--- description: A newly discovered genetic mutation caused a Scottish woman to go a lifetime without feeling pain, according to a new case study. title: How a Scottish Woman Endured Burns, Broken Bones, Childbirth and Surgeries Without Ever Feeling Pain image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9606effca7fb916/69894777656a3f4bc7bd6d9d/painkillers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) ## Health Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [medicine](/tag/medicine/) ## medicine Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How a Scottish Woman Endured Burns, Broken Bones, Childbirth and Surgeries Without Ever Feeling Pain  by [Jamie Ducharme](/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 28, 2019 3:50 PM CUT  A bottle full of neatly ordered graphic pills on a bright yellow background A bottle full of neatly ordered graphic pills on a bright yellow backgroundGetty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 28, 2019 3:50 PM CUT A newly discovered genetic mutation caused a Scottish woman to endure cuts, burns, broken bones, childbirth and surgery without feeling any pain, according to [a case study](https://bjanaesthesia.org/article/S0007-0912%2819%2930138-2/fulltext "undefined") published in the _British Journal of Anaesthesia_. About five years ago, Joanne Cameron, now 71, had what should have been a painful hand surgery at Scotland’s Raigmore Hospital, says Dr. Devjit Srivastava, a consultant in anesthesia and pain medicine at the hospital. “She mentioned that she does not feel pain and she did not need any anesthesia, which was not a usual day in the office for me,” Srivastava tells TIME. “I disregarded her, actually. I couldn’t believe her.” Srivastava gave Cameron anesthesia as usual, but decided to check in with her after the operation. When he did, he found that she reported no pain, and didn’t take any painkillers beyond an over-the-counter drug recommended by her doctors. In talking to her further, Srivastava learned that Cameron also hadn’t experienced pain from a previous arthritis diagnosis or a hip replacement surgery. When giving birth to her two children, she told Srivastava, she experienced only “a bit of uncomfortableness.” In some cases, she didn’t even notice injuries — she reported “often smelling her burning flesh before noticing any \[burn\] injury,” according to the case study, and remembered breaking her arm as a child and not noticing until her mother caught sight of it. Perplexed, “I felt it was a responsibility that I shouldn’t let her go without investigating,” Srivastava says. He referred her to pain genetics experts at the University College London and the University of Oxford, who completed genetic sequencing on her as well as her mother and two children, according to the case study. They found that Cameron had a handful of genetic mutations, including one on the chromosome that codes for an enzyme called FAAH. Cameron’s FAAH gene was making a modified type of the enzyme, which had been shown [in previous research](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2882713/ "undefined") to lessen pain perception. From there, doctors uncovered another genetic mutation near the FAAH gene. And through blood tests, they confirmed that her genetic defect was “translating into a biochemical defect which increases a brain chemical, due to which she does not feel pain, she is forgetful and she is incredibly happy,” Srivastava explains. The discovery highlights the delicate role of pain in the body, Srivastava adds. Some pain is a good thing, as it serves as a warning sign when something is amiss, he says. (Even without such warning signs, Cameron is today in “absolutely good health,” Srivastava says.) But at the same time, millions of people — including [more than 50 million](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6736a2.htm "undefined") in the U.S. alone — suffer from chronic pain, which can significantly hamper quality of life, lead to reliance on addictive [painkillers such as opioids](http://time.com/5550686/opioid-prescribing-patterns-drop/ "undefined") and even [change the way the brain works](http://time.com/4085001/pain-tolerance/ "undefined"). Cameron’s case may someday lead to a breakthrough for these people, Srivastava says. He hopes that, if researchers can identify the molecular pathways behind Cameron’s pain tolerance, they can someday use that information to develop new pain relief therapies — ideally that come with fewer risks than opioids. That reality is a long way off — research is only at the conceptual stages for now, Srivastava says — but he says it’s not impossible to imagine. “When pain lingers on for months or years, it serves no useful purpose,” he says. “We are trying to \[target\] those millions of patients and provide help to them.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5560375/scottish-woman-feels-no-pain/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5560375/scottish-woman-feels-no-pain/"},"headline":"How a Scottish Woman Endured Burns, Broken Bones, Childbirth and Surgeries Without Ever Feeling Pain","datePublished":"2019-03-28T15:50:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:10:05.233Z","description":"She is also forgetful and 'incredibly happy'","url":"https://time.com/5560375/scottish-woman-feels-no-pain/","keywords":["medicine","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9606effca7fb916/69894777656a3f4bc7bd6d9d/painkillers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9606effca7fb916/69894777656a3f4bc7bd6d9d/painkillers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pain Killers","caption":"Pain Killers","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/medicine/","name":"medicine"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5560375/scottish-woman-feels-no-pain/","name":"How a Scottish Woman Endured Burns, Broken Bones, Childbirth and Surgeries Without Ever Feeling Pain"}}]}] ```