One whiff of a plant known as the headache tree can spur intense, excruciating pain — and now scientists know why.  an ingredient in the tree sets off a chain of events that eventually amps up blood flow to the brain’s outer membrane.

Other headache triggers, such as chlorine, cigarette smoke and formaldehyde, interact with some of the same cellular machinery, suggesting they all work via the same pain-inducing mechanism.

In the new study, an international group of researchers extracted the plant compound umbellulone from dried bay laurel leaves and then exposed various mouse and rat cells to the compound.  Umbellulone tickles the same cellular detector that responds to painfully cold stimuli and the sinus-clearing scent of wasabi and mustard oil, the researchers report online October 27 in Brain.

Stimulating this chemical detector ultimately triggers the release of a particular protein implicated in migraine headaches, the researchers found. This protein prompts blood vessels to swell, and scientists think this swelling puts pressure on the skull and nerves, causing pain.

The new research is solid, says neuroscientist Peter Goadsby, director of the headache center at the University of California, San Francisco. other irritants linked to headaches interact with the same chemical detector, and it may be a good target for therapy, Goadsby says.

The scent of the bay laurel tree, Umbellularia californica, had been anecdotally implicated as a headache trigger, but it took a self-experimenting headache-sufferer to bring the plant to the attention of researchers in the Headache Center at the University of Florence. Pierangelo Geppetti, who led the study, heard from a friend about a man who was trimming trees on his property and suddenly experienced a cold sensation in his left nostril and then excruciating pain around his left eye. in his youth, the man had regularly gotten cluster headaches, which are one-sided, intense bouts of exceptional pain that often recur in people who suffer from them.

Unlike a full-bore cluster headache, the man’s symptoms quickly faded, and he forgot about the episode. but a few months later when he was again working with bay laurel, the headache struck again.  This prompted him to experiment, intentionally sniffing the crushed leaves of the tree. the intense pain resumed and not long after, Geppetti heard the headache story from their mutual friend.  Intrigued, he began investigating the chemical compounds that might be responsible.

found in: Body & Brain and Molecules

I know a 1yo child that is very sad and very "afraid" of large groups of people. he is also very "afraid" of noise and tends to cover his ears with both hands, while crying uncontrollably, as if in excruciating pain. I am concerned… any comments and/or answers to this question will help a lot. Thanks.

I'm not an expert, but you should probably consult this website and see a healthcare professional.

autism-society.org/site/PageS…

Hope this helps.

daylon.com/autism/

There's a paper I wrote on the topic.

Hi, I recently posted on here worried because I'm having a CT with contrast on Sunday, and the Surgeon had written ?carcinoid on the CT request form. However, he had also written ?pancreatitis and reading through the symptoms it really does seem I might have that.

I know I'm jumping the gun and I'll find out in due course anyway, but wondered if anyone has had pancreatitis and if they can relate to my symptoms which are:

Excruciating pain, coming in waves (almost like contractions) top left side of abdomen, sometimes across centre of abdomen too, through to the back
This pain lasts between 3 – 5 days, reducing each day, and can occur ever five minutes or once a hour, no factors seem to make it worse or alleviate it
Severe nausea when having the pain, which disappears once the pain goes
Severe diarrhoea
Sometimes vomiting but not always
Fast heart rate

Twice out of the 6 attacks I've had, it has been the day after drinking alcohol. I'm not a big drinker, probably only drinking once every six months, but when I do drink I tend to go a bit crazy.

Also, and I've no idea if this is relevant, nearly every morning I wake up starving hungry, with acid bubbles popping at the top of my throat, and if I don't eat very quickly I have awful tummy pain – although not the same pain as above

Thanks so much for any help

what are the symptoms of a broken bone.
I think i might have broken my heel. its hard to walk, i have excruciating pain in the bottom of my leg and my ankle/ foot.

*pain in the injured area*
*swelling in the injured area*
*obvious deformity in the injured area*
*difficulty using or moving the injured area in a normal manner*
*warmth, bruising, or redness in the injured area*

Bruising
Swelling
Can't move the injured part
Lots of pain
Can't sleep or pay attention

There is normally swelling, but it depends how your body reacts to it.
Sometimes it can look bruised.
Sore to touch.
Very painful.
Hard to walk on.

I would advise to put an ice pack on it, or a packet of frozen peas or something like that to help bring the swelling/bruising out if there is any. Take some pain killers to help with the pain and if it doesn't get better go to A&E.

Tons of pain once
swollen (part of where you think yo broke it)
cant really move it
I suggest going to the doctor and getting it checked out you might have broken or cracked it or just hurt it really bad,but doctors will surely help you out

when I urinate my lower left side hurts and early this morning i felt like I was having labor pains in my side. it seems like symptoms of kidney stones, but i wont know for sure till i go to the doctor. It's not excrutiating now, but it still bothers me.also what are ways to get rid of them, naturally

To echo other answers – you would know if it were a kidney stone. You would be twitching on the floor for hours in excruciating pain hoping to die. it is totally possible you are in the beginning stages (as in it is getting ready to pass)…but if you had a stone, and it were passing, you would know.

