Pain

Pain

A distinction is made between acute pain, chronic pain, somatic pain, skin pain, internal pain, phantom pain, neuropathic pain (neuralgia), malignant pain, psychogenic pain, pathological pain, and mental pain.

The distinction of pain is due to its sources. Pain can be caused by the action of chemicals on the thermal receptors of the nervous system. Prolonged pain is accompanied by changes in physiological parameters (blood pressure, pulse, pupil dilation, changes in the concentration of hormones). Acute pain is accompanied by changes in hemodynamics, it is associated with stimulation of the sympatho-adrenal system. According to changes in the parameters of which it is possible to understand how intense the pain is (objective pain parameters).

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Chronic pain of moderate to severe intensity is a widespread phenomenon in the world: up to 20% of the population suffer from chronic pain of various types. Pharmacologic treatment alone has a limited effect and increases the risk of addiction. Pain results from a complex interaction of biological, psychological and social factors. Pain can be understood as an interaction of activated pain fibers, pain interpretation, and pain behavior. Thus, pain is both a subjective experience and a physical sensation with significant individual differences.

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Chronic pain persists longer than the time period in which it should normally end. It is often more difficult to treat than acute pain and requires special attention.

Establishing a pain mechanism prevents possible damage to the body, but chronic pain is pain without biological value and has no beneficial effects. The most common types of chronic pain are back pain, severe headache, migraine and facial pain. Chronic pain can cause very serious psychological and physical effects that sometimes last for the rest of your life. Damage to the gray matter of the brain, insomnia, sleep deprivation, metabolic problems, chronic stress, obesity and heart attack, depression, cognitive disorders, feelings of injustice, neuroticism are examples respectively of physical and mental disorders caused by chronic pain.

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Drug therapy - types of opioid and non-opioid medications, cognitive behavioral therapy, and physical therapy are used to treat chronic pain. Medications are usually associated with side effects and are prescribed when the effects of pain become severe or difficult to tolerate. Aspirin and ibuprofen, are used for mild pain, and morphine and codeine for severe pain. Other treatments, behavioral therapy and physical therapy, are used as adjuncts to medications due to lack of research and not always proven effectiveness.

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Chronic pain is considered a kind of disease. This type of pain has affected the people of the world more than diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Several epidemiologic studies conducted in different countries have reported large variations in the prevalence of chronic pain ranging from 8% to 55.2% in different countries.

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Studies estimate the incidence in Iran and Canada between 10% and 20%, and in the United States between 30% and 40%. The results show that on average 8% to 11.2% of people in different countries suffer from severe chronic pain, and its epidemic is higher in industrialized countries than in other countries. The American Medical Association estimates that the costs associated with this disease are 560-635 billion SUS per year.