I have been cursed with a rare condition that makes me unable to feel pain; the injuries I suffered are shocking

A teenager can put her hand in boiling water and step on nails without feeling pain because of a rare genetic condition that only a few hundred people have.

The now 18-year-old was just a toddler when she tore off two of her fingernails with her teeth, forcing her parents to wrap her hands in cloth.

In primary school she tore out five of her baby teeth because she wanted to be visited by the tooth fairy. Instead of money, she got a gum infection and needed antibiotics.

And in high school, she didn’t realize she’d stepped on a rusty nail until her sock was soaked in blood.

The young woman was diagnosed with congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP) at the age of four, a genetic condition that affects a handful of Americans and only a few hundred people worldwide.

Her pain receptors are not properly synchronized with her brain. So while she can still feel hunger pangs and similar sensations, she can “grab things out of the fire quickly,” and the fingertips of her right hand are scarred in such a way that only two fingers have prints.

The teen, who held an anonymous Ask Me Anything (AMA) thread on Reddit, said that while “getting injured doesn’t scare me,” she is “terrified” that the condition will cause her to have serious problems such as internal bleeding or organ failure will ignore.

An 18-year-old woman on Reddit described her experience living with a rare condition that leaves her unable to feel pain (stock image)

She said: ‘I have never felt that pit or drop in my stomach that some of my friends describe when they see injuries. Gore is an interesting but neutral subject for me.

“I worry when I think something is potentially fatal, or could permanently disable me.”

CIP is caused by a genetic mutation that prevents the body from transmitting pain signals.

Tests the Reddit user received as a child revealed a mutation in her PRDM12 gene, which helps form nerve cells that normally help the body feel pain.

Nerve endings, called nociceptors, are ultimately underdeveloped or unresponsive to pain signals.

The Reddit user said: ‘Give me a paper cut on one hand and cut off a finger on the other, and I couldn’t tell you what ‘hurts worse’ if my eyes were closed. I’d just like to tell you that my finger is missing.’

In addition to the pain, she also has difficulty regulating her body temperature, which prevented her from playing sports as a child or being outside in the summer.

She said, “I don’t feel when hot or cold temperatures become painful, but I still feel my body shaking and my skin getting bumpy when it’s cold, and I really don’t like that.”

CIP, also called congenital analgesia or congenital indifference to pain, is so rare that fewer than 100 cases have been recorded in the US.

Although she doesn’t feel any pain, the Reddit user still feels sensations like muscle pain and nausea.

She said: ‘Pain is also a source of discomfort that I feel and hate. I feel the muscles in my body moving slower than normal and it feels like I’m trying to push my limbs through tar.

“I can tell when I’m nauseous and about to throw up because my mouth is watering and my stomach feels tense, but I don’t think I’m actually nauseous.”

‘Same with headaches. “I can tell I have a headache because my forehead feels tight… and my vision gets weird, but I can’t feel the real pain inside – I just know it’s a sign to take aspirin.”

Jo Cameron (left), from Scotland, has lived a virtually pain-free life thanks to a rare genetic mutation similar to the unnamed Reddit user. Mrs Cameron – pictured right with her children and husband Jim on her daughter’s graduation day – did not realize her case was unusual until she was 65.

The woman noted that her parents were protective to prevent her from hurting herself and taught her to be “excessively careful and always alert” to injuries.

She said: ‘As a child I was definitely less afraid of things. I didn’t understand that my condition made me more vulnerable to injury than most people. All I knew was that certain things didn’t affect me as much as other people, and I enjoyed it.

‘I was fortunate that, as I got older, my parents taught me to pay attention to my body when I am injured.

‘My parents have been dealing with my horror show for 18 years and it never gets easier, for them and for me. However, they are very loving and have always responded with my best interest in mind. I was really lucky to have them as parents.’

Although she said there are no positives to the condition, she occasionally uses it to her advantage. The teenager already has one tattoo and plans to get more, and she is ‘undefeated’ in games with her brothers as Bloody Knuckles.

She said, “I wouldn’t say I hate my disorder or that I live in constant fear; I just have to be twice as attentive to my body and have regular scans/tests done to make sure my organs are still working.

“If I could hypothetically choose to heal from CIP and feel things normally, I think I would turn it down. But I wish I could feel inner pain. That seems very useful to me.’