Why do people feel pain. Pain. The causes of pain, how is the pain sensation formed? What structures and substances form the sensation of pain. How the body's defense mechanism works

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What is the biggest fear of a modern person? Each of us is afraid of pain.

This became especially evident in the 21st century. However, our body does not mutate, and the pain threshold does not change either, we are just so accustomed to comfortable conditions that even the smallest pain makes us go to the pharmacy to buy painkillers.

You have probably noticed that one person easily tolerates hot tea poured onto his hand, while another begins to scream from an ordinary splinter. It's all about the pain threshold, and the higher it is, the easier a person can endure any injury.

For example, professional fighters deliberately subject themselves to torture in order to increase their pain threshold, without which no fight is complete.

Human pain perception systems are quite complex, since a large number of neurons, neural structures and receptors take part in it. It is not in vain that such a large number of analgesics have been created that affect various parts of the pain system.

Before telling you about natural ways to overcome pain, let's dwell on the incredible discovery of scientists - these are three families in which each of its members inherits a unique anomaly, none of them feels pain, none at all.

It all started with a search for some information in the genes about pain symptoms. However, experts had very little hope that they would be able to find one gene, turning off which, they would achieve a complete loss of sensitivity to pain.

People who do not feel pain

The people found by scientists are not carriers of any neurological disorders, they also have absolutely all the feelings characteristic of an ordinary person. All three families live in Pakistan and belong to the same clan. Scientists in different years studied 6 representatives of these families (children and adolescents).

The children did not understand at all what pain was. One of the teenagers (a 14-year-old boy who died shortly after jumping off the roof) earned his living by dangerous stunts: he pierced his hands with daggers and walked on hot coals. All the children studied had severely damaged tongue and lips, as they bit them at an early age, when they did not yet understand that it was harmful. Two of them even bit off a third of their tongues. Everyone has a huge number of scars, bruises and cuts, sometimes the children did not even notice that they had broken something for themselves, the fractures somehow healed and they were found after the fact.

They distinguish hot from cold well, but do not feel pain if they get burned. They have a well-developed sense of touch, they feel everything perfectly, for example, how a needle enters a finger, but for them this is not an unpleasant sensation.

Children's health and intellectual development are also normal. And their parents, sisters and brothers are carriers of the usual pain sensitivity.

People who don't feel pain

As a result of the analysis of genetic markers, it was found that the SCN9A gene had mutated in all children, but each family had its own mutation in it. What is known about this gene is that it activates precisely in those regions of the peripheral nervous system that are responsible for pain.

After conducting a series of experiments, the scientists came to the conclusion that the mutations they found completely turn off the work of the gene. As a result, stopping the work of a single gene is a sufficient and necessary condition in order to lose sensitivity to pain.

This discovery gave scientists the opportunity to develop new effective pain relievers, and, probably, in the near future, win a complete victory over pain. After all, choosing an inhibitor that can suppress the activity of a certain protein is a routine job in modern pharmacology.

The authors of the study add that they have previously discovered a hereditary anomaly associated with this gene. It was called primary erythromelalgia. But it has completely opposite characteristics.

In people with this gene mutation, the sensitivity to pain is off scale to the extent possible and impossible. Even the slightest stimulus (for example, light exercise or warmth) can cause severe pain attacks. This disorder is associated with other mutations in the SCN9A gene that alter the sensitivity threshold.

Mutations with changes in sensitivity in this gene protein have not previously been found in humans, but this phenomenon has been actively studied in mice. Mice, in which the gene was partially desensitized, had a low pain threshold, but if the gene was completely out of order (which happened in 6 Pakistani children studied), then the mice died shortly after birth. Most likely, their gene performs some other important functions.

Now let's return to the topic sounded and tell you about several ways that will help you increase your pain threshold.

How not to feel pain

1. Drink coffee or drinks containing caffeine

When the average person decides to shed a few extra pounds in spring before the start of the beach season, they run to the gym to quickly say goodbye to the annoying unnecessary weight. He pedals hard, dies on the treadmill and pulls iron. After training, he feels good, but only until the next morning.

