The Girl Who Feels No Pain

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-02-29 03:50am

That would be horrible.

Darth Yoshi · Post by **Darth Yoshi** » 2004-02-29 03:52am

That sucks. Well, at least her death will be physically painless.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-02-29 03:58am

My heart goes out to those parents. Non-parents can't understand the heartache over every little misstep. Everything that goes even slightly wrong in your child's early life, you trace your steps back and ask yourself why you couldn't see it before. Why didn't I see it, why didn't I stop it, why didn't I do something? I still remember beating myself up because Matthew fell down the short half-flight of stairs to the side door when he was a baby, because I was too goddamn fucking stupid and lazy to put in the gate before he started crawling. Oh no, I figured I could wait until he started crawling! He wasn't even seriously injured, yet I still see that half-flight of stairs in my mind's eye. Incredibly, it still bothers me, along with a host of other missteps and errors, things I could have done differently.

I can't even begin to imagine what these parents have gone through. Especially the part where they reminisce about her shining eyes, and how they didn't think of the goggles sooner. Christ, I'd be a basket case.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2004-02-29 04:54am

closet sci-fi fan wrote:That's really sad. Can you imagine growing up knowing that you're toothless(well she probably will have teeth) and blind because you clawed them out when you were younger?

No I can't, but the concept reminds me of a Ray Bradbury story about a guy who first discovers that he has a skeleton at the age of 40.

18-Till-I-Die · Post by **18-Till-I-Die** » 2004-02-29 06:31am

It's off-topic but...

Peregrin Toker wrote: No I can't, but the concept reminds me of a Ray Bradbury story about a guy who first discovers that he has a skeleton at the age of 40.

What the hell was that story about?

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2004-02-29 09:07am

There was a thing in the papers a few years back about a kid in England who had that. He had absolutely no concept of what was a bad thing to do because of the lack of a pain response. He'd put his hands in fires just for the hell of it, etc.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-02-29 10:36am

This sort of neurological disorder can manifest in the elderly too. I believe my mother has dealt with people who have very little sensory ability left and can, for instance whilst running a hot bath, almost cook themselves alive since their thermal receptors and pain receptors don't fire properly. It's a very rare disorder, but when you find it it's quite shocking and I can only imagine the problems this poor kid will have growing up without being able to detect pain.

We probably all feel like we wish we could switch it off at times, but it's a damn good thing we have it in the first place.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2004-02-29 10:39am

Pain mankes me think of the speech from GI Jane that went something along the lines of

Pain is your friend, It lets you know when you are hurt, but most importantly it lets you know you're still alive

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2004-02-29 02:53pm

I have always had a healthy respect for pain (and fear) because of their survival mechanism purposes. There are times it'd be cool to turn them off, but to not ever have pain (or fear, in some people) turned on would be horrible.

This atleast explains people who are into BDSM. They like the pain because it's life assuring. It's enjoyable because they have it and it makes them feel alive, rather than dead and dying like this kid. So many things she will miss out on..

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-02-29 03:13pm

ya know. . . .i'd always thought it'd be kinda cool to be able to turn pain on and off, or to simply not have it, but after reading this story, it gives you a whole new appreciation for it.

Post by **Zaia** » 2004-02-29 03:22pm

*heart breaks into tiny pieces*

Hethrir · Post by **Hethrir** » 2004-02-29 05:05pm

That's nasty. Is it similar to lepresy then?

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2004-02-29 05:15pm

Lepresy is a virus that detroys your pain receptors, this is an actual neurological disorder.

Mark S · Post by **Mark S** » 2004-02-29 07:15pm

There was a character with this disorder in one of the Callahan stories by Spider Robinson. The character described almost bleeding to death more than once from cuts he had no idea he had.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2004-02-29 07:21pm

That is the saddest thing I've heard in a long time. I feel truly sorry for the family.

On a side note, my teacher in Russia told us about a guy with this disorder. They went camping and he caought fire because he sat too close to the fire, and he didn't know about it until the other people noticed it.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2004-03-01 11:51am

18-Till-I-Die wrote:It's off-topic but...

Peregrin Toker wrote: No I can't, but the concept reminds me of a Ray Bradbury story about a guy who first discovers that he has a skeleton at the age of 40.
What the hell was that story about?

SPOILER

The story's called "Skeleton" in some editions, "The Skeleton" in others. It's about some guy named Harris who finds out that he suffers from some kind of disease affecting his bones - and since he's a known hypocondriac, the only one who trusts him is a quack. Unfortunately, until this point Harris hasn't even considered that he has a skeleton inside. As a result, Harris becomes afraid of his own bones. Then the reader is subjected to Harris' various delusions and the story ends with the quack transforming Harris into a jellyfish.

aphexmonster · Post by **aphexmonster** » 2004-03-01 06:11pm

what ?! that is one crazy nonsense story

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The Girl Who Feels No Pain

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