Family offers future hope for those in chronic pain

Geoark

First I am going to offer my apology for those of  you who constantly suffer chronic pain, because I do often ignore these posts.

When it was at its worse the pain from sciatica was constant and intense. It drained me mentally, physically and emotionally. I would often end up in tears while trying to walk down the street. Fortunately for me it only lasted about two years before the pain was brought down to a manageable level. Had it carried on I don't know how I would be coping with it now. So while I appreciate to some extent what it is like I would never compare myself to someone who has suffered chronic pain for years, and just don't know what to say. I would rather say nothing than offer platitudes to people I respect.

Any way the BBC recently ran a story about a family who do not feel pain and have found mutations in the ZFHX2 gene. Two studies where this gene has been bred out of mice has found they have a much higher threshold to pain. Reasearchers hope as they learn more it will offer a way forward for new drugs to target pain. Though it is likely to be many years before such drugs become available.

You can read the story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42322225