The body does not know such loads, and therefore the back does not unbend, the arms are hanging, and the muscles of the whole body painfully react to every movement. However, all these consequences can be completely avoided: you just need to preheat the body with caffeine.

The researchers conducted an experiment: the first group of volunteers received tablets with caffeine, the dosage of one capsule was equal to almost three cups of coffee. The second group of participants received supposedly pain-relieving pills, which were actually placebos. After that, the volunteers spent almost the whole day in the gym, exercising hard.

As a result, the first group of participants felt very good the next day, some even wanted to go to the gym again the same day.

As it turns out, ads don't really lie, and caffeinated beverages can actually make us superhumans who can handle obstacles with ease. But there is good news for those people whose most serious physical activity is moving a computer mouse.

In another study, volunteers were asked to work at a computer continuously for 90 minutes. After this time, people have numb wrists, neck and shoulders. But before starting this experiment, the subjects were asked to drink coffee. Those who agreed experienced much less pain than those who refused.

How to reduce pain

2. Look at the place that hurts

Think back to the last time you had pain. Did you damage something then? Probably cut your toe or twisted your leg. Surely you were at that moment possessed by the usual human reaction: you cursed and thought about how much it hurt you. But the best thing in such a situation is to include logic, that is, it is good to consider your injuries and assume the degree of their severity.

You will be surprised how much this action will numb your pain. Scientists have conducted an interesting experiment. They gave the volunteers "magic" mirrors, and they themselves armed themselves with a laser and "burned" the right hands of the people. In the mirror, the participants saw their left hands, which were not subjected to "torture".

As a result, they felt the pain, but it quickly subsided, as people saw that nothing was happening to their hands. An important addition: you need to look strictly at your own injuries, seeing other people's injuries will not diminish your suffering.

Scientists to this day debate whether eye contact with trauma actually decreases pain threshold, but no matter what conclusion they reach, logic is always better than hysteria.

How to stop feeling pain

3. Remember to laugh

Imagine a situation: you wake up in the middle of the night with a strong urge to go to the toilet. With half-closed eyes, you go to the toilet, stumbling over the threshold and falling along the way. You are hurt, hurt and you want to cry. Is it weak for you to laugh at yourself in such a situation?

As psychologists say, laughter is the best medicine. While laughing will certainly not stop the bleeding or cause the cancer to evaporate, a sense of humor will definitely lessen your pain. When we laugh, our brains release the hormones of happiness, endorphins, which have a pain-relieving effect. As a result, you will suffer less, all that remains is to force yourself to laugh at the right moment.

The experts conducted a series of studies, during which they studied the behavior of participants in the laboratory and at home. Some of the volunteers watched boring popular science programs, and some funny videos. As it turned out, the laughing participants in the experiment tolerated pain much more easily compared to those who delved into documentaries.

Moreover, just 15 minutes of laughing is enough to lower your pain threshold by 10 percent. However, in order for laughter to have a healing effect, it is worth learning how to laugh correctly: laughter must be from the heart, and the air must be breathed in deeply. You should not pay attention to the sidelong glances of others, because the one who laughs last laughs well.

Mental attitude

4. Try to convince yourself that pain is good.

Neurolinguistic programming is treated differently. Some have learned from their own experience the benefits of affirmations, while others believe that this is complete nonsense. The fact is, the pain of pain is different.

For example, a aching tooth is a sign of dental problems, while muscle pain after exercise is just an indicator of mild atrophy, in which case the person's brain perceives pain as something good.

To prove this, experts again conducted several experiments. Tourniquets were placed on two groups of volunteers to restrict blood flow. They were asked to endure these sensations for as long as possible. The first group was told that such an experiment was dangerous for their health, and the second that it was very beneficial for their muscles, and the longer they endured, the better they would be.

