Pain and the Brain

Someone recently gave me some reading material about pain. Being injured, I have been reading it to learn more about how the nervous system works.

I have noticed several people, in their blogs, talk about riding so hard in a race or ride they end up puking.

(Not to mention a video of someone chugging a whole 32 oz bottle of a certain orange flavored antioxident energy drink all at once....that brings on it's own very special kind of pain, apparently!!)

Anyway, I thought I'd quote a few paragraphs from the stuff I have been reading.

"in persistent pain, when the alarm system and brain are sensitized, all of these fears can help maintain the pain by activating those pain ignition modes - and set the orchestra up to play the pain tune. Remember that the brain wants to protect you from anything that is dangerous."

"So, hurt does not always equal harm. Simply by reminding yourself of this each time you are in pain can help reset this system..."

"When the central nervous system gets really desperate to prevent you from damaging yourself, it can paralyze your muscles (called "spinal shock" - it does go away) or make you faint, vomit, pass out, whatever it has to do."

So I wonder if that protective response is what is going on in the body when people sprint so hard for the finish line they vomit?