What If Nobody Could Feel Pain?

What's real in this episode

• people born without pain (most often a broken SCN9A gene) still feel touch, heat and cold, but they miss injuries, so pain works like an alarm, not like damage. There is no safe way to switch pain off: pills built on that gene kept failing in trials, and the new painkiller approved in 2025 turns pain down, not off.

Sources

1. Congenital insensitivity to pain (SCN9A): Cox et al., Nature 2006 — pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7212082
2. Jo Cameron (FAAH-OUT): Habib et al., British Journal of Anaesthesia 2019 — pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6676009
3. CIPA fever deaths before age 3: Rosemberg et al. 1994 — europepmc.org/article/MED/7527213
4. CIPA overview (HSAN IV): NORD — rarediseases.org
5. Nav1.7 painkillers and trial failures: McDonnell et al., Pain 2018; Yang 2025 review — europepmc.org/article/MED/39928833
6. Suzetrigine (Journavx) approval, 30 Jan 2025: FDA — fda.gov
7. Dental fear in adults (15.3%): Silveira et al., J Dent 2021 — europepmc.org/article/MED/33711405
8. Pain as the chief ER complaint (52%): Cordell et al. 2002 — europepmc.org/article/MED/11992334
9. Appendicitis signs: NIDDK — niddk.nih.gov
10. Appendix rupture risk over time: Bickell et al. 2006 — europepmc.org/article/MED/16500243