As a result, it turned out that the pain threshold of the second group of people was much higher than that of the first. The experiment was carried out several times, but the result did not change. The frightened volunteers stopped the experiment after a few minutes, and the participants from the second group stood firm, believing that they would get biceps like Schwarzenegger's.

As a result, a small lie in its own salvation turns out to be extremely useful. So the next time you hit your finger on a nail, don't think about the pain, but about the experience you get with it.

How can you not feel pain

5. Look at something creepy or terrible

Imagine yourself at the dentist's appointment, you are trembling with fear, you look in horror at the instruments of torture and cover with sticky sweat. You want to distract yourself and look at the wall, where you see pictures with cute animals and beautiful nature. The doctor wanted to take care of you, but he doesn't know that horror pictures will look much better in this case.

Scientists conducted an experiment: they showed volunteers slides that depicted people in different life situations, from ordinary to the most catastrophic. Before that, each of the participants put his hand into a bucket of cold water and had to hold it there for as long as possible.

It turned out that those who looked at the unpleasant photographs held their hands in the water much longer than those who admired the flowers. Therefore, if you want to distract yourself from the painful sensations, or distract someone from them, then you should not turn on good cartoons, the worst horror movie in this case is just what you need.

Feeling pain

6. Warrior massage

With this exercise, you will also train your brain to deal with pain. To perform it, you need to calm down, relax as much as possible, do not hold your breath and do not pinch. The correct technique can be found online or in consultation with a specialist.

The person lies on his stomach, and at this time the partner creates pressure and tolerable painful clamps in the trapezius muscle, in the area of the thighs and the front of the neck. This massage should be performed for about 10 minutes while the pain is tolerable.

Ways to get rid of pain

7. Try screaming

Screaming will help you realize your resilience potential to its highest point. Screaming is actually a completely versatile exercise that should be done as often as possible to flex your lungs, invigorate your body, and strengthen your voice. Try yelling in the car with music turned up at full volume or in nature.

Pain- the kind of sensitivity that we encounter very often. They cut a finger when they were preparing breakfast, hit their knee, turned unsuccessfully next to the bedside table, burned themselves when they touched a hot frying pan ... you can list such situations for an infinitely long time. In fact, this is, albeit an unpleasant, but extremely important factor for survival - this has been the practice since antiquity and has been fixed at the level of reflexes. Pain signals danger, and often serious pathological processes in the body. We know all this well, but we rarely think about the basis - and how does pain occur? How do we feel pain? These are extremely interesting questions that physiologists around the world continue to work on. And today I would like to talk a little about the mysterious nature of pain in the words of scientists.

At the moment there are two main hypotheses O perception of pain... The first of them is based on the fact that in the human body there are specialized nonceptive (that is, pain) receptors - structures that respond to any pain stimulus. They are understood as free nerve endings with extremely high sensitivity. Nerves are a delicate thing, literally and figuratively. If you are in doubt about their ability to respond to pain, you can do some quick experiments. Let's say prick your finger hard with a needle. Or at least recall the sensations that appear when taking a blood test (I think the huge terrible pieces of iron that nurses enthusiastically poke at patients' fingers are familiar to everyone from childhood). You can also experiment more desperately - bump your elbow on something from the heart. From your own experience, you will feel the pinching of the ulnar nerve. The second hypothesis says that there are no special pain receptors - pain occurs when there is an extremely strong effect on all other structures of perception: on the auditory, visual, tactile analyzers, on mechanoreceptors and baroreceptors (both of them respond to various types of pressure). There is common sense in such an idea, and it is easier to understand it at the level of everyday life. For example, if we put our hand in ice water, we will quickly feel pain in the limb. It will appear in the eyes if we look at the sun blinding us. In ears when listening to music at high volume. And, of course, if we are hit, then the pain will not keep us waiting either. Acting on all the senses with a suprathreshold stimulus (that is, one that our analyzers are not able to adequately perceive), we are able to cause pain of any intensity. Now the first theory is more popular, but, incidentally, none of them has been fully proven. Therefore, they cause difficulties and attempts to accurately answer the question, how does the feeling of pain appear... However, there are, of course, assumptions. Some researchers associate the occurrence of unpleasant sensations with the release of histamine and proteolytic enzymes from cells. Histamine is an extremely important substance in the body. It is formed when carbon dioxide is split off from one of the amino acids, histidine. Usually histamine is inactive, but when any cells are destroyed, it rushes to them and causes tissue swelling, blood clots, skin redness and many other effects indicating an inflammatory process or an allergic reaction. In fact, histamine is an important indicator of pathological phenomena. And proteolytic enzymes break down certain bonds in amino acids that make up our proteins. The accumulation of hydrogen ions near the nerve endings is also considered an important point. It is these ions that determine which environment "reigns" in the tissue - alkaline or acidic (in the first case there will be less hydrogen, in the second more). When the indicators of the environment begin to fluctuate, and do not remain stable, then, quite possibly, this causes a painful effect.

