What Is Mirror Pain?
Mirror pain, is pain experienced on both sides of the body, usually after trauma or inflammation in a limb on one side. However, the pain on the side opposite the affected area is usually not as severe as that on the side of injury. Mirror pains have been documented for quite some time. And this type of pain has been documents after injury to or following inflammation of peripheral nerves. It is also experienced in chronic pain states such as CRPS/RSD (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome/Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy).
Explaining mirror pain has always been a challenge. Differentiating between the very “real” pain of the traumatized limb versus the reflected pain in the opposite, is not a simple concept to grasp for anyone. And imagine the distress, concern and downright panic of a patient as they start to think their problem/injury was now spreading to the other side, seemingly out of control!
So far, research shows that mirror pains have an immune system basis. When the nerve response for a chronic or traumatic pain patient is inflammation in the area of the nerve, with possible skin and circulatory side effects, the greater the pain and inflammation, the higher the chance that response will be mirrored by the body on the opposite side. It seems that with the nerve pain, the activity of glial cells and/or pro-inflammatory cytokines are activated, then the autoimmune system kicks in. Likewise, if this over-activity can be reversed, the reaction calms.
There have also been some interesting findings related to changes in sensation in the limb, in these instances, and areas, of mirror pain. For example, bilateral abnormal sensory function (how the patient responds to touch) has been noted in patients with unilateral (one-sided) neuropathic pain. On a smaller scale, this is even seen in traditional dentistry! Some dentists report that normal teeth on the opposite side of diseased teeth demonstrated lower mechanical and pain thresholds.
Mirror pain is now considered reasonably common. Basically, your body, in response to your injury and all the circumstances surrounding this, has called upon your nervous and immune systems — systems that are meant to look after you — have determined you could do with a bit more sensitivity and protection. As a result, they produce chemicals to do that. And, since there are no “fences” in the nervous system, these chemicals can leak and spread around the body. As a result, this activates and sensitizes nerves on the opposite side of the dividing line of your body — the spinal cord. And, when this happens, the nerves associated with the opposite side of your body, may fire off powerful danger signals. The brain uses these to construct a mirrored pain experience. Think of it as our brain wanting to keep you twice as safe. It makes twice as much of you hurt in order to really get the message across!
The key is, if you feel this — mirror pain — might be happening to you, do not panic. Schedule time to talk to your doctor. There are things that can help to calm your system, many not medication-related.