"A Life Without Pain" documentary

stargazer123 · **stargazer123**

The children and I recently saw this documentary. I was only slightly aware of this disease which is very rare. CIPA is the condition in which children are born with the inability to feel physical pain.

I often made jokes about how nice it would be to be unable to feel pain. I thought surely it would have to be a blessing, that is until I saw what the families of these children and these children had to go through. It definately brought a startling reality to light in my mind and the children and I discussed it for days afterwards.

I believe there are a total of 100 people in the world with this disorder. Most of them do not live past the age of 26. In some cases children are also born with the inability to regulate body temptature as well as the inability to feel pain. many of these children die by the age of three.

My children asked me an interesting question after watching the movie. They asked me how does someone explain physical pain and hurt to these children? Why can't their parents make them understand so that they don't hurt themselves anymore? The only thing I could think to say is that it must be like describing color to someone without sight.

It was an interesting documentary and it really touched me deeply. It made me realize although I complain about pain, how needed it is sometimes in the scheme of things. How the inability to feel it could bring greater suffering in other ways. If anything I think this documentary added to my understanding of physical pain and the consequences of a life without it. It also brought the children and I closer in really good discussion and understanding of our own journeys.

rose_ashes · **rose_ashes**

i don't know about physical pain, but sometimes i sure wish i could get rid of emotional pain...

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"The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible" -Oscar Wilde

7/22/04