Free Essays on Congenital Analgesia

Congenital Analgesia What would it be like to go throughout life without having the feeling of pain? Most people would love not being able to feel the car door slam on their fingers, that tiny little paper cut, and many other pains that would hurt intensely. Pain we all know what it feels like, whether it's the short sharp shock of a scratch to the knee, or the nagging throb of a joint. It's an unwelcome sensation, but it's part of being human. In fact there are those few born unable to feel pain that are born with a condition known as congenital analgesia. Well there is this disorder that people are born with that causes a person to have no sense of pain in their bodies at all. Its called congenital analgesia, this disorder has different causes, many signs and symptoms, and significant ways to cope with it. Congenital analgesia also known as insensitivity to pain is a disorder that people are born with. "A syndrome characterized by indifference to pain despite the ability to distinguish noxious from nonnoxious stimuli. Absent corneal reflexes and mental retardation may be associated. Familial forms with autosomal recessive and autosomal dominant patterns of inheritance have been described†(Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p1343). There are many causes of this disorder like structural abnormalities in peripheral nerves which are the peripheral pathways carrying electrical impulses from pain sensitive nerve endings in both superficial and deep tissues. In Congenital indifference to pain, the peripheral nerves are intact and the defect is apparently in the central structures such as the thalamus where painful impulses are normally interpreted. Indifference to Pain almost certainly exists as an independent condition, but is very rare. Congenital analgesia is usually classified under the more general heading of Hereditary and Sensory Autonomic Neuropathy (HSAN). The different categories are distinguished according t... Free Essays on Congenital Analgesia Free Essays on Congenital Analgesia Congenital Analgesia What would it be like to go throughout life without having the feeling of pain? Most people would love not being able to feel the car door slam on their fingers, that tiny little paper cut, and many other pains that would hurt intensely. Pain we all know what it feels like, whether it's the short sharp shock of a scratch to the knee, or the nagging throb of a joint. It's an unwelcome sensation, but it's part of being human. In fact there are those few born unable to feel pain that are born with a condition known as congenital analgesia. Well there is this disorder that people are born with that causes a person to have no sense of pain in their bodies at all. Its called congenital analgesia, this disorder has different causes, many signs and symptoms, and significant ways to cope with it. Congenital analgesia also known as insensitivity to pain is a disorder that people are born with. "A syndrome characterized by indifference to pain despite the ability to distinguish noxious from nonnoxious stimuli. Absent corneal reflexes and mental retardation may be associated. Familial forms with autosomal recessive and autosomal dominant patterns of inheritance have been described†(Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p1343). There are many causes of this disorder like structural abnormalities in peripheral nerves which are the peripheral pathways carrying electrical impulses from pain sensitive nerve endings in both superficial and deep tissues. In Congenital indifference to pain, the peripheral nerves are intact and the defect is apparently in the central structures such as the thalamus where painful impulses are normally interpreted. Indifference to Pain almost certainly exists as an independent condition, but is very rare. Congenital analgesia is usually classified under the more general heading of Hereditary and Sensory Autonomic Neuropathy (HSAN). The different categories are distinguished according t...