is so scary to think that you could be on fire, on for example, your foot and not even realize it. That has to be a terrifying conditon to have. I’ve never known anybody with the condition but I have heard of it.
But, to answer your questions Anna, like Morgan said, I had found there was a cure for the gagging reflex. Other than small fixes like that one, I found no ultimate cure for this disease.
This was a really good post!
February 21st, 2008 at 10:32 pm
When I first heard about this disorder I thought this could be a very good thing to feel no pain. But I now realize what a false assumption that was. Tony Dungy the coach of the Colts has a son who can not feel pain. In his book Quite Strength he talks about the many problems of raising a child who can’t feel pain. He said his son would just reach into the oven and grab cookies off the sheet. Though he felt no pain he had severe burns on his hands and if left untreated they would become infected. Pain helps us become aware of problems in are body and can save our life. Thanks this post really helped me think.
February 24th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Morgan so what you are saying is a person with the disease can not throw up? If so in what ways can this be dangerous? What does aprepitant do to cure the “destroyed” gag reflex? Can anyone answer these questions, with a link attached?
February 24th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
” Feeling no pain ” is almost thought to be a good thing like michael said in certain context. But really thinking about it to be such a renowned “bad” thing thinking about it its taken for granted to a huge extent. The pain isn’t the bad part, the injury is the bad part. On a deeper level any type of pain infact is taken for granted. Without pain we couldn’t fully enjoy the parts we DONT have pain. As amanda mentioned Naked-mole rats also lack the substance p and scientists have done research on this to further advances in substance p research.
Here’s the link to the lab experiment: http://pubs.acs.org/cen/critter/8202molerats.html
February 24th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
When I first heard of this disorder when I was little, I thought it would be the best thing in the world to never feel pain. I would never feel any shots, bruises, broken bones, ect. My mind was changed a few years ago when I saw a girl on the news who had this disorder who had been burned by the stove. If I remember correctly, she had been sitting on the burner for a long time and had horrible burns on her legs, arms, and behind. Now i remember that story and I see how bad it would be to not feel pain. Sure there are a few positive sides, but if something was seriously wrong, like if you were having a heart attack, or if you had some kind of kidney or liver disease or something major like that, you would never know. I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it would be to live with and take care of someone who has that disorder. I have a cousin who is autistic, and we have plenty of problems dealing with him, but I can’t imagine if he could not feel pain! If he did so much as fall down, it would send my entire family into a frenzy trying to make sure he was okay. I like what morgan found about the vomitting reflex. So if I read and understood that correctly, does that mean that people who can’t feel pain also can’t vomit?
February 24th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Cool post Anna! I found some more things about not feeling pain. According to this website http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061213-pain.html it is actually a rare genetic disorder. The gene that causes pain codes for a protein that allows electricly charged particles to cross the nerve cells. The mutation prevents the brain from reciving signals from the nerves.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
steph, people who cant feel pain do not thorw up or even gag for that matter. but this is extremely dangerous because when you throw up you are releasing all the toxins in your body. they NEED to be released. fortunately there is a cure for this,. could someone find a link and write about it in a comment?