The difference between different pains – and medicines

Short-term pain is something that almost everyone experiences on a daily basis, but longer-term pain is more difficult to manage.

– But the longer-term pain, which affects one’s everyday life and which in some cases is completely disabling, is suffered by 20 percent of Sweden’s population, says the doctor Marcus Olausson in Nyhetsmorgon.

Pain is a very common reason for seeking medical attention.

– The pain is actually a warning system, much like a fire alarm that sounds when there is smoke, so the pain sounds when there is a risk of injury or when we have an ongoing injury. When we have acute pain, when we have, for example, hit our foot or stepped on a nail, then this works very well. But in the case of long-term pain, the pain system itself is at fault.

Three different types of pain

He tells us that there are three different types of pain:

In tissue damage pain, something happens in the tissue, for example when you place your hand on a hot plate. Then a signal goes to the spinal cord and then up to the brain, which leads to a sensation of pain. It is an acute pain, which also the other form: Nerve damage pain can be. Nerve damage pain is when something happens to a nerve, for example when you have an infection in it, such as in shingles. Then it becomes inflamed and it burns.

The third form of pain is long-term pain.

– It often starts with acute pain, such as osteoarthritis or a herniated disc. Then it may be that the pain continues even though it heals. It may be that the pain-inhibiting system is not as strong as it should be, says Marcus Olausson and continues:

– Pain begets pain. It’s like walking on a winding path and the longer we go on that path the more we step up it and the easier it becomes. And a little like that with pain. The more pain we get and the more often we have it, the greater the risk that the pathways are reinforced in the other direction into and up into the brain. Then you can get chronic pain conditions.

Differences in medicines

There are several ways to relieve the pain. The most common is to take Alvedon or Paracetamol, which began to be used already in the 19th century and can be used for pain and fever. It is primarily used for long-term pain. The drug reduces pain, but has little effect on inflammation.

– Even though it has been around for so long, we don’t know exactly how it works. But it acts centrally and is effective against tissue pain.

Then there are anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Ipren, Naproxen and Brufen.

– It inhibits an enzyme, and the enzyme it inhibits normally ensures that there is pain inflammation. And when you eat this, you make sure that you don’t get pain inflammation.

Hitting a punch for practice

For nerve damage pain, there are no medicines that can be bought without a prescription at a pharmacy, in which case you have to seek help from healthcare for other solutions. Olausson believes that there is not always an easy solution to one’s pain and the older you get, the more difficult it can be to find the right medicine.

Something you can also use at home is what is called TENS. A machine with plates that are placed on the skin and that send a weak current. It makes you temporarily feel less pain.

But Marcus Olausson also wants to strike a blow for training in long-term pain.

– Exercise not good for acute pain, but for long-term pain exercise is very good. People usually say that they are in too much pain for it, but the important thing is that you do it successively. What happens is that you get an endorphin secretion and it also inhibits the sensation of pain at the level of the spinal cord.