What if I told you that pain keeps us alive? Literally? I remember, at the age of three or four years, being fascinated by the the chimney lamp that lighted our house during power cuts. The flame was yellow and moved and it was so beautiful. I always tried to touch it. After saying ‘no’ so many times, and knowing my stubborn nature, one night my parents didn’t object when I reached for the outer covering. Even though it had been lighted a few minutes earlier, it was still hot, and painful when I touched it. That pain taught me a lesson that my parents couldn’t teach me. That experience has made me be careful ever since when dealing with fire.   

So, that is the effect of pain. Imagine yourself stepping on a thorn. The pain makes you withdraw your foot, avoiding further injury. You fall down and fracture your ankle. Would you actually bother to seek immediate medical care if not for the severe pain?   

Pain isn’t always a good thing. In long term conditions like arthritis or nerve damage, people experience chronic severe pain, that may not even respond to medication

How does pain originate? There are thousands of nerve endings under the superficial skin coverings that will be stimulated by pain. This helps to take the message of ‘pain’ to your brain. So, technically, you feel pain in your brain, and not in the part that is hurt. Isn’t that fascinating?   

Imagine banging your toe on a random object lying around. What will you feel? Am I correct in assuming that you’ll feel a sharp stabbing pain, followed by a more diffuse, lingering, achy type of pain? That is because there are two varieties of nerves carrying messages regarding pain to the brain. The first one, called A delta fiber, carries the message faster, via the highway, while the other, called the C fiber, carries it through the normal route with its share of traffic.   

What we perceive as pain actually originates through a variety of ways and means. Pain can be initiated due to excessive pressure, as is the case of being hit by a stick. It could be stimulated by extreme heat or even cold. Don’t believe me? Try submerging your hand in ice cold water for a few seconds! Also remember the time that you ate that hot ‘kochchi lunumiris’ with your bare hands and had to blow on your fingers for hours to make the burning sensation vanish? That’s an example of chemical irritants causing you pain.   

Pain can be divided in other ways too. There is a clear difference of the pain from a superficial wound on the outside of the body and pain from an abdominal cramp, aka, inside pain. Outside pain, also called the somatic pain, is sharper, while inside pain is duller and associated with other symptoms like sweating and nausea. Want to know another curious fact? Your brain can’t feel pain. There are times when your head hurts so much that you think it is probably your brain hurting? You guessed wrong. The outer coverings of the brain can sense pain though, and in the case of a big tumor or a swelling of the brain (causing stretching of the coverings) can actually cause a headache.   

Pain isn’t always a good thing. In long term conditions like arthritis or nerve damage, people experience chronic severe pain, that may not even respond to medication.   

Heard enough about pain? Did you know that there is a condition called congenital analgesia, where a person has never felt pain in his life? Now ask yourself the question again. ‘Is lack of pain a good thing or a bad thing? ‘ Good luck figuring it out!