Somehow in central pain, the entire length pathway becomes capable of responding to pain and even generating it inappropriately.
Central pain can reduplicate the sensation of any torture.
The discoverer of the pain tract in humans, Dr. Ron Tasker, has said that in its severe form central pain can be the worst pain known to man. Descriptions from patients draw a picture of horrific suffering so terrible that society must wage a war against the outlaw pain. Because pain meds, such as derivatives of opium and their molecular cousins, have no effect on central pain except sedation, new and better pain meds must be developed. Although more money is spent on pain relief than any other medical problem, basic pain research is a pauper. Pain neurochemists are as rare as hen's teeth.