IASP or the International Association for the study of pain defines pain as an unpleasant emotional and sensory experience associated with potential or actual tissue damage.
Pain is categorized into various categories. However, there are two major types of pain. Mostly pain is classified by the kind of damage that causes it. These types are nociceptive and neuropathic pain.
In neuropathic pain arises from damage to the nervous system, peripheral or central, from disease, injury or pinching.
Nociceptive pain arises from various troubles in tissues, reporting to the brain by the nervous system. This is the type of pain; everyone is familiar with. This pain includes burns, toe stubs, nausea, tumors, strain injury, and inflammatory arthritis.
In some cases, these kinds of pains can overlap. Some medical problems like injuries can affect both nerves themselves and other tissues, causing both types of pain.
Table of Contents
Different types of pain and duration
- Acute pain – short-term and starts suddenly
- Chronic pain – lasts for a more extended period, common causes are nerve damage or disk disease.
- Breakthrough pain – often happen.
- Bone pain – happen when bone is affected usually due to bone cancer.
- Nerve pain – occurs when a nerve is damaged.
- Phantom pain – happen when there is a pain in a part of the body removed
- Soft tissues pain – when organs muscles or tissues are damaged.
Pain doesn’t feel the same for everyone, and every pain does not feel the same.
Acute Pain
Acute pain is generally intense and short-lived. It is the way of alerting a person to an injury or localized tissue damage. Treating the injury resolves this type of pain typically.
There are different types of acute pain.
- Somatic Pain – is external pain, mostly felt on the skin or the soft tissues just below the skin.
- Visceral Pain – primarily originates in the internal organs.
- Referred Pain – is sensed at a location different to the source of tissue damage, such as patients feel shoulder pain during a heart attack.
Chronic Pain
This pain lasts longer than acute pain. Sometimes it cannot be resolved. This pain can be mild to severe and can be continuous, as in arthritis, or sometimes can be intermittent. Intermittent pain occurs on repeated occasions but stops in between.
Neuropathic Pain
This follows injury to the peripheral nerves that connect the spinal cord and brain to the rest of the body. It can take the form of electrical shocks like pain, discomfort, tingling, tenderness, and numbness.
Phantom pain
This pain mostly occurs after the amputation of a limb and refers to painful sensations given out by the missing limb.
Central Pain
This pain often happens due to abscess, tumor degeneration, hemorrhage or infarction in the brain and spinal cord. Central pain can be mild to extremely painful. Patients often report pressing, aching, and burning sensation.
Knowing how to describe a pain can help a person get a more specific diagnosis.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis depends on a person’s subjective description of the pain. If you describe the pain There is no scale to identify and to measure the type of pain so that the doctor will take a look at pain history.
The Patient will be able to describe:
- The pain felt by the patient, such as burning, stabbing or stinging
- When the pains occur
- The impact on a patient’s daily routine and mood
- The site and the radiation of the pain
Some systems can identify the pain, but the most crucial factor in getting an accurate diagnosis is for the patient and doctor communicate.
Treatment and Management
As you know, there are different types of pain, and they will be treated in different ways treatment this is effective against one kind of pain may not relieve another.
NSAIDs
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories are a type of painkiller that can reduce pain and help the person regain daily function. They can have side effects on the digestive system.
If you feel severe pain, you can buy pain medicine online. This medication will control your nerves and reduce the feeling of pain.
Surgery
There are various surgeries of the nerves, spine, and brain that are possible to relieve chronic pain. These surgeries include rhizotomy, decompressions, and electrical spinal cord and deep brain stimulation.
Relaxation Therapies
This treatment covers a wide range of controlled relaxation techniques, workout, and exercises, in the realm of complementary and alternative medicine. This includes yoga, meditation, and massage therapy.