It is important to note that a person is practically unable to get used to pain, except for a short time. Pain receptors (if we do have exactly them) or all others, according to the last hypothesis, simply do not have significant adaptation. If we are given an injection, then we will certainly feel how the needle pierces the skin. After a few seconds, the discomfort goes away, although the needle still remains in the tissues. It is a living manifestation of a short-lived adaptation. But if we are immediately given a second injection after the first, then we will feel pain from it with exactly the same intensity as from the previous one. In addition, it is worth considering the pain threshold, which is different for all people. Some are able to endure quite severe pain, others faint even from a low degree of exposure. But one factor is the same for both of these groups - the emotional state. If a person focuses on pain, then it will intensify, but attempts to distract from it usually make the symptoms less pronounced. Therefore, if the feeling of pain that has come to you does not threaten your life, you can try to safely ignore it - most likely, this will help to get rid of it as soon as possible. But with analgesics, you should be more careful: any drug has its own mechanisms of action on the nervous system, so it is better to discuss their use with a doctor.

How people feel pain and why the body needs it. How the mechanism of perception of pain works, why some people do not feel it at all, and also how the body protects itself from pain, says the Science Department of Gazeta.Ru.

We feel pain every day. It controls our behavior, shapes our habits and helps us survive. Thanks to the pain, we put on a cast on time, take sick leave, pull our hand away from the hot iron, fear dentists, run away from the wasp, sympathize with the characters in the Saw movie, and avoid the gang of hooligans.

Pisces are the first organisms on Earth to feel pain. Living things evolved, became more and more complex, and their way of life too. And to warn them about the danger, a simple mechanism for survival appeared - pain.

Why do we feel pain?

Our body is made up of a huge number of cells. In order for them to interact, there are special proteins in the cell membrane - ion channels. With the help of them, a cell exchanges ions with another cell and contacts the external environment. The solutions inside cells are rich in potassium but poor in sodium. Certain concentrations of these ions are maintained by a sodium-potassium pump, which pumps excess sodium ions out of the cell and replaces them with potassium.

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The work of sodium-potassium pumps is so important that half of the food eaten and about a third of the oxygen inhaled goes to provide them with energy.

Ionic channels are real gates of the senses, thanks to which we can feel warmth and cold, the scent of roses and the taste of our favorite dish, and also feel pain.

When something affects the cell membrane, the structure of the sodium channel is deformed and it opens. Due to a change in the ionic composition, electrical impulses arise that propagate through the nerve cells. Neurons consist of a cell body, dendrites and an axon - the longest process along which the impulse moves. At the end of the axon there are bubbles with a neurotransmitter, a chemical that is involved in the transmission of this impulse from a nerve cell to a muscle or other nerve cell. For example, acetylcholine transmits a signal from a nerve to a muscle, and there are many other mediators between neurons in the brain, such as glutamate and the "joy hormone" serotonin.

