Chronic pain

General or Other | General Practice | Chronic pain (Disease)


Description

Chronic pain is pain that has lasted for a long time. Chronic pain can be considered to represent a disease itself. Environmental and psychological factors can aggravate the pain. Chronic pain is more persistent than acute pain and, because resists to most medical treatments it can be a serious problem.

Causes and Risk factors

Chronic pain may be divided into nociceptive and neuropathic. Nociceptive pain may be divided into superficial and deep, and deep pain into deep somatic and visceral. Neuropathic pain is divided into peripheral and central. Most chronic pain patients complain of cognitive impairment, such as forgetfulness, difficulty with attention, and difficulty completing tasks. Some cases of chronic pain can be traced to a specific injury that has long since healed, for example, an injury, a serious infection, or even a surgical incision. Other cases have no apparent cause, no prior injury and an absence of underlying tissue damage. However, many cases of chronic pain are related to these conditions: low back pain, arthritis, especially osteoarthritis; headache; multiple sclerosis; fibromyalgia; shingles; nerve damage (neuropathy).

Other conditions can include chronic fatigue syndrome, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, inflammatory bowel disease, interstitial cystitis.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Because chronic pain affects all aspects of your life, it’s important to treat chronic pain both medically and emotionally. Medically treating your underlying condition is, of course, vitally important. ...