Definition: Nociceptors are specialized nerve endings that respond to pain or other unpleasant sensations and transmit information about those sensations to the central nervous system.
For reasons that aren't fully understood, nociceptors can become chronically activated and send persistent pain signals that can make you feel itching, burning, tingling or knife-stabbing pain. The level of pain depends on the level of irritation at the nociceptor.
Many researchers believe that the pain associated with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome comes from this kind of chronic nociceptive activity, which is part of central sensitization.
Pronunciation: NO-sih-sep-ter
Alternate Spellings: Nocioceptor
