Pain

Visceral pain is a chronic and debilitating disorder of nociception (pain sensing) of the internal organs. Usually we cannot feel our own internal organs but people who suffer from visceral pain often feel them chronically, in a variety of diffuse, difficult to localize painful sensations. In many cases, there is no obvious underlying pathological cause of the pain. The condition is a serious reduction in quality of life for patients and has large socioeconomic costs associated with it. There is critical need for new analgesics acting through novel mechanisms of action to safely address chronic visceral pain. Patients may experience occasional visceral pains, often very intense in nature, without any evidence of structural, biochemical or histolopathologic reason for such symptoms.

 

Visceral pain is often grouped under functional gastrointestinal disorders and is characterized as a vague, diffuse, and poorly defined sensation in a variety of organs and body regions. 

 

Regardless of specific organ of origin, the pain is usually perceived in the midline spanning anywhere from the lower abdomen up to the chest. In the early phases, the pain is perceived in the same general area and it has a temporal evolution, making the onset sensation insidious and difficult to identify. 

 

Symptoms may also include nausea, sweating, vomitting, lack of appetite, and anxiety. Other emotional responses are common in visceral pain including anguish and an impending sense of doom.