Articles: Pain and Suffering
Pain and suffering terms defined
Air hunger-
gasping for breath
Allodynia- pain provoked by
an innocuous mechanical or thermal stimulus
Breakthrough pain- pain that
increases above the level of pain relieved by the ongoing analgesics
Central pain- pain that is
started or caused by a primary lesion of dysfunction in the central
nervous system
Crescendo pain- a period of
rapid pain escalation often associated with increasing distress
and functional impairment
Dysesthias- burning, tingling
pain
Dyspnea- difficulty breathing
Hyperalgesia- a lowered threshold
to a normally painful stimulus and enhanced pain perception
Hyperpathia- an increased
pain threshold, but once exceeded, pain reaches maximum intensity
too rapidly
Intractable- symptom that
cannot be relieved
Lancinating- knifelike or
stabbing pain
Neuralgia- pain in the distribution
of a nerve, such as sciatica, often felt as an electrical, shock-like
pain
Neuropathic- pain generated
when nerve roots or central pain pathways are damaged
Nocioceptive pain- pain resulting
from the ongoing stimulation of nerves by noxious stimuli
Noxious stimulus- a stimulus
that is damaging or potentially damaging to normal tissue, such
as pinching a shoulder
Odynophagia- a severe sensation
of burning squeezing pain while swallowing.
Opioids- pain relievers, narcotics
Opiophobia- the aversion of
a healthcare professional to properly use opioids to control pain
Paresthesia- includes sensations
of numbness, prickling, tingling and heightened sensitivity
Paroxysmal- sudden, periodic
attacks or recurrences
Projectile- vomiting that
is so forceful that it travels several inches out of the mouth
Psychogenic- pain presumed
to exist when no neuropathic mechanism can be identified, term
that has a negative connotation
Somatic- pain of the musculoskeletal
system
Supratentorial pain- a derogatory
term to suggest that no physical cause exists for the pain or
that the patient is lying about the pain, literally-it is all
in the head
Tabetic pain- sharp, lighting-type
pain, also called lancinating pain
Visceral pain- pain in the
body’s internal organs
Sources
Furrow, B. Failure to treat pain:
no more excuses, TRIAL, October 2002
McCaffery, M and Pasero, C. Pain
Clinical Manual, Mosby, St. Louis, Second Edition, 1999
Mosby's Medical, Nursing, and Allied
Health Dictionary, Sixth Edition, Mosby, St. Louis, 2002
Schwartzman, R. and Maleki, J, Postinjury
neuropathic pain syndromes, Medical Clinics of North America,
Vol. 83, No. 3, May 1999
See Medical Legal Aspects
of Pain and Suffering for more information.
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