Prepare a short “lecture” of not longer than 5 minutes (200 words), explaining to a patient what pain is, its possible causes, why different people experience pain differently and what the generally important principles of pain management and referral involve.

Pain is defined as an uncomfortable subjective sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.

 Pain is then further divided into acute and chronic pain. Acute pain is short lasting pain, like when you suffer an injury by falling off your bike and scraping your knee. When the tissue damage has healed the pain has also subsided. Chronic pain however is long lasting pain and is most often due to nerve damage so even when the injury has long healed you still suffer from pain that does not want to go away. Subjectively the best way to then treat pain would be to ask the intensity of pain by rating it on a scale from 0 to 10 where 0 is no pain and 10 is the most excruciating pain you have experienced furthermore, pain can also have a character which is then described as a sharp, dull, burning of even throbbing pain.

Why do people experience pain differently?

The simplest answer would be to say that the way peoples brain are structured varies and the pathways that regulate and interpret out pain response can be more sensitive or less sensitive in various individuals. This sensitivity can be influenced by factors such as: past experience with pain, emotional state at the time pain is experienced, and expectations about pain

Pain killers are used in both instances to manage pain. As a guideline the WHO has set up a ‘ladder’ that is a guideline to treating pain. For mild pain it is suggested to use a non-opioid analgesic such ass paracetamol or ibuprofen  ±adjuvant, for moderate pain a weak opioid analgesic such as codeine ± adjuvant and only in severe cases if the previous medications do not work we consider stronger opioid analgesics such as morphine and methadone.

Adjuvants include glucocorticoids, hypnotics, anticonvulsants

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. (2003, June 24). Brain Imaging Confirms That People Feel Pain Differently. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 28, 2021 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/06/030624090043.htm