Central Pain Syndrome is a lifelong neurological disease of the Central Nervous System, which causes constant, unending, agonizing pain signals of all somatic types simultaneously. It is caused by lesions on the somatic pathways in the brain, brain stem, and/or spinal cord, which can be the result of disease or injury.

There is presently no cure, and any treatments are few and of limited efficacy.

The current definition of Central Pain Syndrome (CPS) given in the Introduction to the textbook “Central Pain Syndrome: Pathophysiology, diagnosis and management,” by Canavero and Bonicalzi (2nd Edition, 2013) is: Spontaneous and/or evoked, anomalous, painful or non-painful, sensations projected in a body area congruent with a clearly imaged lesion impairing – transitorily or permanently – the function of the spinothalamoparietal thermoalgesic pathway.

Central Pain Syndrome as defined above has an estimated 3 million sufferers in the United States, with many, if not most, of them undiagnosed and treated ineffectively. Some of the primary causes of CPS lesions include:

● Stroke
● MS
● Epilepsy
● Head and Spinal Cord Injuries
● Surgery on the brain and spinal cord
● Aneurysms
● Tumors
● Aneurysms
● Tumors
● Infections
● Closed Head Injuries
● Shingles

These diseases or injuries leave lesions which affect the somatic pathways of the Central Nervous System. CPS pain is perceived in the areas of the body of which their pain signals are transmitted along these injured pathways. The types of pain perceived are extreme in effect, and may be described as:

● Burning
● Freezing
● Shocking
● Aching
● Crushing
● Stabbing/Cutting
● Spasticity and Cramping

Be sure to share Lisa’s low-down on CPS as we continue to raise awareness for #NERVEmber all month long!