Cutting your finger while cooking salad - this has happened with almost everyone. But you don't go on cutting your finger, you pull your hand away. This happens because a nerve impulse runs along neurons from sensitive cells, pain detectors, to the spinal cord, where the motor nerve already transmits the command to the muscles: take your hand away! You put a plaster on your finger, but you still feel pain: ion channels and neurotransmitters send signals to the brain. The pain signal passes through the thalamus, hypothalamus, reticular formation, areas of the midbrain and medulla oblongata.

And finally, pain reaches its destination - the sensitive areas of the cerebral cortex, where we are fully aware of it.

Life without pain

Life without pain is the dream of many people: no suffering, no fear. This is quite real, and there are people among us who do not feel pain. For example, in 1981, Stephen Peet was born in the United States, and when his teeth came out, he began to chew on his tongue. Fortunately, his parents noticed this in time and took the boy to the hospital. There they were told that Stephen had a congenital insensitivity to pain. Steve's brother Christopher was soon born, and he was found to have the same thing.

Mom always told the boys: infection is a silent killer. Without knowing the pain, they could not see the symptoms of diseases in themselves. Frequent medical examinations were needed. Not realizing what pain is, the guys could fight to a pulp or, having received an open fracture, hobble around with a protruding bone, without even noticing it.

Once, working with an electric saw, Steve ripped his arm from wrist to elbow, but he sewed it up on his own, being too lazy to go to the doctor.

“We often skipped school because we ended up in a hospital bed with another injury. We spent more than one Christmas morning and birthday there, ”says Stephen. A life without pain is not a life without suffering. Steve has severe arthritis and a sore knee - this threatens him with amputation. His younger brother Chris committed suicide after learning that he might end up in a wheelchair.

It turns out that the brothers have a defect in the SCN9A gene, which encodes the Nav1.7 protein, a sodium channel involved in pain perception. Such people distinguish cold from hot and feel touch, but the pain signal does not pass. This sensational news was published in the journal Nature in 2006. Scientists found this out by examining six Pakistani children. Among them was a magician who entertained the crowd by walking over hot coals.

In 2013, another study was published in Nature that focused on a little girl who was unfamiliar with the feeling of pain. German scientists at the University of Jena discovered a mutation in the SCN11A gene, which encodes the Nav1.9 protein, another sodium channel responsible for pain. Overexpression of this gene prevents the accumulation of ion charges, and the electrical impulse does not pass through the neurons - we do not feel pain.

It turns out that our heroes received their "superpower" due to the malfunction of sodium channels, which are involved in the transmission of a pain signal.

What makes us feel less pain?

When we are in pain, the body produces special "internal drugs" - endorphins, which bind to opioid receptors in the brain, dulling the pain. Morphine, isolated in 1806 and renowned as an effective pain reliever, acts like endorphins - it binds to opioid receptors and inhibits neurotransmitter release and neuronal activity. With subcutaneous administration, the effect of morphine begins in 15-20 minutes and can last up to six hours. Just do not get carried away with such "treatment", it can end badly, as in Bulgakov's story "Morphine". After several weeks of using morphine, the body stops producing endorphins in sufficient quantities, and dependence appears. And when the effect of the drug ends, the multitude of tactile signals that enter the brain, no longer protected by the anti-pain system, cause suffering - withdrawal occurs.

Alcoholic drinks also affect the endorphin system and increase the pain threshold. Alcohol in small doses, like endorphins, is euphoric and makes us less susceptible to being punched in the face after a wedding feast. The fact is that alcohol stimulates the synthesis of endorphins and suppresses the reuptake system of these neurotransmitters.

However, after the alcohol is removed from the body, the thresholds for pain sensitivity decrease due to the inhibition of the synthesis of endorphins and an increase in the activity of their seizure, which does not alleviate the hangover typical of the next morning.

Who hurts more: men or women?

