Introduction to Pain Management Flashcards

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering the definitions, types, and symptoms of pain as presented in the lecture notes.

Pain

A somatopsychic phenomenon and an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage.

Somatopsychic phenomenon

A term describing pain because it involves both bodily (somatic) and psychological/emotional (psychic) components.

Acute pain

Pain with a recent onset that generally occurs as a result of an event (surgery, sickle cell crisis, trauma) and whose symptoms decrease over time.

Chronic pain

Pain that can develop over time, lasts longer than $3$ months, and whose symptoms worsen over time; examples include neuropathic pain and arthritis.

Nociceptive Pain

Pain caused by the stimulation of nociceptors, which are sensory receptors on nerve fibres that transmit pain stimuli to the spinal cord and brain.

Neurotransmitters in Pain Transmission

Chemicals involved in transmitting pain signals, specifically GABA, noradrenaline, and serotonin.

Somatic pain

A category of nociceptive pain occurring from the activation of pain receptors in muscle, bones, joints, connective tissues, and skin; typically localized.

Visceral pain

Pain occurring when internal organs become injured or inflamed, characterized by a dull, aching feeling in a vague location.

Referred pain

A type of nociceptive pain where stimulation of nociceptors in one part of the body (like the heart or kidneys) causes pain to be felt in another part (like the arm or groin) due to shared spinal segments.

Neuropathic Pain

Pain occurring as a result of dysfunction of neural tissue or damage to the nerves due to compression or injury.

Peripheral neuropathy

A type of neuropathic pain linked to diabetes, chronic alcoholism, HIV, or chemotherapy that can result in sensory loss and tissue damage.

Postherpetic neuralgia

Nerve pain that persists following a shingles (herpes zoster) infection, typically affecting the thoracic, trigeminal, or lumbar/sacral nerves.

Trigeminal neuralgia

A condition involving severe bursts of pain on one side of the face when touched.

Neuralgia

A subtype of neuropathic pain specifically associated with a specific nerve or nerves.

Allodynia

Pain caused by a stimulus that would not usually cause pain.

Hyperalgesia

Severe pain resulting from a stimulus that would normally only cause slight pain.

Paraesthesia

A non-painful sensation experienced as pins and needles, electric shock, or prickling in the absence of a stimulus.

Nociplastic Pain

A classification of pain caused by abnormal processing of pain signals in a sensitised nervous system, without specific evidence of tissue injury or nerve damage.

Central sensitisation syndrome

Another term for nociplastic pain; examples include fibromyalgia and IBS.