BIOM30001 Lecture 24: 24 Introduction to Pain A
Document Summary
Nerve or tissue damage can lead to pathological pain (chronic pain) Pain message is embedded in the nervous system. Molecular pharmacology : a framework for patient care. Pain experience requires neural processing and conscious perception. Pain is complex : different types of pain. Inflammatory: pain signal continues, amplified > ns adapts/responds to this situation. Neuropathic: nervous system becomes dysfunctional and pain signal becomes embedded in the nervous system (chronic pain). Lasts for months and years even if injury has healed. An individual experience influenced by culture, previous pain events, beliefs, mood and ability to cope . There are genes which also determine tolerance/sensitivity to pain. Iasp definition: an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage (physical trauma is not necessary to have pain) The individual response is paramount: many who survived had no real pain, they were happy to be alive.
