Is Pain a Messenger ? Is it a disease?
Pain has occupied physicians since the earliest human societies and various ways have been tried to treat it. Physicians have used many methods, the plant as a pain reliever. Hippocrates, with the expression “divinum est opus sedare dolorem”, stated that pain relief is a divine art.
Observations and many studies have been made on “Pain” for centuries. A lot of information has been obtained about the state of pain in the nervous system, its relations with other body systems, and pain pathways. Sensors on our skin, called nociceptors, receive touch information, that is, the region located in the spinal canal and serving as a transmission between the brain and the body; sending it to the medulla spinalis. From here, the information reaches the relevant part of the brain, is perceived, interpreted, and returns to our skin as information.
The sense of pain, like the sense of touch, uses a similar pathway. However, when stimulus information comes to the transmission area, there is a door that allows or does not allow the stimulus to pass, so every stimulus may not be perceived as pain, harmful-toxic stimuli are interpreted as pain. This is called the “gate control theory” of pain.
There is also a self-working autonomic nervous system in our body. This system is called “vegetative nervous system (VSS)” in the sense that it can be regulated. VSS envelops our entire body like a net, except for hair and nails. The spine and brain are important VSS elements. Body secretions, regulation of fluid balance, the functioning of all our internal organs are under the control and regulation of this system. It makes all the cells of the body aware of each other. Because of this communication network, it plays a major role in all the formation and transmission mechanisms of pain. An error in this system and the continuous warning of the system can cause the pain to become chronic (continuous). Special complementary medicine treatments performed over VSS are called “Neural Therapy”.
Pain is actually a herald that something is not right in our body. This is either a situation where a toxic-harmful substance cannot be disposed of or rendered harmless, or a deficiency (mineral, vitamin, oil, etc.) at the cellular level cannot be met. Apart from these, exposure to harmful magnetic (electricity, radiation, etc.) waves can also cause severe ongoing pain.
Classical-traditional medicine methods used today; He tries to treat the pain by suppressing it with pain relievers and interventions. This approach is perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions of today’s traditional medicine in the “pain treatment”. Before the pain is completely eliminated or suppressed with drugs, the factors that cause pain must be determined and corrected.
With traditional medicine approach; Just as the principle that painkillers should not be administered to a patient who presents to the emergency department with sudden abdominal pain without a reason has been adopted, research and treatments aimed at the main cause of the pain should be used in patients with chronic pain. If the diagnosis of an organ disorder is delayed and worse results are caused by the administration of painkillers to the sudden abdominal pain patient, worse results are also caused when the pain is suppressed without determining the true causes of pain in chronic pain patients.
With the suppression of pain as a result of analgesic drug applications, the treatment of chronic diseases is delayed and the disease continues to progress. Since the real cause has not been determined, new drugs and surgeries are constantly added to the treatment to maintain pain suppression. The body, on the other hand, is rendered unable to respond to any suppressive drugs, interventional treatments and surgical treatment as a result of not being able to understand the pain. As a result of these, chronic diseases that we need to use drugs for and interventional and surgical applications to relieve pain emerge. However, the pain cannot be adequately controlled and continues to increase.
Pain is a precursor in the beginning and in the period until tissue organ disorders occur. However, if this messenger is not understood, tissue-organ disorders will develop and pain will become a disease. If pain is not treated, many chronic co-morbidities will develop.
We have stated that pain is a harbinger of things going wrong in our body, so there are many chronic diseases accompanying ongoing pain. The main ones are; irritable bowel syndrome (spastic colon), reflux, hemorrhoids, fissures, food intolerance-allergy, allergic asthma, allergic skin reactions, dermatitis, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, fatty liver or hepatitis, rheumatic diseases, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, migraine attacks is chronic fatigue syndrome.
At this stage, understanding, mechanism and treatment of “Pain” becomes very difficult and complex. The causes of pain are fully revealed with the detailed disease history, special examination methods and special diagnostic tests applied in our pain clinic. Pain is treated in the messenger position, with “Neural Therapy” and other “Complementary Medicine” methods. If the pain has reached the level of disease, at this stage, classical-traditional suppressive medical treatments and “Radiofrequency (RF)” applications and “Interventional Pain” treatment methods are used.
