Congenital insensitivity to pain (or congenital analgia) is a rare condition where a child cannot feel (and has never felt) physical pain. Cognition and sensation is otherwise normal, for instance they can still feel discriminative touch (though not always temperature^*), and there is no detectable physical abnormality.

These children often suffer oral cavity damage (such as having bitten off the tip of their tongue) or fractures to bones. Unnoticed infections, and corneal damage due to foreign objects in the eye are also seen.

In some people with this disease, there may be slight mental retardation, as well as an impaired corneal reflex.

There are some cases where the condition is caused by increased production of endorphins in the brain, in which case naloxone may be used as treatment. This treatment does not always work ^*.

Types of congenital pain indifference

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There are generally two types of non-response exhibited. Insensitivity to pain means that the painful stimulus is not even perceived: a patient cannot describe the intensity or type of pain. Indifference to pain means that the patient can perceive the stimulus, but lacks an appropriate response: they will not flinch or withdraw when exposed to pain.

See also

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• Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis
• Familial dysautonomia

External links

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• Description and a list of published papers on the subject.
• Amersham Health Medcyclopaedia entry.
• A child with congenital insensitivity to pain on the Oprah Winfrey show.
• Purple Medical Blog: Life Can Be Painful for a Child Who Can't Feel Pain
• The Soft Room, a novel about otherwise-identical twins, one of whom has analgia, by Karen Heuler.