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Sciatica and Mental Health

Spine Health | Last Active: Mar 29, 2023 | Replies (25)

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@debkl

The quality of pain can be different but other pain types can be persistent and severe. Bruises and sprains are considered to be acute, but a sprain, if still painful after 12 weeks and with medical treatment, would be considered persistent pain, which is what the industry is calling chronic pain. It doesn't matter if it is nociceptive, neuropathic, nociplastic, or whatever. It's simply pain that persists despite treatment and/or beyond typical healing time. Cymbalta is "thought" to disrupt nociceptive signals as well as chemicals in the CNS per the research I read when Rx'd this med. Persistent migraine, in a class all its own, is another example of non-neuropathic pain that is disabling. It is not yet known what trigger points are and why they cause pain but the can cause severe chronic pain and disability. The point is that depression and anxiety is common in people with persistent pain no matter what the cause. There's plenty of research going back decades on pain's effect on mental health and the use of antidepressants for pain.

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Replies to "The quality of pain can be different but other pain types can be persistent and severe...."

Would 'nociceptive' be like the pain of a burn?
'adjective Physiology
relating to or denoting pain arising from the stimulation of nerve cells (often as distinct from that arising from damage or disease in the nerves themselves).'

And would 'nociplastic' be like 'phantom pain'?

Is there a distinction between 'persistent' and 'chronic'? Does 'persistent' include 'keeps coming back'? I have always considered 'chronic', like mine, to be 'never not there'.