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.
|
