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Topic: What is pain? (Read 293 times) |
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CJohnson
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What is pain?
« on: May 16th, 2003, 8:40am » |
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Every kind of physical pain is, in its most fundamental sense, the result of the brain interpreting signals sent to it from some source as a response to some kind of stimulus. The signal travels from the source to the brain via nerve pathways.
Question: What is resposible for generating those signals? Is it nerves in every case?
-Curtis
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Mack
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Re: What is pain?
« Reply #1 on: May 16th, 2003, 10:57am » |
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CJ,
I'm not a Dr., but I play...oh nevermind ;D
From what I have been able to gather from a bunch of different sources, the THEORY is that each nerve cell has transmitters and receptors that send signals to the brain. The brain then interprets the signal based on the the receptor path the signal took to the brain.
So getting to what's responsible; generally yes, nerves are responsible for sending the signal. It's up to the brain to interpret the signal though, whether that signal is pain, heat, cold, etc.
This is where the meds come in. Different medications block certain receptors in the nerve cell, telling the brain that there is no pain.  ;D ;D
If you have the time, do a websearch on pain theory. you'll get about a million hits.
Mack
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Margi
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Re: What is pain?
« Reply #2 on: May 16th, 2003, 11:14am » |
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um, Curtis - go check out Den's (rumpledsheets) reply below quoting Drummer's research into this subject.
totally freaking amazing if you ask me - not only that Drummer originally dug all that up (he even amazed Ueli in that one!) but also that Den was just able to remember it. One of the following things must have happened:
a. Den's got a mind like a steel trap
b. Den REALLY needs to get a life
or
c. Georgia's at work and told Den to clean the house. When she gets home he'll tell her he was too busy all day.
I'm thinkin 'c' is on the money.
Good work Den.
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Big Dan
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Re: What is pain?
« Reply #3 on: May 16th, 2003, 11:46am » |
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My theory is that the brain is getting signals when no signals are actually being sent.... in the case of CH anyway...
... kinda like when you think that someone has spoken to you, but they reply with "I didn't say anything"....
-Big Dan
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CJohnson
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Re: What is pain?
« Reply #4 on: May 16th, 2003, 2:20pm » |
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This seemed interesting:
Sensory nerves bring information about pain, heat, cold and other sensory phenomena to the spinal cord from various parts of the body. At least two types of nerve fibers are thought to carry the majority of pain messages to the spinal cord:
A-delta nerve fibers, which carry electrical messages to the spinal cord at approximately 40 mph ('first' or 'fast'pain).
C-fibers, which carry electrical messages at approximately 3 mph to the spinal cord ('slow' or 'continuous pain')
A good example of how these respective nerve fibers work is prov n is the activation of the A-delta nerve fibers followed by the activation of the slower C-fibers.
The activation of other types of nerve fibers can modify or block the sensation of pain.
After hitting ones elbow or head, rubbing the area seems to provide some relief. This activates other sensory nerve fibers that are even 'faster' than A-delta fibers, and these fibers send information about pressure and touch that reach the spinal cord and brain to override some of the pain messages carried by the A-delta and C-fibers.
-Curtis
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| « Last Edit: May 16th, 2003, 2:25pm by CJohnson » |
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CJohnson
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Re: What is pain?
« Reply #5 on: May 16th, 2003, 3:22pm » |
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Pain basically results from a series of exchanges involving three major components: your peripheral nerves, spinal cord and brain.
Your peripheral nerves
Your peripheral nerves encompass a network of nerve fibers that branches throughout your body. Attached to some of these fibers are special nerve endings that can sense an unpleasant stimulus, such as a cut, burn or painful pressure. These nerve endings are called nociceptors.
You have millions of nociceptors in your skin, bones, joints and muscles and in the protective membrane around your internal organs. Nociceptors are concentrated in areas more prone to injury, such as your fingers and toes. That's why a splinter in your finger hurts more than one in your back or shoulder. There may be as many as 1,300 nociceptors in just 1 square inch of skin. Muscles, protected beneath your skin, have fewer nerve endings. And internal organs, protected by skin, muscle and bone, have fewer still.
Some nociceptors sense sharp blows, others heat. One type senses pressure, temperature and chemical changes. Nociceptors can also detect inflammation caused by injury, disease or infection.
When nociceptors detect a harmful stimulus, they relay their pain messages in the form of electrical impulses along a peripheral nerve to your spinal cord and brain. However, the speed by which the messages travel can vary. Sensations of severe pain are transmitted almost instantaneously. Dull, aching pain, such as an upset stomach or an earache, is relayed on fibers that transmit at a slower speed.
-Curtis
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| « Last Edit: May 16th, 2003, 3:24pm by CJohnson » |
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CJohnson
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Re: What is pain?
« Reply #6 on: May 16th, 2003, 3:25pm » |
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Your spinal cord
When pain messages reach your spinal cord, they meet up with specialized nerve cells that act as gatekeepers, which filter the pain messages on their way to your brain.
For severe pain that's linked to bodily harm, such as when you touch a hot stove, the "gate" is wide open and the messages take an express route to your brain. Nerve cells in your spinal cord also respond to these urgent warnings by triggering other parts of the nervous system into action, such as your motor nerves. Your motor nerves signal your muscles to pull your hand away from the burner. Weak pain messages, however, such as from a scratch, may be filtered or blocked out by the gate.
Within your spinal cord, the messages can also change. Other sensations may overpower and diminish the pain signals. This happens when you massage or apply pressure to the injured area. The result is that the warnings sent by your peripheral nerves are downgraded to a lower priority.
