RARE GENE CHAT

Some women who don't really need any kind of meds to help manage the pain of childbirth?

Seriously.

In fact, about one out of every 100 women has a type of gene that gives them a much higher threshold for pain.

That's the latest from a study published tuesday in the journal "cell reports."

Researchers at the university of cambridge compared women who used an epidural to those who didn't to see how they experienced pain.

And it all came down to one gene-- actually a defect in a gene-- that made it harder for nerve cells to send pain signals to the brain-- meaning having a baby naturally wasn't quite as excruciatingly painful.

That doesn't mean birth is painless-- it just means it takes more pain-- like stronger contractions-- for that pain threshold to kick in.

Scientists hope they can use what they learned here to develop new medicine to manage pain.

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