Women and men experience pain differently, according to a study by researchers at McGill University, who found that pain perception in female and male mice begins in different cells. To date, there have been many studies on the nature of female and male pain, and most of them indicate that women suffer more from it than men.

In a large-scale work in 2012, when scientists analyzed the records of more than 11 thousand patients in California hospitals, scientists found that women tolerate pain worse and face it more often than men. And plastic surgeons from the United States have found that women have twice as many nerve receptors per square centimeter on their face as men. Girls are already so sensitive from birth - according to a study published in the journal Pain, in newborn girls, mimic reactions to injections in the foot were more pronounced than in boys. It is also known that women are more likely to complain of pain after surgery and feel worse in the dentist's chair.

Hormones come to the aid of poor women.

For example, one of the female sex hormones, estradiol, decreases pain receptor activity and helps women cope with high levels of pain more easily.

For example, estradiol levels rise sharply before childbirth and acts as a kind of pain reliever. Unfortunately, after menopause, the level of this hormone in the body decreases and women suffer more pain. By the way, men have a similar situation with testosterone. The level of this male sex hormone decreases with age, and some pain symptoms become more pronounced.

But pain is not only the transmission of nerve impulses to the brain, it is also the psychological perception of pain. For example, participants in one interesting study tripled their pain threshold after being shown how another participant calmly tolerated the same pain exposure. Boys are taught from birth to be courageous: “boys don’t cry”, “you have to endure”, “it’s ashamed to cry”. And this makes a significant contribution: men endure pain steadfastly, and the brain "thinks" that it is not so painful for them.

Anyone who has lived in the 90s will remember the Friends episode in which Phoebe and Rachel went to get tattoos. As a result, it ended up with Rachel getting a tattoo, while Phoebe was left with a small black dot because she could not bear the pain. This episode, of course, is humorous in nature, but it illustrates well a very interesting question related to how we feel pain and what affects it. What's so special about "Rachel" that she was able to handle what "Phoebe" didn't have the strength to do? More importantly, can we help Phoebe if we know the reason for her sensitivity?

Why do we feel pain?

Pain is the main symptom reported by the patient when seeking medical attention. Pain is usually one of the body's defenses. Thanks to them, we understand that we are traumatized. In addition, pain helps us to spare ourselves, allowing the body to repair itself.

Everything would be fine and understandable if people did not differ in the ability to identify, tolerate and respond to pain. In addition, we also describe our feelings in different ways and respond to treatment. This complicates the work of doctors who have to look for their own approach to each patient. So why don't we feel pain the same way?

Individual differences in the effectiveness of treatment often result from complex interactions of psychological, environmental, social, and genetic factors.

Although pain cannot be recorded as a traditional medical condition such as heart failure or diabetes, it is influenced by the same causes. The painful sensations that we experience throughout life depend on the genetic code that makes us more or less sensitive. Also, our physical and mental state, experience (painful and traumatic) and environment can shape our reactions.

If we can better understand what makes people more or less sensitive to pain in different situations, we can reduce human suffering. Ultimately, this would mean knowing which of the patients will experience more pain and need more drugs to reduce it, which will result in an effective pain management. And as a result, it will allow medicine to reach a new level.

Genetic causes

By studying the human genome, we have learned a lot about the location and number of genes that make up our DNA code. The study identified billions of small variations within these genes, some of which have some effect on us, while the significance of others remains unknown. These variations can take many forms, but the most common is the single nucleotide polymorphism - SNP. A pronounced SNP is a single difference in individual DNA constituents.

There are about 10 million known SNPs in the human genome. Their individual combination makes up a personal DNA code and distinguishes it from others. When a SNP is common, it is called a variadic. When an SNP is rare (less than 1% of the population), it is called a mutation. Modern research speaks of dozens of genes and their variants that are involved in determining our pain sensitivity, and also shows how well analgesics reduce our pain and even reveal the risk of developing chronic pain. However, the main gene that responds to our sensitivity to pain is SCN9A. It is his mutation that leads to pathological changes.

