Part III – Ow!
The curtains moved and startled John. He tried to put the chart back, but it slipped from his hand and clanged on the floor. There was silence as the nurse watched him pick up the chart. As he stood up, John hit his elbow on the metal bed frame.
“Ow! Hit my funny bone. Ow, ow,” John danced around the room; the women laughed and even Laura joined in. Lynn suddenly grasped her face with a pained expression.
“Are you still getting that pain, Hon?” asked the nurse as she turned to Lynn.
“Yes. It’s been getting more intense over the last few days. It aches most of the time and I feel pain in my jaw, other times it’s around my eye, but always in my right cheek. It’s usually a stabbing pain, but my dentist said that my teeth are fine,” replied Lynn.
“The doctor told me about your pain. He said that we will be admitting you so that we can do tests. Maybe you should give your husband a list of personal things you need from home.”
Questions
Below is an outline of a cross section of a human spinal cord. Draw the circuit for a simple reflex; include (and label) a sensory neuron, a motor neuron, an interneuron (or second order sensory neuron), and an axon that ascends to the brain. Use arrows to show the direction of action potential conduction along the axons, and indicate the dorsal and ventral surfaces.
Figure 1. Cross section of human spinal cord.
What sensations do you feel in your hand when you hit your funny bone?
What part of the hand seems to be stimulated when you hit your funny bone?
Are these sensations created by stimulation of the sensory receptors in the hand, or by some other mechanism?
Where is pain registered in your central nervous system?
Which cranial nerve supplies your cheeks and jaw?
With the answers to questions 2 through 4 in mind, if there is no physical stimulation of Lynn’s face, what is causing the sensation of pain in the right side of her face?
Do you wish to speculate about Lynn’s condition?
What tests would you perform to determine Lynn’s problems? State the possible result for each test.
Originally published at http://www.sciencecases.org/face_pain/case3.asp
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