Pain & HIV/AIDS: Glossary

Pain & HIV/AIDS

Glossary

Ablative surgery.: Surgical procedures performed on peripheral nerves, the spinal cord, the brain or brain stem that relieve pain by permanent disruption of nerve pathways.
Acupuncture.: The piercing of specific body sites with needles to produce pain relief.
Addiction (psychological dependence).: Pattern of compulsive drug use characterized by a continued craving for an opioid and the need to use the opioid for effects other than pain relief.
Adjuvant analgesic drug.: A drug that is not a primary analgesic but that research has shown to have independent or additive analgesic properties.
Anxiolysis.: Sedation or hypnosis used to reduce anxiety, agitation, or tension.
Anxiolytic.: Medication used to reduce anxiety, agitation, or tension.
Behavioral techniques.: A coping strategy in which patients are taught to monitor and evaluate their own behavior and to modify their reactions to pain.
Biofeedback.: A process in which a person learns to influence reliably physiologic responses of two kinds: those that are not ordinarily under voluntary control or those that ordinarily are easily regulated but for which regulation has broken down because of trauma or disease.
Breakthrough pain.: Intermittent exacerbations of pain that can occur spontaneously or in relation to specific activity.
Cognitive reappraisal.: A coping strategy in which patients are taught to monitor and evaluate negative thoughts and replace them with more positive thoughts and images.
Conscious sedation.: "Light sedation" during which the patient retains airway reflexes and responses to verbal stimuli.
Counterstimulation.: Application of moderate to intense sensory stimulation, such as with cold, heat, rubbing, pressure, or electrical current, so as to decrease perception of pain at the same or a distant site.
Cryotherapy.: The therapeutic use of cold to reduce discomfort; limit progression of tissue edema; or break a cycle of muscle spasm. Cryotherapy is a form of counterirritation.
Deafferentation pain.: Pain due to loss of sensory input into the central nervous system, as occurs with avulsion of the brachial plexus or other types of lesions of peripheral nerves or because of pathology of the central nervous system.
Distraction.: The cognitive strategy of focusing attention on stimuli other than pain or negative emotions that accompany pain.
Dysesthesia.: An unpleasant abnormal sensation, whether spontaneous or evoked.
Epidural.: Situated within the spinal canal, on or outside the dura mater (tough membrane surrounding the spinal cord); synonyms are "extradural" and "peridural."
Equianalgesic.: Having equal pain-killing effect; morphine sulfate, 10 mg intramuscularly, is generally used for opioid analgesic comparisons.
Horner's syndrome.: A Pancoast tumor that involves both the upper and lower brachial plexus.
Hyperpathia.: A painful syndrome, characterized by increased reaction to a stimulus, especially a repetitive stimulus, as well as an increased threshold.
Hypnosis.: A state of heightened awareness and focused concentration that can be used to manipulate the perception of pain.
Iatrogenic.: Induced inadvertently by the medical treatment or procedures of a physician.
Imagery.: A cognitive-behavioral strategy that uses mental images as an aid to relaxation.
Incident pain.: See "movement-related pain."
Intrathecal.: Within a sheath, e.g., cerebrospinal fluid that is contained within the dura mater.
Lancinating.: Characterized by piercing or stabbing sensations.
Local nerve block.: Infiltration of a local anesthetic around a peripheral nerve so as to produce anesthesia in the area supplied by the nerve.
Mixed opioid agonist-antagonist.: A compound that has an affinity for two or more types of opioid receptors and blocks opioid effects on one receptor type while producing opioid effects on a second receptor type.
Movement-related pain.: A type of breakthrough pain that is related to specific activity, such as eating, defecation, socializing, or walking. Also referred to as incident pain.
Mucositis.: Inflammation of a mucous membrane. Oral mucositis is a common complication of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Music therapy.: A form of distraction that uses music as an aid to relaxation.
Myofascial pain.: A large group of muscle disorders characterized by the presence of hypersensitive points, called trigger points, within one or more muscles and/or the investing connective tissue together with a syndrome of pain, muscle spasm, tenderness, stiffness, limitation of motion, weakness, and occasionally autonomic dysfunction.
Neurolytic block.: The injection of a chemical agent to cause destruction and consequent prolonged interruption of peripheral somatic or sympathetic nerves, or in some cases, the neuraxis.
Neuropathic pain.: Pain that results from a disturbance of function or pathologic change in a nerve; in one nerve mononeuropathy; in several nerves, mononeuropathy multiplex; if diffuse and bilateral, polyneuropathy.
Nociceptive.: The process of pain transmission; usually relating to a receptive neuron for painful sensations.
NSAID.: Aspirin-like drug that reduces inflammation (and hence pain) arising from injured tissue.
Opioid agonist.: Any morphine-like compound that produces bodily effects including pain relief, sedation, constipation, and respiratory depression.
Opioid partial agonist.: A compound that has an affinity for and stimulates physiologic activity at the same cell receptors as opioid agonists but that produces only a partial (i.e., submaximal) bodily response.
Opiate receptor.: Opiate-binding sites found throughout primary afferents and the neuraxis.
Pain.: An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage.
Palliative therapy.: A procedure such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or surgery that is performed to relieve or ease pain.
Pancoast tumor.: Tumor originating from the superior sulcus of the lung that invades all or a portion of the brachial plexus.
PCA.: Self-administration of analgesics by a patient instructed in doing so; usually refers to self-dosing with intravenous opioid (e.g., morphine) administered by means of a programmable pump.
Physical dependence.: Physiologic adaptation of the body to the presence of opioid is required to maintain the same level of analgesia.
Physical modalities.: Therapeutic interventions that use physical methods, such as heat, cold, massage, or exercise, to relieve pain.
Progressive muscle relaxation.: A cognitive-behavioral strategy in which muscles are alternately tensed and then relaxed in a systematic fashion.
Pseudoaddiction.: Pattern of drug-seeking behavior of pain patients receiving inadequate pain management that can be mistaken for addiction.
Psychological dependence (addiction).: Pattern of compulsive drug use characterized by a continued craving for an opioid and the need to use the opioid for effects other than pain relief.
Psychosocial intervention.: A therapeutic intervention that uses cognitive, cognitive-behavioral, behavioral, and supportive interventions to relieve pain. These include patient education, interventions aimed at aiding relaxation, psychotherapy, and structured or peer support.
Relaxation.: A state of relative freedom from both anxiety and skeletal muscle tension.
Self-statement.: Involves instructing patients to substitute positive thoughts for such negative ones as "I can't stand this" or "How much longer will this go on?"
Suffering.: A state of severe distress associated with events that threaten the intactness of the person.
Tolerance.: A common physiologic result of chronic opioid use; it means that a larger dose of opioid is required to maintain the same level of analgesia.
TENS.: A method of producing electroanalgesia through electrodes applied to the skin.

Go to the Pain & HIV/AIDS Menu

Go to the HIVpositive.us Main Menu