There isn't any way to get rid of them except tough it out (excluding procedures by the urologist). Drink tons of water (i.e. preferably a gallon or more, a day) and get some painkillers. Lemon juice, and the guy that keeps commenting about vinegar…all a myth. First of all, stones aren't always calcium. secondly, it is calcium OXALATE, not pure calcium, which is a compound that is insoluble to pretty much everything.

I am 24 weeks pregnant and just spent the last 4.5 passing an 8mm kidney stone. Not fun. all I could do was drink drink drink and hope for the best.

It's unlikely to be kidney stones. my sister had them and she described the pain as worse than childbirth, so if it's not excruciating, it's unlikely. Naturally? Not much, but breaking them up with ultrasound, (lithotripsy, I think it's called), is painless. it breaks the stones up and you pee them out.

Most stones are calcium. vinegar dissolves calcium.
try italian dressing on your salad.

Kidney problems from diabetes? Avoid sugar.
Get tested.

I've heard drink a lot of water to help them along, also to prevent them.

im pretty sure you just have to wait it out untill they ''pass''

My mother passed some kidney stones. A little background: she has had multiple kidney infections over many years' time. she always treated them by downing a gallon of cranberry juice and water. they always went away. she has had them for most of her adult life, and always gotten rid of them by drinking lots of cranberry juice and water. she would drink at least a gallon of the juice over a few hours' time. So this particular time, she felt a kidney infection coming on. Pain in her back, mild fever (just a degree or two over norm). So she drank cranberry juice and water, like normal. it lasted a few days though, and wasn't going away. she was having trouble urinating, but since this was also pretty normal, she just forced herself to urinate as much as she could. at one point, she actually passed the stones. she was on the toilet, forcing herself to pee, and she said the pain was worse than labor and that she almost passed out. she has delivered 7 children, so she knows what labor feels like. she was so worried about the pain, she went to the ER thinking something must be horribly wrong. the doctor was able to determine that she had passed kidney stones. she saw a urologist afterwards, and he said that her years of kidney infections and the fact that she treated with cranberry juice helped contribute to her getting stones. I can't remember exactly what it was, but he said there is something in cranberries that actually makes you develop stones more easily. he told her in the future, if she felt a kidney infection coming on, to drink lemonade she made herself, and to use REAL lemon juice. Not from concentrate, and nothing lemon flavored. to use actual lemons. he said the lemon juice would accomplish the same thing as the cranberry juice (flush out her system) but wouldn't increase her chance of having more kidney stones. So I suggest you try that. and if you do have kidney stones, I assure you, you will know it from the pain.

Since I forgot to renew my opiate prescription before I left for the holidays, and since I am subsequently curled up in the fetal position at my mom’s house unable to move from excruciating pain and withdrawal symptoms (watery eyes, hot flashes & chills, MONDO headaches, excessive yawning), I thought I’d post about pain.

Chronic pain. the thing that follows after cancer, but no one seems to talk about. the thing that plagues my everyday life, but doctors can’t seem to figure out. Chronic pain is eating up my life.

Now, everyone’s physiology and background is different. I only speak for myself. I’m sure there are miraculous people out there that go through chemo, surgery, and radiation relatively unscathed and untouched. Cancer treatment lite, I like to call it. if you fall into this category– lucky duck– just scroll on down. if not, let’s share our experiences with chronic pain instead of masking them, as young adults tend to do in an effort to be “normal” within their peer group. perhaps the more dialogue is opened, the more physicians and loved ones will be able to understand and help us.

My chronic pain seems to be twofold:

I have deep somatic pain due to scar tissue in my hip, where the tumor was, and right clavicle/shoulder, where lymph nodes were plucked during the Thyca surgery. This pain is dull, aching, and absolutely unrelenting. This is my main issue and the thing that compromises my quality of life the most. When untreated by opiates, as it is now, this pain consumes me– I can’t focus on anything else. I avoid physical activity completely. It just does not let up. It’s maddening, I tell you.

[Scar tissue from radiation has also caused a myriad of problems for my digestive system and bladder... but that's another painful story for another painful day]

I also have neuropathic pain all over my body, though mostly felt in my joints, presumably from 8 months of chemo toxins damaging the protective sheaths around my nerves. This pain feels sharp, stabbing, and sometimes tingly. It’s rather unpredictable– I get sparks of pain everywhere from my chin to my toes. I also experience neuropathic pain around my neck incision, where nerves have been cut & damaged. the skin there is numb to the touch, but even gentle pressure creates a sharp pain.

To combat all of this I use daily opiates, light stretching, pot, and hot baths. the opiates, obviously, are the only thing I’ve found that allow me to live a semi-normal, semi-pain-free existence. unfortunately, these have all sorts of drawbacks, including increased dependency, side effects (I hate the grogginess), and nasty withdrawl symptoms. Plus, they’re pricey. You need insurance. You need employment. You need a functional body to stay employed. You need opiates. Etcetera.

Until now, I had no idea just how much I rely on those little orange pills to function.

Do you have chronic pain, even years after treatment? how do your doctors respond to your concerns? have you found anything that particulary works for you?