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What is Pain?
Pain is a sensation of discomfort or unpleasant emotional experience. It usually occurs from tissue damage.
Most acute pain goes away after the tissue has healed. Pain is considered
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Pain Questions
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to be chronic when it continues
after the tissue has healed and persists for more than 6 months. Inadequate treatment of pain can cause
unnecessary suffering, disruption of life style, loss of income, and loss of self-esteem.
Pain can be divided into two categories:
Neuropathic pain
Neuropathic pain is pain that is caused by damage to nerve tissue. It is often described as tingling, burning,
shooting, electric-shock, and stabbing. Examples include “pinched nerve”, carpal tunnel syndrome, and peripheral
neuropathy.
Nociceptive pain
Nociceptive pain arises from an injury or disorder outside the nervous system that results in activation of
specialized pain receptors called nociceptors. These receptors are present in skin, muscles, bone, joints, bowel,
and other tissues. The pain is described as aching, throbbing, less often, sharp. This type of pain can occur from
arthritis, osteoporosis, and ischemic limb pain.
Mixed pain consists of a combination of neuropathic and nociceptive pain. This may be seen in migraine or cancer.
About 70% of patients with advanced cancer have pain and about 25% die without adequate relief.
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