Pain and How to Deal with It - Essay Example

"Pain and How to Deal with It" is a great example of a paper on neurology.
When a person is hit by a metal chair, he/ she will sense a kind of unpleasant sensation at the site of injury, which is described as pain. This sensation depends upon various external and internal stimuli and acts as an alarm system of the body against injury. The Central Nervous System plays a major role in the awareness of pain, but psychological aspects are also important in pain perception. (JRank,2011) 

The nerve fibers beneath the skin have pain receptors, external stimuli (such as collision with a metal) causes the biochemical present at the nerve endings to release electrical nerve impulses and via sensory neurons. Impulses pass on to the spinal cord and then to the thalamus in the brain, which then transmits the signal to the Cerebral cortex(JRank,2011), where the impulse transcripts as pain. Now cerebral cortex produces appropriate reactions to alleviate the pain. NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors are involved in pain perception (Lautenbacher&Fillingim,2004). Pain is categorized according to the duration, location, and etiology. The three basic types of pain are acute pain that is the pain of recent onset, and due to specific injury. The second type is chronic pain, which occurs for a longer period than the acute pain without any specific injury or a cause. The third type is cancer-related pain, which may be acute or chronic type as a result of cancer treatment or any trauma. Pain is also categorized according to the location of its source that is headache, stomach ache, etc. Or it may be categorized according to its etiology, which is pain described in terms of its cause. Other types include nociceptive pain due to inflammation or hypersensitivity and neuropathic pain due to primary lesion. 

(Brunner,Suddarth&Smeltzer,2008) 

Pain control is achieved through the use of drugs or various psychological approaches, such as massage or stress management. Two main "pain management" approaches are the use of anesthetics and analgesics. Analgesia is the loss of pain without consciousness, and anesthesia is the loss of consciousness with loss of pain. There are mainly two types of analgesic used, Addictive and Non-addictive analgesics. Non-addictive analgesics are given to reduce mild to severe pain. Such as NSAIDs (Non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) examples are Diclofenac sodium, Aspirin, Indomethacin, etc. More powerful analgesics such as opiates have the potential for addiction and are given in the hospital for severe pain. Pain is initially due to nerve impulse generation and afterward due to the production of prostaglandin at the site of injury. PG's or prostaglandins increase the blood flow at the injury site to combat any infection, and this causes excessive pain. NSAID's reduce the production of PGs by inhibiting the Cyclo-oxygenase I and II pathway of PG synthesis, thus reducing pain. (Helms,2006) Opiates reduce the release of neurotransmitters due to hyper-polarization at the nerve endings and thus reduce the pain. If the wound is present, then different types of dressings according to the type of wound are used to accelerate healing and reducing pain. Dressings include gauze, film, gels, foams, hydrocolloids, and alginates impregnated with antiseptic materials. (Medscae,2011) 

Pain management aims to reduce the discomfort either by analgesics, anesthetics, or dressings, depending upon the injured site assessment or the cause of pain.