History of pain research

The first people who made doctors think about pain and its connection with genetics were people who had a very rare condition - they did not feel pain. And very often they were related to each other by blood relationship.

Research into this phenomenon began at the beginning of the 20th century. It was then that the first reports of doctors about congenital insensitivity to pain began to appear.

However, the technology did not yet exist to determine the cause of this disorder. Therefore, scientists could simply describe the symptoms and put forward various assumptions, which were almost impossible to prove. It was only with the beginning of the study of genetics that we finally learned the cause of such pathologies. It is associated with a mutation of genes that are responsible for the transmission of pain signals in neurons. Often such changes are inherited by children from their parents.

Why is pain good?

It seems that people with similar mutations are fabulously lucky. Who among us would not like to stop feeling pain? However, in nature, nothing happens just like that. And pain has its own benefits. It is she who signals the occurrence of diseases and other injuries.

Therefore, families with a mutated SCN9A gene are forced to constantly be on the alert and very often make preventive examinations. In ordinary life, the child falls and cries, which becomes a signal for parents to examine him and visit a doctor. However, in the case of insensitivity to pain, the child will never cry, even if his arm is broken. Not to mention appendicitis, the occurrence of which can be fatal, because the main symptom for hospitalization is severe pain.

Oversensitive to pain

Studies have shown that SCN9A mutations can not only cause pain numbness, but can also lead to the opposite result - an increase in a person's sensitivity to pain.

These types of inherited pain conditions are extremely rare. Therefore, it is almost impossible to conduct a full-fledged genetic study - there is simply not enough material. It cannot be said with certainty that within the SCN9A gene itself there are no even smaller genetic differences than has been revealed to date.

However, even the small amount of information available is enough to start developing effective treatments for people with similar mutations.

Is it only mutations that affect our sensitivity?

Indeed, a mutation in the SCN9A gene is the main cause of the change in pain sensation. But is the level of our sensitivity limited only by this? Studies have shown that 60% of cases, people who do not have the SCN9A gene mutation also inherit pain perception from their ancestors. At the same time, their sensitivity is influenced by completely ordinary genes that we all have. That is, pain sensitivity can be inherited as hair color, eye color, and skin tone. And she is also associated with SCN9A, only in its normal form, not mutated.

In addition, there are separate genes responsible for postoperative, phantom, and other pain.

Pain relievers from the depths of the sea

We use local anesthetics for treatment, including lidocaine. These drugs work according to the same principle - they stop for a certain time the nerve channels that are responsible for transmitting signals about the onset of pain to the brain. These drugs have been used continuously for the safe and effective management of pain over the past century.

However, recent research has shown that a potent neurotoxin can yield the greatest benefits. It is a poison produced by marine life such as ball fish and octopuses. Neurotoxins in small amounts effectively block pain signaling. They are able to help even with cancers and migraines, in which anesthetics are powerless.

Can pain be overcome?

Today, medicine faces a huge challenge - to find an effective pain reliever that could help any patient, regardless of the disease and individual genetic characteristics. And it is safe to say that the first steps have already been taken. Knowledge of the relationship between sensitivity and genetics has led to the development of more effective drugs. Therefore, we can say with confidence that the medicine of the future will be able to invent a tool that can help any patient in the shortest possible time.

Pain is a perception, and like any other perception, it is rooted in sensation and, on a biological level, in stimulation. receptor neurons... As with other forms of perception, pain is sometimes experienced when there is no corresponding biological basis.

At the same time, physical and emotional pain raises many questions in the general population. If you want to know why and how do we feel pain, in this article on online psychology we will explain to you.

You may also be interested in: Why I Feel People Rejecting Me Index

What are nociceptors
Inflammatory soup
Why do we feel pain
What is phantom pain?

