Pain: What is it?
Pain is one of the most common complaints in daily life. Almost everyone has experienced pain at least once in their lives.
Pain is a signal that something in the body is not going well. This signal can sometimes indicate a minor condition (such as a mild headache) and sometimes herald a more serious condition (such as cancer pain).
Pain can come with physical symptoms such as dizziness, weakness, difficulty walking, as well as emotional symptoms like anger, depression, or irritability.
What types of pain are there based on the onset?
Pain can be classified into acute and chronic based on the onset.
Acute pain is generally severe, sudden in onset, short-lived, and often occurs after damage or trauma (such as injuries like cuts, burns, or fractures, illnesses like food poisoning or appendicitis, or early postoperative pains after injections or surgeries).
Chronic pain lasts for months, sometimes years, and is more related to another disease. Chronic pain is a significant problem that negatively affects the quality of life, causes loss of workforce, and requires a difficult and multimodal approach.
Examples of chronic pain include migraine pains, joint pains, fibromyalgia, and cancer pains. Sometimes, people may experience pain even after the primary disease (such as an injury or surgery site) has healed.
What types of pain are there based on localization?
Based on localization, chronic pain can be categorized into head, neck, shoulder-arm, back, chest, and abdominal pains.
What types of pain are there based on character?
Pain can be categorized based on its character into neuropathic (burning, tingling, pinching, freezing, electric shock sensation) and nociceptive (dull, aching) pain.
Neuropathic pains are caused by diseases or injuries to the nervous system.
Nociceptive pains result from injuries to the musculoskeletal system, such as skin, muscles, and bones, or pain originating from internal organs.
What types of pain are there based on the cause?
Pain causes include migraine and other headaches (cluster, tension-type headaches), pain due to neck and back hernias, post-failed back surgery pains, cancer-related pains, neuropathic pains due to diabetes or other reasons, neuralgias, and rheumatic pains.
How to get rid of chronic pains?
If the cause of your pain cannot be identified or effective treatment cannot be obtained, it is recommended to consult a specialist in algology (pain management). Algology clinics provide treatment for all types of pain from ages 7 to 70. Pain specialists investigate the cause of pain and primarily apply drug treatment. These drugs contain special active ingredients that can only be prescribed by pain specialists. For patients who do not benefit from drug treatment, interventional treatments are performed by pain specialists based on the location and character of the pain. These procedures include nerve blocks, radiofrequency ablation, and intra-articular drug injections. Interventional algological treatments are low-risk procedures performed with local anesthesia, without general anesthesia.
Remember that chronic pain is not just a physical distress but can also cause changes in a person’s psychological state, leaving lasting effects. Regardless of the cause, effective pain treatment is every patient’s natural right. Do not allow persistent pain to turn your life into a nightmare!
Pain-free days, healthy living!
Dostali Aliyev
Algology (Pain) Specialist
