Brain pain?

[KevsLuv]

Has anyone else experienced a sort of burrowing pain in the head? I know they say you can't "feel" your brain but I feel like something is burrowing in mine.

I wonder if maybe I can feel lesions forming or increasing in size. I've been having this pain for at least 6 months. When I got an MRI this summer, I did have a new moderate sized lesion.

What do my fellow MSers think?

[jreagan70]

I know they say you can't "feel" your brain but I feel like something is burrowing in mine. ... I wonder if maybe I can feel lesions forming or increasing in size.

The brain itself has no pain receptors. That's why brain surgery can be performed on a person who is wide awake, without anesthesia.

And because the brain has no pain receptors, any pain you're feeling is not lesions forming or increasing in size. That's biologically impossible to feel. That doesn't mean you're not feeling something. But no matter what you think you're feeling, what you're feeling can't, anatomically or physiologically, be pain from lesions forming or increasing in size. 100 years of medical science has already proved that to be true.

Blood vessels in the brain, the lining membranes of the brain, scalp muscles and the scalp all do have pain receptors and can feel pain, so any head pain you're feeling can possibly be attributed to one or more of those areas. But any pain you're feeling can't be coming from lesions themselves.

Another possibility is that you have one or more lesions that are altering your pain perception, making it seem like pain is coming from your brain, even though it isn't.

This might make a good question to ask your neurologist. But bear in mind that some doctors will tell patients anything they want to hear just to avoid getting into a circular conversation with them and get them out of the office on time. and .

[KevsLuv]

Thanks

Jreagan70, thanks for the response. My neurologist did insist that I cannot feel lesions forming or growing but, she didn't have a great explanation for the odd, painful sensation.

An altered perception of pain is an interesting theory. I will definitely study this further.

[walkingalone]

A brain tumor, aneurysm or other lesion that presses upon the blood vessels or increases the pressure within the skull (intracranial pressure) can cause pain. Inflammation of the brain membrane (meningitis) can also cause pain.

If your intuition is telling you that something is wrong, I encourage you to insist to have further investigations.

[KevsLuv]

If your intuition is telling you that something is wrong, I encourage you to insist to have further investigations.

I did have an MRI after complaining of this pain and there was a new lesion. Other than the lesions, there was nothing abnormal on my brain or spine.

Since I last wrote, that particular pain is happening less frequently.