Where is your pain? The short answer is simple: in your brain. It may seem as if it’s in your broken finger, or the toe you just stubbed on the door, or in your aching tooth. But it’s not. Pain is a sensory experience, and resides in your brain. To consider why I say that, ask yourself: does an anesthetized patient feel pain during a surgical procedure? The answer (assuming the patient is properly anesthetized … Read More
The recent shootings at the Clackamas Town Center mall and then at the elementary school in Newtown, Conn., made me think about emotional distress, and the ways in which it mirrors physical pain. When we talk about emotional suffering, it is almost impossible to avoid pain-related words. We say: “She hurt my feelings.” Or: “He broke her heart.” This is not just an idiosyncrasy of the English language; a similar pattern has been documented in … Read More
In a broad sense, pain is much more than a sensation. Pain can be a lifesaver. Pain can be pleasure. Pain can be the gate to heaven. Pain can be just an emotional suffering. When we talk about the physiologic meaning of pain, we can think of the pain system as the alarm system of the body. It is essential for the survival of the organism and complete loss of pain sensation is not compatible … Read More
Last time I wrote about how the brain controls pain. But why would the brain need a system to control pain? The answer is that although pain is unpleasant (at best!), it is often a valuable warning signal that forces us to take care of our bodies as we go about our business. What would life be like without pain? We know the answer, because there are rare individuals who are born unable to feel … Read More
Do you notice that you are not sleeping as well during the holiday season? There can be a number of possible reasons for that; one includes a disorder called restless leg syndrome, or RLS. RLS is diagnosed by clinical symptoms. Four necessary features must be present: 1) an urge to move the legs, usually accompanied by an uncomfortable or unpleasant sensation in the legs; 2) the urge or unpleasant sensation begins or worsens during periods … Read More
Almost all of us have experienced pain at some point in our lives, probably many times. And that is not a bad thing. Pain is often a warning that something is wrong and that we need to act to avert impending injury or allow ourselves to rest and recuperate. But sometimes pain outlasts an injury, and sometimes we have pain without any obvious injury at all. How can that be? It turns out that our … Read More
