Pain Management

Pain Management

Pain may be anything from a dull ache to a sharp stab, and can range from mild to extreme. Pain may be located in one part of the body or it may be widespread.

Studies suggest that a person’s outlook and the way they cope emotionally with long-term (chronic) pain can influence their quality of life. Counselling can help support you to manage the emotional and psychological effects of chronic pain. Understanding the causes of your pain can help reduce your fear and anxiety.

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How pain affects the body

There are two main types of pain. Acute pain is a normal response to tissue injury, which starts suddenly and is usually short lived. Chronic (ongoing) pain persists beyond the normal time of healing and generally lasts for longer than three months.

Chronic pain is usually the result of an injury (for example, a sports or work accident), illness or other health problem. The cause is unknown in around one third of cases.

Pain-relieving medications:

Pain relievers (analgesics) are common medicines that many people use at some time in their lives. There are two broad categories of analgesics:

• non-opioid – such as aspirin and paracetamol, mainly used for mild to moderate pain
• opioid – such as morphine and oxycodone, mainly used for severe pain.

Medications available for the management of pain include:

• paracetamol
• aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen – these medicines also reduce inflammation (redness and swelling)
• opioid medications, such as codeine and morphine – these medicines treat moderate to severe pain
• local anaesthetics
• some antidepressants
• anti-epileptic medicines.

The pain message relay:

Pain receptors in the body relay the sensation of pain along the nerves to the spinal cord, which sends it to a structure in the brain called the thalamus. The thalamus also contributes to mood and arousal, which helps to explain why our interpretation of pain partly depends on our state of mind. The pain message is then delivered to the brain’s cerebral cortex.

Pain receptors:

Pain receptors are attached to two main types of nerves – one relays messages quickly (resulting in a sharp, acute pain) and the other relays messages slowly (resulting in a dull, throbbing pain).

Some areas of the body have more pain receptors than others. For example, the skin is loaded with receptors that can give specific information on the exact location and type of pain. In contrast, there are relatively few receptors in the gastrointestinal tract (gut), which means that it is harder to pinpoint the precise location of a stomach ache.