pain

I have been thinking a lot about pain lately. For a number of reasons actually. I have chronic pain
I was talking to Mandi about pain, I visited my Dr. recently and we discussed pain.
But here's what really put me in overdrive .
I'm reading this book ( a novel) about a neurosurgeon that specializes in research. He's talking about phantom pain, you know,when people lose a limb or something and suffer from pain in the lost limb. Anyway he comments that the pain is just in their head.
"Well, no kidding" I thought . ALL pain is in your head .
(turns out that was exactly his point)
Anyway, that's what got me started. Now I don't have much understanding of the brain. Just your basic left hemisphere/ right hemisphere, frontal lobe, etc. terminology that I understand, and maybe a little more from all the reading I did after my Mom had a burst aneurysm, but I'm no genius.



this is a partial article I read on Wikipedia

Nociception (synonym: nocioception or nociperception) is defined as "the neural processes of encoding and processing noxious stimuli." It is the afferent activity produced in the peripheral and central nervous system by stimuli that have the potential to damage tissue. This activity is initiated by nociceptors, (also called pain receptors), that can detect mechanical, thermal or chemical changes, above a set threshold. Once stimulated, a nociceptor transmits a signal along the spinal cord, to the brain. Nociception triggers a variety of autonomic responses and may also result in the experience of pain in sentient beings.


The neurological basis and mechanisms for phantom limb pain are all derived from experimental theories and observations. Little is known about the true mechanism causing phantom pains, and many theories highly overlap. Historically, phantom pains were thought to originate from neuromas located at the stump tip. Traumatic neuromas, or non-tumor nerve injuries, often arise from surgeries and result from the abnormal growth of injured nerve fibers. Although stump neuromas contribute to phantom pains, they are not the sole cause. This is because patients with congenital limb deficiency can sometimes, although rare, experience phantom pains. This suggests that there is a central representation of the limb responsible for painful sensations (Ramachandran and Herstein, 1998). Currently, theories are based on altered neurological pathways and cortical reorganization. Although they are highly intertwined, mechanisms are often separated into peripheral, spinal, and central mechanisms.

hah.. they really don't know do they?

Everyone has their brain wired their way. Whatever their norm is.
For instance, some people see numbers as colors. ie. 1=red 2=yellow etc.
(synesthesia)
here's a link to a simple article describing this phenomenon

and I know what red looks like to me, but how do you perceive red? or yellow? etc..

OK, I know, I probably sound like a troglodyte. This is stuff we all think about in elementary school. I just got to thinking about it as applied to pain.
What is my perception of pain? Others? and how can a doctor diagnose and treat it?
You can't pull out the brain like a mother board in a computer or something and say "Aha! I can see why you suffer so much. This little do-hicky has come unhitched on one end. (or something)
or maybe they can . I don't really know what a Pet Scan or an MRI reveals. I seriously doubt it explains pain in any real way.

For instance, two years ago I had a tooth pulled. No real big deal. Got some pain meds, went home, recovered. Sort of. There was a piece of tooth left behind in my gum that flipped up and began to wear a little hole in my cheek, it wasn't really all that painful, mostly just annoying and I was concerned about long term effects. So.. back to the oral surgeon , she whacked the piece of tooth off with what looked exactly like wire cutters (ew!) and sent me on my way assuring me that the pain would be no where near as intense as when the tooth was actually pulled.
(in other words, no Rx for pain)
To her maybe! In her brain wiring, this was no big deal. For me it was excruciating. I soldiered on, because I'm always afraid to ask for pain medication, but truly, it was pretty awful.
For me.

Anyway, I could go on and on if anyone was bored enough to listen to me postulate and theorize about pain perception. I'm sure that volumes have been written on the topic, and I intend to read some.

Hah! What's your reality!!