Nerve cells in your spinal cord may also release chemicals that amplify or diminish the messages, affecting the strength of the pain signal that reaches your brain
-Curtis
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Through water and fire. From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak, I fought the Beast. Until at last, I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin upon the mountainside.
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CJohnson
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Re: What is pain?
« Reply #7 on: May 16th, 2003, 3:26pm » |
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Your brain
When pain messages reach your brain, they arrive at the thalamus, a sorting and switching station located deep inside your brain. The thalamus quickly interprets the messages as pain and forwards them simultaneously to three specialized regions of the brain: the physical sensation region (somatosensory cortex), the emotional feeling region (limbic system) and the thinking region (frontal cortex). Your awareness of pain is therefore a complex experience of sensing, feeling and thinking.
Your brain responds to pain by sending messages that promote the healing process. For instance, if you've cut your finger, it signals your autonomic nervous system, the system that controls blood flow, to send additional blood and nutrients to the injury site. It also dispatches the release of pain-suppressing chemicals and sends stop-pain messages to the injury site.
-Curtis
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Azrael
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Re: What is pain?
« Reply #8 on: May 16th, 2003, 10:28pm » |
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I'm thinkin' you think too much...
PFDAN................................... Drk^Angel
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Big Dan
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Re: What is pain?
« Reply #9 on: May 17th, 2003, 9:23am » |
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Yeah... your posts are gunna drive me to drinkin'....
.... drinkin' more, anyway.. 
-Big Dan
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KingOfPain
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Re: What is pain?
« Reply #10 on: May 17th, 2003, 12:06pm » |
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2 entries found for pain.
pain[1,noun]pain[2,verb]
Main Entry: 1pain
Pronunciation: 'pAn
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French peine, from Latin poena, from Greek poinE payment, penalty; akin to Greek tinein to pay, tinesthai to punish, Avestan kaEnA revenge, Sanskrit cayate he revenges
Date: 14th century
1 : PUNISHMENT
2 a : usually localized physical suffering associated with bodily disorder (as a disease or an injury); also : a basic bodily sensation induced by a noxious stimulus, received by naked nerve endings, characterized by physical discomfort (as pricking, throbbing, or aching), and typically leading to evasive action b : acute mental or emotional distress or suffering : GRIEF
3 plural : the throes of childbirth
4 plural : trouble, care, or effort taken to accomplish something <was at pains to reassure us>
5 : one that irks or annoys or is otherwise troublesome -- often used in such phrases as pain in the neck
- pain·less /-l&s/ adjective
- pain·less·ly adverb
- pain·less·ness noun
- on pain of or under pain of : subject to penalty or punishment of <made to leave the country on pain of death>
Main Entry: 2pain
Function: verb
Date: 14th century
transitive senses
1 : to make suffer or cause distress to : HURT
2 archaic : to put (oneself) to trouble or exertion
intransitive senses
1 archaic : SUFFER
2 : to give or have a sensation of pain
Don't see a word about CH in these definitions.
I think they missed the mark.
Anyone gets between me & my O2/meds when I am attacked, you will see a fine example. 
KingOfPain
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| « Last Edit: May 17th, 2003, 12:34pm by KingOfPain » |
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We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.
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Real friendship is shown in times of trouble; prosperity is full of friends. - Euripides
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fubar
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Re: What is pain?
« Reply #11 on: May 17th, 2003, 12:27pm » |
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Quote:| Your brain responds to pain by sending messages that promote the healing process. |
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Bwahahaahaaaaahaaaaa
Um, then we should be the most 'healing' people around, right?
Maybe it's not our brains that suck. It's our healing process that done broke.
-Fu
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CJohnson
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Re: What is pain?
« Reply #12 on: May 17th, 2003, 12:36pm » |
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on May 16th, 2003, 10:28pm, Drk^Angel wrote:I'm thinkin' you think too much...
PFDAN................................... Drk^Angel |
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I try to do all of my thinkin' when out of cycle
For whatever reason, I feel compelled to understand what is actually happening to me during an attack. I want to trace it backward from the experiencing of the pain, step by step. Will this do anyone any good? Nope. Just scratching an itch.
on May 17th, 2003, 9:23am, Big_Dan wrote:Yeah... your posts are gunna drive me to drinkin'....
.... drinkin' more, anyway.. ;D
-Big Dan |
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I try to do all my drinkin' when out of cycle
Last night, my wife and I were watching the Pistons game, and we agreed to do a shot every time a Piston missed a free throw. Unfortunately, they didn't miss very many, so we decided to add a shot for every Ben Wallace dunk, then we had to do a turnaround shot (pour shot, turn around in a circle in front of your chair, pound shot, sit back down) when the Pistons were struggling, and, of course, a good luck shot for overtime, and finally, a celebratory shot when they kicked Philly's ASS (sorry Philly fans) in OT. We got lit, and it was good.
-Curtis
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Through water and fire. From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak, I fought the Beast. Until at last, I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin upon the mountainside.
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CJohnson
New Board Old Timer
Cannot kill the family, Battery is found in me
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Re: What is pain?
« Reply #13 on: May 17th, 2003, 12:43pm » |
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on May 16th, 2003, 2:20pm, CJohnson wrote:
After hitting ones elbow or head, rubbing the area seems to provide some relief. This activates other sensory nerve fibers that are even 'faster' than A-delta fibers, and these fibers send information about pressure and touch that reach the spinal cord and brain to override some of the pain messages carried by the A-delta and C-fibers.
-Curtis |
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This would seem to go a long way toward explaining some of the behaviors we exhibit during an attack (banging head, restlessness, etc..)
-Curtis
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Through water and fire. From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak, I fought the Beast. Until at last, I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin upon the mountainside.
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