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Pain is something I inflict, something I don't often experience. It doesn't matter so much, whether they suffer, just that they bleed the right way.
A number of people have discussed the basic function of pain, as (to oversimplify the matter) a reaction to unpleasant stimuli. I figured maybe I could save some repetition by talking about a different take on the topic.
Though of course a certain amount of discomfort is to be expected in my line of work-- manufacturing and fitting prosthetics-- due to the inherent difficulties of replacing a lost limb with artificial materials. Chafing, pinching; obvious physical sensations with obvious physical causes. But I hear a lot of reports of something a little stranger, too.
It's not the most well-known or well-understood phenomenon, but reports of phantom limb sensations and pains have been documented for hundreds of years. Any number of patients I've treated, usually soon after their amputations, have complained of being able to feel the part they've lost; invisible, intangible, but somehow not insensate. The cause is not entirely clear; it's not merely a matter of damaged nerves at the site of the amputation, though that plays a part. It's a deeper problem. Some part of our brain can't quite fathom the loss; it imagines the piece is still there, the puzzle intact. The ghosts stay with you. And because it isn't there, it's not a simple matter of waiting for the injury to heal.
|[ooc; lifted and adapted from wikipedia, because i am not my character :X if I got something wrong please attribute it to out of character error rather than in-character, and feel free to contact me to let me know but uh. he ought to know what he's talking about. ^^;; i did my best to make it correct and coherent. /disclaimerrr ALSO pardon slow tags since notifs are dead ><]|
A number of people have discussed the basic function of pain, as (to oversimplify the matter) a reaction to unpleasant stimuli. I figured maybe I could save some repetition by talking about a different take on the topic.
Though of course a certain amount of discomfort is to be expected in my line of work-- manufacturing and fitting prosthetics-- due to the inherent difficulties of replacing a lost limb with artificial materials. Chafing, pinching; obvious physical sensations with obvious physical causes. But I hear a lot of reports of something a little stranger, too.
It's not the most well-known or well-understood phenomenon, but reports of phantom limb sensations and pains have been documented for hundreds of years. Any number of patients I've treated, usually soon after their amputations, have complained of being able to feel the part they've lost; invisible, intangible, but somehow not insensate. The cause is not entirely clear; it's not merely a matter of damaged nerves at the site of the amputation, though that plays a part. It's a deeper problem. Some part of our brain can't quite fathom the loss; it imagines the piece is still there, the puzzle intact. The ghosts stay with you. And because it isn't there, it's not a simple matter of waiting for the injury to heal.
|[ooc; lifted and adapted from wikipedia, because i am not my character :X if I got something wrong please attribute it to out of character error rather than in-character, and feel free to contact me to let me know but uh. he ought to know what he's talking about. ^^;; i did my best to make it correct and coherent. /disclaimerrr ALSO pardon slow tags since notifs are dead ><]|