Really? Olivia Farnsworth? Did anyone watch Fringe? It's the perfect mashup between Olivia Dunham, Agent Astrid Farnsworth and some borderline science shit. This is awesome.
Chromosome 6 disorders are rare, but not one of a kind. Specifically this girl has a chromosome 6p deletion- a deletion of the “p arm” of the chromosome as opposed to the “q arm.” It’s not the entire 6 chromosome or the entire arm- but some portion of it. Chromosome 6 has over 100 million base pairs in it and is primarily thought to involve immune system function and plays a part in Parkinson’s and other developmental conditions. 6p disorders are rare but not unique. What’s unique is that this girl is the only known person to show ALL 3 of the symptoms for reduced need/desire to eat and sleep as well as not feeling pain.
But it’s actually not as cool as it might sound. Asides the fact there are still other health and development problems and risks she faces, and like many with Chromosome 6 issues she shows behavioral issues- not feeling pain is actually pretty bad. As a child she almost bit her lip off and had to get plastic surgery. You’re more than capable of biting off your own tongue or a finger- when you feel pain it tells your brain to stop. If you don’t feel pain you can easily injure yourself and not know it. Loud noises that can damage your ear drums don’t hurt. You can possibly tell hot and cold but can’t gauge when something is too hot or cold to safely touch. You cant “feel” the limits of your body in exercise, jumping, etc. and can’t be sure how far to push yourself without injuring yourself.
Diabetics often face this issue with feet. They can’t feel footwear causing blisters etc. and most people don’t look much at their feet- especially the bottoms. You can’t feel the injury and you can’t feel the pain your body uses to tell you that you have an infection- it’s easy to get sepsis or need amputation. Knowing something like when your appendix is inflamed or being able to get proper medical care or be aware you’re sick is also complicated.
Another problem when you can’t feel pain? You have NO IDEA what pain is. You can’t empathize. We know hitting is bad because it hurts. We don’t like to be hit- don’t hit others. Without pain- you can’t relate. This intuitive lesson can’t be taught. Your sense of danger and self preservation are effected. You can’t accurately gauge potential threats and the damage they might do based off of experience of feeling pain as damage from lesser but similar stimuli to greater stimuli- like a tiny battery shock compared to a wall shock or a power transformer. Everything involves taking other people’s word that you’re hurt, that something will hurt or kill you. You can’t gauge it yourself very well if at all.
So while it may SEEM like a super power- it’s likely that the reason we feel pain is because the ancestors of our species that were able to survive and thrive felt pain. Evolution is just genetic mutation, those mutations that make people able to survive and multiply through generations tend to stick around and spread while mutations that don’t get lost. It’s most likely the one “super power” benefit or not feeling pain, and the reason she was able to walk away from being hit by a car relatively unharmed- is that since she can’t feel pain she didn’t “tense up” in anticipation or response to pain. That allows force to be spread through your tissue and for the tissue to move and not absorb the full force.
Excellently said!
There's also a really good episode oh House M.D. where a patient has these issues and the episode explains how much of a handicap it is. "Insensitive" se3 ep14.
I love House. Drama and all asides the aspect of speculative sci fi surrounding the hypothetical conditions of some of the patients- and watching how they are solved is a lot of fun. It might not be the most true to life show in procedure etc, and may fudge some things to make it easier to digest, but at its core the fantasy science aspect is fun and has strong legs.
People who dont feel pain usually die young because they dont feel all the tiny scratches they get. So if those scratches get infected it can lead to other problems
There's also a really good episode oh House M.D. where a patient has these issues and the episode explains how much of a handicap it is. "Insensitive" se3 ep14.