Pain can be scientifically defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. It is not well understood either in humans or other animals. Since it is complex and cannot be measured directly, pain is very subjective. Pain is an uncomfortable feeling that tells you something may be wrong in your body. Pain is your body's way of sending a warning to your brain. Your spinal cord and nerves provide the pathway for messages to travel to and from your brain and the other parts of your body.
Receptor nerve cells in and beneath your skin sense heat, cold, light, touch, pressure, and pain. You have thousands of these receptor cells, most sense pain and the fewest sense cold. When there is an injury to your body—for example, surgery—these tiny cells send messages along nerves into your spinal cord and then up to your brain. Pain medicine blocks these messages or reduces their effect on your brain.
Sometimes pain may be just a nuisance, like a mild headache. At other times, such as after an operation, pain that doesn't go away—even after you take pain medicine—may be a signal that there is a problem. If you have an operation, your nurses and doctors will ask you about your pain because they want you to be comfortable, but also because they want to know if something is wrong.
Pain may be acute or chronic. Acute pain is severe and lasts a relatively short time. It is usually a signal that body tissue is being injured in some way, and the pain generally disappears when the injury heals. Chronic pain may range from mild to severe, and it is present to some degree for long periods of time. Acute pain begins suddenly and is usually sharp in quality. It serves as a warning of disease or a threat to the body. Acute pain might be caused by many events or circumstances, including:
- Surgery
- Broken bones
- Dental work
- Burns or cuts
- Labor and childbirth
Acute pain might be mild and last just a moment, or it might be severe and last for weeks or months. In most cases, acute pain does not last longer than six months, and it disappears when the underlying cause of pain has been treated or has healed. Unrelieved acute pain, however, might lead to chronic pain.
Chronic pain persists despite the fact that the injury has healed. Pain signals remain active in the nervous system for weeks, months, or years. Physical effects include tense muscles, limited mobility, a lack of energy, and changes in appetite. Emotional effects include depression, anger, anxiety, and fear of re-injury. Such a fear might hinder a person’s ability to return to normal work or leisure activities. Common chronic pain complaints include:
- Headache
- Low back pain
- Cancer pain
- Arthritis pain
- Neurogenic pain (pain resulting from damage to nerves)
- Psychogenic pain (pain not due to past disease or injury or any visible sign of damage inside)
Chronic pain might have originated with an initial trauma/injury or infection, or there might be an ongoing cause of pain. However, some people suffer chronic pain in the absence of any past injury or evidence of body damage.
Medications that stop or ease pain are called analgesics. They may be needed for many days after surgery or injury. After some minor injuries or procedures, they may not be needed at all. Depending upon its severity, pain may be treated in a number of ways.
- Drug treatments
- Nerve blocks
- Alternative treatments such as acupuncture, relaxation, and biofeedback
- Electrical stimulation
- Physical therapy
- Surgery
- Psychological counseling
- Behavior modification
Some pain medicines are more effective in fighting pain when they are combined with other methods of treatment. Patients might need to try various methods to maintain maximum pain relief. Reach Pharmacy can provide you with most effective pain relieving remedies such as analgesics, Creams, Headache and Migraine, Muscular Pain, Paracetamol, Patches, Toothache.etc.
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