How does one feel pain?

Question

I'm attempting to write a story and one of the characters in it doesn't feel pain. I remember reading about this somewhere but it was a while back, so I no longer remember. So, how does one feel any sort of pain? Is it from nerves? A certain gene? A DNA sequence? Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Pain is a subjective experience/sensation associated with the subjective perception of tissue destruction.

Have a look at the wiki page on pain - it's got a reasonable coverage of the pathways.

Essentially - in our tissues, in our skin, the periosteum covering the bones, the linings of our organs etc. we have pain receptors. These are of various designs, but are essentially modified nerve endings.

The nerve cells to which these pain receptors are attached send their pain signals along the nerve pathways to the spinal cord and then up specialized pathways in the spinal cord to the brain (specifically to the brain stem - particularly the thalamus which is an important centre in the brain to process sensation).

From here, the signal is sent to the Parietal Lobe sensory cortex (post central gyrus = somatosensory cortex) where the body can more accurately localize the position of the painful stimulus.

There are a number of ways to cause insensitivity to pain. Diseases of the peripheral nerves such as diabetes or leprosy can cause the nerves not to transmit the pain signal. In diabetics, poorly controlled diabetes can cause the nerves to the hands and feet (initially beginning in the fingers and toes) to not work. This begins in the peripheries and works its way back along the limbs. In Leprosy, a similar phenomenon occurs. Rarely, children can be born with abnormalities of the nerves where the pain pathway does not work.

In fiction, Stephen Donaldson's character Thomas Covenant is a leper and has to inspect his arms and legs periodically. The villain of the James Bond movie "The World Is Not Enough" - Reynard - is said to have a piece of metal (?schrapnel) embedded in his brain working its way inwards and causing him to feel no pain.

Answer 2

it is frm the nerves..
when u injure an area in your body
u basicall cut minute nerves in tht area leavin those nerve areas bare.. and these bare nerve endings cause the pain