Please use the form below to submit comments. Also provide an e-mail address and name. Your e-mail address and/or name will be used only to communicate with you about this or future comments you may submit. I am particularly keen to receive references to published material that contradicts the assertions and arguments I have made.
By submitting the above comment, I grant to Ross Alan Hangartner the right to incorporate the comment in full or in part, literally, paraphrased, or conceptually, as he sees fit, into State of Pain or other writings that he may create in the future. However, I don't grant permission to include my name or e-mail address, or to use them in any other way than to contact me for follow-up. I understand that by submitting the comment I acquire no right of any kind in State of Pain or other writings of Ross Alan Hangartner.
Last updated: Sun, Mar 9, 2025
Central pain is a condition of severe pain that is caused by lesions (injuries such as tumor or stroke damage) in the nervous tissues of the pain network. Lesions along the pathway from the STT to the posterior insular cortex sometimes cause analgesia, but in about half the cases they cause central pain. The pain occurs without any external stimulation. It is believed that central pain is caused by changes in the interactions between the various centers involved in the pain matrix. The mechanism that allows cooling to suppress pain is suspected, because the pain is often felt in a region of the body in which thermal sensing is abnormal.