Pain feedback equating to null would be a win for me. I prefer life requiring heightened awareness than constant pain. Some people don't realize that consistent psychological or physical pain is like living with a cold for your whole life. Every day you think of how ungrateful you were when you could breathe freely. Also if this dramatically decreased life expectancy by the increased danger from lack of feedback.. it still seems like a win with how shit life is when in pain till you die.
What I wonder about is choice. You've expressed yours, and it's solid. Others may well make other choices.
Will they be able to, or are we headed toward a new paradigm, where it's "just fixed, you can go" as opposed to management, options?
Then again, perhaps most people don't care.
I had skimmed this, found it thought provoking. Missed where there is nerve recovery. I do know, from some personal experiences, nerve regrowth, if it happens and it doesn't always happen, is sloooow.
Looks like there is recovery, meaning it's not permanent. I feel a whole lot better about that.
It seems like we both agree that people should be free to make their own choice.
Where I struggle to understand your perspective is here:
> Will they be able to, or are we headed toward a new paradigm, where it's "just fixed, you can go" as opposed to management, options?
As a society right now we are way tipped on the scale toward not giving choice by denying access as opposed to forcing access, so the concern that we'd be forced into relief seems the opposite of my concern (that we will be denied relief).
Doctors are getting really stingy with many medications (because of DEA threats (and in some cases actions) to throw them in prison if their patient does something wrong with them, or even if they are just statistically writing more than other doctors). Try going to get some Xanax, or Adderall, or Percocet. Good luck! If you've had it before it's easier, but new patients you can basically forget about it without a hard diagnosis (which they will happily take tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, and still not provide, because again doctors are terrified of mis-diagnosis and getting sued or treated as a criminal, so they will only do it if there is hard indisputable evidence, which is infrequently the case).
As someone with chronic neuropathic pain, there are some times where pain does need to be eliminated in order for you to live a fulfilling life. Not all pain is necessarily related to direct communication, sometimes it's just there for what seems like no apparent reason.
I'm curious as to whether or not there could be applications for people with spinal cord injuries
“Now, the thing with pain is, it evolved for a reason. It’s an indispensable tool for you to feel if you’re doing something to your body that you shouldn’t be, like holding a scalding cup of coffee. Of course we want to alleviate pain, but might that be problematic if it’s too effective?
For people with knee pain, not really—the injection is targeting a specific area, so the rest of your body can still feel pain. And for end-of-life care, a central injection can bring long-awaited relief.“
I feel people are speculating, but you're correct. I had old school, cut your knee cap in half ACL surgery. Exactly half, the right half, of me knee is completely numb. Not only have I hurt my skin a few times without noticing, I've had bad knocks/bruises that probably would have kept me from walking comfortable otherwise.
This appears to target pain, leaving touch. Not quite as bad as numb. I have a small numb zone too. It's part of a toe, and I've shredded it before. Not a care in the world!
(disturbing, because I could lose the damn thing and not know, or not know how bad it is)
It could also be that the nerves don't actually repair themselves, but your body adjusts to the lack of sensitivity and amplifies signals from a few surviving neurons. So every injection would kill more of the neurons, and at some point it is permanent.
I wondered if this was the case too. I’m also curious the mechanism this uses, what’s mentioned in the article (flood of calcium into the nerve ending) doesn’t make sense to me, but I have no expertise in this field.
The source article mentions that for dogs the average was an effective range of 5 months, with one dog making it 18 months before needing reapplication.
Somehow, I do not see this ending well. As attractive as eliminating pain may be, the fact is we need a sense of pain.
A knee that cannot communicate pain lacks the feedback needed to prevent further damage.