Eli5: If pain is mostly constructed in the brain based on what happens to you, are there any medical conditions/accidents that could induce these brain signals to create heavy pain when nothing at all is even happening?

Question

i.e. Is there some medical accident that could make you feel like you got kicked in the balls when you didn’t even get kicked in the balls?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Yep. There was a story from Canada a while back about a guy who was in constant pain. Since it was technically a mental condition, he couldn’t get medically assisted suicide and ended up committing suicide himself.

There’s also phantom limb pain. People with amputated arms or legs can sometimes feel pain from an arm/leg that isn’t there anymore.