Neuroscience & Neurology
May 7, 2006
The Bane of Pain Is Plainly in the Brain
Pain is generally considered a symptom of disease. The uniqueness of the disease of pain, of course, is that it cannot be seen by the physician. It is experienced and reported by the patient. Understanding how pain is generated and more importantly, how to treat pain, is the focus of this lecture. Among the topics to be discussed are the many different types of pain that can be produced, the difference between acute and chronic pain, whether placeboes really work and if so, how, and where in the brain is pain perceived.
Presented as part of the UCSF Mini Medical School. Excerpted from uctv.
Tony Brown, BA, EMT
Mr. Brown graduated cum laude from Harvard University. He served as an EMT in the US Army stationed in Germany.1 Response
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Great work as always!!
Well, where shall I start???. On top of chronic peripheral neuropathy, low back pain , neck, hand and foot pain, I also have Epstien Barr Visrus which has the lymph nodes in my ncek swollen and very painful ( since January) I had a board certified Neurologist tell me that the nodes were bones..I told him I had a nursing background and I actually PASSED anatomy. The nodes in the FRONT of my neck are not bones. I then told him I didn;t think we’d be working together when he told me that my ENTIRE problem was caused by Obseity. Instead of looking at the whole picture.
I’ve also been told recently that when I go into MAJOR flares where I have splitting headaches, cognative dysfunction and balance problems is actually a form of Viral Meningitis called Mollaretette’s Meningitis
( caused by the epstein barr virus) . No one is willing to verify the diagnosis , only make assumptions that this is what happens on a cyclical basis.
I see a ” multi dispipline” pain management Doctor. His main line of treatment is in nerve blocks using steriod injections and precribing of medications that I will not take.
So, Life goes on and I can’t give up hope that some day something WILL HELP. I still choose not to take narcotics as they don’t really help and Marinol is better used ocassionally. Lyrica made me feel stoned, Neorontin made me go into acidosis, and I’m now on Cymbalta. It also has no measurable effect ( except weight gain) so I’ve begun to titrate myself off this medication.
Thanks for this forum and the resperch that IS being done, instead of making assumptions that a persons pain is percieved, for a secondary motive ( like SSD pays me even close to what my career did ) Again, I ask medical personnel to look at the WHOLE picture and to use compassion before judgement.
In Hope.
Kali O’Mally