Underprotective and Overactive Pain Perception: Problems and Possible Solutions :: Biology Biological Pain Papers

Underprotective and Overactive distressingness Perception Problems and Possible SolutionsPain is probably one of the most oecumenic perceptions that humans, or indeed any animal, can experience. From stress headaches to stubbing ones toe, we come into polish off with pain on a daily basis. This is dominion data about(predicate) the experience of pain. However, there argon several groups of battalion that do not tincture pain in a common way. Either they dont feel enough pain to tell them that something is wrong, as in the cases of lepers and some diabetics, or they have too much pain, as in the cases of some diabetics, people with phantom limb pain, cancer victims, stroke victims, and other diseases of the brain or spinal cord (Casey, 1996).The personal effects of pain on these people is in many cases debilitating their normal lives are likely gone or, at best, on hiatus. These reasons are incentive enough for scientists trying to discover more(prenominal) ways to eradicate w anton pain (or the absence of pain) because there is a threat that many of us, at some point, will be paper to these same problems.The first case of underprotective pain perception that will be discussed is that of leprosy. Leprosy is a bacterial pathogen (M. leprae) that fill outs the peripherial nervous system in humans and is the leading(a) cause of peripheral nerve disease in the world. The bacteria attack the Scwann cells that form the myelin sheath around nerve fibers. Without the protection and insulation of the myelin sheath, nerve cells fire inefficiently. The net solutions of this bacterial infection are skin lesions and damage to the nerves, mainly in the extremities and facial area (Henderson, 1998) .The response of the nerve damage that is pertinant to this topic is the loss of sensation. This lack of feeling complicates normal living the person with leprosy is not able to identify cuts or burn on his or her skin. Without the protection of normal pain responses, t his person could conceivably fail to notice for quite some time that he has been wound and therefore not take further conscious protective measures much(prenominal) as cleaning the cut with alcohol or treating the burn with salve. The effects of this lack of protective sensation are grim lesions and eventual deformities result from the lack of care given to the body. Although luckily the bacteria can be killed with a month-long course of several drugs, unfortunately the nerve damage is abiding (Henderson, 1998).