Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.
Coming into this New Year, many people are faced with the same old chronic pain of last year. It is estimated that some 100 million adults in the United States suffers from chronic pain. That is more people than diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined.
There are many causes of chronic pain. Sometimes it is associated with a specific injury, event, or disease such as a back injury, infection, and arthritis. Other times, there is no clear medical cause, and the pain simply continues on for weeks to years. Low back pain, headaches, and nerve pains commonly fit into this category.
Chronic back pain is the leading cause of disability in America. It interferes with quality of life and work productivity. According to the American Pain Foundation: 59% reported an impact on their overall enjoyment of life; 77% reported depression; 70% say they have trouble concentrating, and 86% report an inability to sleep well due to their pain.
Dr. Mercola has identified six common pain triggers that most people overlook. Few people want to be told that their pain is psychological or emotional in origin, but there is quite a bit of evidence to show this can be the case in some peoples’ pain situation. A Doctor John Sarno specialized in treating patients who already had surgery on the low back, with no relief. He had an 80% success rate using emotional techniques to relieve these peoples’ pain.
Painkillers are, ironically, one of the most common causes of chronic pain. They are prescribed by most physicians to treat pain, but end up causing more pain. How? Simply put, their effectiveness is shown to wear off over time. In one study, patients reported only 30% of the original amount of relief after just several months of regular pain killer usage. Once the effectiveness is lessened, most people instinctively start taking more and more pills, even though they no longer provide the relief they once did. The worst side effect from painkillers is that they diminish the body’s drive to breathe. Add some alcohol, and you may go to sleep and not wake up again. This happens more than you know.
A third impact of chronic pain is poor sleep. The circadian rhythms drive your biological activity at the cellular level. Sleep is when your body repairs and grows; something crucial to recovering from pain. In a British study, of adults over 50, poor sleep was the greatest predictor of a person having pain. Better sleep equals less pain.
A leaky gut can have a significant impact on pain. Common foods such as grains increase intestinal permeability. This allows unwanted particles into the bloodstream, which can lead to inflammation and chronic pain.
A serious magnesium deficiency can also lead to pain. One of the main roles of magnesium is to block the brain’s receptors of glutamate, a neurotransmitter that may cause your nerves to become hypersensitive to pain. Roughly 80% of Americans are deficient in magnesium. Stress and prescription drugs deplete magnesium in the body, making chronic pain patients even more vulnerable.
And lastly, Lyme disease must be considered in chronic pain cases. This is one bad disease, and with it comes many co-infections and chronic pains. Be sure to rule this out if you have chronic pain.
Next week, we’ll look at what can be done naturally for chronic pain patients.
There are many causes of chronic pain. Sometimes it is associated with a specific injury, event, or disease such as a back injury, infection, and arthritis. Other times, there is no clear medical cause, and the pain simply continues on for weeks to years. Low back pain, headaches, and nerve pains commonly fit into this category.
Chronic back pain is the leading cause of disability in America. It interferes with quality of life and work productivity. According to the American Pain Foundation: 59% reported an impact on their overall enjoyment of life; 77% reported depression; 70% say they have trouble concentrating, and 86% report an inability to sleep well due to their pain.
Dr. Mercola has identified six common pain triggers that most people overlook. Few people want to be told that their pain is psychological or emotional in origin, but there is quite a bit of evidence to show this can be the case in some peoples’ pain situation. A Doctor John Sarno specialized in treating patients who already had surgery on the low back, with no relief. He had an 80% success rate using emotional techniques to relieve these peoples’ pain.
Painkillers are, ironically, one of the most common causes of chronic pain. They are prescribed by most physicians to treat pain, but end up causing more pain. How? Simply put, their effectiveness is shown to wear off over time. In one study, patients reported only 30% of the original amount of relief after just several months of regular pain killer usage. Once the effectiveness is lessened, most people instinctively start taking more and more pills, even though they no longer provide the relief they once did. The worst side effect from painkillers is that they diminish the body’s drive to breathe. Add some alcohol, and you may go to sleep and not wake up again. This happens more than you know.
A third impact of chronic pain is poor sleep. The circadian rhythms drive your biological activity at the cellular level. Sleep is when your body repairs and grows; something crucial to recovering from pain. In a British study, of adults over 50, poor sleep was the greatest predictor of a person having pain. Better sleep equals less pain.
A leaky gut can have a significant impact on pain. Common foods such as grains increase intestinal permeability. This allows unwanted particles into the bloodstream, which can lead to inflammation and chronic pain.
A serious magnesium deficiency can also lead to pain. One of the main roles of magnesium is to block the brain’s receptors of glutamate, a neurotransmitter that may cause your nerves to become hypersensitive to pain. Roughly 80% of Americans are deficient in magnesium. Stress and prescription drugs deplete magnesium in the body, making chronic pain patients even more vulnerable.
And lastly, Lyme disease must be considered in chronic pain cases. This is one bad disease, and with it comes many co-infections and chronic pains. Be sure to rule this out if you have chronic pain.
Next week, we’ll look at what can be done naturally for chronic pain patients.
Part 2
As we saw in the last article, there are many causes of chronic pain from prescription painkillers to Lyme disease. Most chronic pain patients have no idea where to start to search for help. Unfortunately, most doctors are just as clueless.A study of European and American medical colleges found that most undergraduate medical colleges have no mandatory courses for studying pain. Even the ones that do have compulsory courses, they represent just twelve hours of credit in the total six year program. Unfortunately, my quick review of chiropractic colleges did not show any better results. When physicians are presented with chronic pain patients, their first response is to resort to what they know: prescription drugs. We know from many studies and common sense that prescription pain killers to nothing to affect the underlying cause of chronic pain.
There are multiple non-drug options for those with chronic pain. Obviously first on my list would be chiropractic care. According to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, funded by the National Institutes of Health, patients with neck pain who used a chiropractor and exercise were more than twice as likely to be pain free after twelve weeks compared to those who took medication.
Massage is another procedure to add to chiropractic care. Massage releases endorphins which help to induce relaxation and relieve pain. It can slow the heart rate, respirations and metabolism, as well as lowering blood pressure.
Acupuncture has also shown a definite effect in reducing chronic pain better than standard pain treatment.
Physical therapy/exercise is another highly effective modality for pain rehabilitation. Chiropractic care and exercise are shown to be better than either one individually. Part of chiropractic care should be posture analysis and correction. By strengthening the back and core, you can move better and feel better.
Dietary changes should always be a part of the discussion in chronic pain. What you eat has major consequences on how you feel. Ask any person that has lost a significant amount of weight, and you will get a first had account of how much better they feel with less body mass.
When you have chronic pain, you must change your diet. Get rid of the processed foods. They not only contain excess sugar and additives, but also most likely have lots of omega 6 fats, which cause inflammation in your body. Eliminate almost all grains and sugars, especially fructose, from your diet. This will lower insulin and leptin levels, which are profound stimulators of pain.
Add more omega 3 fats such as krill oil to your diet. These counteract the bad omega 6 fats that cause inflammation. Omega 3 fats are anti-inflammatory.
Also, optimize your vitamin D levels. High levels of vitamin D work on many systems to reduce pain.
There are also natural pain killer from Mother Nature. All of the following help reduce either inflammation or pain in some way: ginger, curcumin, boswellia, bromelain, cetyl myristoleate (CMO) – found in fish and dairy butter; evening primrose, black currant and borage oils; and cayenne cream, or capsaicin cream. Try them all to see what may work for you. After all, if you have chronic pain you have probably tried many “mainstream” cures that did not work. At least these have no side effects.