Pain is the perception of an annoying and unpleasant sensation in a region of the body due to internal or external causes. It is also considered as an intense feeling of pain, sadness or anguish that is suffered in the mind.
All types of pain are associated with an abstraction and / or processing of sensory information. That is why pain is a subjective sensation and difficult to treat, where the only one that can accurately inform us is the person who suffers it.
Not everyone tolerates pain equally, there are people more resistant than others. The sensation of pain depends on many factors, some specific to the origin, as the cause and the affected territory, but other characteristic of the individual, such as personality, culture, previous experiences and even a differential tolerance genetic character, too the emotional situation is important .
Pain is considered acute when its time of onset and duration is short, from hours to a day; while it is usually considered as chronic pain when it acquires a persistent character, which can be weeks or months.
The pain can be physical or somatic, which is a bodily discomfort; that involves mechanisms that go from a slight blow, a headache to the cancer itself, it presents numerous variables of causes.
This sensation is transmitted to the brain by the peripheral nerves that our organs have and that react in this way when they are injured. When our body suffers disease, injury or infection, special pain endings send messages to the brain to report damage or unpleasant stimuli through pain.
There is also psychic or mental pain, it is that which is associated or derived from an emotional or affective disorder, such as depression, neurosis or psychosis.
Finally, there is moral or spiritual pain, which we can feel at any time, is experienced in relation to situations, experiences and own conflicts such as separation, loss of a loved one, abandonment, loneliness, heartbreak, jealousy, etc.
Pain is undoubtedly the most common symptom that prompts the patient to consult their doctor or dentist. The type of pain involved, its location, whether it is continuous or intermittent, its onset, and its duration are all important indicators that the physician should evaluate in his attempt to determine the cause of the pain and its subsequent treatment.
