A patient has received a pain medication that blocks pain signals from the spinal cord. The nurse realizes that this patient's level of pain will most likely be
1. mild.
2. moderate.
3. non-existent.
4. severe.
3
Rationale: Pain signals that are blocked by the pain inhibitory complex in the spinal cord are suppressed at that level and may not be transmitted on to the brain. Because there are three components to the endogenous analgesia system, the amount of pain the patient will perceive will differ. Stimulation of the periventricular and periaqueductal gray areas, located in the third ventricle, hypothalamus, and upper brain stem, causes significant suppression of extremely strong pain signals that are coming through the dorsal spinal roots. Stimulation of the raphe magnus nucleus, located in the brain stem will also suppress extremely strong pain signals. However the pain signals blocked by the complex in the spinal cord are suppressed.
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