Imagine a life without pain. At first it sounds good, doesn't it? But as unpleasant as the sensation of pain is, it performs a very useful and necessary physiological function within your body. Without pain you would not know when you damage your body. Pain is what motivates us to withdraw ourselves quickly from situations that have injured us and will continue to injure us; pain is what conditions us to avoid those situations in the future.

A number of physiological and emotional symptoms may accompany the sensation of pain. Often pain accompanies rapid, shallow breathing; excessive perspiration; fear, depression and despair. Sometimes the physical jolt that pain induces can be so intense that it causes nausea and vomiting.

While pain performs an adaptive function when it cautions an individual about dangers in his or her environment, pain is maladaptive if it persists for any length of time after an individual has acknowledged its cause. Individuals who are forced to live with unrelieved pain frequently find huge alterations in their quality of life. They may find themselves unable to work or participate fully in interpersonal relationships. They may experience severe mood swings and possibly even suicidal ideation.

Much pain is transitory, lasting only as long as the noxious stimuli is in contact with the body. This kind of pain is called "acute." Acute pain warns the body of impending tissue damage and is linked to special sense receptors in the skin or internal organs called nociceptors. Acute pain generally lasts no longer than three months and is self-limiting; its cause can be identified and treated.

But there are other types of pain as well that last for a long time, associated with underlying conditions like arthritis, neuropathy and cancer. This type of pain is called "chronic." It is often difficult to isolate the underlying cause of chronic pain and this makes a lot of physicians skeptical about its existence. Pain that can be linked to no clear, underlying cause is called "idiopathic pain." Other chronic pain syndromes include pain that is associated with osteroarthritis; low back, shoulder and neck strain; headaches, particularly stress-related and migraine headaches; diabetic neuropathy; Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMJ); pain associated with shingles outbreaks (herpes zoster) and the aftermath of those outbreaks and post-surgical pain.

Pain treatment generally consists of removing the source of the painful stimulus. Thus if pain is being caused by swollen tissues, ice will be applied to the site of the pain in an effort to reduce inflammation at that site. Medications that are specifically designed to combat pain are called "analgesics."

Tramadol is an analgesic that works effectively for both acute and chronic pain. Tramadol is a synthetic opioid with an extremely wide range of applications. Tramadol is effective at a very low dosage when it is used to control acute pain which means its potentially addictive properties are minimized.

Tramadol is also extremely effective when it is used to treat chronic pain. As anyone who suffers from chronic pain can tell you, it is very difficult to live any semblance of a normal life when every movement brings agony. Tramadol relieves that agony and although in a few cases it has been side effects like nausea, vomiting, and spatial disorientation, generally speaking, tramadol produces far less drowsiness than other narcotic drugs.

Whether they're grappling with acute pain or chronic pain, one worry that patients fighting pain often worry about is whether the analgesic medication prescribed for their pain will cause them to become addicted to pain medication. Many scientific studies have shown that when people are taking tramadol for a legitimate purpose like relieving otherwise intractable, incapacitating pain, they are unlikely to become addicted to it.

Of course tramadol is not for everyone. Before you take any kind of pain medication, you would be well advised to discuss your pain with your primary health care provider. But tramadol is an effective treatment for both acute and chronic pain, and many pain sufferers who take tramadol feel as though they've been given their lives back.