Central pain syndrome often accompanies the car, truck, and motorcycle accidents creating long-term chronic pain. The complexity of brain anatomy makes it difficult to diagnose and repair. If you are in a car, truck, or motorcycle accident, make sure you have a brain scan done immediately and continue to follow through with more scans as traumatic brain injury tends to be progressive. Make sure to contact an experienced brain injury lawyer like the ones at Chester Law Group in Ohio as soon as possible to see if you qualify for a personal injury settlement. To speak with one of our trusted brain injury lawyers contact the Chester Law Group at (800)218-4243.
What is Central Pain Syndrome?
According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, central pain syndrome, also known as thalamic pain syndrome is a neurological disorder in which the body becomes hypersensitive to pain as a result of damage to the thalamus. The thalamus, a brain pain center, is an area of the brain where all sensory fiber information is coming from the body. All roads from the body lead to the thalamus and then go on to the neocortex. Symptoms of thalamic damage include pain and loss of sensation usually in the face, arms, or legs. In fact, trauma to the thalamus sensitizes pain systems. Depending on the area of the body affected, pain can affect a specific part of the body or affect the entire body. Pain can be constant and made worse by touch, movement, emotions, and temperature changes. Burning pain is common, pins and needles and possibly extreme bursts of sharp pain. Treatment involves prescription medication followed by cortical stimulation or injections.
What Causes Central Pain Syndrome?
Central pain syndrome can be caused by damage to peripheral tissues, brain, brain stem and/or spinal column. This syndrome is seen with patients that have experienced a stroke, multiple sclerosis, tumors, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, or a traumatic brain or spinal cord injury. Pain is typically constant, maybe moderate-to-severe, and is made worse by touch, movement, emotions, and temperature changes with a burning sensation being the most common experience.
If you are dealing with central pain syndrome after an accident, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact Chester Law Group today.
Sensory (or pain) nerves and motor nerves behave differently. An injured motor nerve carries less current than an uninjured one. This just means less motor output and no pain sensation. On the other hand, injured pain nerves do exactly the opposite. They increase their signal and eventually gain power over neighboring uninjured neurons which begin to fire on their own without any input from the body. This process can become so extreme that the thalamus receives massive bursts of inputs from these sensory nerves from the body. Too many inputs spell neuronal cell death and the thalamus shuts down. Central pain occurs at this point. This allows for ungated pain signals to reach the cortex causing excruciating pain. Once a traumatic injury occurs, further inputs continue to do damage such as touch and temperature changes.
Treatment for this type of chronic pain is difficult and usually involves the use of medications such as antidepressants and/or anticonvulsants and lowering stress levels. Unfortunately, neither of these treatments will provide complete pain relief. While central pain syndrome is not a fatal disease, it causes disabling chronic pain and long-term suffering.
Effects of Central Pain Syndrome
In many cases, central pain syndrome can lead to pain at even the slightest touch. Ohio patients that experience this tend to wear little clothing to avoid various textures from rubbing on their skin. Quite often, any form of light touch, texture, or heat generates burning pain. How much burning pain is felt depends on how much area is affected with the stimulus? Much of this is experienced with distal areas of the body.
Central pain can also be experienced internally such as in the gut. In this case, sharp pain can be experienced in areas where sensation is more acute when the patient has gas or is digesting food. Digestion and gas production produce more pain than normal in individuals that have central pain syndrome. In fact, excessive pain inputs in the gut can provide feelings of being overtly full, almost to the point of exploding. These systems are abnormal and respond differently than a normal nervous system.
In the case of a full bladder, the discomfort can be completely unbearable. Catheters are often used to relieve gas pressure and fluid buildup. This sensation can often also be controlled by having a set diet as well as set intake and elimination times. Nevertheless, handling of central pain syndrome is difficult.
Find Out If You Can Receive Central Pain Syndrome Treatment throughout Your Accident Settlement
If you’ve been in a car, truck, or motorcycle accident and your brain or spinal injury was caused by the carelessness of another person, you may be entitled to financial compensation for pain and suffering as well as the cost of your central pain syndrome treatment.
Contact one of our experienced brain injury lawyers at the Chester Law Group. We are experienced in handling car, truck, and motorcycle accidents that lead to spinal or brain injuries. If you do have a brain injury, our lawyers will advise you every step of the way. Contact us today at (800)218-4243 and let us guide you through a personal injury settlement.