• Question: if you had no nerves would you ever feel pain. if it was possible to not have nerves

    Asked by DEEZ_NUTZ_JEFF_MLG_LOL to Chris, Josh, Rebecca, Rob, Susan on 23 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Susan Cartwright

      Susan Cartwright answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      You would not feel pain. In fact, there are people with a genetic mutation which causes them not to feel pain – either because the particular nerves that sense pain do not form at all, or because they form but do not work. (Several different mutations cause one or other of these conditions.)

      This is a VERY DANGEROUS illness. Pain is there for a reason – it lets you know when you are doing something that might harm you. Children who have this condition sometimes literally bite the end of their tongue off, or their fingers, when teething: they can’t tell that what they are doing is causing damage. They usually manage to burn themselves at some point, through picking up or touching something hot. They are always covered in bruises from knocking themselves against things, and have more than their fair share of broken bones.

      Pain may be unpleasant, but you really don’t want to live without it.

    • Photo: Josh Meyers

      Josh Meyers answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      No you wouldn’t feel pain!
      That is why some parts of your body are more sensitive to pain than others.

      There are very few nerves on the base of your heel, and we don’t feel much pain there because of it.

      However, nerves are good! because they tell us when something hurts so that we can fix it! If we are burning ourselves, it’s best to know so that we don’t mutilate our hands!

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