The Agony of Feeling No Pain

Congenital Analgesia

On the surface, you might think that the inability to feel pain would be a good thing. Steven Pete, who was born with Congenital Analgesia, would disagree with you. By the time he was diagnosed, he had chewed a good part of his tongue off while teething.

There was one time, at the roller-skating rink. I can’t recall all of the details, but I know that I broke my leg. People were pointing at me because my pants were just covered in blood from where the bone came out. After that, I wasn’t allowed to roller skate until I was much older.
When I was five or six years old, I was taken away from my home by child protective services. Someone had reported my parents for child abuse.
I was in the state’s care for, I believe, two months. And during that time I broke my leg before they finally realised that my parents and the paediatrician were telling the truth about my condition.

Steven had to face the fact that his body did not provide the proper feedback to warn him of his limits, or of existing injuries. Read his story, and that of his brother who also inherited the condition, at BBC News. More