Lecture 3 Definitions

Question 1

Pain that is sudden in onset, usually subsides when treated, and typically occurs over less than a 6-week period.

Answer 1

Acute pain

Question 2

Drugs that are added fir combined therapy with a primary drug and may have additive or independent analgesic properties or both.

Answer 2

Adjuvant analgesic drugs

Question 3

Substances that bind to a receptor and cause a response

Answer 3

Agonists

Question 4

Substances that bind to a receptor and cause a partial response that is not as strong as that caused by agonists

Answer 4

Agonists- antagonists (partial agonists)

Question 5

What occurs when a particular pain drug no longer effectively controls a patient’s pain despite the administration of the highest safe dosages

Answer 5

Analgesic ceiling effect.

Question 6

Drugs that bind to a receptor and prevent (block) a response, resulting in inhibitory or antagonistic drug effects.

Answer 6

Antagonists (inhibitors)

Question 7

Pain that occurs between doses of pain medication

Answer 7

Breakthrough pain

Question 8

A common and well-described theory of pain transmission and pain relief. It uses a gate model to explain how impulses from damaged tissues are sensed in the brain.

Answer 8

Gate control theory

Question 9

Pain that results from a disturbance of function or pathologic change in a nerve

Answer 9

Neuropathic pain

Question 10

Processing of pain signals in the brain that give rise to the feeling of pain.

Answer 10

Nociception

Question 11

A subclass of sensory nerves (A and C fibers) that transmit pain signals to the CNS from other body parts.

Answer 11

Nociceptors

Question 12

Pain that arises from mechanical, chemical, or thermal irritation or peripheral sensory nerves. Two subtypes of this are visceral and somatic.

Answer 12

Nociceptive pain

Question 13

Analgesics that are structurally and functionally different from opioids.

Answer 13

Nonopiod analgesics.

Question 14

A large, chemically diverse group of drugs that are analgesics and possess anti-inflammatory and antipyretic properties but are not corticosteroids.

Answer 14

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

Question 15

Synthetic drugs that bind to opiate receptods to relieve pain.

Answer 15

Opiate analgesics

Question 16

Describes patients who are receiving opiod analgesics for the first time or intermittently for a brief period of time and who therefore are not accustomed to their effects.

Answer 16

Opiod naive.

Question 17

An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.

Answer 17

Pain

Question 18

The level of stimulus that results in the sensation of pain.

Answer 18

Pain threshold

Question 19

A drug that binds to a receptor and causes a response that is less than that caused by a full agonist.

Answer 19

Partial agonists (agonists- antagonist)

Question 20

Recurring pain that is often difficult to treat. Includes any pain lasting longer than 3-6 months, pain lasting longer than 1 month after healing of an acute injury, or pain that accompanies a nonhealing tissues injury.

Answer 20

Persisten pain (chronic or long term pain)

Question 21

A condition in which a patient takes a drug over a period of time and in which unpleasant physical symptoms (withdrawal symptoms) occur if the drug is stopped abruptly or smaller doses are given. The physical adaptation of the body to the presence of an opiod or other addictive substance

Answer 21

Physical dependence

Question 22

A pattern of compulsive use of opiods or any other addictive substance characterized by a continuous craving for the substance and the need to use it for effects other than pain relief.

Answer 22

Psychological dependence (addiction)

Question 23

Pain that originates from skeletal muscles, ligaments or joints.

Answer 23

Somatic pain

Question 24

The general term for pain control situations that are complex and whose treatment typically involves multiple medications, various health care personnel, and nonpharmacological therapeutic modalities.

Answer 24

Special pain situation

Question 25

Drug interactions in which the effect of a combination of two or more drugs with similar actions is greater than the sum of the individual effects of the same drug given alone.

Answer 25

Synergistic effects

Question 26

Pain that results from pathology of the vascular or perivascular tissues

Answer 26

Vascular pain

Question 27

Pain that originates from internal organs or smooth muscles

Answer 27

Visceral pain