Physicians from all over the country routinely ask Katz and colleague Jack Berger, M.D., Ph.D., director of the USC Pain Management Clinic, to review the cases of patients with the most unrelenting symptoms. By the time many arrive at USC, they will have seen multiple doctors, tried a slew of unsuccessful treatments and have spent years living in agony. Until recently, the outlook for these patients has been bleak. Now, physicians have identified treatments that do work in some patients. Scientists are beginning to understand the causes of the syndrome, allowing them to develop new kinds of drugs to quench the pain.
Scientists consider pain a sense, like touch or sight.
Scattered throughout the body are tiny nerve endings called nociceptors that serve as pain sensors. They respond only to strong, potentially harmful stimuli like a hard pinch or a burning match. Most pain serves some kind of purpose, says Berger, who has worked for decades to help patients overcome pain and to educate physicians about its management. Pain alerts the brain to an injury so that you can protect yourself. Touch a hot stove and the pain generates a reflex that pulls your hand away before you suffer a serious burn.