14 DAY TRIAL // Even if statistics usually show that Alzheimer's patients take less painkillers than people who suffer from other conditions, a recent study found that individuals who are unlucky enough to develop the neurodegenerative disease experience as much pain as people who suffer from other conditions.
The research was carried out by experts at the Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute who proved that the "Alzheimer's patients experience less pain" theory is wrong, as individuals who live with the neurological condition have to cope with pains as intense as those experienced by other ill or healthy people.
Speaking about Alzhemier's patients, neuroscientist and co-author of the study Dr Michael Farrell pointed out: "They have the same pain threshold as you or I, they just can't convey what they feel like we can. That's disturbing to say the least, because they'll be feeling the pain but not getting the relief from it."
Therefore, individuals who suffer from the neurological condition experience pain at the same intensity like any other peer. But the fact that Alzheimer's damages brain cells and areas which are also involved in emotions and pain sensations makes the patients less likely to feel pain than other condition patients or healthy individuals.
Alzheimer's disease affects 3 main areas of the brain: the cerebral cortex, the basal forebrain and the hippocampus. The cerebral cortex accounts for the patients' difficulty with processing visual and spatial information - which causes people who live with the neurological condition to have troubles orientating themselves.
The other two areas of the brain, the basal forebrain and the hippocampus, are concerned with the memory and also with feelings of pain. Due to the fact that these two last brain regions are damaged by Alzhemier's, patients often forget to feel pain and to show pain symptoms.
But if neurological disease sufferers do not feel pain as vividly as their healthy or other sick peers, does not mean that they do not experience pain sensations as intense as their counterparts. Dr Farrell explained that Alzheimer's patients "are feeling a less distressing kind of pain that makes them complain less."
"In fact, they may even be experiencing more distress due to impaired ability to understand the unpleasant sensation. Problems with their mind and memory mean they quite literally forget they had terrible pain very recently so if a doctor asks, they'll say they're fine," he added. "There is a real risk of inadequate treatment and that is very disturbing," Dr. Farrell concluded.