afterpain

From after- +‎ pain.

afterpain (plural afterpains)

1. Pain that occurs or remains after an event, such as surgery (especially dental surgery), eating spicy food, or simply an initial, sharper pain.
   • 1924, Northwest Journal of Dentistry, page 7:

     [Causes of] afterpain are rapid injection of the solution or using it too hot, and where the solution is taken from a stock bottle and not boiled; afterpain may also result from sepsis. The enigma of afterpain will undoubedly always by with us […]

   • 1928, Dental Outlook, page 137:

     In spite of all our precautions to avoid afterpain, in spite of the fact that our instruments are properly sterilized and our technique is perfect in every way, nevertheless, pain often follows ex-tractions.

   • 1942, United States. Veterans Administration, The Medical Bulletin, page 113:

     […] he vomited a great deal of red material. […] The sharp pain had not been continuous, but a dull afterpain persisted from one attack of sharp pain to the next attack of sharp pain.

   • 2017 June 7, Jacques A. Baart, Henk S. Brand, Local Anaesthesia in Dentistry, Springer, →ISBN, page 66:

     After dental treatment, afterpain may occur. This is not caused by the administration of local anaesthesia but by tissue damage during dental treatment. Depending on the dental treatment, the expected afterpain may be severe […]

   • 2021 June 18, “The Food Challenge That Almost KILLED BeardMeatsFood”, in Happy Hour Podcast:

     "And how long did the sort of afterpain last for on that [eating spicy nuts]?" "Till the following morning, for sure."

2. (pathology, often in the plural) Pain of uterine contractions experienced after childbirth (especially after passage of the placenta).