Pain Flashcards
What did Vilayanur S. Ramachandran do for the field?
Pioneer in the field of phantom limb
pain, synesthesia and Capgras syndrome
Original training in visual perception
and cognition
Why is pain a good thing?
The body lets you know what is wrong to protect itself
What was wrong with Gabby Gingras and what happened to her?
Born without pain neurons
Lost all of her teeth, going blind, needs to wear protective clothing
What did Paul Brand do for the field?
Worked in the areas of Leprosy, diabetes
Realized limb damage in both cases is
due to loss of pain sensitivity
What happened to leprosy patients when their hands were being repaired by dr brand?
rats were coming in and eating their fingers off and they didn’t notice because they didn’t feel pain. he only would do the procedure on people who had pet cats
What are the 4 kinds of sensory systems?
pain
temperature (non painful)
temperature (pain)
touch
How does the body know if a sense is strong or more severe than another?
More action potentials means a stronger response to a strong stimulus
What kinds of neurons do each of the sensory systems activate?
Pain: mechanical
Temperature (non painful): temperature (low)
Temperature (painful): temperature (high)
Touch: mechanical
Where do all of the different sensory neurons end up?
sensory cortex
How are the cortical columns for the different sensory neurons related in the brain?
They are all adjacent to each other (hand touch is next to hand pain, etc)
Why are you able to tell what will be damaged based on the spinal cord?
Each part of the spinal cord has nerves from a section of the body that enters (input) and exits to as a response to that impulse (output)
When part of it is damaged, everything below that point will also be damaged
What is the neuronal transmission path for pain and temperature and where does it cross over?
1: Sensory Neuron
2: Spinal Neuron (crosses)
3: Thalamic Neuron
What is the neuronal transmission path for touch and where does it cross over?
1: Sensory neuron
2: Medulla neuron (crosses higher up)
3: Thalamic neuron
What is “crossing over” when it comes to neuronal pathways
The left part of the body will be processed by the right side of the brain, it is where the neurons switch to the other half of the brain
What is referred pain?
Pain felt in areas that are not hurt. Internal organs don’t have pain receptors so other parts of the body will feel pain when they are damaged
Unknown why
What is dissociated sensory loss and what does it mean?
damage on one side of the spinal cord, lose all sensation from that area that is supposed to connect there
What happens to the neuronal sensations below the vertebrate that experienced dissociated sensory loss?
Loss of sensation below that point on the same side, temperature and pain cross over below the affected vertebrate
Loss of pain and temperature below on the OTHER side because those neurons cross over at that point and can’t get through
What is the gate theory of pain modulation?
Endogenous Opioids are released inhibiting
pain neurotransmission, can’t feel any pain even though the sensory neurons are firing
Where are the opioids released from in the brain that act as a gate?
from the central gray within the midbrain
What is the difference between first and second pain?
first: sharp temporary pain, myelinated neurons
second: dull, longer chronic pain
Are pain medications targeting first or second pain?
Second, can’t predict when you’ll hurt yourself except for medical procedures, etc
What is hyperalgasia?
enhanced pain
Increased sensitivity to stimulation
“Non painful” stimuli induce pain
“Painful” stimuli produce heightened pain
perception
Meant to protect the organism from further
damage and promote healing
What causes hyperalgasia?
Sensitization of neurons involved with
the neurotransmission of pain
Sensitization of sensory neurons, spinal
neurons or CNS neurons
What does Hebb have to do with chronic pain?
“Neurons that fire together wire together”
the body is so used to feeling pain that it is the expected and normal response even if nothing is wrong
How does Ramachandran’s Mirror Box work?
Amputees who are experiencing phantom limb pain are able to “see” that their phantom is there and not in pain by using their intact limb to move in the mirror