What are nociceptors

The skin and other tissues of the body contain special sensory neurons called nociceptors. These neurons translate certain stimuli into action potentials, which are then transmitted to more central regions of the nervous system, such as the brain. There are four classes of nociceptors:

Thermal nociceptors sensitive to high or low temperatures.
Mechanical nociceptors They react to the intense pressure that comes with cuts and bumps on the skin. These receptors react quickly and often trigger defensive reflexes.
Polymodal nociceptors can be excited by strong pressure, heat or cold, and chemical stimulation.
Silent nociceptors they are silent (hence their name), but become more sensitive to stimulation when inflammation occurs around them.

Inflammatory soup

With significant tissue damage, several chemicals enter the area surrounding the nociceptors. This results in what is called "inflammatory soup," an acidic mixture that stimulates and sensitizes the nociceptors in a condition called hyperalgesia (from the Greek for "great pain").

prostaglandins released by damaged cells.
potassium released by damaged cells.
serotonin released by platelets.
bradykinin excreted by blood plasma.
histamine released by mast cells.

In addition to everything, nociceptors release themselves "substance P", which causes mast cells to release histamine, which in turn stimulates nociceptors.

Itching instead of pain

Histamine is interesting in that when stimulated by nociceptors, it feels like itching rather than pain. It is not known why. We use antihistamines, of course, "to eliminate itching."

There are tissues that contain nociceptors that do not carry pain. The lungs, for example, have "pain receptors" that cause a cough but don't make us feel pain.

One of the chemicals associated with pain that actually comes outside of our skin capsaicin... This is the substance that makes chili peppers so hot, for example.

Why do we feel pain

The nerves that carry messages from nociceptors through the spinal cord follow different pathways. Most go to the thalamus, where they are distributed to several higher centers. Some also move into the reticular formation (which, among other things, governs the state of wakefulness) and the amygdala (part of the limbic system involved in emotions).

Said pain Similar to the pain people sometimes experience on their arms and shoulders with a heart attack, it is due to the way nerves connect in the spinal cord. The brain sometimes forgets where the pain is coming from.
Gate theory It is based on the idea of mixing neural signals. It seems that some painless stimulation can interfere with the experience of pain in some cases. This is the rationale behind phenomena such as the benefits of rubbing the painful area, the use of cold or hot compresses, acupuncture or acupressure, and percutaneous electrical stimulation.
There are people who were injured somewhere in these places, often after being hit, and this feel tingling or burning it gets worse when you touch the area. Other people have more damage to the brain, which makes them feel pain like anyone else, but this removes the connection to the emotional centers. They feel pain, but they do not suffer.

What is phantom pain?

Phantom pain (pain that amputees sometimes feel in the same limb they have lost) is due to the fact that when nociceptors are damaged or missing, spinal cord neurons that convey messages of pain sometimes they become hyperactive... This is why the brain receives pain messages from where there is no tissue left.

There are certain chemicals in the brain and spinal cord called opiates, or more specifically, enkephalin, endorphin and dynorphin... These opiates, as their name suggests, are the bodily equivalents of opium and its derivatives, morphine and heroin. When they are released at synapses, levels of transmitted pain, like heroin, are reduced.

Natural Pain Relief Products

There are actually many things that reduce pain: marijuana, breast milk (for newborns, of course), pregnancy, exercise, pain and concussion, aggression and diabetes. The reduced experience of pain is called, logically, hypalgesia.

And there are people who were born with genetic disability feel pain in general. This is very rare, and a priori it might seem like a blessing. But the rate of early death is very high in these people, usually because the wounds that normal people pay attention to (small wounds such as sprains) are ignored and serious problems later arise. There were people with appendicitis who died simply because they were not aware.

What is pain for?

Of course, this is the reason why pain developed as it is: it warns us to sit down, rest, heal the wound, avoid things that cause pain, among other things. On the other side, pain is not always helpful... A cancer patient knows his disease and cares about it. Often, unbearable pain is completely unnecessary, and we must do our best to get rid of it ..

This article is for informational purposes only: in online psychology, we do not have a faculty to diagnose or recommend treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.