Dealing With Neuropathic Pain

By Author: Steven Johnson
Total Articles: 494
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There are different kinds of pain that can make our lives worse. Whether due to an injury or because of an underlying medical condition, pain can get in the way of any activity and seriously affect the life of the person suffering from it. Fortunately, there are different pain relief methods that are extensively used for eliminating painful symptoms. Starting with oral pills to physical therapy and surgery there's always a way to overcome pain effectively. Yet, there's just one type of pain that is very different from others and which requires a special approach. It's called neuropathic pain.

Neuropathic pain is different from all other types of pain because of it's genesis and forms of manifestation. With common pain types the nervous system transmits nerve pain signals from the affected area to the brain through the means of nervous tissue. But with neuropathic pain it's the damage of the nervous tissue that is actually the cause of pain. It's usually manifested as shooting or burning sensation that can be in different places. Because of its nature, neuropathic pain is very hard to diagnose and find the actual cause ...
... behind it. The nervous tissue can be damaged in just any part of the body and cause unpleasant sensation in a completely different area. So it's also very hard to address and manage this type of pain because it's hard to find the area where the pain relief should be applied. However, recent studies have found that one of the most common painkiller drugs in the US, Ultram, can actually help those suffering from this tricky pain type.

The study employed Ultram alongside such potent potent painkillers as codeine and morphine that are primarily used in hospitals for surgery and post-surgery pain relief. The results where somewhat impressive - Ultram has managed to relief neuropathic pain in the same number of patients as more potent painkillers. However, the new drug is much safer than narcotic painkillers and doesn't have so many negative side effects that seriously affect concentration abilities like in case of morphine. So now people with neuropathic pain conditions can ask their doctors for Ultram prescriptions in order to get effective pain relief.

The drug works by blocking specific receptors in the brain that are responsible for interpreting nerve pain signals. It also reduces the intensity of these signals. So as a result all the signals that are triggered by the damaged nervous tissue aren't "seen" by the brain so no pain is actually felt by the patient. This is very important for neuropathic pain sufferers because there are not so many pain relief options for this type of pain due to its complex nature. Of course, temporary pain relief won't solve the problem but at least it will allow living a pain-free life when it gets really bad. In order to get complete pain relief you will have to treat the underlying condition that is at the root of the problem. However, with this type of pain it's sometimes impossible to address the actual cause because it's really hard to deal with conditions affecting the nervous tissue at the current state of medicine development. So having an effective painkiller medication is certainly a big plus for such a tricky health problem as neuropathic pain.