‘Mystery pain’ awareness campaign launched
A website – www.mysterypain.ie – has been created as part of the campaign to provide information and support for people unable to describe their pain so that the condition can be diagnosed earlier and treated.
Patients often describe the pain as burning, crawling, stabbing and shocking, and more than a third say they suffer every day from it.
Neuropathic pain is a chronic condition resulting from damage to either the nerves that normally sense pain or other parts of the nervous system that transmit pain signals, such as the spine or the brain.
Irish Chronic Pain Association spokesperson, Gina Plunkett, said sufferers often worry that other people might believe the pain symptoms are all in their head. “It is not and sufferers are not alone,” she said.
Pain expert, Dr Connail McCrory, said neuropathic pain was a disease entity in its own right. “Intense pain is a warning sign of potential tissue damage – a protective biological response.”
What was now understood, however, was that neuropathic pain had no protective function and was an abnormal function within the nervous system in the absence of any actual tissue damage, said Dr McCrory.
“The good news is that once it has been properly diagnosed, it can be treated by drug or intervention therapies,” he said.
Dr McCrory added that physical and psychological rehabilitation could often benefit sufferers as part of a pain management programme.
While many people develop the condition without any specific cause, it can develop following an accident where there are deep tissue wounds or broken bones; multiple sclerosis or the amputation of a limb.
It is also a relatively common complication of other conditions that affect the nerves such as diabetes, shingles or back pain.
The campaign has the support of Spinal Injuries Ireland, Diabetes Federation of Ireland and Irish Pain Society. It is also supported by Pfizer Healthcare Ireland.
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