Complaints and Disease symptoms
Chronic pain can manifest itself in a wide variety of ways. Headaches, lower back pain, neck pain, joint pain, muscle pain, arthritis pain and cancer pain are the most common complaints with regard to chronic pain.
While chronic pain affects everyone differently, common symptoms include:
Chronic Pain may manifest as Neurogenic or Psychogenic Pain:
Neurogenic pain is pain which is experienced due to damage to nerves which carry information about the pain. This could be in the peripheral or central nervous system. The damage causes faulty signals to be sent to the brain – as a result of which, the body experiences pain. This is common in conditions such as diabetes, chemotherapy, facial nerve problems, HIV infection or AIDS, multiple sclerosis, shingles, fibromyalgia and spinal injury.
Psychogenic pain is pain which has no physical explanation. It occurs in the absence of any previous injury, disease or any internal or external visible sign of damage. Chronic pain of this type may be caused due to psychological factors like Depression and Anxiety. Sometimes psychological factors such as depression and anxiety may lead to chronic pain ? at other times it could be the other way around. When moderate to severe pain persists for months, even years, it starts affecting, mood, sleep, day to day functioning and productivity, causing symptoms of anxiety and depression which may exacerbate the pain.
The Hallmarks of Chronic Pain
The urge to end their suffering can make many chronic pain patients drug dependent, apart from the other negative effects this type of pain has on the individual. It is thus important to be alert to the signs and symptoms of chronic pain and get is diagnosed and treated by professionals with the knowledge and equipment to treat chronic Pain.