[Verse 1]
Dorsal horn receiving signals, let me break it down precise
Nociceptors fire when tissue damage cuts you like a vice
A-delta fibers, sharp and fast, they're thinly myelinated
C-fibers slow and burning — unmyelinated, concentrated
Transduction first, the stimulus converts to electrical flame
Transmission up the spinothalamic tract, that's where we stake our claim
Modulation happens mid-route — enkephalins intervene
Perception lands in cortex where the suffering convenes
Prostaglandins, bradykinin, substance P in the mix
Peripheral sensitization — that's the chemistry that sticks
[Chorus - French]
La douleur, on la classifie
Par mécanisme, durée, étiologie
Nociceptive, neuropathique, ou nociplastique aussi
Choisis ton médicament — c'est la pharmacologie
La douleur, on la maîtrise
Comprends la voie avant la dose, c'est la promesse précise
[Verse 2]
Now classify the pain or your prescription gonna miss
Nociceptive pain — tissue damage, inflammation's kiss
Somatic stays localized, you point right to the spot
Visceral is diffuse, cramping, twisting what you've got
NSAIDs and acetaminophen for that nociceptive lane
Opioids when it's visceral and severity's the main refrain
Neuropathic pain means damaged nerves are misfiring sparks
Gabapentinoids and tricyclics navigate those broken arcs
Burning, shooting, allodynia — touch that shouldn't hurt
Membrane stabilizers are the pharmacologic alert
[Bridge]
Here's your rare word — allodynia, that's when innocuous sensation
Like a feather on your forearm triggers pain beyond all calibration
And nociplastic — third type — central nervous system wound
Sensitized without clear tissue damage, processing malattuned
Duration splits to acute versus chronic — that's your temporal frame
Acute protects, it's warning you, but chronic's not the same
Etiology tells you cancer pain from surgical, from vascular
Matching mechanism to the molecule makes your treatment spectacular
[Chorus - French]
La douleur, on la classifie
Par mécanisme, durée, étiologie
Nociceptive, neuropathique, ou nociplastique aussi
Choisis ton médicament — c'est la pharmacologie
La douleur, on la maîtrise
Comprends la voie avant la dose, c'est la promesse précise
[Verse 3]
Descending inhibition — raphe nucleus drops serotonin low
Locus coeruleus releases norepinephrine in the flow
That's why SNRIs like duloxetine can quiet chronic pain
They amplify descending signals down the inhibitory chain
Gate control theory — large fibers close the gate on small
Dorsal horn interneurons regulating each signal's call
Opioid receptors — mu, kappa, delta — distributed wide
Endorphins are endogenous, your body's own analgesic guide
Wind-up phenomenon — repeated C-fiber stimulation grows
NMDA receptor activation, that's how central sensitization shows
Ketamine blocks that NMDA, interrupting the cascade
Understanding mechanism is the sharpest clinical blade