Your brain cannot feel pain — it has no pain receptors
The brain processes all pain signals from the rest of the body but has no nociceptors (pain receptors) of its own. This is why surgeons can operate on the brain of a conscious patient — a technique used in some brain surgeries to monitor neurological function in real time. The patient feels the scalp incision (which does have pain receptors) but not the brain itself being touched. Headaches are not the brain hurting — they originate in nerves, blood vessels, and meninges surrounding the brain.
We associate the brain with consciousness and sensation, so the idea that it feels nothing itself — that the organ processing your pain is immune to pain — is a strange inversion of what the brain seems to be.
“Your brain has no pain receptors. Surgeons can operate on a conscious patient's brain and the patient won't feel it. Headaches come from the blood vessels and membranes surrounding the brain, not the brain itself. 🧠 #OddlyHuman”