All Pain is Real. No matter how much you imagine it…
Pain, Def: unpleasant or hurtful sensation resulting from stimulation of nerve endings. The stimulus is carried by nerve fibres to the spinal cord and then to the brain, where the nerve impulse is interpreted as pain. The excessive stimulation of nerve endings during pain is attributed to tissue damage, and in this sense pain has protective value, serving as a danger signal of disease and often facilitating diagnosis.
Unlike other sensory experiences, e.g., response to touch or cold, pain may be modified by sedatives and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug analgesics or, if unusually severe, by opioid narcotics. If sedatives do not suffice and if the cause of the pain cannot be removed or treated, severing a nerve in the pain pathway may bring relief.
Pain is occasionally felt not only at the site of stimulation but in other parts of the body supplied by nerves in the same sensory path; for example, the pain of angina pectoris or coronary thrombosis may extend to the left arm. This phenomenon is known as referred pain. Subjective or hysterical pain originates in the sensory centres of the brain without stimulation of the nerves at the site of the pain.
