Fibromyalgia: Signs and Symptoms

The intensity of the pain can vary based on the time of day and your activity. In some people it’s worse in the morning, or after they exercise. Stress, a lack of sleep, and the weather can also affect the type and intensity of fibromyalgia pain.

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Neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy can affect multiple nerves (polyneuropathy) or only one nerve or nerve group at a time.

Mononeuropathy is usually the result of damage to a single nerve or nerve group by trauma, injury, local compression, prolonged pressure, or inflammation.

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Can nerve damage cause discoloration of the skin... and other "strange" reactions?

Neuropathic pain symptoms are just unpredictable, and vary significantly from person-to-person. Pain may be triggered by something specific. It can also occur without warning. And, in the case of a sudden impact, the area surrounding the trauma site may be affected, plus the immediate area.

And then there is the fact that some people have constant pain. Others experience pain as “on and off.”

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How Long Should Pain Reasonably Last?

You have a constant, excruciating pain follows you everywhere. It is a pain that seems to hit at the worst time — during important work meetings, grocery shopping or playing with your kids.

So, should you grin and bear the pain? Or might it be time to see a pain management specialist?

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How To Talk About Pain So Your Doctor Will Listen (Repost)

We all know that pain interferes with communication. It may cause you to get less sleep, or take meds that make you a little foggy; both of these can affect cognition. Pain is subjective—it’s hard to talk about even in the best of circumstances. So how can you ensure that you and your doctor understand each other? (Repost)

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Parkinson's, Research and Pain Management

Parkinson’s itself is not fatal, disease complications can be serious. The first step to living well with Parkinson’s disease is to understand the disease and the progression. Pain affects 40% to 85% of people with Parkinson’s disease. And pain often presents before motor symptom decline.

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The Possibilities of Peripheral Nerve Stimulation

I read a study recently about the reduction of pain scores and opioid usage during the first week after percutaneous peripheral nerve stimulation implantation. It demonstrated that the electrical stimulation is effective in reducing patient pain and the use of narcotics in treating that pain. Therefore, it is looking like PNS might someday be a viable option to discuss for treating severe pain.

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Fibromyalgia and Pain

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disorder that causes widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and sleep problems. People with fibromyalgia feel pain differently. Studies show that repeated nerve signaling causes the brain and spinal cord to amplify pain. This requires special treatment with medications.

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Mapping Chronic Pain

Fascinating new research on how pain gets from the affected area of the body to the brain. Countless interactions between nerves and other cells in the body create the sensory responses, including pain, that allow us to interact with the world. Researchers are cataloging the interactions, on the hunt for molecular reactions that result in the dysfunction of chronic pain.

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Migraines: Acute or Chronic?

Migraines are different from other headaches. This is a neurological condition that can cause multiple symptoms, frequently characterized by intense, debilitating headaches. Symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, difficulty speaking, numbness or tingling, and sensitivity to light and sound. Migraines often run in families and affect all ages. The question is: when it comes to a migraine, what is acute versus what is chronic?

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Just Facial Pain Or Trigeminal Neuralgia?

Trigeminal neuralgia affects 5 in every 100,000 people and occurs slightly more in women than men. Patients are usually middle age and older. Medication, injections, surgery, and radiation may be used to treat the pain. Each treatment offers benefits, but each also has limitations.

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What Causes Burning Hip Pain?

Burning hip pain is caused by a multitude of conditions like bursitis, tendinitis, a pulled muscle or a pinched nerve. Burning hip pain can feel like a sharp, searing or achy pain in the upper outer thigh. This often results from inflammation. And, if it lingers, it can be debilitating.

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Vertebrogenic Back Pain

The cause of chronic low back pain is notoriously hard to diagnose. The spine’s intervertebral discs are the usual suspects; but, when disc-related treatments don’t help ease the pain, the root of the problem could very well be something else -- the vertebral endplates. These are the cause of what is called "vertebrogenic chronic low back pain".

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What is the Connection Between Pain Signals, Pain Gates, Chronic Pain and Emotion?

The brain controls pain messages by attaching meaning to the personal and social context in which the pain is experienced. The meaning attached to the situation seems to be the important difference. In times of anxiety or stress, descending messages from the brain may actually amplify the pain signal at the nerve gate as it moves up the spinal cord. What is the connection between chronic pain, pain signals and emotional response?

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The Nervous System, Pain Messages, Pain Gates and Chronic Pain Signaling

Pain messages travel along the peripheral nervous system until they reach the spinal cord. There is a theory that there are "gates" on the bundle of nerve fibers in the spinal cord between the peripheral nerves and the brain. These spinal nerve gates control the flow of pain messages from the peripheral nerves to the brain. The brain also controls pain messages by attaching meaning to the personal and social context in which the pain is experienced. Many factors determine how the spinal nerve gates will manage the pain signal. These factors include the intensity of the pain message, competition from other incoming nerve messages and signals from the brain telling the spinal cord to increase or decrease the priority of the pain signal. The meaning attached to the situation seems to be the important difference. In times of anxiety or stress, descending messages from the brain may actually amplify the pain signal at the nerve gate as it moves up the spinal cord. Alternatively, impulses from the brain can "close" the nerve gate, preventing the pain signal from reaching the brain and being experienced as pain.

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Treating Burning Hip Pain

If you tell your doctor you are experiencing burning hip pain, they will take a detailed medical history and perform a physical exam. After the clinical exam is complete, you will be asked to get an image of the problem area. Multiple treatment modalities are then applied. These are a few basic treatments.

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Burning Hip Pain. What Causes It?

Burning hip pain can feel like a sharp, searing or achy pain in the upper outer thigh. And it can be debilitating. In fact, when left untreated, the pain can become so severe you may end up unable to walk. So what causes it?

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Neuropathic Pain Goes Beyond the Nervous System to Affect the Physical Body

Pain caused by neuropathy is typically described in the following terms:

  • Severe, sharp, electric shock-like, shooting, lightning-like, or stabbing

  • Deep, burning, or cold

  • Persistent numbness, tingling, or weakness

  • Pain that travels along a path into the arms, hands, legs, or feet

Skin in the area of pain can be discolored, appearing more pink or red than usual. In some cases, the skin can even have a blue or mottled appearance. What are the other physical traits of neuropathic pain?

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Why does chronic pain cause nausea and vomiting?

Nausea is a particularly nasty symptom. Your stomach’s on a rollercoaster and you’re sure you’re going to throw up. It can occur as a precursor to vomiting, or on its own. But for someone with chronic pain, nausea can be part of everyday life. Vomiting is controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in our brains,. So nausea is basically controlled unconsciously and involuntarily. And, when you are in an extreme amount of pain, your nervous system lights up and your body starts to mobilize a pain response, on top of your existing chronic pain response.

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