Pharmacology Study Guide – Test 2
Analgesic Agents Ch. 10
¨ Analgesic: relives pain w/o causing unconsciousness
¨ Pain: most commonly described as unpleasant sensory & emotional experience associated w/either actual or potential tissue damage.
¨ Pain threshold: level of stimulus to produce perception of pain
¨ Pain tolerance: amount of pain a PT can endure w/o it interfering w/normal fx.
¨ Acute pain: sudden in onset; subsides w/tx
¨ Chronic pain: persistent & recurring
¨ Somatic pain: originates from skeletal muscles, ligaments & joints
¨ Visceral pain: originates from organs/smooth muscles (superficial) skin, mucous membranes
o Visc/superficial tx = opiods
o Somatic pain tx = nonopiods
¨ Vascular pain: originates from some pathology of the vascular or peripheral tissues
¨ Referred pain: visceral never fibers synapsing at a level in the spinal cord close to fibers that supply specific subQ tissues in the body
¨ Neuropathic pain: injury/damage to peri nerve fibers or damage to CNS
¨ Phantom pain: removed body part (burning, itching, tingling)
¨ Cancer pain: many causes, i.e. pressure on tissues, organs or nerves, hypoxia, blockage to an organ, matastisis, pathologic fractures, muscle spasms, side efx of radiation, surg & chemo
¨ Phsychogenic pain: psychological factors that actually stimulates nerve pain impulses
¨ Central pain: tumors, trauma, inflammation of brain and may occur with any condition that induces CNS damage
Type of Fiber
Myelin sheath
Fiber size
Conduction speed
Type of pain
A
Yes
Large
Fast
Sharp/local
C
No
Small
Slow
Dull/nonlocalized
Neuron regulation:
Conducting an action potential
releasing neurotransmitter
binding transmitter molecules to receptors
Pain Gate Theory
Massage to area relieves pain…large sensory fibers from peri receptors carry impulses to spinal cord…this causes impulse transmission to be inhibited & gate closed, which reduces the recog of pain impulses arriving by means of the small fibers. Opiods work in this way. p. 149
